26 - TCnbc Magazine
If you are an agent, being able to offer your client the service provider they may require, you have placed yourself in the position of being a solution provider for them, as opposed to being associated with a "headache", (even though this association is unconscious.)
The staging skills that you are learning in this program are for reasonable and moderately priced homes. Luxury homes might require acquiring high end furniture and accessories. Not all furniture rental companies have high end furniture available. If you can’t encourage your local furniture rental to upgrade their inventory, then work with a professional stager who already has an inventory of high end furniture and accessories. It is always vital that the items you place in a home are in keeping with the price point of the home. The basics of decluttering, repairing and cleaning however, are the same for all homes in all price ranges wherever they are in the world.
De-personalize – You also want to remove everything that provides any personal information about who lives in a house. This means removing all photographs, and clearing off all information from bulletin boards such as kid’s schedules, and invitations. A good place to start is the refrigerator with all those magnets and papers that get stuck on it. These only serve as distractions for the house hunter, and you don’t want to lose a naturally curious prospective buyer to a display of family photographs.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you don’t want people coming through the home and finding personal information that could be used for any number of unscrupulous actions. It is important to protect your client’s privacy. Review this second step with the seller and explain clearly why this is essential.
• Family photographs
• Information on the bulletin board
• Expensive jewelry
• Prescription drugs
• Bank and credit card statements
• Pin numbers and security codes
• Weapons
• Political literature
• Religious items
• Household odors
• Pets, cages and crates
• Hunting trophies
• Risqué art
• Diplomas, trophies, awards, certificates
• Flags of foreign countries
• Controversial literature (e.g.,
“Playboy/Playgirl” magazines, “101 Ways to
Grow Marijuana”, etc.)
• Family calendar and message boards
• Refrigerator magnets
• House keys
• Expensive objets d’art