Archive for the ‘Free Home Staging’ Category

Home Staging

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

For anyone who is just starting in the home staging business, receiving proper training is essential to ensure that you succeed at this competitive business. Home staging training is a blend of learning interior design, landscaping, and real estate techniques. A good home staging professional will be able to take a look at a property and determine the best ways to rearrange furnishings and accessories to appeal to the widest range of buyers as possible. Because there is so much detail work involved, home staging training can help organize what you need to learn and assist you in getting the skills that you need to succeed.

When you pursue home staging training, it is important that you stick with it. There is a lot to learn, and this knowledge spans multiple categories. There are skills that you will need to practice, including quickly judging what accessories will work in any room based off of what the owner already owns. Learning to work under a small budget, as well as working within tight time constraints are also needed skills. Because there are skills that require practice, home staging training is often focused on elements such as design theory and landscaping techniques. After you have finished your home staging training, those who are newly certified often gain experience working with their new skills directly on the job. Because of this, many new home stagers try to join companies where they can be partnered with experienced home staging professionals.

Many home staging training courses lead towards a certification exam. These courses are more expensive than standalone courses. However, certification is becoming a necessity among home staging professionals. If you are planning on making a career out of home staging, it is suggested that you select your training courses based on the certification that you will receive after successfully completing the program. The more comprehensive the certification, the easier it will be for you to develop a client base of real estate agents and sellers.

Home staging professionals will learn how to cultivate relationships with repeat customers. These customers are typically real estate agents who refer sellers to home staging services. Make certain that you present yourself as professionally as possible when dealing with any real estate agents, as these individuals can become a good source of income for you later down the road.

Many professional home staging companies are now requiring some form of training and certification in the stagers that they hire. If you are planning on pursing a career with a specific company, research the type of training certification that they require. This will help you select the best courses for your needs.

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Home Staging vs. Redesigning

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Home staging and the redesign of many aspects of the interior of a property can go a long way to selling a home quickly. However, there are some things that you need to keep in mind if you wish to stage a home properly. First, it is important to remember that the goal of home staging and the redesign of living spaces is to appeal to the buyers, not to your own personal taste. When you are trying to decide what to do with a room, you need to find the best ways to make the room look elegant and sophisticated while also making the space comfortable for you to live in while you are trying to sell the property.

The first step the home staging and the redesign of your property is to clean everything, both inside and out. The curb appeal of the property is especially important, as it is what people will base their first impressions on. When you do your landscaping, it is important that you showcase the best characteristics of the property. For example, if you have a flowerbed in the front of your house, you should concentrate efforts on ensuring it is weeded and planted with elegant, blooming flowers. Any walkways should be swept clean of any grass or debris, and all grass should be uniformly trimmed. While the front of the property is often considered the most important, any backyard should be treated in the same fashion, as this is often a part of the curb appeal of the property. When you are done landscaping, all tools should be neatly stored in your garage or other storage space. No tools, hoses or toys should be left out on the grass.

Cleaning is a massive part of home staging and redesign efforts of a property. When you are home staging, you should clean every surface, even if you have to move heavy furniture to get into the hard to reach places. If you have rooms with odd pieces of furniture, such as pool tables or pianos, you should take the time to showcase these items, as they add a unique touch to the property. However, when you are cleaning, you should make certain that you focus on getting everything as clean as possible, not on rearranging your accessories. There will be plenty of time for that after you have removed every trace of dirt and dust from your home.

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Getting Your Home Staged? Follow This Checklist and Save Money and Trouble.

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

If you are selling a property for the first time, a free home staging checklist can help take a lot of the guesswork out of it. For each room in your home, you need to make certain that you have taken care of everything possible. Below, you will find a free home staging checklist that will guide you on the preparation for your exterior and interior of your property.

Free Exterior Home Staging Checklist:

1: Cut the Grass
2: Trim any bushes, trees, shrubs
3: Weed any gardens, mulch as needed.
4: Paint the home if required
5: Clean driveway and other non-planted surfaces
6: Clean windows
7: Remove any excessive lawn ornamentation.

Free Interior Home Staging Checklist:

1: Dust all Surfaces
2: Sweep and Mop or Vacuum.
3: Remove Photographs, Souvenirs and Personal Items
4: Removal Large, non-furniture items excluding lamps and lighting
5: Pick a neutral color scheme for the room
6: Add Sparse Accessories.

There are some rooms that need more attention than others. Below, you will find the most important rooms and why they are important.

1: The Entry.

This room is the first thing people see when they enter your home. Focus a great deal of attention here to ensure a good first impression.

2: The Kitchen

This is one of the most important rooms. People spend a great deal of time in their kitchens. A bright, well lit, well organized kitchen will make a great deal of difference.

3: Bathrooms

Clean any bathrooms you have, unplug any drains, and make sure they are well lit. A bathroom needs to be spotless in order to be appealing. Clean towels and accessories should be used to make a bathroom more inviting. Replace caulking and ensure the tiles in the shower are spotless. Buyers will check every corner of a bathroom.

4: Living Spaces

The Den, Living room, and entertainment rooms should be in top form. Neutral colors make a big difference, but add splashes of color to make all of these rooms more inviting. Work to ensure that those purchasing the home feel they can entertain guests. Make the best use of space and ensure that the room is as open appearing as possible.

5: Bedrooms

It is important that you make your bedrooms look inviting while storing away any personal items. The bedroom often has many personal items, such as photographs, figurines and decorations. Remove these items so that your home shows better to potential buyers.

When using this free home staging checklist, the more effort you use in staging, the better the results will be.

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What is Home Staging?

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Home staging is the art of preparing a property for sale. However, home staging is not as easy as many people lead themselves to believe. In order for a property to be successfully staged, there are a lot of things that need to be kept in mind. Above all, home staging is the art of designing a home to appeal to the highest number of buyers possible. This often means decorating in a way that does not necessarily appeal to you.

If you are planning on doing your own home staging project, the first step is to take care of the exterior of the property. Curb appeal is vital in selling a home. The grass should be trimmed, any brushes or trees properly pruned. The exterior surfaces of the home should be washed or painted as needed. The exterior is the first impression of the property, and needs to be handled with care. A good impression of the exterior can lead to an even better impression of the interior.

Home staging is a blend of cleaning service and decoration. Inside the home, it is vital that every surface is completely cleaned. From floor to ceiling, wall to wall, every space must be dusted, washed and tidied for presentation. A clean home is vital in making a good first impression. A good first impression is even more important in securing the highly desired sale. When preparing the interior, neutral colors should be the star of the property, with accents, such as candles, lamps, rugs and vases, providing splashes of warming, inviting colors.

There are three parts of the property that home staging efforts typically focus on. First is the entryway. This room is where first impressions are made. The entry should be extremely clean and organized in such a way where it is easy for the buyer to imagine themselves living in. As buyers will often decide if they are interested in a property within a minute of seeing the first few rooms, the entry is integral towards making the sale.

The kitchen and bathroom are also vital in making a sale. These rooms should be extremely clean. Every corner should be dusted, washed and prepared for viewing. This is particularly true of the kitchen, where the buyer will expect to spend a great deal of their time. In the bathroom, the grout between the tiles should be spotless, and every tile cleaned in the shower or bath.

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