Staging Your Home to Sell: It’s Not Just About Furniture
Do you know who is going to buy your house? Neither do we. In this video, the Pettitt Group’s Andrea Pettitt and Alice Schramm explain why “staging” is so important when you list your home.
Andrea Pettitt: So I’m Andrea Pettitt with The Pettitt Group. I’m here with Alice Schramm, our listing coordinator at the Pettitt Group. And we wanted to talk a little bit about working with a stager. So staging is an important part of home selling and we work with a couple of local stagers that we’ve worked with for years that we really love who are exceptional at the job they do.
Alice Schramm: And we trust them.
Andrea Pettitt: We do. And the results are such that even when a client says, “Oh, I don’t know about staging.” What do they say when it’s done?
Alice Schramm: They love it. They absolutely love the staging and it almost makes them fall in love with the house again.
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah, it does.
Alice Schramm: Because it looks so good and we understand that this is your home and you have some emotional ties to it. The furniture you chose, the pictures on your walls, we understand that. But a stager can come in and show value to your home in just a different way. Loving your home in a different way.
Andrea Pettitt: Yes, and I think it’s important for people to realize there is this emotional process that happens when you’re meeting that stager for the first time. I think that sometimes it can be, it doesn’t have to be a bubble bursting experience if you’re prepared for it, but if you’re not prepared for it and somebody’s coming in with a clipboard and they’re walking through your house and they’re taking notes, suddenly it feels like-
Alice Schramm: It’s intimidating.
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah. It’s like you’re getting yelled at by the teacher in front of the class or something like it can be kind of scary. It really can be and we don’t want it to be scary because we want the house to look its best in the marketplace. But part of it, one thing I have always noticed is that from that staging consultation to the listing is also a time a seller is kind of saying goodbye to their house a little bit, when they’re occupied, and there can be some emotion to it and it’s a good time to sort of honor that process and reflect a little bit during the process.
Andrea Pettitt: This person is here to help me make my house perfect for the next person who’s going to love my house as much as I did and just know, I think the point of this video is just to say, “Hey, we got you and this is a thing, this process of meeting with a stager and getting your house ready, it’s more about moving furniture around. It is changing what your house means to you and getting it ready for the marketplace.”
Alice Schramm: Yeah.
Andrea Pettitt: Is there anything else you want to tell people about staging?
Alice Schramm: Not really. To me, it’s just trust the process, let it happen and if you let it happen, everything just shines. And that’s what we want. We want everything to shine.
Andrea Pettitt: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? Three clients in 17 years changed their mind about their house once it was staged.
Alice Schramm: And then we also had clients where we hit the market without staging and they’re like, “We need to stage it.” And once it’s staged, they’re like, “We should have done this from the very beginning.” And we appreciate that because they realize like, “Yeah, we actually kind of do know what we’re talking about.”
Andrea Pettitt: One other thing that we are all, we take it for granted a little in the real estate business is that the way you live in a house when you’re selling it is different than the way you live in a house every day. And it’s funny because I meet with people and they have this idea that everyone else’s house when I first walk in the very first day is like an HGTV show and it is not. I will tell you there are stacks of papers on the counter and the kids’ backpacks are in the floor and nobody’s kids picks up their Lego’s every day. Rarely, we have that like super prepared seller and they are an A student and they get an A plus but they are like 98th percentile. The rest of us, 50th percentile looks pretty normal and that’s normal.
Andrea Pettitt: When I walk in the door, there’s zero judgment about where the house is. But we’re going to get you from, how I live in my house to how do I have my house be the house that buyers are going to fall in love with and really want in the marketplace. So that stager that comes in the door, when Alice gives a checklist, when I give some advice about having a house to be show ready, it’s all about getting you the most money for your house and just know ahead of time that that’s not a small thing that people have to go through and we’re here to help. So-
Alice Schramm: Yeah. And also just want to add, we understand it because we’ve bought and sold our own home, so we understand that. We know the emotional ties, we know the stress of getting ready. We’ve been there.
Andrea Pettitt: It’s a lot of work. I get it. It’s hard, but it’s temporary.
Alice Schramm: Yes.
Andrea Pettitt: And it’s worth it.
Alice Schramm: Especially, when you get that offer right away. So you know it’s worth it.
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah. And you hit all the goals and the reason you’re doing this in the first place. So it’s fun to talk about staging and listing a house for sale. Thank you for being with us here today. In closing, I just want to say, I think most importantly, understand that there is a team of people here to help you, and even if it’s stressful, it’s totally worth it. And we’re here to make it as easy as possible. We’re always available for questions and help and support. I’m Andrea Pettitt with The Pettitt Group. This is Alice Schramm with The Pettitt Group. Our contact information is here on the video. We hope we talk to you soon about listing your house in Boise.
Contact the Pettitt Group at Group One Sotheby’s International Realty at (208) 917-3330, or email us at info@buyandsellboise.com
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