Stay off that bed!!!

Thank goodness for HGTV! Seems like nearly everyone I know is watching it, making plans for their next remodeling project, learning how to "flip" properties, and why to put in a gazillion dollars worth of landscaping improvements. Most importantly, I rarely have to explain any more what I mean when I talk about "staging" a house for sale. Most of the home sellers know about it, and many of them are doing it very well, oftentimes with professional help. And it works! Buyers like those homes better that are well staged, they sell faster and at a higher price as a rule.

There is an image that comes to my mind sometimes though, probably fueled by my sense of humor that has been referred to as "pure corn" (spent a lot of years in Oklahoma). I envision the sellers coming home, eating their evening meal (Hot Pockets perhaps) standing up in the laundry room so as not to disturb the table setting (permanently in place until the house sells) and to keep any crumbs off the den furniture and floor. Can't stay up and watch TV now or the furniture will be mangled by butt prints and deemed unpresentable to the next buyer prospect walking through the door. Might as well go to bed. Get out the sleeping bags, lay them next to the beds and do not, I repeat DO NOT pull the covers back and ruin the balance of the 8-15 pillows of various sizes and shapes on top of the bed! Sleep well...

You get the picture. Living in a house while trying to sell is very different from "real life". The sellers that do the best job staging their home are usually rewarded -- and should be. They need to sell quickly so they can get a good night's sleep -- in between the sheets.

Bottom line: properly staging a home to sell works extremely well. It's not always easy to live that way, but it is so worth the sacrifice. Check with your favorite Realtor for tips and/or referrals to professional home stagers.