All the house can be a stage

When Maj. Toby Moore and his wife, Susan, put their house in Peachtree City up for sale in May, they expected it to be on the market for quite a while.

Instead, they sold their home in a week-and-a-half and got full price.

Their secret: At the suggestion of their Realtor, Leigh Steele of Prudential Georgia Realty, they hired Karen Dembsky of Peachtree Home Staging to make their home more appealing to prospective buyers.

“Home staging is part of our Realtor’s selling plan,” Susan Moore said. “There never had been a house in our neighborhood that sold for that much. It definitely works.”

Professional home stagers move furniture and minimize accessories to highlight a home’s positive features and play down the negative.

Upon Dembsky’s advice, Moore packed up family photos and her children’s artwork and removed the shower curtain in one bathroom to show off the tile. “She rearranged things to make the house flow better and removed a lot of personal things to make it show better,” Moore said.

Moore was so impressed she recommended Dembsky to her mother, Barbara Lovejoy, who sold her home in Alpharetta in less than a month.

Dembsky charges a flat fee for a two- to three-hour staging session with homeowners and an hourly rate if she has to come back.

Home staging involves far more than just decluttering a home, said Lise Desormeaux of RMR-Real Estate Marketing Results. In addition to tweaking the furnishings you have, home stagers can move in furniture and accessories to make an empty house show better, she added.

That was the case with Aaron and Maggie Wendel, who moved to Wake Forest, N.C., last fall, certain that their home in Marietta would sell quickly.

“The market tanked, and we got ourselves into a position of trying to sell a house in Georgia from out of state. It had no furniture and an unusual layout, so people couldn’t visualize living there. We went through the winter with no offers and knew we had to do something,” Aaron Wendel said.

After doing research on the Internet and interviewing several home stagers, they signed with Kathy Nielsen of Georgia Interior Solutions to bring in furniture to make the house show better.

“Our house has been under contract the majority of time since the house was staged. Several contracts have fallen through due to the economy, but it’s currently under contract and scheduled to sell this month,” Wendel said.

The Wendels chose a “main room” package and paid Nielsen a lump sum to furnish the living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom and bathrooms. They pay a monthly rental for the furnishings.

“The house looks fantastic, and the feedback has been amazing,” he said.

Shelly Peacock was initially apprehensive when her Realtor suggested bringing in someone to stage her home in the Maple Shade community in Tyrone, where several other homes in the $650,000 range are also on the market.

“My vision was that someone was going to come home and criticize my style. That wasn’t the case at all,” she said. “Once I got over it, it’s fabulous.”

In the living room, Dembsky rearranged the furniture to open up the space and make it more interesting, Peacock said. Dembsky worked with the Peacocks to pack up 15 boxes of personal items and memorabilia, in addition to what Peacock had packed before Dembsky arrived.

“It frees up your life. Now, when the house is going to be shown, I don’t have to run around and straighten up all the stuff I had before,” Peacock said.

Tips for a successful home staging experience

If you’re thinking of hiring a stager to get your home ready to sell, here is some advice from home sellers who love the service:

> Do your research before choosing a home stager and interview several prospective candidates. Ask for references and check them.

> Find out the fee structure upfront so there won’t be any surprises.

> Choose a home stager with whom you feel comfortable. Look for examples of the stager’s work to make sure you have the same taste.

> Don’t take a home stager’s suggestions personally. They aren’t there to critique your taste. They’re there to depersonalize the home so prospective buyers can imagine living there.

> To maximize the time you’re paying for, pack up photos and other personal items in advance.

> Stock up on empty boxes, tape and marking pens before the stager arrives to make the decluttering part of the process easier.

> Rent or borrow space to store what you pack up while your house is on the market.