#home-staging

#home-staging

By the time Jason Saft, an award-winning home stager and founder of New York city-based Staged To Sell Home, was called in to work his magic on this unit in The Clebourne, an Upper West Side co-op, it had been sitting on the market for an astounding 779 days. Saft describes how he "fell for it instantly," even though the walls were scuffed and the air was stale.

Staging a home can often conjure up images of a total transformation: A homeowner's belongings removed to make way for different furniture and replaced artwork. This kind of staging (known as vacant staging, as the home is typically sitting vacant) is a great way to demonstrate a home's potential and appeal to buyers with brand-new and trendy furnishings. But it's also typically more expensive, as the stager will decorate the space from scratch, hire movers, and possibly buy new pieces if they don't have furniture appropriate for the project.

When you're getting ready to , depersonalizing your home is one of the simplest ways to draw in more buyers. At its core, depersonalizing means removing or minimizing the items that reflect your life - things like family photos, collections, bold décor, or anything highly specific to your taste. The goal: help buyers picture life in the home, not yours. It's a tried-and-true selling strategy because it reduces distractions, appeals to a wider range of buyers, and helps people form an emotional connection with the home

But horrible décor is no longer something many buyers know how to shrug off - or are willing to, now that luxury pricing's come to even the lowest-end apartments. In most parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, where $1 million gets you a one-, maybe a two-bedroom, and often one with an awkward layout or unfortunate view, staging has gone from a rare practice deployed mainly at new developments and super-high-end homes to something even many rental brokers consider de rigueur.

"To soften the awkward layout and update the home's look while keeping true to its traditional style," she says.

Staging a home can be very expensive. According to a recent estimate from Home Advisor, a typical home seller can expect to pay somewhere between $832 and nearly $3,000 to stage their home. And it gets pricey for the stager, too. Typically the stager purchases and owns the furniture and decor that they use in projects. It's not uncommon for stagers to try to save money by shopping at secondhand stores or yard sales.

Sometimes, older buildings that have been converted into condos or apartments can be oddly shaped and sized. That was the case with this particular Madison, Wisconsin, condo located in Capitol Square. The one-bedroom, one-bath residence featured a generous living, dining, and kitchen area - but also featured a tucked-away, highly angular bonus room that offered a unique challenge in regard to furniture configuration.

Buyers want to envision their life in the space. If the kitchen screams '1950s diner' or 'tropical jungle,' it's harder for them to picture their own style.