Pasadena CA Real Estate

When buyers open the door to your home, is your entry making a great first impression?  Buyers make a lot of decisions in those first few seconds upon entering your home.  If your entry is dark, crowded or just plain boring, you may be losing your chance to get them the rest of the way into your home and onto writing that important offer to buy.

The entry to your home should always keep super clean, super neat and super bright.  Lots of homeowners prefer to remove their shoes at the door before entering the rest of the home.  But you cannot leave your shoes piled up at the doorways.  You must keep your shoes neatly in the closets.  Nothing turns off a buyer faster than walking into to a pile of some-one's shoes.  And while we are on the subject of shoes, resist the temptation to place shoe booties at the door for buyers to wear as they tour your home.  The message you are sending to them is that the floors are difficult to keep clean, which is not a feature most buyers are looking for when choosing which home to purchase.

 Keep a light on in your entry at all times.  Your entryway needs to be bright and will feel more open with the extra light on.  If your foyer is small, you can hang a mirror so that it feels more open.  If you use a console table here, be sure that it does not impede with the flow of traffic.  You want buyers to have easy access in and out of your home.  Interesting artwork on the wall and fresh flowers or a beautiful sculpture on the table will set the mood for the entire home tour.

If you have rugs in your entry, it is probably best to remove them.  Area rugs have a tendency to make rooms look smaller.  If your foyer is large, use a round rug. 

Make the entry of your home light, refreshing and exciting.  Give buyers a little taste of what they can expect to see in the rest of your home the moment they open your door.  Make your home's first impression a great one!

Posted by Nickie Rothwell, GetStaged2Sell.

I was exposed to ˜HOME STAGING several years ago when I heard Barb Schwartz, founder of StagedHomes.com and THE ‘inventor’ of the term ˜STAGING speak on the subject.  I remember sitting in the audience of about 500 real estate agents thinking to myself - this makes a lot of sense.

Barbara, who has been staging homes since 1972 had single handedly created this brand new industry - STAGING.  Barbara uses the following analogy to help us understand what Staging is all about:

Think of going to see a play in a theater.  When you walk in, you see the stage, an audience, actors.  You also know that theres a producer and the director behind the scenes.  For the play to be a success, you need the play to be captivating and for all the seats to be full.

Now¦ lets say that your house is a ˜set on a stage of that play.  We would need to ˜Stage your house for the audience - potential buyers - who will be coming through to see it.

The seller would be a producer because the seller owns the home.  The Realtor would be the director since she will set the scene for how each room should look, with the help of a stager, to ensure a ˜sellout performance, i.e. buyers coming through to look at the house.  And, there would be critics - yes - critics!  Who are the critics?  The critics are the other Real Estate Agents who will decide whether or not to bring their clients to see the house.  They will also spread the word about the house to the rest of the agents that didnt get to see it themselves.

I have staged quite a few homes since the time I met Barbara.  Some homes were staged by myself and others with an Accredited Staging Professional. 

Let me tell you - Staging works!!!  Its that simple.

Of course, Staging works in concert with the Pricing of the home.  But, with everything being equal, a home that is priced right and staged will sell quicker and for more money than a home that has not been staged!

Stay tuned for my next post where I will show you some statistics and provide you with some specific staging ideas.

In the meantime, if you would like to see some before and after pictures, please visit my Staging Show by clicking Play the Show button below.