We’ve all been there. We call a realtor, they come to the house and most times the first thing they will say is; we should “Stage the home.” If you think about it that is just a nice way of saying we need to clear some of this clutter. You may have too much furniture or your closet doors are busting at the jamb. Maybe the kid’s toys are all over every room in the house? Don’t get me wrong, the house should look lived in. But on the other hand it should not look like a tornado just passed through.
When my wife and I decided to move from our first home on Birch Street, in the City of Reading, we did the same thing. The house was only 12 feet wide, with three floors and a basement. It was all we could afford at the time. The realtor told us to remove some furniture. So we rented a storage unit for overflow furniture and other things to make the home “APPEAR” larger. Did I mention how small that row home was on Birch Street?
During the listing of our home, we looked at many homes outside of the city. When we saw the one we finally bought, I said; “No way! Look at all this stuff.” (Stuff may not have been the word I used) In which my wife replied; “Just picture all of our stuff in here.” (She may not have used “stuff” either) I guess she had more vision than I did. As soon as she told me that, I looked around the house again and thought; she was right. This home was built in the early 50’s. The owner lived in it from day one as did our wonderful future neighbor Bob. The seller actually had not been living in the home for over 3 years. He lived with his girlfriend in Kenhorst or Mohnton. We made an offer and lived in that home for over 18 years. In fact, I often said it was the home I would die in. I really did love it there. Had he “Staged” the home we may never had been able to buy that house. It for sure would have gone to someone without the vision of my beautiful wife.
We have since moved to another home just up the road from our second home. When we listed the home we hired our friend George to put it on the market for us. Guess what he said? We luckily now own DAK Self Storage. After staging the house it actually sold after only two or three showings. We moved to our new home in May of 2007 and I still have “stuff” stored at DAK Self Storage. If we ever move again, I won’t have to “Stage” the home.
Has anyone else gone through this?