Staging: The most significant action a home seller can take

Marina and Daniel Ein acquired an extraordinary collection of Oriental rugs, antiques and art over a lifetime of travel. When it came time to sell their 5,500-square-foot house in the District of Columbia, they assumed the furnishings would add to the appeal.

“Our house was on the market for a year and a half, and we had no offers,” Marina Ein said.

They turned to their friend, Theo Adamstein, a real estate agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty who also has a background in architecture, design and photography.

“It took him to tell us the house was not going to sell as is,” Ein said.

Adamstein knew immediately what needed to be done. They needed to stage their house.

“I walked in and said, ‘We have to get rid of the furniture, take the paintings down and repaint,’ ” Adamstein said. “We actually fought a bit. I told them what they thought about their house didn’t really matter because prospective buyers wouldn’t think so.”

Sellers have mixed feelings about staging. On the one hand, they want the best price possible for their home. On the other, they think their home is beautiful as is. It is often left to the real estate agent to help them understand that the best way to market their listing is to remove the things that make it their home and add the things that turn it into a buyer’s home. The National Association of Realtors estimates that for every $100 spent on staging a home, a seller can potentially recoup $400.

“When the front door opens, people walk in and say, ‘Oh this looks great.’ They’re responding to the lighting, well-placed furniture and objects in place. That’s what staging does,” Adamstein said. “They don’t consciously think that they won’t get any of those things. They say, ‘Oh my God, look at this beautiful lamp or coffee table.’ It’s the overall impression that sells the property.”

The two instances when staging makes the most sense are an empty home and a cluttered home. Few buyers can envision the space in a room without furnishings. Will a king bed fit in a bedroom? What size table fits in the dining room? Can a sectional fit in the family room? Furniture helps a buyer imagine which of his possessions will work in the new house.

Clutter hides a home’s potential.

“People have way too much stuff, yet advice to declutter can be taken heavily,” said Catarina Bannier, an agent with Compass. “Agents have to be brutally honest.”

Bannier had a client who had lived in her home for 45 years. The walls were olive and orange. The dining room wallpaper had brown and green flowers with gold accents.

“I gently suggested ways to make the house more attractive,” Bannier said. “She refused. We talked several times. She wouldn’t make any changes. We couldn’t get anywhere. I finally said, ‘I can’t sell your house,’ and I walked away.”

Several weeks later, Bannier offered her a compromise: Move out and then she would sell it. The woman agreed. Bannier emptied the house, painted it and added new furnishings.

“It went on the market, three offers came in, and it sold,” Bannier said.

The woman never returned. She told Bannier that it wasn’t her house anymore.

“But she sent her children a link to the online photos and a son told her it looked grand, he’d buy it,” Bannier said. “She said that was the moment she understood why we were doing all this.”

Larry Bivins, an agent with Long and Foster, will stage houses at all price points, not just high-end listings.

“If a seller can afford to hire a professional stager, then even a $200,000 condo or house could benefit” from staging, Bivins said. “In fact, [lower-priced] properties probably would benefit even more from professional staging than, say, a newly renovated, freshly painted, vacant single-family home.”

Bivins also will stage distressed properties such as short sales, foreclosures and fixer-uppers.

Holly Theis, a senior project manager with Red House Staging and Interiors, has a 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Hyattsville, Md., stocked with furniture, decorative decor, rugs and artwork. She views each property individually before deciding what to use.

“I let the house and neighborhood dictate the style,” Theis said.

Theis brainstorms ideas with the listing agent, who often has a certain look in mind.

“It’s a collaborative effort,” she said.