The home's a stage: How to make it look bigger, sell faster
Saturday, June 10, 2006

Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Nanette Catarinella, center, of Room Styles Interiors points out to her nephew Anthony Wincko and her student Priscilla Sibis the changes she made in a Wilkinsburg house before it went up for sale.

Most home sellers realize their houses need to be in tiptop shape if they expect to make a quick sale. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

There's a big difference, however, between slapping a quick coat of paint on scuffed walls and actually looking at your home through a buyer's eyes.

That's because most prospective home buyers have trouble visualizing themselves living in the houses they look at, especially when the spaces are cluttered and/or decorated to suit someone else's personal style. That's where Nanette Catarinella comes in. She is the owner of Room Styles Interiors, a decorating and consulting service that specializes in real estate staging.

What helps to sell a home quickly and for top dollar, she says, is knowing how to accentuate its best features and downplay its flaws. It's all about understanding the psychology of what makes a buyer fall in love with a house.

"You need to downplay the homeowner's personality and neutralize the decor," Ms. Catarinella says.

Sometimes called "fluffing" or "propping," staging is the art of preparing a house for sale. Sometimes it's as simple as clearing out the clutter, cleaning the carpets and adding a few decorative touches.

"How we live in a home and how we sell a house are two distinct things," says Ms. Catarinella, who also teaches a three-day staging course for Realtors and decorators.

Staging is not really new; for years, good Realtors have instructed their clients to declutter and clean their homes. But staging as a separate service has really come into its own in the past few years.

According to statistics compiled by StagedHomes.com, houses staged by a professional were on the market an average of 11 days, while their unstaged counterparts lasted 22 days on average. Staged homes also sold for nearly 7 percent more than unstaged ones on average.

Barb Schwarz -- who pioneered the concept of staging in the mid-1980s and created the StagedHomes Web site -- has written a new book, "Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money" ($19.95, Wiley & Sons). In it, the Concord, Calif., woman advises home sellers to first write an "ad" that points out their house's best architectural features: high ceilings, park-like setting, massive stone fireplace, etc. With that in hand, sellers can stage the house to play up the things that make it unique.

Buyers, she notes, are impressed by space and light and disappointed by cramped or too-small spaces. Living and dining rooms, in particular, usually contain too many chairs. In addition, too many heavy pieces of furniture make a room look and feel "crowded" to a buyer.

"Taking things away is an important part of staging," she writes. "It opens up the house."

Ms. Catarinella, an interior decorator and real estate agent who has staged more than 100 homes over a 25-year career, agrees that sellers need to come up with a plan before they put a house on the market, actually, before they even meet with a Realtor.

"You want to open your buyers' eyes to the possibility," she says.

Minor cosmetic updating, such as painting, wallpaper removal and new lighting fixtures might be in order. This is no time for a major remodel, she says, unless there are structural or mechanical problems that might keep a house from passing a home inspection.

Ms. Catarinella charges $175-$250 per hour for the initial consultation (which comes with a list of recommendations), plus $75-$100 per hour for staging.

To justify those fees, she relates several success stories, including one recent job: A house she recently worked on in Squirrel Hill sold within 24 hours of being staged, for several thousand dollars more than the asking price.

Shelly Fuerte, who works for the Pittsburgh Symphony, is hoping for similar results. Last month, after learning she would be relocating to San Diego, she hired Ms. Catarinella to evaluate the three-bedroom Colonial she shares with husband Art in the Blackridge section of Wilkinsburg. While their home was in good shape overall, the couple couldn't agree on what to fix up or move around.

"I really wanted an objective opinion, someone who could say, 'Look, this what you need to do,' " she says.

Ms. Catarinella's list of suggested improvements ended up being fairly exhaustive, so much so that it took the couple three weeks to work through it. Along with cleaning out the sun porch, removing the too-small window boxes, and adding some landscaping, she suggested painting the kitchen, completely clearing off the counters, packing away all of their family photos, and decluttering the dining room table, which had become a catch-all for all kinds of items. To suggest more space, she also had them replace the king-sized bed in the master bedroom with the queen from the guest room, take leaves out of the dining room table and remove chairs.

The changes, which ended up costing the couple about $200 plus some sweat equity, transformed the house, which is now listed by RE/MAX Heritage for $129,900.

It might look a little sparse for everyday living, but that's exactly the point. Potential buyers, says Ms. Fuerte, can now visualize where their stuff would go.

"It made a huge difference," she says. "It's exactly what we needed to do."

But doesn't she miss having her things around her? Not really.

"It feels good to come home to everything clean and clear," she says.

Stages of staging

Clear it. Get rid of all the knickknacks, books, family pictures, collections and most of the artwork. And remember, no room is off-limits. Closets, bathrooms, kitchen -- all are full of unused "stuff."

Pack it. Put away extra items like out-of-season clothing, extra linens and small appliances. Stack boxes neatly in an unobtrusive spot, such as the garage. Keep only enough furniture to enhance the space and show how the rooms can be used. You want buyers to see the fireplace, not the sofa, and the view, not the big-screen TV.

Clean it. We're not just talking vacuuming and making the beds. Use a toothbrush to scrub the grout between tiles, pressure-wash the deck, professionally clean and deodorize the carpets. A home that is clean conveys the message it's been well-cared for.

Fix it. Squeaky doors and leaky faucets aren't just annoying, they'll make a buyer wonder what other major repairs have been neglected. If something can't be cleaned, paint it. If it cannot be repaired, replace it.

Enhance it. Arrange furniture so that it highlights a natural or architectural focal point, such as a picture window or fireplace. Complete the look on tables by artfully placing a few accessory items of varying heights -- a pot of flowers, a decorative bowl.

Outside, trim tall bushes and overgrown trees and add a few colorful plantings. Dress up the front door with a fresh coat of paint and seasonal wreath.

-- Nanette Catarinella, Room Styles Interiors

(Gretchen McKay can be reached at gmckay@post-gazette.com or 412-761-4670. )