 When it comes to staging houses for real estate in the Memphis metro area, there are lots of strategies and ideas that can help sellers get their homes sold quickly and for their best terms. If your neighborhood is in Germantown, Collierville, Arlington, or any of the other surrounding suburbs, then you are lucky to be able to work with one of the best luxury home staging companies in the regional south. Heidi Ross Design is the go-to for making your home shine on the real estate home sales market. Although the details of selling your home might be overwhelming, especially as you pack, prepare for your move, and deal with selling your current one; your primary focus at hand is giving your real estate sales professional the best opportunity to sell your home.
But while there are lots of tips for getting your home ready to show, there are some tried-and-true methods that will grab the attention of potential buyers. Attention grabbers are the secret sauce that create an atmosphere that will help buyers form an emotional connection. Emotional connection is what makes our world go round…they sustain relationships and drive us to do the things that we do every day. We spend time and energy going here and there in a quest for happiness, creating a life for ourselves and our families. Finding appropriate attention grabbers that will appeal to your buyers are the specialty of Heidi Ross Design. Sometimes identifying the secret sauce is as obscure as finding a needle in a haystack…like finding a secret gem that will make your home stand out from the rest. Or they can be up front and in your face. Other times they need to be calmed down and tamed a bit to make them easy, soft, and palatable to the buyer; (especially if it is a negative feature that needs to be dealt with like a “bad location” or “outdated color scheme”). Translating all the variables that come with the physical home itself, combined with the location, and the feel of the neighborhood, into a true sales winning gem is the power of the Heidi Ross “secret sauce”! You want your home to shine and stand out from the rest…you want it to grab the attention of potential buyers. You also want it to have some special features that serve as talking points for your real estate sales professional. And most importantly, you want it to have that secret sauce that makes a buyer melt with ease, comfort, peace, and some measure of serenity. These combined are what urge a buyer to purchase your home. Here, we’ll break down some of these strategies that Heidi Ross Design uses to help get a home market ready and how this will help you sell your home fast. #1: Clean, Clean, Clean Cooler days call for clean, cozy spaces to call home. All year round, buyers respond well to clean, well-cared for homes. Declutter vigorously, and pack away some items to store for your new home. Ensure that floors, floorboards, carpets, cabinets, and every other inch of your home is spotlessly clean—think vents, fan blades, and hardware in addition to big features. Clean carpets, too, and ensure that you remove pet hair. Fall might mean more mud and debris coming into your home, especially with falling leaves and wet weather outside. Make sure to keep your porch or steps clean too, and pay special attention to baseboards and wainscoting when cleaning heavily-trafficked areas in your home—like the mudroom, hall, or kitchen. Keep up with this cleaning regimen, too. Put daily clutter like keys, shoes, and kids’ backpacks out of sight, and make sure not to leave dishes in the sink or crumbs on the counter. This is especially important when staging a bathroom for sale, or staging a bedroom—especially staging a small bedroom. Put laundry and toiletries away and out of sight, and make sure you keep surfaces clean. #2: Ensure your space is bright Buyers love an airy, well-lit space with natural light. With darker, shorter days on their way, you might need to supplement your home’s natural lighting with some well-chosen lamps or light fixtures. Setting these on timers can make sure that they’re all on and ready to create a well-lit home for showings. Strategically placed mirrors can help rooms to feel brighter, too. By reflecting light and showing different angles, they can drastically change the feel of a room. Not only do they make the space feel brighter, but they can make it feel larger—up to twice the size—and more open, too. A mirror can help potential buyers to imagine themselves in the space. Even better? A warmly lit indoor space with wax or LED candles and votives can create a feeling of calm and coziness for a potential buyer as they arrive—boosting your curb appeal, too. #3: Keep Holiday Decor to a Minimum When it comes to curb appeal, remember that feeling of welcoming calm. While holiday decorations, like those for Halloween, are very popular for many people this time of year, those can create the wrong impression for the potential buyers, whose taste might not align with yours. Keep decorations to a minimum, and ensure that you keep up with yard work—like raking leaves and picking up fallen twigs—to ensure that buyers see a well-cared for space that can fit with their own style. Keep holiday decorations to a minimum indoors, too. A well-chosen wreath or some warm-toned accessories (like throws, pillows, or accessories) will help to reflect the season while also allowing buyers to imagine their own belongings and lives in the space. And think twice before using seasonal scent sprays (ex. cinnamon-apple) — while these might create a strong aroma, it might end up distracting your buyers. Fresh air, or light, natural scents, are better choices to create the mood of the season such as jasmine or eucalyptus #4: Work with a Professional Home Stager There’s more to home staging than arranging your furniture. A professional home stager can work with your real estate sales professional and help you deliver things necessary for a home sale marketing plan. This means tailoring your home to your target market and staying by your side to guide you throughout the process. If you’re wondering “where can I find home staging near me?” or looking for local home stagers in the Greater Memphis area – including Collierville, Germantown, Hernando, and Olive Branch—turn to Heidi Ross Design. Our pro team is here to help you get your luxury home sold fast and for your best sale terms. Ready to get started? Call Heidi Ross Design at (901) 361-7419 to speak to a Best of Houzz award-winning team member, or use our online tool for a FREE quote. We’re here to help you from start to finish. Additional value added information can be found in our free FAQ section and online article library. Heidi Ross Design - home staging every step of the way, to get your best sale today! **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.
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 Heidi Ross Design, the premier home staging agency for luxury homes in Memphis, Germantown, Collierville and the surrounding area, knows the in’s and out’s of staging to get your home sold! While staging might seem like a simple matter of bringing furniture and accessories into a space, there’s more to it than a simple arrangement of furniture. Like with other things in life, it’s important to make sure your home looks its very best, and more importantly….make sure you don’t lose a potential buyer’s interest—or scare buyers off.
So what are some of those things to avoid when staging a home? Here, we’ll break down some of the big buyer turn-offs to avoid when staging, and let you know how professional staging helps get a home sold. 1. Don’t expect home staging to work miracles One important thing to remember is that home staging isn’t about concealing issues with your home or misleading buyers. All homes usually have at least a few maintenance issues that need to be addressed. A professional home stager will work with you on what repairs should be prioritized depending on the repairs you are willing and able to make, and will work out a plan to highlight your home’s best features depending on this selection. 2. Don’t leave clutter in place While lots of people stage and sell their houses while still living in them, you’ll need to pare down before staging for sale. A home that’s crowded with clutter and personal items can prevent buyers from seeing their own lives situated in the space, which can make it hard for them to make the emotional connection to a house that leads to a sale. For example, in a bedroom, staging might involve removing personal or intimate photos or paintings and clearing the closet, taking down heavy drapes, and removing extra furniture that is used in normal everyday life. Reducing the amount of items in your home can create an airy, open feeling that appeals to buyers. It also creates a neutral feeling that will help to appeal to a wider range in your target market. 3. Don’t leave your house too empty A vacant or sparse house doesn’t have the clutter problem, but can pose its own issues. A cavernous, empty space can be off-putting to buyers, and might leave them unsure about how to use some areas of the home. For a buyer to purchase a home, the home needs to make sense to them. Choosing strategic rooms to stage can help buyers envision themselves living there, and this is what helps get a home sold quickly. There’s more to this than furniture, too—using enough lighting and a few well-chosen accessories can help reach your potential buyer. Heidi Ross Design staging services strikes the right balance between a house that is open and inviting, but with just enough luxurious furnishings to make you never want to leave. 4. Don’t let mess creep in When staging your home, it needs to be spotless. A deep cleaning before is a good step, but it also requires thorough maintenance and discipline. Putting away day-to-day items like purses, backpacks, keys and wallets while keeping the kitchen sink clear of dirty dishes are important maintenance tasks. When staging a bathroom for sale, for example, don’t leave your toothbrush, toothpaste, and towel in sight. Hiring a temporary weekly or bi-weekly cleaning service can also be a big time saver when you have your house listed for sale. A clean, fresh-smelling home can go a long way to attracting a buyer. If your paint or carpet are too worn to look really clean, a professional stager will advise steps to take—like a fresh coat of paint—to make sure that the space is ready for staging before you get started. 5. Don’t list too early Working with a Heidi Ross Design professional is essential to staging your home successfully. DIY staging and poorly lit photos for internet listings can easily scare off potential buyers, so make sure to find a trusted pro to work with before you take steps on your own, and avoid the risk of making a bad first impression. How can Heidi Ross Design help with staging my house for sale? At Heidi Ross Design, our local home staging team works with real estate professionals and their home selling clients in the Memphis Metro Area, Olive Branch, Germantown, Collierville, and Arlington. We practice the key principles of interior design and professional home staging that will bring in buyers so that the real estate sales professional and homeowner can easily and quickly get the home sold for the best terms possible. We’re proud of the work we’ve done for our homeowner clients—and they’ve honored us with a Best Of Houzz 2022 Award for our team’s work. Staging is more than just arranging accessories—it’s a full process of planning, photography, marketing, education, and more. We’re here with you through the whole process. To make sure that you always know what to do and how we’re working for you, we even offer a FREE quote to ensure that you know how the home staging process works and see if our services are right for you. When you’re ready to start the home sale process (staging for sale near me) take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions or call Heidi Ross Design at (901) 361-7419 or use our online contact form. Additional value added information can be found in our free online article library. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  Home staging with Heidi Ross Design in Memphis, Tennessee and the greater Metro Area, is a little bit like making a showroom display where you get ready to present something specific to a general group of people. Imagine walking into a furniture store, and seeing some floor model displays arranged like they’re part of a home. Maybe the display shows how a desk could be used as the solid centerpiece of a home office, or how a chair in a trendy color could be a great addition to a teen’s room. These displays help show a person the attributes of the furniture, to help them imagine themselves with that piece as part of their own furniture arrangement. What is important in home staging, is that your home appeals to the people who potentially want to buy a home in your location. These people are called your target buyers.
Home staging is similar—though might also be created using some of your own possessions. Like a showroom display, staging shows a potential buyer how a space could be used by them. A professional stager might create a reading nook in an otherwise-awkward living room space to help the buyer imagine possibilities, and to demonstrate that the space isn’t wasted. But as Heidi Ross Design staging creates the plan for your space, one of the big questions is: who is the actual target buyer that the home is being staged for and why is this important? When staging, one of the most important factors to keep in mind is your target market. Your target market, when selling a home, represents the general characteristics of the kind of buyer who will realistically buy your home. For example, a home in a neighborhood full of first-time homebuyers is more likely to attract younger single people, young couples, or even young families. While they may be making enough money to buy a house, they likely aren’t at the peak of their careers yet, and may not plan to stay in the house forever—instead, they may want a financially frugal “starter home”, and be drawn to areas with good schools, fun activities, with more people their own age. A home that’s more expensive with a 2-4 car garage, not in need of updates or repairs, and in an older and more established neighborhood with mid to later career working professionals and empty nesters will appeal to a particular target market, with specific needs. Knowing the target market for the sale of your home, is what a professional home stager helps determine. How to arrange the “showroom display” or staging, so that it helps your target buyers see their own lifestyle being lived in the space is what helps sell a home quickly. So for example, if a home is for sale in a neighborhood that’s full of young families, it might make sense to stage an extra room as a nursery with a guest bed, while in a neighborhood full of empty-nesters, it might make more sense to show that room as a library, craft room, or office. Knowing the target market helps guide Heidi Ross Design make almost every decision in home staging. Living room spaces can be arranged to help a buyer imagine having friends over for a party, or to help them envision a quiet dinner gathering. While the stager will often recommend removing personal items, decluttering, and using a neutral palette, a room will tell different stories when arranged and decorated differently. Knowing which stories to tell, is the magic behind Heidi Ross home staging and design services, when helping clients get their homes sold! In Staging luxury homes, Heidi Ross Design evaluates information given by real estate sales professionals and is careful to elevate features that support and emphasize the elegance and luxury of both indoor and outdoor space. Focus on the target market buyer will also be taken into consideration as well as the home's floor plan, sales price, and location. With all of this information at hand, staging is done so that it will support all of these factors and variables . When staging a kitchen in a luxury home, the stager may emphasize the beauty of natural stone, or the convenience of upscale and specialty appliances. The same goes for staging a bathroom for sale--emphasizing the luxury of a space is the focus in this type of house. That’s another example of why identifying the target market buyer matters so much—a “project house” geared towards first-time buyers or those wanting to exchange sweat equity for cash will also have a kitchen and bathroom, but may emphasize the utility of a space with minimal modern kitchen staging, or the potential for multi-purpose spaces when staging a small kitchen with a simple eat-in dinette set consisting of a small table and two cafe chairs. Staging is a way of helping potential buyers from within your target market imagine themselves and their lifestyle working in the space. Helping them to create an emotional connection to a home will help inspire them to make the decision and buy the house—and help you get your best terms from the sale. At Heidi Ross Design, our mission is to help maximize your profit when it comes to selling your home. We provide luxury home sale staging and design services in Germantown, Collierville, Memphis, and the greater Memphis metro area. We’re more than just a staging company—we work in collaboration with your real estate professional to get your home ready to be sold! Our clients are satisfied with what we’ve done, too—our Best of Houzz 2022 Award is proof of this. Best of all? We offer a non-binding and free quote describing our consultation process, so that you can decide if the value of our services are right for you. Statistics show homes that are staged for the sale market, sell faster and for more money than those that are not. When you’re ready to sell your home or start working with a real estate professional to sell your home, simply call Heidi Ross Design at (901) 361-7419 to speak with a team member or use our online contact form. Additional value added information can be found in our free FAQ section and online article library. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  Warm weather in the mid-South signals more than the beginning of summer—the rising temperatures are ushering in the home sale season. The time of year when many people who plan to buy or sell homes, contact their trusted real estate professional in the greater Memphis metro area, Germantown, Collierville, and Arlington. If you’re planning to sell your home, you’re probably deep in the consultation process with Heidi Ross Design, to get your home ready to be sold; cleaning, making repairs, and packing up what isn't needed.
Personal cleaning, repairing, and packing might be taking place primarily inside your home. But when it comes to listing, curb appeal has a major effect on potential buyers. You may have heard the phrase, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but this is exactly what buyers do when looking for a new home. That’s because curb appeal is more than just a trigger for whether a buyer looks at a house and likes it—it’s about whether the exterior of the house inspires confidence, makes them believe that the home is well cared for, and entices them to look further to see if the home will suit their priorities and lifestyle needs. Just think about the times you’ve judged a book by its cover. A dated or worn cover won’t inspire you to read the book—you simply won’t want to spend time with it. But you also might encounter a book with a fantastic cover—but one that suggests a genre you simply aren’t interested in reading. Curb appeal isn’t universal—the outside of your house tells a specific story, and needs to reach your target audience, calling in the buyers likely to come to your area and want your type of home. If the outside of a home doesn’t promote the buyer to start forming an emotional connection to the house, they might not even look at the listing photos or schedule a showing to see the home further. When you’re working with Heidi Ross Design, a professional staging company serving the greater Memphis metro area, they have experience staging houses for real estate sales. A professional stager will assess your home and make recommendations for projects to complete before listing your home with a real estate sales professional. These projects might very well include the outside curb appeal of your house. When you work with Heidi Ross Design, we will assess the features your target buyers are looking for, and the ones that will make your property stand out in your location and neighborhood. What can amp up your curb appeal? Just about anything…fresh plants, mulch and flowers, a new mailbox or front door. Because markets differ based on region, season, and location, there aren’t any rigid or steadfast rules about curb appeal; other than generally speaking, the house and yard must look neat, clean, and well-tended. This alone will go a long way towards inspiring confidence and getting some sales traffic. Some of the most common projects recommended by professional stagers are, a fresh coat of paint on the door, a new walkway, some planters or a seasonal wreath, new entry or walkway lighting, or other necessary updates that will make the street view and entrance of your home look welcoming, friendly, and appealing, to a buyer. Common projects can be small, like pressure-washing surfaces, or larger, like repairing damaged stucco. DIY staging might seem like a good idea as you consider these kinds of projects—after all, you might consider yourself “handy” and like to keep your home and yard looking nice already. It’s only normal to consider whether or not you can afford the expense of professional staging prices. But a DIY staging cost can run much higher in the long-term if the improvement projects are not chosen wisely. It can result in your home sitting on the market longer or worse, not getting your best sale terms. A Heidi Ross Design professional stager has the experience to know what potential buyers like and need, and keep an eye on trends to make sure that your home appeals to your best target market. Good staging is like a great book cover; a great book cover will appeal to the kind of reader interested in the book’s content, and will help them form an emotional connection that makes them want to read on. Likewise, great staging draws a potential buyer in, making them stop and look at listing photos, compelling them to gather additional information from the real estate agent or possibly drive by the home to see it for themselves before scheduling a home tour. Curb appeal can’t totally change a space—for example, when staging a small house, curb appeal can’t make it work for a buyer only interested in one that is much larger—but, like a great book cover, can highlight the fantastic features for those who are looking for one that has the same size as your square footage. At Heidi Ross Design, our Best of Houzz award-winning team helps clients in the greater mid-South—including Millington, Lakeland, and Olive Branch—stage and sell their luxury homes. Best of all? We offer a FREE QUOTE so you can see how our staging and marketing package will help you sell your home. Call Heidi Ross Design at (901) 361-7419 or use our online free quote tool today. Additional value added information can be found in our free FAQ section and online article library. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  Home staging often brings up images of a stager totally stripping a house and reimagining it with different furniture and accessories. Many homeowners trying to sell might be intimidated by this idea—after all, many people are still living in their home until it’s sold. It also might be stressful to imagine paying for and moving all of your possessions and furniture to a storage unit while you wait to sell yours and move into a new house. Heidi Ross Design and Luxury Home Staging, serving the Memphis Metro Area, Germantown, Collierville, Arlington, and North Mississippi, takes this question seriously.
Many people are surprised to learn about occupied home staging; something that Heidi Ross Design and Staging, specialize in offering to their clients. Stagers don’t actually need a totally empty house to work with—in fact, when staging an occupied home, stagers might use the owners own furnishings to achieve a look that flows within the current space and will appeal to many buyers. Here, we’ll break down this process, and let you know how Heidi Ross Design offers the valuable service of occupied home staging. What exactly is occupied home staging? Occupied home staging is exactly what it sounds like—a stager arranges your home to appeal to potential buyers while you’re still living in it. This doesn’t mean that once your home is immaculately clean, it’s ready to be listed, though. While a stager may use your items, staging a house usually involves some paring down and rearranging. Some of your items might be placed in storage, for example, or a stager might bring in a few accessories to supplement or replace yours. This is because home staging isn’t about showing off your home as it currently is—it’s about helping potential buyers form an emotional connection to the house. When buyers can see themselves and their lives being lived in the space, it helps them form that emotional connection that can trigger a decision to make an offer to buy your home. Achieving that look might mean paring down very personal touches that can distract potential buyers, or selecting to use specific furnishings that show off a room’s best features. For example, when staging a small house, a stager might want to remove your very large and especially broken-in comfortable sofa, and trade it out for a smaller one that makes the space feel airy and open. That’s because in home staging, living room spaces are often one of the first things buyers see, and making sure that they see a space’s potential is important. A large, out-of-scale piece of furniture might make a room seem smaller, especially if potential buyers have to pick their way around furniture and furnishings, just to walk through. All of these variables can change the perception of a space. Your furniture and décor can also be used to its advantage. Shifting the placement of furniture and collections, or strategically paring down a love for 20 beloved collectable clocks around your home, to just a special 4 or 5, can help your home achieve the look that helps buyers fall in love with (and your clock collection too), even while you’re still living there. Many homes are sold this way—it just takes flexibility and patience as you keep your home in top-notch condition for showings. If a stager uses my items, why shouldn’t I go for DIY staging instead? When staging houses for real estate, a Heidi Ross Design professional stager puts more than design knowledge to work. A professional stager keeps an eye on market trends and what buyers want, while also doing their part working with the professional real estate broker that is listing and selling the home. The two will work together to make sure the real estate brokers planning and marketing strategy is effective, to get your home sold with the best offer. A Heidi Ross Design stager knows what trends will appeal to your target audience, and has the experience to know what works—something that many homeowners don’t have experience with. Arranging a beautiful home exactly to your liking is one thing, but arranging a home so that many people can envision their own lives being lived in it, is another. Where can I find home staging near me? At Heidi Ross Design, the team puts our training and experience to work for our clients. We help homeowners and work with their real estate brokers in the Memphis area—including Cordova, Germantown, Olive Branch, and Hernando—sell their luxury homes for their best terms. We’ve even been awarded the Best of Houzz 2022 Award—we take pride in making your experience a great one for everyone involved. Heidi Ross—owner and lead stager at Heidi Ross Design—has a RESA-Pro certification from the Real Estate Staging Association, and is a Certified Professional Real Estate Stager. These certifications keep home staging and market knowledge up-to-date, which means that we have the knowledge and experience to make your sale the best it can be. Even better? We offer a FREE quote, so you know what to expect when you work with us. We stick with you throughout the process, from quote to closing. Visit our website FAQ page or call Heidi Ross Design (901) 361-7419 today. Additional value added information can be found in our free online article library. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  With flowers starting to show their color and spring 2022 well on its way in the Mid-South, those who are planning a move in the summer months might be starting to declutter and clean even more thoroughly than just a regular spring cleaning. That’s because a spotless home that has been professionally staged and also looks spacious and well cared for, can be easier for your real estate professional to sell. It can also help your real estate professional secure the sale of your dreams so that you are free to quickly and easily go onto the next chapter in your life.
At Heidi Ross Design, Ms. Ross—our lead designer and stager—spends a lot of time educating clients to help them prepare their home to be listed with their real estate professional. Her advice on ensuring that worn items aren’t devaluing the home, and on the importance of decluttering before listing, can be essential in helping make a sale—and can illustrate one of the main reasons that it’s important to begin to work with a professional stager now, before the time for your move sneaks up on you. It might be tempting to consider DIY staging at this point in the process, using online resources like Home Staging For Dummies or taking inspiration from images on Pinterest. As you look into the costs of a new home, movers, and other expenses, you might wonder ‘why do I need to hire someone just to help me stage my house for sale? Sure enough, this is something that needs to be seriously considered! If you’ve decluttered and cleaned, your home might look great to you—and it probably does look new and improved compared to what it was before…but a home that’s listed for sale has to appeal to a wide range of buyers, with many different senses of style. It has to appear clean, neutral, and roomy—DIY staging rarely hits the mark to accomplish this. And if you find that your DIY staging has not helped you successfully sell your home during the first part of the summer, it might be harder to find a stager with availability during peak moving season—leaving you possibly having to lower your price, struggling with the dates you need to move, and generally be in a less-than-ideal situation. But with an experienced and knowledgeable professional stager by your side, you can rest assured that in everything from kitchen to bedroom staging, your home will be appealing to buyers with different tastes, helping them to make the emotional connection with your home that results in a speedy sale. It might sound like a stager is someone you only need at the end of the process—after all, a home isn’t staged months in advance. But if you’re planning a summer move, this is the perfect time to get in touch with a stager—because a home stager is more than a designer, and their skills can be most useful in the early months preparing to list your home with a real estate broker. A professional stager can also help you find contractors and cleaning services as you prepare your space, and can help make sure that the listing photos are high quality giving potential buyer’s a great first impression of the spaces. A marketing plan to get those pictures out there and get buyers to your home is often also a big part of staging. And if staging will require that some of your furniture or belongings go to a storage locker, having that information now will make it easier to locate a space and ensure you have it available down the road. And, even more than that, a professional stager works hard to help you understand the why and how behind everything that goes into getting your home ready for sale. Ms. Ross ensures that clients understand the reasons for what they need to do—including decluttering their homes BEFORE a sale—and also information ranging from why cleaning is so important to how a neutral color profile can help a space to sell. At Heidi Ross Design, education is a big part of what Ms. Ross and the team offer to their clients.. From free staging quotes and educating realtors in the community to making sure that we stay up to date with credentials and current market trends, we’re always looking to learn and grow—and to help our clients do the same. Ready to get started working with a professional stager? We help clients in Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, and the Greater Mid-South prepare luxury homes for the home sale market. Even better? We offer a FREE quote to explain what we do and how we’ll help you, so you know how your time and money will be used yielding optimal sale results. Give Heidi Ross Design, 2022 Houzz Award Winner a call at (901) 361-7419 and let us help guide you through the springtime home sale preparation. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  As the weather warms, it’s the time of year for many people to break out their spring cleaning supplies—and for many others to start cleaning even more earnestly in preparation for a home sale. That’s because of the 40 million people who move each year in the United States, almost 80% move between April and September—with the “peak season” in June, July, and August, when the weather is better and kids are out of school. When taking into account the planning and work that go into a move, spring marks the season to prepare.
Heidi Ross Design’s owner and lead stager, Ms. Heidi Ross, a certified Professional Real Estate Stager, says that “most people think of spring cleaning this time of year, and I’d like to point out and give tips about how to declutter”. Decluttering and paring down can be one of the most important steps when you’re wondering “how can I get started staging my house for sale?” Ms. Ross also says that decluttering can be easily overlooked or undervalued, both of which could make a home sale take longer. Ms. Heidi Ross points out several common things that can slow a sale. One of these is when a seller keeps unwanted items in their attic, closet, or garage. These corners might seem inconspicuous, but potential buyers want to be able to imagine themselves in the space, something that’s easier with clean and open spaces. This is even more important when staging less-than-spacious areas, such as staging a small kitchen—you can show your space to its best advantage by showing ample storage areas and making it easy for the buyer to see their belongings in available spaces. But it’s not just items tucked away in drawers. Ms. Ross adds that “the most dangerous place is when [sellers] keep unwanted items in the living room, bedroom, and other places inside the home in plain sight”. That includes “items that are worn out and have seen better days or are no longer on trend or in style”. In home staging with fireplace features, for example, you want your potential buyers to see the beauty that a hearth has to offer—not the tired-looking sofa next to it. This can be frustrating for sellers, especially if that sofa was expensive years ago—another common move that many homeowners make. But Ms. Ross says that “just because it was expensive in the past does it mean it is adding value to the home today”. Adding that, “I often tell clients if it’s not valuable to you right now, it’s probably not ADDING value to the home and is often de-valuing the home”. This means that items “like furniture, accessories, or decorative items that are intended to be donated, sold, or trashed when the move happens should be eliminated BEFORE the house goes on the market, not after it is sold”. So when you’re working on that spring cleaning, declutter and clear away the items that you know won’t come with you when you move—and then start to pare down and store some of the pieces that will come with you. Even making lists of items that will stay and that will eventually be stored can help you to envision your space and get a jump start on moving. Clearing away those items can also help you to see your home through a buyer’s eyes—including which areas need even more attention as you begin a floor-to-ceiling cleaning to get your home sparkling fresh and clean in preparation for staging. Ms. Ross says a thorough cleaning is just as important as any home stage design that you do. Modern kitchen staging—whether with light-colored cabinets or a corner highlighted as a home bar or casual eating spot—isn’t much use if potential buyers come away with the feeling that a space is dirty, worn, tired, or cramped—feelings that can arise if they notice dust, stains, or clutter. Another step to take in the spring? Find a professional real estate agent and home stager to work with so that they can help you make a plan for the home sale road ahead. While a real estate agent will guide you through the sale of your home, a professional stager will guide you through the process of home staging—from initial decluttering to needed repairs, photo staging, open house staging, and more. A stager can also educate you on what you need to know about staging to help position your home to achieve its best sale opportunities. At Heidi Ross Design, we help clients in the greater Memphis Metro Area as well as Germantown, Collierville and Collierville stage their luxury homes to achieve their best sale. To help you as you embark on your season of preparation, we offer a free quote—you can find out more about how we’ll work with you, all while being commitment free to help you make the most informed decision possible. Visit our website FAQ page or call Heidi Ross Design (901) 361-7419 today. Additional value added information can be found in our free online article library. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  At Heidi Ross Design, our team specializes in staging luxury homes for sale—but there’s more to what we do than correct color schemes and arrange furniture and accessories to highlight your home’s best features. From keeping an eye on trends to provide the best marketing package for buyers, to educating stagers and agents in the Memphis area, we strive to put our experience to work for our clients, so they can get the best sale terms to fit their needs.
Our team works hard for clients in the greater Memphis Metro Area including Germantown, Colleirville, and Lakeland, and we’re honored to have our work recognized by the Best of Houzz Award for 2022. This award means that we’re rated at the highest level of client satisfaction based on a variety of categories that reflect the work we do. Many sellers—rightfully so!—have questions about the professionals they work with, and here, we’ll break down what this award can tell you about Heidi Ross Design. We’ll also let you know how you can get started working with us. What exactly is Houzz? Houzz is a website designed to help connect homeowners to the professionals they need—whether they’re looking for home stagers, renovators, landscapers, or other home oriented professionals. The site is a major player in helping clients and pros find each other—after all, it can be very overwhelming to locate the best people in your area to help you. Recommendations from friends or Google searches can be helpful, but Houzz offers reviews, photos, contact information, and more. But Houzz can also be overwhelming to navigate, with millions of pros reaching out to millions of potential clients. That’s why the site lets you filter by area—so you can find services near you—and by rating. It’s also why Houzz’s awards matter—these awards help clients to see which professionals do exemplary work, and mark these profiles as top-quality. What is the Best of Houzz Award? The Best of Houzz Award is given yearly to top-rated professionals on the site. The award has three categories—Design, Photography, and Service. The Best of Houzz Service Award—which is what Heidi Ross Design has won every year since 2019—honors pros who have an outstanding record of satisfied client reviews. Professionals from many different home-related fields—like home staging, construction, design, and landscaping—compete for the awards, which are awarded to only an exceptional few. It’s a highly competitive selection process—of 2.5 million professionals on the site, only 3% receive a Houzz Award each year! What does this award tell me about Heidi Ross Design? Clients who post to Houzz rate professionals in three categories—the quality of their work, their communication throughout the process of working with them, and the value of their services. The Best of Houzz Award highlights how Heidi Ross Design’s skill in all of these areas helps our clients to have the best experience possible. When you work with a team that has received this award, you know that you’re getting involved with a highly successful group—not just one that provides great value and quality for your money, but one that will communicate effectively and efficiently with you every step of the way. It’s easy to make promises, but this award lets you know that they’ve held up over the course of time till the completion of services promised since the award is based on reviews of actual clients who reached out to share their experiences. And with the award to back up our claims, you can also read the reviews and see the photos of our past projects showing just some of what we have done for our clients. How can I get started staging my house for sale? At Heidi Ross Design, we help clients in the greater Memphis Metro Area stage their luxury homes for sale. Keeping our eye on the market trends means that we know what current buyers are looking for. We practice strategies and techniques that will showcase your home’s best features—whether we’re staging a small kitchen, staging a small bedroom, or staging a bathroom for sale. Not only are our past clients satisfied with our work, but we understand how difficult it can be for new clients to consider all the factors that go into choosing a home stager—from timelines and needs to staging prices, there are lots of choices to be made. That’s why we offer a FREE quote—commitment-free—to show you the value of our services, and give you all the information you need to make an informed decision. So when you’re ready to get started, give us a call at (901) 361-7419 or use our online contact form to get started today. Additional value-added free information is available at our website online articles link. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  Home staging might seem like a simple process—it’s often thought of as decorating your home to look nice for potential buyers. But savvy sellers, real estate professionals, and professional stagers all know that there’s more to the process than just putting up some stylish accessories—home staging is a process that can begin long before you even start to think about making those strategic decorative choices.
So if you’re wondering where should I start with staging my home for sale, read on—here, we break down a general time frame for the preparation that goes into staging your home for sale, from beginning to end and let you know where we can be found to provide our services to you if you live in the greater Memphis metro-area of Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Cordova, Lakeland, Arlington, Millington, Oakland, Southaven, Olive Branch, and Hernando. As soon as you know it’s time to sell your home~ Once you know that you’re going to be selling your home—even before you hire a real estate agent, look for a new house, or break ground on your first repairs or updates to the home you are selling—there are steps you can take to get your home ready for staging. A thorough purge of clutter will go a long way towards making your home look elegant and welcoming for potential buyers down the road. 3 – 6 months before listing your home for sale~ After you’ve purged some of that clutter, it’s time to look at your home with fresh eyes and see what a buyer might be able to see. Try to see if your landscaping is in need of some TLC, or if there are dated or worn-out fixtures that you’re willing and able to update. If there are big repairs that need to be made—like roof repairs or kitchen renovations—now is the time to schedule those to make sure they get done in plenty of time before your listing goes live. This could be a good time to update your landscaping. Making sure that your house has the curb appeal will help bring potential buyers inside your home. If the outside looks uninviting there isn't much incentive for a buyer to want to go inside. And don’t underestimate small updates—new hardware or a fresh coat of paint on cabinets can go a long way towards setting the groundwork for staging a kitchen down the road. This can also be a good time to contact or research home stagers. While professional stagers may not arrange your house right away, a professional’s guidance on maintenance, cleaning, and repair tasks at this point can help you get things moving quickly down the road. 1 – 2 months before listing ~ Repainting can boost your home’s value—that goes for outdoor paint that makes the home look fresh and new, and indoor paint that can set moods for different spaces. Painting rooms with neutral colors can make the space look fresh and well-cared for and can help to make the home appeal to a wide variety of buyers. This is also a good time to make your plan of attack for deep cleaning your home. A deep clean can add a whopping $2,000 in market value, so this isn’t a time to skimp—make a plan for cleaning everything from baseboards and cabinets to windows and AC units. Hiring a cleaning service can also be a way to make sure you’re hitting all the spots that buyers will see. While you are cleaning, keep reducing the clutter. Taking extra furnishings out of a space and either getting rid of them or moving them to a storage unit can help make your home look larger, cleaner, and brighter—things that buyers are looking for. Several weeks to just-before listing ~ This is the time to make sure your home is the cleanest it has ever been and that it’s pared down to minimum furnishings. The home stager you’re working with can help direct you to last-minute tasks, and can help edit your space down even further in preparation for photos to list online and staging for in-person showings. Make sure your family works out a plan for keeping the space tidy, and be prepared to keep it that way until closing—most stagers recommend keeping the home staged until the last day of ownership. Where can I get help with home staging near me? At Heidi Ross Design, our local home stagers help clients in the Greater Mid-South area sell their luxury homes for their best sale terms—whatever that means for you and your personal sale situation. Staging houses for real estate requires experience and know-how, and we’re here to help provide you with guidance every step of the way—from preparation and education to marketing, staging, and more. Are you looking to sell your home in the near future? We offer a FREE quote! It is commitment-free and designed to make sure you will have all the information you need to make a decision on if home staging is right for you. Give us a call at (901) 361-7419 or use our online FREE quote tool to get started today. Additional value-added free information is available at our website online articles link. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.  At Heidi Ross Design, our team has over seventeen years of experience staging homes to help clients in the Greater Memphis area and the mid-South get their best sale terms for their luxury homes. Home staging is an important part of the sale process, and has been for quite some time—in fact, we’re part of a decades-long industry that helps homeowners in a competitive real estate market. How did home staging become so important in the sale process of a home? Here, we’ll break down how our industry came to be—and how we work to fill a need in the Metro-Memphis area of Germantown, Collierville, and Arlington. Barbara Schwarz and the 1970s Home stage design is sometimes described as “setting the stage” for potential buyers. It might also be described as a performance—like a job interview—that helps buyers see the best features of a home. These metaphors actually connect back to home staging’s history in 1972, when Barbara Schwarz, an interior designer and real estate agent with a background in theater productions, developed a new way of thinking about showing a home for sale. At the time, many sellers cut the grass and kept their homes neat and clean, but didn’t “stage” the property as many people do today. Ms. Schwarz used her background in theater to create a way to help buyers envision themselves in the space and to help them form an emotional connection to a home. These techniques—like arranging bedrooms to show how they can fit a comfortable armchair, or displaying how a small alcove can become a breakfast nook—help buyers to imagine the possibilities of a home. Ms. Schwarz began to teach home staging by developing a professional course and by establishing the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, which provides resources for stagers or those hoping to become certified. Other associations began to develop—like the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)—and in time the field grew exponentially. The Rise of the Internet During the 2000s and the era of the great recession, the real estate market became a buyer’s market. That means that the supply of houses for sale exceeded the demand—a combination of factors that usually drives home prices down. Staging, which had become important for sellers, became even more important as homeowners attempted to get theirs sold and make their homes stand out from their competitors, and demonstrate why they were worth the asking or listed price. The rise of the internet also meant that buyers were able to view houses online before touring. Amature or DIY staging and cell phone photographs can easily make a house look smaller and darker than it really is—and those photos can easily turn a buyer off and stop them from even seeing the house further. The combination of increased internet culture and a buyer’s market made professional staging more important than ever. When homes that were staged caught buyers attention and then in turn, got better prices than homes that weren’t staged, staging became even more important. As a result, sellers wanted to give their home that edge, particularly in keeping up with trends in the market and adding or highlighting features that would attract the fresh buying market. Staging Today With the economic ups and downs of the past years, and with how important staging has become over the past decades, there are many options for those looking to work with professional and accredited stagers today. Industry experience has taught these professionals what buyers look for in a space. While Barbara Schwarz originally focused on decluttering, arranging, and making repairs, potential buyers today expect more as the home sales field and market expectations have grown. In home staging, living room areas are the most important, followed by bedrooms and lastly kitchens. Neutral paint colors, modern furniture, smart appliances, and a pop of tasteful art can help appeal to clients from a range of backgrounds. But nothing can replace a professional stager who knows the local target market of a home. I’m ready to start staging my house for sale—what are my next steps? At Heidi Ross Design, we put our experience to work for clients in Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, and the Memphis Metro Area. Our professional staging approach helps our clients get the best sale terms for their luxury homes. Our services are more than just arranging the space—our marketing package and client education help to make your staging experience quick and seamless. What could be even better? We offer a FREE quote that is commitment-free. Our free quote will show you the value of our services and ensure that you have value added information as you begin to work with your Real Estate Professional. Our commitment free package provides all the information you will need to understand our services and staging prices. Use our online tool or give us a call at (901) 361-7419 to get started today. For more free value added information visit our online website articles. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk. |
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