Prior to her career in real estate, EveryHome agent Colleen Whitlock enjoyed working in the home staging industry for ten years. She was kind enough to chat with us about her experience and provide advice for sellers.
We’d love to hear a little bit about your background in home staging. Where did you work, and what was your role?
The company I worked for was Dragon Design, LLC and was one of the first home staging companies on the Main Line. The concept of home staging was new back in early 2000’s so agents and sellers needed to be educated on the process of home staging. Unlike what you see on HGTV, home staging is very labor intensive. Once you have put a look together for the property being staged the accessories and furniture need to packed up and carried into trucks. When you reach the destination that is being staged all the items need to be carried to their perspective rooms, unpacked and setup. When the home sells, you pack all the items up and return them to the warehouse.
What was your favorite part about staging a home?
The best part of home staging was showing sellers the true potential of their existing home and showing them ways to use this experience to transform their next space.
What is the biggest mistake that sellers make when staging a home, and what piece of advice would you’d give to anyone selling?
The biggest mistake people make when staging their homes is either too much, or too little furniture. The amount of furniture and the way it’s positioned in a space can greatly impact the overall feel of the room. Most homeowners have the right items they just need help deciding how to use what they already have.
The best advice I can give homeowners when selling a home is to paint & declutter! Don’t go white, but have a natural paint scheme throughout the home. A freshly painted house does wonders. Go room to room and declutter. Remove personal photos, baskets with magazines, clean up your bookshelves, etc.
Why is staging so important? What are the most important rooms to stage?
Staging is not interior design. The way you live in a home is not the way you stage a home to sell. Staging brings out the best assists in each room. You want to focus on the rooms best features and play off of that to show buyers your home in its best light. Buyers now start their home buying process online. Your house may be amazing but if your pictures don’t reflect that you may never get that buyer in the door. The most important rooms to stage are the Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room and Master Bedroom.
What sparked your interest in selling real estate? Why did you choose EveryHome?
While working in home staging I learned a lot about real estate and met many great agents in the field. We now live in a very DIY/HGTV world and agents & sellers are more knowledgeable about what they need to do to stage a home. The days of explaining what the concept of home staging is, is behind us. Being a real estate agent was just a natural “next step”. I want to help homeowers sell their homes and keep the most equity they can. The best way do that was to come to EveryHome. With my knowledge in home staging I can give sellers they best advice to get the most return on their investment.
