Karen Prince - Secrets of Home Staging: The Essential Guide to Getting Higher Offers Faster

Praise for Secrets of Home Staging

Ive had the privilege of mentoring Karen when she entered the home staging industry many years ago through my certification training at the Home Staging Resource. Having trained thousands of home stagers over the last fifteen years, I knew right away that Karen would be highly successful in this field. Karen has an innate ability to read a home, the home seller and communicate very clearly the whys of home staging. Details matter when it comes to staging, so understanding the why of decluttering, depersonalizing, and most importantly the styling are the first steps in getting the best price for your most valuable commodity. Secrets of Home Staging is your how-to manual for breaking down the selling and staging process, so it feels less overwhelming and more doable With Karen Princes know-how in your hands, you got this.

Audra Slinkey , president of the Home Staging Resource and the American Society of Home Stagers and R edesigners

Karen Princes Secrets of Home Staging is a must-read when selling your home. This book is a beautiful tutorial that will help you sell your home faster and for more money. If you follow Karens advice, you will transform your space into every buyers dr eam home.

Cassandra Aarssen , professional organizer and author of Real Life Organizing , Cluttered Mess to Organized Success Workbook , The Clutter Connection , and The Declutter Challenge

I love working with Karen! She really knows how to make a house appeal to buyers. Sellers are often skeptical of staging in general, but her professional and friendly manner puts them at ease. After the home is staged, they are often astounded by the transformation. Most importantly, they feel that the money spent on staging was well spent. Her staged homes show better and add value in the eyes of the buyer, buyers agent, and the appraiser. I recommend her to all of my clients!

Gina Cipriani LaPlaca , licensed real estate s alesperson

Although skeptical, I hired Karen at the urging of my broker. When she completed the staging, I barely recognized my houseit was gorgeous! Most importantly, I received multiple offers and it sold for more than I expected. Karen did a terrific job and was a pleasure to work with. I even hired her to choose the paint colors for our new a partment.

Lynn Pagliaccio

Shes simply the besta true professional with the ability to meet deadlines and work within all types of budgets. Karen has a great eye and style, and her recommendations were spot on. All the realtors and house hunters mentioned that the house showed beautifully. At one point after she worked her magic, I was VERY tempted to stay! I would highly recommend her for staging your home in advance of selling.

Emi Battaglia

Karen did an amazing job at advising us on how and what to declutter, choosing paint colors to enhance each room in our house, and making our home look its very best for selling. It was definitely a worthwhile investment of our time and moneyour house sold quickly in a difficul t market.

Mark Keefe

Karens design and understanding of the market were key components in my house having six bids in seven days; we were in contract on the tenth day, and the final bid was well ove r asking.

Todd Matlovsky

Karen is a consummate professional who on our walkthrough pointed things out which we had never thought of The day after the public open house we had five offers; within two days we had three more! Receiving and accepting an offer of almost 10 percent over the asking price is proof of the importance of staging, particularly wi th Karen.

Jeffrey ODonnell

Coral Gables

Copyright 2021 by Karen Prince

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover, Layout & Design: Karen Prince & Morgane Leoni
Cover Photo: Trinette Reed/Stocksy / Adobe Stock
Interior Photos: All photos Adobe Stock except the following: Page 20: Lynne Reah; Page 46: Liz Pensiero; Pages 75(left), 76, 77, 81, 82, 84, 87, 90, 100, 150, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 169, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 189, 193, 194, 196, 199, 200, 202(top), 204, 205, 206, 207, 214(right), 229: Karen Prince; Page 75(right): Daniel Milstein Photography; Page 78: Jennifer Adams; Page 102: Peggy OConnell; Page 123: Julie Wills; Page 197: Anne and Patrick Furlow; Page 214: Claire Cornish; Page 222: Anwesha Baner

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Secrets of Home Staging: The Essential Guide to Getting Higher Offers...Faster!

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021931765
ISBN: (p) 978-1-64250-554-2, (e) 978-1-64250-555-9
BISAC category code HOM011000, HOUSE & HOME / House Plans

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

The Essential Rules of StagingThat Have Nothing to Do
with Design

Buying a home is the largest investment most of us make, so when it comes to selling it, we have a lot riding on the success of that sale. The price we get for our home can affect where we live in the future, whether we can pay off debts, or whether we can afford to retire.

Home staging is a relatively recent marketing tool that has proven to be highly effective in selling homes faster and for a higher price. While I was running a home staging business, working daily with people preparing to put their homes on the market, universally, their number-one concern was whether they would get the price they wanted for their home. And since many were aware of the effect of home staging, they were very grateful for the help and information I was able to give them.

While there are many fantastic stagers out there to help home sellersand I encourage you wholeheartedly to seek them outI felt that most people would benefit from a book designed to guide them through the home staging process, packed with information and plenty of tips and tricks along the way. So that has been my goal. Ive written this book for the average home seller who will probably be living in their home while it is on t he market.

If that describes you, Ive aimed to provide the information you need to ensure that your home shows well and that it appeals to buyers so that you get the best price possible. My hope is also to alleviate some of the stress of selling a home. With a plan in place, youll feel better about getting your house ready and end up with a bett er result.

I have tried to make this book extremely practical so it can help real people with real houses, at a time when they can really use it. Home staging can be a ton of work and a huge inconvenience, so a lot of home sellers understandably resent the need to do it. Before listings were online, staging was something only wealthy people did, if anyone. Now it is done by almost every home sellerat least in partand most everyone should consider doing more. Those who dont stage their home are at a huge disadvantage, selling alongside those who have.