Staging is all about dressing your home in its Sunday best (or maybe dressing your home for selling success?), but the current market downturn and the influx of short sale homes and foreclosures on the market are telling a sad story. Sellers who have lost their jobs, been unemployed for medical reasons, or got caught with rapidly rising mortgage payments are having a tough time emotionally. Staging a home takes a lot of energy and sometimes a few hundred dollars. Families in crisis may have to choose between a new can of paint for staging and a bag of groceries. If my kids were hungry I know which choice I would make.
Many of the short sale or foreclosed homes marketed in St. Paul are vacant. Many have been "swamped out" by a professional cleaning crew with big roll off dumpster boxes for the debris. Some homes clean up pretty well, but others need the attention of a new owner to regularly clean and love them back to their original beauty.
If, however, you are one of the home sellers still living in your St. Paul home and still hoping to find a buyer, clean your house until it shines. Whatever you do, take those cans to the recycling!
