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When looking for a new home, buyers naturally want to find just the right fit. And sometimes, to see a place’s true potential, they need a little help. Sellers, meanwhile, may need assistance getting their houses ready for prime time. That’s where home staging comes in. Mountain View-based designer Susan Bacchi specializes in showing off a home’s most-winning attributes to attract the right buyers – and make more money for the sellers.
“The home is a product. You want to put its best features forward,” Bacchi said.
Staging – decorating and furnishing a home in preparation for selling it – she explained, is a marketing tool that helps buyers see not only a beautiful space but one they could aspire to match with their desired lifestyles.
If a home is stuffed full of someone else’s, well, stuff, it can be difficult for buyers to picture how to make it their own, and not all sellers have an eye for design. On the other hand, it also can be challenging to see the promise in an empty, cold house. Staging offers a way to show how a house can be inspirational and inviting to new residents, with carefully selected, attractive decor meant to optimize buyer appeal.
“It shows how they could imagine themselves living there,” she said. “When it’s staged it really warms it up.”
Each staging process is unique to the home and its location, as its marketing plan will depend on the property’s style and on who is the most likely buying demographic. If a house is located near an elementary school, for example, the staging might make sure to show off appealing rooms for children. If a home has a particularly lovely view, furniture can be arranged to face that view, drawing visitors’ attention to it.
“People get a little overwhelmed looking at house after house,” Bacchi said. “Successful staging can help them differentiate the different homes they’ve seen and remember the positive features that stand out.”
Why ‘photo-worthy’ rooms matter
Now that the majority of potential buyers first look at listings over the internet before they visit in person, she said, staging has become even more important. Looking at online photos of empty rooms tells them very little.
“It just looks like walls,” she said. By staging the rooms well, viewers can better see their potential uses.
“You can see, ‘Oh, there’s a family room … there’s an eat-in kitchen, you can fit two twin beds in this room … there’s a space for outdoor dining,’” she said.
One basic part of Bacchi’s process that can make a big difference? Showing a space in its best possible light – literally.
“If a room feels sort of like a cave, I like to add extra lighting, so it’s bright and cheerful in there,” she said.
How she optimizes underutilized areas
A special skill she has is being able to find creative, efficient ways to optimize underutilized areas of homes she works in.
“It’s fun to take spaces and find unique uses for them,” she said. In one recent project, for example, she carved office space out of a large laundry room. In another, she created a cozy spot under the stairs.
“For me it’s exciting: ‘Wow! I just added more value in the home,’” she said (and yes, sometimes, the sellers tell her they wished they’d thought of using the space that way when they were living there).
When approaching a staging project, Bacchi suggests decluttering and easy fixes first. If the sellers are still living in the home, she can work with that, but it’s even better to work with a vacant house.
“It shows a lot better when it looks like it’s ready for someone to move in,” she said.
Bacchi keeps her own inventory of furniture and staging accessories at a warehouse in Mountain View. While she’s sometimes hired directly by sellers, most often she’s hired by a real estate agent, who’s using staging as part of an overall marketing strategy.
“It’s very varied,” she said. “Everyone has different situations.”
Is it worth it?
She said costs can range from $300 for a home assessment to $30,000 for a full staging of a large estate. According to the Real Estate Staging Association’s “Consumer’s Guide to Real Estate Staging,” a 2020 survey of 13,000 staged homes found that with an average investment of 1%, about 75% of sellers had a return on investment of 5-15% over asking price.
In addition to being a certified stager, Bacchi also is an interior designer and earned her degree in interior design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Staging, when done well, “is a bit of an art,” she said. Her favorite part of the job is seeing the happy reactions from customers. “It’s very rewarding when people love what you created.”
She works with homes in all sorts of sizes, styles and conditions, and takes pride in each one, finding the right vibe to match the space. Recently, she had fun staging a “teeny tiny little beach condo” in Half Moon Bay that turned out so well, she said, that it sold in under a month and over the asking price.
“You can really transform a place and see how good it looks,” she said.
Another enjoyable experience was staging in a downtown Palo Alto high rise and admiring the view.
“This feels like I went on vacation,” she recalled thinking, looking out over the city. “I haven’t seen this perspective of Palo Alto before.”
But she gets a particular kick out of working in the charming older homes around Mountain View – the town in which she was raised.
“I love staging in my neighborhood where I grew up. I love the old farmhouses and the old restored homes,” she said. “They mean a lot to me. It’s more than just a stage.”
Expert tips
How to prep your home for staging
Susan Bacchi shares advice for getting the most out of staging and preparing a home to be marketed:
- Once you decide to sell, become a “seller” with an objective to disassociate yourself from your home and make it your No. 1 commodity to sell.
- Have your home professionally cleaned and staged to highlight the best features. Nine out of 10 buyers’ first viewing of your home will be online and the best way to get them to visit in person is to make sure the photos look amazing.
- Repair, update and replace anything discussed in the initial staging consultation.
- The public is going to enter your home to view; you want them to not be distracted. Clear all items from the home that are personal, especially photos, books, scented items, pet supplies, food and personal hygiene items. It is best if you can vacate your home. It will be much easier if you simply pack now rather than keeping things in the garage or closets, so that people can see everything they are going to buy.
- If you must remain in your home and have it occupied for the staging process, follow as many of the above steps as possible. Pack anything else that may be sensitive or valuable and put it in a safe place. Vacate the home for showings and be sure to make the beds and clear all the counters of any type of the above items.
- If you follow these guidelines along with updating lighting, finishes and color to make each room bright, warm and appealing to buyers then you should be able to get a good return on your investment.
More information is available at susanbacchi.com.