Home Stagers can get you top dollar for your house

CityTV News at 6 – April 26, 2006
“Home Stagers can get you top dollar for your house”

News Anchor: Gord Martineau
Consumer Specialist: Jee-Yun Lee

Excerpt from CityTV News Feature:

News Anchor Gord Martineau: “If you’re selling your home a professional home stager can help you get top dollar. We’ll show you why you may not even recognize your own home.”

Consumer specialist Jee-Yun Lee: “Home stagers are not regulated or licensed. If they have an ‘accreditation’ it just means they’ve taken a weekend course. So it’s important to get referrals.”

“Debra Gould, a home stager, was brought in to shape things up for this homeowner. For a total of $5,300 each room was transformed from mess to success. All the clutter was cleared and some rental furniture was brought in for a quick sale.”

“Debra Gould‘s staging paid off. When Bryan’s real estate agent first saw the house she wanted to list at $750,000, after the staging it was listed at $799,000 and in just one week it sold for $820,000.”

Home Staging expert Debra Gould: “If it all looks too contrived, potential buyers will resist that and then they won’t have the natural feeling we’re trying to create where a buyer immediately falls in love with a home and says, ‘I could live here.’ We’re not just decorating to make a house look pretty. We’re decorating to have a house sell quickly and for top dollar. So you also want to look for a stager who understands the real estate market.”