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Remember the days when all you had to do was clean up your home before showing it to potential buyers? You yelled at your kids (and mostly at your husband) to collect underwear, toys and tools from the floor. And, with any luck, they put them where they belonged, or at least shoved them into the nearest closet, out of sight. In the olden days, home buyers used to expect sellers to live in their homes. In fact, pictures and memorabilia made the home seem real, lived-in, and loved.
Well, those simple days are gone; we are now entrenched in the new world of “staging” a home for sale. Your home is likely the most valuable asset you own. As such, you are vulnerable to advice from experts.
I have just gone through two such “staging” events; one for an apartment I sold and the other for the home I’m selling. The real estate agents, in both instances, when they saw my look of shock and dismay at the mere utterance of the word, “staging,” explained that this is now part of the sales process.
Yes, I was intimidated by these experts. They waxed poetic about how people want to walk into a house and think that no one has lived there, only to imagine themselves in the living space. The home must look like a stage set; a bland, white, sparsely decorated stage set. All personalization should disappear. I suggested, of course, keeping the pictures of my kids and grandkids. I was immediately met with shrieks of, “Are you kidding? You can’t have any photos around. That will give the impression that people live here.”
“I do live here,” I added. “The prospective buyers can’t figure that out?” I said begrudgingly. I did point out that perhaps it’s creepy to buy a home where people didn’t have loved ones. Again, I was met with incredulous “attitude” and the rolling of eyes, indicating that I clearly had no idea about the “new – new.”
Who Can We Blame For This Lunacy?
It seems to be a popular time to point blame at the media for all our ills, so here I go. I do blame “the media.” Television stations like HGTV and shows like Flip This House are partially at fault. Home buying and selling became reality TV, not reality. Today, flipping a home is considered an art, or a science, depending on how you look at it. It’s big business for many.
About author
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About Author
Alan Bermudez
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