Last updated : Friday, February 26, 2010

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Cool Job: Home Stager

As the real estate market continues to suffer, homeowners forced to sell are doing whatever it takes to get the highest price for their homes. And while a real estate agent can assist in pricing your home and introducing it to prospective buyers, a home stager can help your house put it's best face forward. This is especially important to homeowners whose decor is outdated.

A home stager's main goal is to give prospective buyers a great first impression. It has been said that a staged home remains on the market half the time of a non-staged home and can get up to 15% more in purchasing price. In addition, a buyer knows whether they are interested in making an offer within the first ten seconds of seeing a house. So making it look its best is imperative.

 Certain things home stagers consider are the "flow" of a home, arrangement of furniture, curb appeal, cleanliness and organization. This can be as simple as adding bowls of fresh fruit and fresh flowers to re-painting entire rooms.

The stats: No formal education is needed to become a home stager although there are courses you can take and a background in interior design is extremely helpful. As for money - a stager can charge anywhere from $500-$5000 per home. 

Whether you are looking to move or just improve the look of your home, check out our At Home section.

 

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