Pasadena Magazine

February 2016 - Beauty, Love and Money

Pasadena Magazine is the bi-monthly magazine of Pasadena and its surrounding areas – the diverse, historically rich and culturally vibrant region that includes Glendale, the Eastside of Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley all the way to Claremont.

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Setting The Stage Professionally staging your home, in preparation for placing it on the market, may be the key to extracting maximum value. STORY BY // CUYLER GIBBONS ∫ FOR A MULTITUDE OF REASONS SELLING YOUR HOUSE CAN BE AN IMMENSELY STRESSFUL EXERCISE. ASIDE FROM ALL THE MECHANICS INVOLVED—FINDING AN AGENT, SETTING A PRICE, MARKETING IT AND SHOWING IT—WHATEVER HAS PRECIPITATED THE MOVE, YOU MAY ALSO BE LEAVING A PLACE YOU'VE GROWN EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO. NOW, AS YOU'RE LOOKING AROUND at years of accumulated memories and imagin- ing the packing and moving that lies ahead, your realtor steps up to helpfully remind you that you'll also need to move some other dif- ferent stuff in, in order to "stage" the property for sale. "But I've refi ned my design sense over the years and I'm fond of this space," you think. "I'm proud of what I achieved. Besides, staging is a lot of work, can't I just clean?" Except perhaps in rarifi ed circles, much before the last 10 years preparing a house for sale likely involved little more than a good cleaning and a visit from the gardener. Between the elaborate staging now shown on HGTV and similar channels, and a hot competitive market however, home staging has become far more common for all manner of homes, and, some will say, an absolute necessity if you want to maximize your price and speed the sale. In fact, staging itself is now big business. The internet is loaded with sites appealing to your inner designer and explaining how to get rich by jumping on the house staging busi- ness bandwagon, while established reputable staging businesses are becoming default, go-to partners for realtors across the nation. In fact, a 2015 National Association of Realtors survey indicated 35 percent of their members require staging for all their listings. There is no doubt there is work and expense involved so some trepidation is under- standable. However, realtors as a group clearly fi nd the exercise to be of benefi t. According ON STAGE. Good staging is about showing each room in its best light. Style FEBRUARY 2016 85 L I V I N G B Y D E S I G N REAL ESTATE space_Feb16.indd 85 1/20/16 2:54 PM

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