When I read about the marketing benefits associated with staging one’s home prior to selling it I was skeptical. Some combination of pride and a strong emotional commitment to my sense of style were fighting my twenty years of C Level marketing with a Fortune 500 company.
Reason and my own marketing experience ultimately won out as independent researchers had studied the impact staging can have on price, time to sale, and return on investment and there was, and is, no question the benefits that accrue to a seller who invests in staging.
I interviewed a large number of staging firms and found many to be self proclaimed experts who saw themselves as designers with no understanding of the value of what is today called “lifestyle merchandising” and the related notion of “target staging ” …or essentially making your home look like what buyers are looking for in the here and now.
I learned the wisdom of this approach to staging and merchandising one’s home from Birgit Anich, the founder and owner of BA Staging & Interiors whose work I’d seen featured in HGTV, ABC, and in The New York Times.
I met with Ms. Anich and found her a pleasant but no nonsense right brain left brain design professional and expert staging professional whose credentials and awards speak for themselves. After reading her plan, I retained her firm.
Ms. Anich completely reimagined my home in Chappaqua for the young professional family who Ms. Anich said was the target buyer.
Did it work? I received 8 offers in 10 days and all were well above my asking price and substantially higher than what my Realtor thought the house would command prior to staging. The ROI on my investment was north of 330%! Unimaginable… seemingly… but true.
Ms. Anich is a professional photographer and the pictures of my home after staging likely will answer any questions you may have. I cannot recommend BA and Ms. Anich highly enough!