In today's housing market, selling your home can be a full-time job. Buyers are more choosy and careful with their money than they have been in many years, and houses no longer "sell themselves" the way they used to. There are plenty of ways to go about improving the chances of selling your home, but perhaps the most effective way to do so is staging. Staging your home can turn an ordinary household into a work of art, and drastically increase your chances of getting that big sale you've been dreaming about.

When people speak of staging, the term can actually mean a host of different things. Generally, staging is directly linked to interior & exterior decorating. While many people very much enjoy the way they have their homes decorated and laid out, that doesn't necessarily mean that home buyers are going to feel the same way. The classic example is the modern home that is decorated as if it existed in antiquity. If the layout/decoration of the home doesn't fit the actual design of the building, there will inevitably be a disconnect that will often scare away people who might otherwise be interested in your home.

Staging is a process that can be thought of as matching like with like. In other words, a stager (often an interior or exterior designer) is tasked with decorating the house in a way that matches the style of the building. For instance, a seaside home that is decorated with floral-print furniture and other "off" elements will usually be staged with ocean-themed furniture and decorations, such as starfish prints and breezy, relaxing chairs on the front porch. While this may seem obvious, many people make the mistake of missing this crucial element when putting their house up for sale. Another element of staging is to remove all personal items such as family photos and heirlooms from plain view. Personal items can often skew the vision of the home buyer, and are best replaced with neutral decorations such as popular artwork. After all, you want the potential buyer to focus on your home; not photos of your dog.

Staging is one of the most crucial elements to selling a home, and should never be overlooked. People often try to sell a home for years without staging, and find that as soon as they stage it sells in days!