Home Staging For Dummies Paperback – Illustrated, May 5, 2008

Great little book that pointed me in the right direction. What a blessing this little book is for Home Stagers.

As an interior designer and Realtor, this book was helpful by putting in words the psychology of buyers when viewing houses and of sellers trying to get there homes ready for showing and photoshoot. The only chapter I very much disagree with is the one on photography. I would suggest that after going to all the work and expense to get a property ready, hire a professional photographer! Photos are the first glimpse a buyer has of your property so they need to be excellent!! Having a high end camera is fine but unless you really know how to use it at a pro level, you will still get mediocre photos, burned out windows, crooked horizontals and verticals, terrible flash reflections and shadows, etc. For example, just because you have the same golf clubs as a professional golfer, that doesn't mean you will play like a pro. The equipment does not a professional make. The suggestions for staging were good for someone not in the field.

I bought this book because I am in Real Estate and getting a home to look as close to a model home is needed for buyers to be interested. Especially with the high inventory seen in many local markets today.This book is a step by step guide on getting the home ready for a sale - on the home staging perspective. Rooms can feel more spacious and inviting with just the arrangement of furniture and this book is informative and illustrates how.Highly recommended.

I didn't buy this book because I am selling my house. I bought it for motivation to get my house in order to maximize my enjoyment. I found it very helpful, especially the emphasis on de-cluttering! I'm convinced that at some point, my house will be perfect and I will never want to move!

OK, I got some good ideas from this book, which I bought because we're getting ready to put our house on the market. There are several things I hadn't thought of, even given the fact that I'm an HGTV junkie.However, the book is really aimed at people who are going to HIRE a professional stager, which isn't really what the title implies (yes, I know, . . . For Dummies is a huge series of books). There is way too much self-promotion, promotion of whatever the professional organization is, promotion of the authors' friends or associates, selection of a professional, meeting with the professional, recommending products sold on their websites, and on and on and on. I got the feeling that there is a secret club, one to which I'm not welcome, unless, of course, I hired one of them.I wish all of the before-and-after pairs of photos had been shot from the exact spot at exactly the same angle. In many of them, it was hard to see what changes were made. The photos nearly all being B & W is a problem, too, but probably not one within the authors' control. They probably could have left out the small color section in the middle of the book, since the first photo (the BLUE one) is garish enough to make you think it's a "before" example (so much for neutrals).Because the authors are clearly out to sell their services, they seem to have a sort of "take no prisoners" approach. So many of their dictates seem to be those that would get done in the best of all possible worlds, but not this one. I doubt that, after rightly reducing their number by half, arranging all of the food items in my pantry with their labels facing forward would make much difference to a buyer. Actually, since we're trying desperately not to distract the buyer, I'd worry about the distraction created by them wondering just what kind of person would do such a thing, reading the labels on the boxes and cans, discussing my brand selections, wondering if I'm a good cook, etc. I'm in no way discounting the value of staging, which I totally "get," but some of these things really seem like overkill and seem almost to have been put into the book to make sellers think that, "no, I can't really do it myself; I'd better hire a professional."I'd recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Staging Your Home to Sell over this one.

Very informative easy to follow I didn't give it (5) stars because I feel all the pages should be in color.

This is really helpful for when you are moving! It helps you stage your whole house and get more for your house!!!!!Definitely recommend this to a friend!!!! :)

It seems like I highlighted half the book, and I have pages of notes. This is a clear, easy to read guide with lots of great tips and examples.