Professional Stager Helps Take Mystery out of Preparing a Home for Sale

Ever try to sell a house and wonder what to do with that dated old piece of furniture?  How about that gaudy wallpaper that you know won’t appeal to a buyer's eye?  And what about the three C's clutter, clutter and more clutter?

At recently, the sales team helped inform and educate senior clients on how to properly stage their homes to look more appealing to a potential buyer – taking out the mystery of where to begin when putting a house up for sale.

A professional stager clearly illustrated what seniors could do to take the fear out of the moving process by providing a before and after room.  The stager transformed the mock room on the Seabrook auditorium stage.  The stage was transformed from a cluttered mess, which resembled any long-lived in house, to a de-cluttered, depersonalized organized home within 10 minutes following a little back-curtain magic.

True enough, this isn’t the greatest economy. However, the senior real estate housing market has some real bright spots these days.

According to the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry (NIC), at the end of the second quarter of this year, rental rates for senior housing had risen 1.4 percent from the middle of 2010. Occupancy rates stayed stable during the quarter at 88 percent.

At Seabrook, one of the largest continuing care retirement communities in the NJ/NY metropolitan area, there are more than . The current occupancy rate is 95 percent, far exceeding the national average, and the New York-regional average of 89.8 percent. Seniors are selling homes and making moves to retirement communities.

“Many older adults are finding they no longer own their home, but rather their home owns them,” said Stephanie Shelton, Seabrook sales director.  “Staging, downsizing and de-cluttering offers seniors a chance to begin anew and position their home in a positive light where they can receive positive responses from the real estate market."

, who not only assists clients in preparing for a move, but also helps them up until they hang the final picture on the wall said, “Our goal was to present a perfect image of what a home for sale should and could look like.  A senior, who has lived in their home for 40, 50 years and beyond can find it an arduous task to prepare their home for sale, as well as make the move itself.  We take away the mystery of change, remove road blocks associated with selling a home and help seniors make a seamless transition into their new home.”

This past June, , which helped clients downsize by offering them the chance to discard and donate items that they no longer wanted to local charities in an effort to help those in need in the shore region.

Williamson is a licensed New Jersey Broker Associate who has more than 12 years real estate experience.  She is a real estate broker associate and senior real estate specialist (SRES). As an SRES, Williamson is only part of the approximately two-percent of real estate agents nationwide who specialize in helping seniors move.