Here are the top 5 cleaning and restoring products I recommend to my clients to get the job quickly done.

#1: Krud Kutter® -

This is a concentrated cleaner and degreaser. I usually recommend it for greasy kitchens, dingy grout, fireplace soot, and just plain old “krud”. Visit www.krudkutter.com for a complete list of uses and how-to information.

#2:  Restor-A-Finish 

This product revives wood finishes and treats scratches, nicks and abrasions.  My staging clients rave about this stuff after they use it!  It restores the original color and luster to wood finishes while blending out the blemishes and scratches.  For product information, visit www.howardproducts.com.  And to see this product in action, check out this YouTube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxGywDuEwJ8#

3: WOW! Stainless Steel Cleaner

If you want your stainless steel appliances and sink to look like new, this product is for you!  Just be sure to use it sparingly because less IS more.  Visit www.wowezfinish.com for product instructions.

#4:  Mr. Clean® Original Magic Eraser®

Their slogan says it all, “erase and renew”.   These sponges help your walls, baseboards, floors, switch plates, blinds and more look like new by easily removing scuff marks and dirt.  A word of warning here.  Take it easy on your walls.  Rub too hard and you’ll start to remove the paint!  Test it out first on an inconspicuous spot just to be safe.  Visit www.mrclean.com for more information.

#5:  Goof Off® 

I frequently recommend this product to homeowners with young children because it  removes crayon, decals, and  sticker and tape residue.  And I just recommended it to a home seller who needed to remove latex paint off of the wood trim. (He shouldn’t give up his day job to become a painter!).  Goof Off® is available in a heavy duty household stain removal formula and also in a professional strength formula for more challenging spots and stains.  Visit www.goofoffstainremover.com for all its uses and how-to information.

My first response is that it costs far less than the expenses associated with a vacant property sitting on the market for an extended period of time.

According to a 2009 study done by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA™), un-staged vacant homes spent on average, 263 days on the market vs. staged vacant homes which sold on average in just 42 days.  That’s a huge difference.   It’s obvious that a growing number of houses and apartments sit empty as a result of the four-year old housing slump.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, homeowner vacancy rates in the northeast increased to 2.2% in the first quarter of 2011, up from 1.8% first quarter 2010.* This is more bad news for owners of vacant unstaged properties which are typically the most difficult to move, even in a good market.

It’s no wonder calls regarding vacant stagings have increased.  So what DOES vacant staging actually cost?  Obviously, the fees are dependent on the size of the house, the number of rooms to be staged and the amount and quality of the furnishings selected.  And, costs are a combination of furniture and accessories rentals and the staging services. The following numbers are a good guide to go by.

Per room monthly furniture rental fees start at:

• Living room/Family room    $250
• Master bedroom    $200
• Dining room    $150
• Kitchen eating area    $100
• Entry foyer    $50

At NJ Home Staging & Redesign, we also offer cost effective three-room furniture packages -living room, dining room, master bedroom – that start at $385 per month based on a three month rental period.  These packages are ideal for smaller homes and condos. I suggest a minimum of a three month rental period because one and two month rental fees frequently run as high as the three month rate.

Accessory monthly rentals:   Accessory rentals typically run 1/3 to ½ of the cost of the per room monthly furniture rental fee and include artwork, plants, bedding, towels, lamps, rugs, window treatments, knick knacks, etc.  These are the finishing touches that make a home look great in the listing pictures and marketing materials.

Furniture delivery and pickup charges:   These charges usually run between $250 and $325. A 12% Damage Fee -which can be waived by providing a certificate of insurance and adding the rental company as a payee in a loss payable clause, and 7% sales tax, should also be allocated for.

Stager Fees:   None of this happens without hiring a professional stager.  The stager will select the furniture and accessories, schedule the delivery of the rental furnishings, direct the movers, decorate the property, supervise the listing photography, schedule and oversee the furniture pick-up, and dismantle the staging.  Generally, our vacant staging project fees start at $1,100 but again, vary by the size of the property and number of rooms staged. Our initial consultation fee is $150 and will be applied to the staging project fee upon hire.

Timing:   Most agents are surprised by how quickly a vacant home can be staged.  It takes approximately three to five days from the time the order is placed and the credit application is approved, for the furniture to be delivered and the property to be fully staged.

A cursory review of these numbers will reveal that staging a vacant home can be a fairly significant but very worthwhile expense.  However, the cost of NOT staging can be astronomical by comparison if you factor in ongoing mortgage payments, taxes and other carrying costs while the home sits on the market waiting for a buyer to come along that can visualize the potential of an empty home.

Realtor Richard Mazor of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage has had firsthand experience on the power of staging a vacant property.  He writes:  “Angela, your outstanding staging, paint color choices and furniture rental helped me to sell 15 Glendale Road, Manalapan in only two weeks. The buyers, who came from an open house, remarked on the amazing look of the home. Stage it right and price it right is the name of the game.”

*The homeowner vacancy rate percentage is the proportion of the homeowner inventory that is vacant for sale.

As you know and if you keep up with the njretoday real estate blog, we produce a real estate blog talk radio show every Friday about different real estate topics. Last week we had Angela Gagauf of NJ Home Staging And Redesign, LLC. Angela took us through some of the pros and cons of staging a home and she indirectly gave us a cost benefit analysis of staging a home for sale.

Staging your home to sale is an investment and a key component of the marketing of your home. It’s one of three marketing aspects you, the seller, are in full control: Property Accessibility and Pricing are the other elements that can affect the saleability and marketing of your home.

Staging in general, is highly misunderstood. Some people are under the impression that staging is about de-cluttering and cleaning a home for sale, which is no where near the true picture of what staging entails. Staging is about presenting a property in its best light. It’s about making turning your home into “show room.”

Imagine if you were selling your car. Before putting you car on the market, you might organized the truck, detail the interior, and de-clutter the back seat so that you can present your vehicle in it’s best light. Staging follows the same concept, expect the concept of creating a feeling of being well maintained is magnified when what you are selling something that requires a large commitment as the purchase of a home.

Staging Pros:

Faster Selling Time and More Buyer Activity: When you stage your home for sale, your agent will love you because we know that a staged home sells faster! We also know that the pictures we take of your home will enhance the online marketing of your home. 90% of all buyers find their home online first. Buyers rely heavily on pictures and the property description to decide if visiting the home is even worth their time.

Possible Gain: If you stage your home and price it right, you automatically increase the odds of having more than one buyer interested in buying your home at the same time. Multiple offer or other buyers could effectively net you more than your asking price.

Staging Cons

Staging is not a dollar for dollar investment:  If you invest $1500 into staging your home, there is not guarantee that you can recoup that investment, especially in a declining market. Staging is a dollar per hour investment. Without staging your home could inevitably sit on the market and effectively net you less as the days, weeks, months pass you buy. Buyers equate a home that sits on the market as being over-priced and therefore negotiable. Therefore, you might save $1500 by not staging your home, but it could cost you $10,000 in the long run.

If the house is still occupied by you, you must maintain the show room condition, which is not any easy thing to do, especially if you have pets, children or a hectic work schedule. If you live in the home and stage once and do not maintain it’s show room quality, you are flushing your money down the toilet. Making a decision to sell a home is a hard one because as soon as you put your home on the market, it’s no longer your home. Its a product to be offered to the highest bidder.

RESA (Real Estate Staging Association) released their 2009 statistics (We’re still waiting on the 2010 Statistics)

• Vacant and occupied homes staged BEFORE being listed for sale sold on avg. in 40 days compared to vacant and occupied homes listed UN-STAGED  which spent on avg. 263 days or 9 months on the market before the owners decided to stage.
• After staging, those same homes spent an avg. of 60 days or 78% less time on the market.

To give their homes a competitive edge, some people are using the services of home stagers. To learn more about this marketing technique, Savvy discussed it with Angela Gagauf, President of NJ Home Staging and Redesign of Montville (201.317.9072, www.njhomestagingandredesign.com). She is a member of the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) and has earned the RESA-PRO® designation.

What are the advantages of home staging?

According to the report “Home-Gain 2009,” home staging typically shows a 586 percent return on investment. Another study by RESA showed that in 2009 staged homes sold on average in 40.5 days as opposed to 263 days for homes that were not staged. These are significant differences. Read More…

Often the “colors” they’ve chosen are white or Navajo white or Atrium white. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for these whites, especially in a contemporary home. But, a home looks so much better when photographed if the walls are painted a neutral color. I’ve also walked into homes with rooms that were just painted bright yellow or turquoise or red or lime green! See what I mean? And of course, since the client just spent the money to paint, they’re not about to change the colors.

So, I’ve decided to spill the paint and share my top 8 Benjamin Moore staging colors in the hope mistakes are avoided. Obviously, not all of these colors will work in every home but hopefully my list will get you thinking outside of the white box. And if your clients need help selecting colors, I’m only a consultation away.

• Mannequin Cream 2152-60

• Philadelphia Cream HC-30

• Manchester Tan HC-81

• Shaker Beige HC-45

• Alpaca 1074

• Mellowed Ivory 2149-50

• Seattle Gray 2130-70

• Healing Aloe 1562

But not every home seller can get a spot on A&E’s “Sell This House” or HGTV’s “Designed to Sell.” Nevertheless, if you’ve got a house to move, it’s important that it make a good impression on potential buyers — even if you don’t plan to drop a grand on presale improvements.

The best approach is to think of your house like a product that’s competing with lots of other products in the marketplace, suggests Angela Gagauf, a Montville home stager who “repackages” residential interiors and exteriors for maximum appeal. She considers staging an important marketing tool that can create a standout property in a crowded or challenging real estate market. Read More >