Hockessin resident Theresa Minichiello is one of the growing number of Home Staging® professionals who’s job is to lay the groundwork for the expedient sale of a house. To do that, she must first deal with the inevitable clutter that most families count as part of their décor. The chaos they’ve learned to live with is the kiss of death for a sale.

Her company, Stage Right! Home Staging will do as little or as much as a client wants, anything from a strictly verbal, walk-through consultation to a full-blown Staging in which she generates a written, room-by-room plan, then executes that plan by re-painting walls in neutral colors, rearranging the contents or removing all unnecessary furniture and objects until the space is minimally furnished to evoke a mood and suggest a lifestyle. Curb appeal and landscaping are addressed as well, since most potential buyers won’t set foot in a house if they don’t like the exterior.

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Budget and time frame dictate how much a seller is willing to invest in Staging. According to a national survey conducted by Stagedhomes.com, 94.6 percent of professionally Staged homes sell in 35 days or less. In today’s market, where competition for sales is fierce, that’s impressive. Buyers have many more choices now and can be much more selective; they can take their time, and they can bargain.

During her first year as an Accredited Staging Professional, Minichiello acquired master’s level credentials and the assurance that comes with

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success. “I know what works,” Minichiello asserts. “I Staged five empty houses in two weeks, and before I finished them, the first three had contracts.”

Make no mistake: Staging a house is not the same as redecorating. Staging removes the personal, the taste specific; it allows potential buyers to appreciate a house without being distracted by its contents. “You have to tell a story with the house,” Minichiello explains, “to make buyers want the lifestyle that goes with it.” Part of her process is to

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remove any art with eyes (read family photos) and replace it with art that evokes feelings of serenity (nature scenes and flowers) or taps into a passion for travel (scenes of foreign lands).

“A house also must be Q-tip clean, you must detail your house the way you would detail your car,” she says emphatically.

Home Staging is a powerful marketing tool—and in today’s market a necessary one. The likely alternative is a For Sale planted on the lawn for

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many months.
Local Realtor Colleen Doyle was faced with the opposite problem: a vacant house. “I had no showings in three months, until Theresa furnished all the rooms. Then the house sold in a week,” she says. “Theresa has a way of making a vacant house feel homey again.” The bottom line, she adds, is that Staging equates with more showings and more buyer interest.

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Seller and Realtor Jean Paul Perone couldn’t agree more. His empty home languished on the market for months before he hired Theresa and found a buyer within two weeks. “I’ve had to deal with empty houses in the past,” Perone explains. “Buyers can’t visualize how the rooms can be furnished, or how much furniture the house can hold.”

He advises his clients to either “put stuff in” if the house is empty, or “take stuff out” if they’re still living there—to use “everything in the arsenal, because you can’t hold back in this market. To sell a house, you need to

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do something different.” Staging, Perone believes, is the best strategy. “When the options are to drop the price of the home by $10,000 or put $2,000 into sprucing it up, the choice is clear. And Theresa has some very cost-effective ideas for sprucing up interiors.”

For more information about Home Staging, contact
Teresa Minichiello at 302.367.4576 or check out
www.Stage-Right-Home-Staging.com

Testimonials:
500% return on your investment
“We called Stage Right after we thought we cleaned the house up for selling but prior to listing the house for sale. Thank goodness we did because what we did not know was sure to hurt us. When you live in a house you stop seeing certain things that are an eye sore to others. Every room looks so much bigger and brighter. Sometimes cleaning just is not enough. The things we were told to change now seem common sense and we wonder why we did not think of that. Most of the things we were told to change took no money at all to do, just rearranging and getting rid of stuff. If you spend money on a cleaning service or lawn service why wouldn’t you invest in your property to stage it and get it sold? Your ROI will more than pay for itself.” ~ Rebecca Hardy of Newark, DE

Awesome Work!
“I listed a vacant house. After 1 month of very little activity the seller and I decided to have the homes staged. We had an acceptable offer in 1 week! I couldn’t believe the difference of perspective a buyer has when furniture and pictures are in the home. Theresa was a true pleasure to work with. I will have her stage all of my homes” ~ Colleen Doyle of Wilmington, DE

Incredible Experience!
“Incredible experience with Stage Right helping us sell our home in a slow real estate market. We’re convinced that it helped immeasurably to move it in a down market. Ten years in the home and many accumulated possessions had to be tastefully removed and screened! What a difference it made! Follow all suggestions and it works! Prospective buyers can visualize their family furniture and decoration ideas in a minimized atmosphere much better than a cluttered one. I would recommend Stage Right to anyone who is serious about selling their home!”  ~ Phil Worrell of Hockessin, DE