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 Croton-on-Hudson, NY - Like many home sellers these days, Dr. Erica Friedman, Associate Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, found herself wondering if her modest Chappaqua house would ever connect with a buyer.
It had been languishing on the market for more than five months, with no prospects in sight. Dr. Friedman had even significantly reduced her asking price to entice buyers in this bleak economic climate, but still, there were no offers.
Enter Katherine Stern of K + L Home Stagers of Croton-on-Hudson, and within weeks, the 1,700 square-foot single family home not only found a buyer, but sold for 10 percent more than the original asking price!
In simple terms, professional home staging is the art of preparing a home for resale. Home stagers work with the “flow” of a home to eliminate clutter, arrange furniture, enhance landscaping and curb-appeal, and make recommendations for other upgrades that would make a home more appealing to potential buyers.
“My house was a mélange of 1918, 1970, and 2000,” admitted Dr. Friedman. “Katherine came in, removed some furniture, rearranged other pieces, de-cluttered, painted, re-hung artwork and completely transformed my home. She was single-handedly responsible for selling my house!”
Sharon Hughto’s Ossining house had been on the market for nine months when K + L Home Stagers was called in. Using the homeowners’ belongings, Stern pulled the rooms together to make the most of what the property had to offer. “Her knowledge and understanding of color and furniture patterns were amazing,” said Hughto. “She was even able to turn an unsightly bathroom into a Zen-like spa!” The house sold within one week of Stern’s visit.
Armed with a graphic arts education from Pratt Institute, a 20-year career as creative director for some of Manhattan’s top advertising agencies, and expertise as a luxury condominium developer, Stern brings a totally unique element to the home staging industry in Westchester. Unlike other home stagers who try to follow a formula often taught by schools of home staging, Stern relies on her artistic and commercial backgrounds to design each house to reflect its personality.
“I know what it takes to sell a product,” Stern said, “and the marriage of my design background and advertising is what makes the difference in my ability to prepare a home for the market.” Stern specializes in homes where people are already living, as opposed to vacant homes. “I like the challenge of working with what people already have. Your house doesn’t have to look like Pottery Barn to sell. Each house has something unique to offer – I stay away from the cookie-cutter approach.”
Stern’s staging process begins with a free initial consultation. If hired, she gives the client the choice of doing the work themselves or having K+L Home Stagers do it for them, sometimes tapping into her network of contractors, including carpenters, painters, and furniture rental firms. Her stagings can be as simple as walking the entire property, inside and out with the client taking notes of the improvements they could implement themselves, or Stern will photograph the exterior and every room of the house and prepare a report detailing her recommendations. Stern also offers services for staging open houses, and often brings her own accessories for enhancement.
Home staging can be accomplished in as little as three hours to as long as three weeks, depending on the amount of work and the homeowner’s budget. Costs can range anywhere from $250 to $5,000 or more. “Given the difficulties of the current real estate market, it makes good sense to present your home in the best possible way to attract the most prospective buyers,” added Stern. When it comes to staging vacant homes, Stern can supply furnishings for the entire house, or style vignettes for certain rooms.
Stern also holds a New York State Building Inspector’s license and worked for many years with the Westchester County Airport where she redesigned and produced the terminal signage system for the interior of the main terminal, and developed, designed and produced the emergency signage system for emergency services at the airport.
To date, all homes she has consulted on have sold --- with the exception of one. In a weird twist of fate, a Chappaqua homeowner was so impressed with Stern’s home staging that she took her 4,000-square-foot, post modern home off the market and decided to stay.
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