“Thank you so much for staging our house, Susan! I think the work you did is nothing short of genius!”

A tight-knit family of five, seizing on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relocate to Europe, needs to sell quickly.

We have only one brief window of time to stage and list this home for sale. It’s between this family’s departure date and the date when their possessions will follow them to Europe. To take advantage of this gap, the home owners and I meet to come up with a plan to use their own items for the staging.

If we miss this window, the home could end up being vacant, and we never want to sell a vacant home. Instead, we want to maximize the return on the home sellers’ investment and avoid the added expense of renting furnishings.

Planning is key to the success of this project, and the sellers play an integral role in the creation and successful implementation of the strategy we custom-craft for this home.

It all begins when past decorating client Patty Hinkley, now Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Realtor in Katonah, NY, calls AtWell Staged Home to inquire about this unique project.

Patty is curious to hear how we might approach staging this home to ensure maximum value at minimum expense. I suggest starting with a phone call between me and the home owners to brainstorm ideas for how this might work.

After a productive initial chat, our home sellers eagerly agree to move forward with the process. We meet in person at the home for three hours. During that time, we create a plan that works around the timing and coordination challenges posed by an international move.

When we arrive for our staging day, we are blown away by the massive amount of purging, organizing, and packing that has already been completed by our sellers.

Everything is in perfect order, allowing us to get straight to work staging all three levels of this 4,000-square-foot home. Items not chosen for the staging are put in long-term storage, while furniture being used is moved to the proper rooms.

For example, a beautiful king-size bed, initially banished to a basement bedroom, replaces the queen-size master bed that they choose to place in long-term storage.

Our home sellers’ only purchases are a new bed set for the master bedroom, king-size pillows, and white bath towels. All other items are found in the home as part of our initial consultation.

Even with the tremendous amount of work done in advance, it still takes a full day to pull it all together.

The husband has stayed behind to supervise and assist, as needed, while the rest of the family is already on their way to Europe. For the first few hours Patty also assists, which helps to speed decisions and avoid the added expense of an assistant.

Having seen the transformation live from beginning to end, it’s not surprising that he is the one who sends the rave review at the beginning of this article. We are certainly humbled by his words and appreciate all our sellers’ efforts and ideas that lead to the success of this staging.

The first of two offers come less than two weeks after this 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 4,000-square-foot Goldens Bridge, NY, house is listed for sale. After a bidding war, the home sells for $1.1M, just 4% below the aggressive listing price of $1.15M.

Here’s what successful agent, Patty Hinkley of Coldwell Banker in Katonah, has to say about the results of this Goldens Bridge home staging:

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