Setting the stage

What do bold wall colors, too many family photos and a living room full of toys have in common?

None of them sell a home.

But according to local real estate experts, staging a house can help it get off the market faster.

A new class has debuted at Harper College in Palatine to teach just this. It's called Real Estate Staging and it's all about showing people how to properly get a home staged to sell.

The instructor is Cindy Caulfield, real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in Barrington, who also specializes in staging. The class consists of four three-hour sessions and covers different aspects of staging a home.

"A stager takes a look at the home from a buyer's eye," she says. "We stand in the door and assess the first impression."

That first impression is so important because the average buyer will decide in the first 15 to 30 seconds whether or not to buy a house, she said.

About 20 people attended a recent class. It drew interest from real estate agents, interior designers, homeowners trying to sell and people in the home-building industry.

Buyers are looking for a well-maintained house that's updated, has space and warmth, Caulfield told the class.

Part of staging is to make the buyer feel that they can move into a house and live there.

If this is your goal, most family photos, magazines, toiletries and knickknacks have to go.

Caulfield said depersonalizing a home and offering more of a neutral look will allow buyers to better visualize themselves there.

Neutralizing extends to carpets, drapes, walls and patterns in the home.

Students in the class got together in groups to look at pictures of a room and figure out how to stage it better.

Paint samples also were passed out to show pleasing neutral colors for the walls.

Joanie Thorholm, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Barrington, said she took the class to better help clients stage their homes.

She appreciated the lessons on de-cluttering and neutralizing.

"Although it sounds very basic, you need to stick to the basics," Thorholm said.

The class also taught her how important Internet photos are to showcase a staged home.

"Your home should be really staged to sell and pictures have to show that," she said.

It's not just the interior of a home that should be staged, Caulfield said.

Thought should also be put into a home's exterior features. The most important to consider are the entryway, front door, roof, siding and driveway.

How a home's exterior looks is often matched by how it looks on the inside, she says.

For real estate agents, one of the toughest parts about doing these things is to get the homeowner on-board. But it's critical, said Caulfield, because in the end it could make them more money.

The class will be offered again in the spring. For more information, go to www.harpercollege.edu.