By Elizabeth Razzi
Sunday, July 27, 2008

One thing that irritates home sellers in this overstuffed market is that, even as declining prices whittle away their equity, buyers demand something ever-closer to perfection. Perhaps inspired by Pottery Barn catalogues and HGTV decorating shows, buyers seem to expect that crisp aesthetic even in older, resale homes.

Enter yet another breed of real estate entrepreneur, the home stager. For fees that start in the hundreds of dollars and can run into the thousands, these tasteful ladies (and most are women) promise to help sellers transform their homes into irresistible buyer bait.

Stagers say their work is different from that of decorators or interior designers. They claim to know what sells and that they can make your home sell faster. Well, who wouldn't want such a magic elixir in today's market?

To get a better idea of what stagers do and of the costs involved, last week I visited a "home staging showcase" held at a 7,000-square-foot new house in Fairfax County, between Falls Church and McLean. Local members of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals used rental furniture and their own accessories (towels, bed coverings, pillows, mirrors, and various objets de uselessness) to outfit the empty rooms in the manner buyers have come to expect in model homes.

The house is an attractive stone-faced structure built on an infill lot. It has six bedrooms, 7 1/2 bathrooms, a nanny suite, four fireplaces and a two-car garage. It's adjacent to several similarly sized new houses, but they're all newcomers in a neighborhood still dominated by modest one-story ramblers. It's only a slight exaggeration to say the older house next door might fit in the showplace's garage.

No amount of interior decoration is going to fix that neighborhood mismatch; this home's value will be held down until the rest of the neighborhood sells out to similar development.

The house was built in 2007, and, as of last week, had been on the market 269 days, counting the time when it was under construction. The original asking price was $1.935 million; it's now listed at $1.498 million.

With few exceptions, the rooms, each staged by a different person, delivered the same anonymous tastefulness I have found in builders' decorated models. But because the stagers were starting with an empty, white-walled new house, I don't think the showcase really displayed how their work might be most useful. It's more difficult to work with a seller's limited budget for pre-sale prep work, not to mention a house full of furnishings that might even reflect a disdain for that Pottery Barn look.

With a resale home, stagers will tell you which stuff needs to be taken out of the house (most of it, it seems) and which colors need to be changed. They'll re-arrange your book shelves and make the laundry room look Martha Stewart-y. They'll borrow furniture and accessories from one room to show them off in another. They'll let you rent their mirrors and silk plants and advise you on sofas and dining tables that you can rent, if needed, to create that tasteful tableau.

Even though it's yet another person making a living off your home sale, a consultation with a stager won't break the bank. Most I spoke with said their fees for a consultation range from $250 to $600, depending in part on the size of your home. For that they will give you a plan for making the house fresh and appealing to buyers. They will rent accessories, such as small tables, lamps, pillows, mirrors and art, for about $150 to $400 per month. Furniture rental, if necessary, can run another few hundred dollars a month. You could pay them to stage everything down to the garage and linen closet, or save money by having them focus on one or two troublesome spots.

I'm still not convinced most buyers need to spend their money on a stager's advice. Cash is short, and it could be better spent on the tasks all sellers need to tackle, such as removing or replacing old carpet; repainting in fresh, neutral colors; cleaning and repairing windows; and prettying up the yard.

You can find many of the principles of staging, and tips for low-cost shortcuts, outlined in "Home Staging for Dummies," which you can pick up for $19.99 or less.

Besides, a good real estate agent ought to be able to advise you truthfully about what needs to fixed up or tossed so your home is ready for market. After all, a 5 or 6 percent commission ought to buy you more than a sign in the yard and entry to the multiple-listing service. Agents are there to market your home, and that should include providing brutally honest advice on preparing it for market. If agents want to get extra training in staging, good for them. That should help them outshine their competitors.

Still, I hesitate to dismiss the idea, especially for some sellers. If a couple of hundred dollars spent on a consultation with a stager can help you gain an edge over competing sellers, go for it. "If there are a lot of new-builds nearby, you're in competition. If people in the neighborhood are staging, you're in competition with them," said Christine Rae, author of the Dummies book.

Sellers who need staging advice the most may be those least likely to heed it. Are you so peeved about low prices that you won't put another dime into pre-sale preparation? Are you so proud of your pink Victorian decor that you would be insulted at the suggestion that it be toned down for market? You're the kind of sellers who could most benefit from a staging intervention.

Other candidates include people trying to sell a house themselves, without a real estate agent, or people trying to sell a vacant home, with or without an agent's help. A good stager could help you rent just enough furniture to make the home look warm and inviting instead of sad and empty.

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The staged house, at 6526 Roosevelt St., Falls Church, will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 24.

E-mail Elizabeth Razzi atrazzie@washpost.com