Here’s a quote straight from the article posted at: http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/551615.html

“Specifically, home staging would be considered “advertising fees” and would fall under the allowable selling expenses.

Second, you may be able to negotiate with your Realtor and add the expense to the commission paid for selling the house. Either way, the same result is accomplished, and the services provided will be considered deductible.

That said, if the home stager recommends the entire interior needs a fresh coat of paint, these selling expenses are not allowable deductions.

Bottom line: Paying for the home stager’s services is deductible, while expenses for repairs, maintenance or permanent redecorating of the house are not.”

Tax time is coming soon, so be sure to keep track of your deductible Home Staging expenses,
Rebecca

RISMEDIA, August 22, 2007—The real estate industry, while morphing through its tough time adjusting from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market, has created quite a buzz surrounding home staging. While home staging isn’t a new concept, it has certainly found new life in the eyes of today’s sellers and real estate professionals.

Although there have been many quality courses around for many years, and being a “Professional Home Stager” is unquestionably a unique and full-time career for many people, there is a growing need for agents to improve their general knowledge about this subject to effectively serve their clients.

According to Thomas M. Mitchell, SVP of RealtyU, many of today’s sellers are anxiously looking to use every advantage they can get to ensure both the highest possible price and the fewest number of days on the market. Many may opt to use a fulltime stager to “re-make” their house from a home to live in to a house to sell, while many others are just looking to their real estate agent to provide general staging tips and guidelines on how to make their home show better.

“For that very reason, the one-day Accredited Home-Staging Specialist (AHS) course was created,” says Mitchell. “At RealtyU and its school network in over 42 states it’s all about helping the agent become more knowledgeable and better prepared to provide the home buyer and seller the best and most professional experience they can.” The AHS course provides an excellent overview of staging and guides the agent through the entire process providing hundreds of tips, suggestions and solutions to every staging issue.

The AHS course does an excellent job of preparing the agent to not only intelligently explain the process to the client but also assist them in putting together a staging plan. In some cases this may require the assistance of a professional stager and in others it may just involve showing the client how to “de-clutter” and “clean” to their greatest advantage.

Asked if this course is designed to make the real estate agent a professional stager Mitchell noted, “The AHS course is basic and fundamental in its format. It was designed with one purpose in mind – clearly and effectively provide real estate professionals with a solid understanding of the staging process and the elements involved. They need to be able to respond effectively when the sellers ask the question – what about staging? Real estate professionals are consummate facilitators and staging has become just one more part of the process they help their client through,” Mitchell said

The course is now available in over 200 classroom locations from one of the accredited RealtyU Affiliates (visit www.RealtyUSchools.com to locate the location nearest you) or online through a cutting edge, multi-media format at www.RealtyUOnline.com (check under (Designations).

If you’d like more detailed information on how to stage a house for sale quickly, check out the Do-It-Yourself Home Staging Kit at: http://home-staging-secrets.com

It has 97 pages worth of step-by-step instructions on when to stage and how to stage, plus detailed staging checklists, remodeling checklists, and home inspection checklists to make your house fluffing job even easier.

I hope you enjoy it!
Rebecca

Kudos to this realty company for offering much-needed Homebuyer Education classes, encouraging agents and sellers to price homes fairly, offer creative financing, and start learning and using the power of house fluffing!

Some folks even suggested hanging onto your house for a few years and leasing it until the market improves. I would add that rent-to-own is a strategy that homebuyers will start to appreciate more and more, as home financing gets tighter and tighter.

What do you think of the strategies purported in this article in preparing a house to sell?
Rebecca

Click here to read the entire article

This article discusses how the stager is able to make these recommendations that normally might jeopardize the realtor’s working relationship with a client.

Click here to read the entire article.

Enjoy,

Rebecca Wolfe

Click here to read the entire article.

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Sales Slow for Homes New and Old

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By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: July 26, 2006
Click here to read the entire article.

Home builders have long used home staging in their model homes to create a visual image for buyers of what it might be like to live in the home. Unlike a model home that can cost thousands of dollars to decorate, home staging provided through Atlanta Homes South uses proven staging techniques. The home seller’s own furniture and accessories, sprinkled with Splendid Source accent pieces, transform the home into a visually enticing “model home” ready for immediate sale. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Staging speeds up sales in a sluggish market and can bump up prices to 2% to 10% in a moderate market.”

Research shows that the benefits of professional home staging are plentiful:

**Professionally staged homes sell faster.
**Professionally staged homes tend to sell for a higher price.
**Appraisers are more likely to appraise a professionally staged home for full market value.
**Professionally staged homes are seen as having more of an “edge” over similar homes that have not been professionally staged. Realtors are more likely to show homes that “present well.”
**Professionally staged homes photograph well and look better in print advertising and on websites. Recent studies have shown that 1 of the 4 top reasons that a home does not sell is due to a poor MLS photo.
**Removing clutter and boxing up personal items will help create a positive home showing environment.

To learn more about the benefits of professional home staging, please visit Kem & AC’s http://www.AtlantaHomesSouth.com site and look for the Splendid Source Home Services link at the bottom of the home page. Kem & AC Roda are also available to personally answer any questions you may have about this remarkable and effective service.

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