So. You’ve hired a home styling professional to help you with the job of house styling for sale. You made this decision based on the fact that you understand that professional home staging will, in the end, be likely to generate a higher sale price for your home and leave you to manage the rest of your life and walk the tightrope that is selling a home and moving. Why, then, do you find yourself frustrated and cranky because you want to be more ‘hands-on’ with the project?

Professional home stylists tell us that occasionally it becomes necessary to have a sit-down with homeowners to help them put the home selling adventure back into perspective. Usually the miscommunication stems from the fact that homeowners are deeply concerned about the success of the project – not only is it ‘their house’, but it’s also money in their pocket. Of course they want some involvement. The professional stylist, on the other hand, has a different view.

When a stylist takes on a project, the goals for themselves and the homeowner are the same. A fast and fruitful sale is the ultimate target. The stylist comes up with a plan and, in a perfect world, the home seller stands back and lets it happen. Unfortunately, homeowners occasionally want to tweak the plan and change important components along the way. This can create friction among the sales team, and needs to be nipped in the bud.

Here are a few tips for homeowners who find themselves second-guessing the styling team and possibly throwing a monkey-wrench into the plan for home styling for sale.

Time is Money

Back in the beginning of your home-sale adventure, you chose a styling professional for several reasons. Perhaps it was the innovative way the stylist had of re-visioning your home. Perhaps it was the way in which he or she planned to use colour and texture to create a different space than the one you’d lived with for so long. Maybe it was the fact that all of this came at such an affordable price.
The fact is that when a designer gives you a plan, it is carefully thought out. The cost to create the new space depends on many things, but time – the only resource that cannot be recaptured – is critical. Your stylist knows how long such a plan will take to bring to fruit and factors it into the plan. The more often items on the professional’s to-do list are changed or delayed, the more time it takes to finish the project.

If your staging team has given you a firm price for the styling, changes can eat into their profit. If it’s an estimate, such changes or delays can incrementally increase the price of the job – a surprise most homeowners resent. No styling professional wants that.
When you hire a styling professional, be aware that his or her time is very valuable. So is the time of any tradesman who is painting, papering, or otherwise involved. Any change you make to the original plan could be costly. Make sure you agree with the plan at the outset, and then allow the professionals to do the work as they proposed.

An Attitude Adjustment

It can be difficult for the homeowner to remember that these changes are being created for somebody else. The “new” place is not necessarily meant to please the homeowner. The changes are meant to entice a broad range of buyers who may or may not be on the same page with you in terms of style and function. Most likely, the buyers who will see your home are demographically different than you are. They may be younger or older, have different interests, and want different things in their home than you would want in your own.

Home stylists invest an incredible amount of time, money, and energy in keeping up with the needs of prospective buyers. They bring this information to your home and make it real in terms of colours, styles, patterns, and function. Your job is to trust them to know what is necessary to make the prospective buyer bond with your house no matter how difficult it may seem.

Home styling for sale is not an exact science, but it is science. Your professional stylist will use the best tools available to make your home sale the best it can be. Your goal and the goal of the professional you’ve chosen are the same; the quickest and most lucrative sale of your home. The reason you choose a stylist in the first place is to facilitate this end result, so place your trust in the best stylists and allow them to work their magic – you’ll be glad you did.