Professional stager discusses the art of selling homes

Selling a home is hard. Selling a home in a recession is even harder.

Enter Edie Di Dio of Gardnerville, owner of StageNV, whose specialty is to stage homes for sale in order to appeal to buyers.

"Every room has a purpose," she said. "I love envisioning what a home would look like differently, showing its best potential."

Di Dio, who's lived in Ruhenstroth for 14 years, spent most of her professional life in the lending industry before making a business out of her passion - staging.

On Thursday, she was in another house she and her husband own in Gardnerville. The garage was packed with tables, chairs, lamps, house plants and other accent pieces - objects Di Dio uses in staging vacant homes.

"In 2008, I was helping a friend in Arizona who started doing it on the side," she said. "Now, she has a 5,000-square-foot warehouse full of furniture. She started doing it full-time, and she's just amazing."

Di Dio said her friend's business inspired her. She began taking courses and eventually earned certification through the Home Staging Resource, a training program accredited by the Real Estate Staging Association.

In May, Di Dio launched StageNV, though business didn't really pick until the fall season. She said she had to market herself in a variety of ways.

"Through my website and word-of-mouth, and talking to Realtors," she said. "I also send postcards to owners of newly listed homes."

Di Dio said staged homes sell 70 percent quicker than unstaged homes.

"You only have one chance to make a first impression," she said. "There are some things you can't change. You can't change the location of your home, so you have to price it right and show better than the competition."

For occupied homes, Di Dio first conducts a walk-through to develop a plan with the owner. Then comes the actual staging when things are rearranged, removed or added to, depending on the desired aesthetic.

For vacant homes, Di Dio uses her own inventory. She said that while banks typically won't hire stagers for foreclosed properties, real estate agents representing the properties may decide to hire one.

Knowing most sellers right now have limited funds, Di Dio focuses on what she calls "practical creativity."

"If you're talking about a family room, a lot of times there are five million things in it, from the TV to the kids stuff," she said. "You have to set up zones for different functions. Most homes have twice as much stuff in them as they should and twice as much stuff on the walls than they should. When selling a home, you're selling the space, and you want the stuff to complement the space. It should be neutralized and depersonalized."

This depersonalization is the hardest part of staging, Di Dio said.

"People are attached to their things," she said. "But how you live in a home and how you sell a home are night and day. From day one, what matters is what a buyer thinks of the room. Not everyone is going to like your boa constrictor. Selling a home can be very emotional, but it must be viewed as a business transaction."

Di Dio said that hiring a professional stager may cost more upfront, but it can save more in the long run.

"It's a lot cheaper than that first price reduction," she said. "It's a small investment with a good return."

For more information, call Di Dio at 721-1013 or visit www.StageNV.com.