“All the world's a stage,” according to Shakespeare in “As You Like It.”

Gina Zimmerman would amend the Bard's familiar quote to read, “Every home's a stage”.

Zimmerman, Hannah Picotte of Designs by Hannah, and the mother/daughter team of Donna McKenzie and Leslie Mongson of Shows Beautifully Staging are professional home stagers in the Fort Wayne area. They assist owners who are selling their homes in today's highly competitive and uncertain market, using a variety of techniques that enhance a home's appeal.

“Home staging prepares a home to sell and allows buyers to visualize living there,” said Picotte. “The Fort Wayne area is a buyer's market. Homes are selling, but they need to be priced right and look better than the competition.”

“I think of staging a home as being very much like consumer product packaging,” McKenzie said. “The way the product is packaged — colors, design, placement — has an enormous impact on the demand for the product and the price buyers will pay for it.”

Picotte and Zimmerman earned the Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) designation from the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. McKenzie is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers.

ASP reports that 94 percent of staged homes sell in 35 days or less, according to numbers collected from June 2007 to November 2008. Non-staged homes average 175 days on the market. There are no local statistics on how home staging affects selling time here.

According to McKenzie, staging elicits higher appraisals, attracts more qualified buyers, encourages agents to show the house more often and brings higher prices.

Most homeowners recognize the importance of cleaning their homes to prepare for the sale.

Staging is more than cleaning and decorating, however. Home stagers are adept at creating a mood.

“How you decorate to live in your home, and how you decorate to sell your home are two different things,” Zimmerman said. “Decorating implies adding; staging is the opposite of decorating - staging is all about paring away personal decoration.”

Homeowners are encouraged to disassociate from their homes, recognizing the house is a product to be sold. Personal photographs, family heirlooms and artifacts should be removed.

“The driving idea behind staging is to let people imagine themselves living in your home. It is not about your taste or your stuff,” Zimmerman said.

De-cluttering is vital, as rooms overflowing with furniture and accessories appear smaller. Several techniques increase the visual size of a room:

♦Remove books from bookcases and pack them for your move.

♦Clear counters of appliances and food; clean files and paperwork from desks.

♦Rearrange closets and cabinets by packing up off-season clothing, dishes, and extra bedding and towels. Arrange shirts, shoes and dishes neatly.

♦Rent a storage unit to store knicknacks and furniture or “re-purpose” a piece in another room.

♦Be brutal in the garage by throwing out, donating or storing everything but the absolute essentials.

Shows Beautifully Staging will de-clutter and provide simple props such as plants, wall art and accessories to enhance a room. McKenzie emphasizes the importance of staging when photographing the client's home for use in a multiple listing or Web site.

“(We) take well-lighted, well-composed photographs that show off each room to its best advantage,” McKenzie said. “If buyers aren't wowed by the photos they see on Internet sites, they will not be interested in visiting the house at all.”

“The buyer will form an opinion on your home in the first 15 seconds,” Zimmerman said, “and the clock starts ticking at the curb, even before buyers enter the home.”

She advocates well-groomed grass and shrubs, a clean and uncluttered entrance, and a freshly painted front door with polished hardware.

“As a final touch,” she says, “add a new doormat.”

And don't forget that the color yellow evokes a buying emotion. A pot of cheerful marigolds on the front porch is a subtle invitation to a potential buyer.