Home staging

Setting the stage Spring 2020

Home stager helps sell any on-the-market space

By McKenzie Moellering Standard-Radio Post reporter

After working for years in a corporate environment, Kim Rabon was ready to explore her creative side.

In May 2016, she started Here & There, a concierge service focusing on home and real estate staging and decorating.

“We realized quickly that this market didn’t really have anyone locally that did staging and so we wanted to fill that niche and that need,” Rabon said.

After almost four years in business, Rabon estimates she has staged between 75-100 homes in the area and often manages seven or eight homes at a time.

“Homes we stage typically average just one month on the market, so it can make a big difference,” Rabon said.

Rabon

Down to a science

Home decorating involves getting creative and having an eye for design. But many may not realize that there is a science to the entire process.

“There’s definitely a science to staging as you want to control where the eye moves; you want to figure out ways to make the room look bigger,” Rabon said.

Kim Rabon, owner of Here & There, stages homes that are going on the market. More often than not, she sees homes sell in about 60 days or less. — Submitted photo

In a vacant home, the owner has moved on. Rabon doesn’t like seeing photos of how the room was set up, giving

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With Rabon’s help, a home owner has a higher chance of selling their home in a shorter time frame. She focuses on selling the home, rather than the existing possessions.

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her the chance to get creative without any preconceived ideas.

“I don’t want a preconceived notion of how it looked or how things flowed, I want to be able to do what makes the most sense to me,” she said.

In an owner-occupied home, Rabon has to work with existing set-ups and possessions.

“This can be more sensitive because we are coming in, taking what they have and making it as palatable for the masses as possible,” she said.

One example could be built-ins with a large display of family photos and a beer stein collection. While Rabon likes looking at these kinds of things, her focus is making the built-in shelves pop.

Rabon also says good photography can make a difference as well as smaller details like moving a chair to the opposite side of the room or taking out an extra dresser.

“People spend a lot of heart and time decorating their home and we want them to know we aren’t saying the home isn’t pretty but we want to make the house the focus, rather than the possessions,” Rabon explained.

Other challenges can be staging homes with young kids or if the owner has other special needs.

“You have to live there and cook your supper there, so it’s impor

Here & There works with homeowners to develop strategies to stage homes that are going on the market. Owner Kim Rabon offers free estimates, low-cost consultation and affordable staging services.

tant that we make it a livable space,” Rabon said.

In some instances, an owner can be very reluctant to changing the space, so Rabon finds herself bargaining and doing one room at a time, rather than all rooms at once.

Rabon will also problem solve when a home has been on the market for an extended period of time.

“We can go in and change the furniture, maybe do some painting, hang new art on the walls and sometimes that makes a big See STAGING ▶8

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difference,” she said. “We have seen a lot of cases where the 1970s called and they want their couch back so we have to just reset and refresh.”

Affordable service

From the start, Rabon wanted to offer home staging at an affordable price. She charges an hourly fee and most projects take about four hours.

In addition, there is a monthly rental fee on some items. Most projects for 60 days cost about $1,000 total.

She offers free estimates to customers and offers consultations for under $100 if owners want to stage the home themselves.

“If someone has a $250,000 house, we want them to afford our services so they could better sell their home,” she said. “We want to work with their budget and their needs.”

Other services

Rabon carries a variety of different styles of inventory as to serve tastes from modern to traditional, doing the best to match the house.

She can purchase slip covers for old couches, she can rent homeowners a couch and add a few pillows.

In addition to staging homes, Rabon also stages windows for businesses on Main Street and helps them lay out merchandise.

Rabon can rent furniture from couches to tables to lamps and art pieces. She can also rent pillows and slip covers if furniture is outdated. — Submitted photo

Call Kim Rabon at 210-215-8902 or view her Instagram page at: here_and_there_concierge

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