Despite media reports that the “sky is falling” in the real estate industry, consumers should remember that fear sells papers and boosts TV ratings and is a tactic used routinely by the media for self promotion. Decorate-Redecorate says home staging services, however, can’t be ignored when markets are sluggish, even though the scare reports are highly overrated and misleading.

Press Release: Huntington Beach, CA (IPRWIRE) September 19, 2007 – Decorate-Redecorate (www.decorate-redecorate.com) encourages consumers by reminding them that real estate isn’t driven by speculation. That’s why homes are not traded like commodities on the stock market. Homes are too dissimilar, even if a huge number of them are tract homes.

Home staging is a valuable way to make a home even more dissimilar to other homes on the market. So even though a tract home has a different location, orientation, lot dimension, proximity or view, professional techniques by home stagers can make all the difference when it comes to price, number of offers and speed of sale.

The problem is that the media loves to scare people. Fear is good for headlines and ratings. In reality the real estate market always fluctuates. So contrary to what the media would have you believe, the sky isn’t falling. Real estate sales always reflect the uniqueness of a property, at a specific point in time, competing against only those other similar properties that happen to be available for sale, at that point in time.

If there are several similar homes available at that time, there will be downward pressure on the sales prices. It is competition for a dwindling number of homes of a similar nature that drives the prices upward. Yet again, this is where home staging services play an important role in setting similar homes apart from one another.

The determination of home value is complicated, to say the least. Terms such as assessed value, appraised value, market value, replacement value and selling price all mean different things.

For instance, when the media reports that real estate values are falling, what they really mean is that the prices buyers paid for a small number of homes (last month) was less than what a different set of buyers paid for a different assortment of homes (the month before). That’s hardly a good comparison but a great way to confuse the public and boost the media’s ratings.

One result the media can’t manipulate for ratings, however, is the positive effects that home staging has on the pricing results of staged homes compared to un-staged homes. Statistics all across the country agree that staged homes routinely outperform those that are not staged, and the services, in most cases, being more cost effective to the seller than having to lower the sales price.

For more information visit: www.decorate-redecorate.com