Rehabbers are those folks that buy a distressed property (usually a foreclosure, but it can be any number of other situations), fix it up and then rent it. Sometimes, they'll sell, more often they prefer to rent - they like the drip income, as I understand it. They also refinance as soon as they can to pull out the appreciation so that they can move on to another property and do the same thing all over again. Their formula is B-R-R-R: Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refi

These property owners care about only one thing alone: - the bottom line. It's just about the numbers.

Well, isn't real estate always about the numbers? It's a concern but not the primary purpose for a home stager. Stagers are the people brought in to make a structure feel like a place to live. We give each room have purpose, and ignite the emotional side of a buyer looking for a "home". (think: Mom, apple pie and white picket fence - all emo-connex in a visceral, subconscious way)

Most realtors have their system for prepping a house to go to market. So, too, with home stagers who offer a list of "tips, tricks and time-tested strategies." Let's see which things Rehabbers do when looking to maximize profit with simple, low cost improvements....remember their entire purpose is to add NET VALUE, that's it.

1 Anything vertical gets a new coat of paint!

They like paint; we like paint. Paint and caulk cover up a multitude of sins, and can constitute an effective repair. Neutral colors cost the least and have the widest appeal. It's important to the job neatly so as to prevent costly and time-wasting cleanup (think: razor blades on window glass for a couple of hours) But for another reason we may not think of immediately: meticulous prep work allows you to get away with cheap contractor grade paint and still get terrific results.

2 Carpet is Convenient

Rehabbers will tell you that it is quicker and more cost efficient to simply carpet everything rather than remove linoleum or refinish hard wood floors. This seems grim, for the stager in me, but if a nice, soft carpet has been chosen...

3 Small stuff has big payoff

As we all know: you gotta sweat the small stuff! Those small, irritating repairs have the biggest impact because they illustrate how well the property has been cared for. Itsy-bitsy details like broken doorbells, torn screens, cracked window panes, missing knobs stained ceilings, and weeds everywhere in what reads on the survey as "garden". Home Stagers will call it "the honey do" list. They're fiddly, annoying but they speak volumes on pride of ownership.

4 Just Replace the High Impact Features

These guys will just replace only items that yield the best POW! So, instead of doing a new bathroom, they'll replace just the toilet and resurface the other fittings, like the tub and sink. No, 'Designed to Sell' here! In the kitchen they'll add merely a new stove in the kitchen, with bright lights, and if you're lucky, some bright linoleum (at least they won't carpet here, huh?) and they feel like they have tizzed up the space immeasurably and for very small expense.

5 Stick to the ORIGINAL plan

My husband is particularly good here in his rehabbing, where I - once I've rid the space of the really awful things - want to keep going until I reach "perfection" (or at least something really good looking!) You made a plan, you created a budget... you need to stick to it. Remember TIME, and the cost of carrying a place while you fix it up is as important a number to factor in as the out of pocket expenses for repairs.

A trick trainers offer here is to not do it all yourself. "When you do, you screw it up", says Jeff Schnitter of the EWI. You do too much and the budget goes kablowee! If all you're doing is managing the project, arms length, you can focus more on the marketing end.

How many stagers and realtors achieve that balance? Yeah, we could learn a few things, I guess.