When it comes to selling a house for the best price in the shortest amount of time, home staging is a valuable tool to attract more potential buyers and get more offers. However, staging a home properly can be both time consuming and costly, and sellers may find it hard to justify the added expense. That’s where community 
co-opting comes in, a win-win process wherein local businesses add their special touches to make a home more presentable, at the same time promoting their products and services to open house attendees. Here’s a look at 7 ways to utilize local vendors to help you stage a successful and very cost-effective open house.
1. Enlist the local nursery: First impressions start with the outside of the home, so why not enlist the local nursery to help you create the best first impression possible? From providing potted plants on loan to be place strategically in the yard, to sprucing up key rooms with more colorful plants and flowers, nurseries can make a major difference in the first impressions department. If fresh cut flowers are not a part of what the nursery provides, get the local flower shop involved. To promote their services without detracting, vendor business cards can be paired with some of the more prominent plants and arrangements. As an added incentive to ensure vendor participation, a “thank you” flyer listing each participating vendor, along with contact information may be distributed to open house attendees along with the more home-specific hand-outs.
2. Call the local candle company: Few items can do more to create a pleasant atmosphere in a home than candles, especially the scented kind. Kitchens with candles producing the aromas of fresh baked goods become cozier, Living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms boasting the scents of lavender and jasmine seem more relaxing and inviting. Larger candles can be decorated with ribbons and small tags bearing the candle shop’s name and logo, with business cards propped up against candle holders in more prominent rooms. The key with candles is not to get carried away, as too many flames and fragrances can detract from the rooms themselves.
3. Bring in a bakery or candy shop: While the aroma of freshly baked cookies emanating from candles is a pleasant surprise in the kitchen, why not invite the local bakery or candy store to provide your open house guests with the real deal? Even modest offerings of cookies and confections will make a positive impression. Just make sure that the treats are not too messy, as unwanted impressions might be made on the carpet. A smart way for bakery and candy vendors to promote their goods naturally is to provide bottled water for guests to wash down the tasty treats. The bottles could carry labels with custom-printed business logos, or business cards firmly affixed with clear tape.
4. Contact a caterer: Taking the food factor a step further, a local caterer could be contacted to supply plates or hors’ devours for open house guests to enjoy. The caterer might even provide a waiter attired with a jacket or apron bearing the catering company’s logo. While not all open houses may warrant a caterer, those held around the holidays would certainly be better for it.
5. Find a frame shop or photographer: As professional stagers will tell you, one of the prime goals in staging a house is to eliminate clutter. Another goal is to create a neutral atmosphere by putting family photographs away. That being said, a few paintings or pictures, properly framed and hung in strategic places, such as over mantles or on obviously barren walls, can go a long way in enhancing the overall impression of the home. Professional photographers are also an excellent resource for providing photographs, primarily of natural settings, that elicit a positive response.
6. Connect with a quilt shop or baby boutique: When showing homes with nurseries or other rooms that could use a touch of warmth, such as bedrooms and family rooms, handmade specialty items from quilt shops and baby boutiques can create a feeling of warmth and security in a home. Living rooms with large couches can also benefit from a casually strewn quilt to make the area seem more inviting. Items supplied by these vendors can be tastefully accompanied with decorative ribbons bearing the company logo on tags or business cards.
7. Invite an interior decorator: Depending on the house, the seller’s motivation, and the time of year, it may be appropriate to invite an interior decorator to make sure that all elements of the staging process combine to produce the desired effect on open house attendees. In turn, the decorator may place promotional business cards or brochures in appropriate places about the home, and their logo and contact information would be featured on the “thank you” flyer.
Promotion: While having any of the above vendors participate in the staging process, no amount of planning and preparation can make up for a poorly attended open house. However, the inclusion of local businesses creates a powerful opportunity to promote the open house through websites and social media. When inviting vendors to participate, be sure to explain to them how your open house is an impending event, an event that they can promote through business websites and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. By utilizing each vendor’s unique product or service, along with leveraging their ability to promote your showing over the internet, you are well on your way to staging the kind of open house that can quickly turn a “For Sale” sign into a “Sold” sign.
Erica Lendell is a freelance writer for Park’s Edge Park City.