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Debra Gould is an internationally recognized expert in the field of home staging and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, MoneySense Magazine, Reader's Digest, Woman's Day, Style at Home and House & Home and been featured on several TV networks including HGTV, LifeNetwork, Pulse24, CityTV, GlobalTV and CBC. She's also a featured success story in the upcoming FabJob Guide to Become a Home Stager.

With real estate sales slowing in many markets, Les Christie of CNNMoney interviewed Debra Gould on how home staging is the number one strategy a homeowner can use when the market heads south.

Read the full story and Debra Gould's interview with CNNMoney

Debra has a BA in Communications "With Distinction" from Concordia University. She graduated with an MBA from Canada's top business school, the Schulich School of Business (York University), and spent 15 years developing and managing her client's multi-million dollar marketing programs. A frequent contributor to Profit Magazine while she ran her own marketing consulting firm in the 1990s, her expertise is also featured in a chapter of the book Marketing Masters: The Best Ideas and Strategies from Canada's Savviest Marketers.

While running her other businesses, Debra always had a passion for real estate and bought, decorated and sold 6 of her own homes in 8 years at a great profit. In 2002, she decided to take what she new about marketing and her own real estate experience and created her home staging firm Six Elements Inc. Since that time she's staged hundreds of homes and her clients have earned anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 profit on her services.

"Home Staging is really marketing in its finest form. It is all about decorating a home for the target market to fall in love with," says home staging expert Debra Gould. "A good home stager, doesn't just decorate, they know how and why people buy the homes they do and create the ideal environment for a quick sale and multiple offers." 

Home staging is a completely unregulated field and anyone can call themselves a professional home stager. While some claim to be "accredited" or "certified", there is no independent organization that grants these credentials. Even worse, some programs give their students portfolios to present as their own. So, it's important to ask alot of questions before hiring anyone. Look for: samples of their work (ask about their projects to get a better understanding of where the photos came from), testimonials from past clients and most importantly determine whether you feel comfortable with the person you're considering hiring. Instead of relying on "credentials" which don't really exist, try to determine if the home stager seems to know what they're talking about.

Learn more about hiring a professional home stager