Barbara Green

Do you have friends that love to go out with you, but never invite you to their home? How about neighbors who are super-nice in the yard, but never let you in the house? Don't worry. It isn't you, it's them.

They are hiding a secret that has been kept for years by many homeowners, but the economic decline is causing the veneer of this life of illusion to crack. These friends and neighbors are victims of the American Dream: having the big house to prove you've "made it," but having no money left over to decorate it.

So how did so many people end up real estate rich and decor poor?

At a time when many companies are downsizing or closing, the home staging business is booming. Home staging was listed as one of seven emerging growth industries according to a 2009 CNN report. The growth is attributed to the stagnant real estate market.

With homes taking longer to sell, there ends up being more homes for qualified buyers to choose from, so a motivated seller is best served by hiring a home stager to make their house stand out from all the rest.

Homes that are professionally staged sell five times faster and for 5 percent more than homes that were not staged.

So what do sellers need to know when hiring a home staging professional?