Realtors Just Don't Get Staging
From Homescape
written by Craig Schiller on Friday, April 25, 9:59AM
In the past four years that I’ve been staging, I’ve noticed a new trend taking place. Today, more homeowners are reaching out to stagers to help prepare their home for a sell, even before they hire a Realtor. But the odd thing is, while staging practices have been utilized in the housing market for years, it still amazes me how many agents in the Realtor community continue to snub, ignore and misunderstand the staging process. For whatever reason, many agents seem to have completely shut down any possibility to understand the opportunity staging offers their clients. Just scroll through some pictures of listed homes for sale on the Internet for proof.
Why aren’t Realtors getting it?
I have a feeling that what many Realtors think staging is, is actually not staging at all. If a seller goes to a Web site and finds a list of “10 Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home for Selling,” they’ve begun the staging process. If a seller’s agent then comes to look at the home and instructs them to do 10 more things to better prepare their property, they are essentially directing them to stage the home. If a stager is hired and they find an additional 10 MORE things for the seller to attend to, they’re in full staging mode.
Just as selling a house does NOT always require a Realtor, staging a house does NOT always require a stager. However, owners who have worked with a good and reputable stager have learned that a trained eye can see the issues that work against a home and he can offer creative solutions to ready, package and market a home for selling in ways they’ve never considered.
Expert advice
Stagers guide, direct and counsel home sellers as to what they can do to BEST prepare their property. We can also coach them on how to quickly, easily and inexpensively make their home more appealing. Consulting services for good stagers can cost as little as $100 (depending on the housing market). If needed, stagers can come in and help prepare for an open house and set the interior space.
The more you and your Realtor know and understand what home staging does and does NOT do, and when to use our services, the more empowered you’ll become.
Staging a home for selling is not a new phenomenon. All that has really changed is that there is an entire INDUSTRY now committed to understanding the intricacies of how a home can be best merchandised and marketed as a product so that it entices them to buy.
Staging It Forward...
Craig Schiller, founder of Real Estaging
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Comments
Comment from Staging, a realtor:
That's funny, I almost completely have the reverse opinion of home staging.Most things home stagers recommend are valuable but man make a home less sellable.
Recently I had a home stager tell a client of mine to remove the ceiling fans because it would make the room appear bigger.
The first thing the buyers commented when seeing the room was that they wished it had ceiling fans....
In that same house they have a small ten by ten formal sitting room. Previously it had a couch and two chairs, and an attractive book shelf.
The furniture made the room look useable and useful.
At the professional stagers recommendation they removed the bookshelf and the couch to help the room look bigger. To the contrary, now the room looks like it is wasted space as it's too small to do anything with.
Staging is good, but don't overestimate your skills as a professional when many ways you're efforts are making the <a href="http://www.mlshousesandcondos.com">house</a> less enticing.
Comment from Angie, a realtor:
Love this article. Not all Stagers are created equal. There are those that claim to be stagers, but lack any professional training. It is important for Realtors and consumers to know if their Stager has had professional training, making sure that they are accredited is important. www.diamondstaginganddesign.comComment from Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, a Consumer:
Some agents won't recommend staging because they're afraid their client will expect them to pay for it.And, if the listing has been sitting on the market for months, it's pretty hard for agents to go back to their client and suggest the home doesn't show that well and should be staged. The client would rightly ask, "well why didn't you tell me that four months ago?"
As for hiring a stager, don't assume because someone claims to be "accredited" that they know what they're doing. There are no official home staging credentials in this completely unregulated field. And worse, many are given fake portfolios to pass off as their own work. Make sure you ask lots of questions before hiring anyone!
Comment from Louis Cammarosano , a realtor:
CraigThanks for the post! Indeed staging is important. Homegain recently surveyed thousands of agents and 86% of them recommended staging prior to selling. 96% recommended decuttering. Here is a tool called Home Sale Maximizer based on our survey that indicates the best pre home sale improvements to make:
http://www.homegain.com/tool_center/home_sale_maximizer?entryid=9992Comment from Linda Brewer, a Consumer:
Where does one get professional training to be a stager?Comment from CRAIG Schiller (This Blog Author), a realtor:
MLS HOUSES & CONDOS:It looks to me that you hired a novice. Just as not all realtors are good at what they do... the same can be said about stagers. A good stager is FOCUSED on a developing an overall staging strategy that will sell a house... NOT applying the few tricks the picked up some where.
I am sorry your experience has left you with that belief that makes you say "don't overestimate your skills as a professional when many ways you're efforts are making the house less enticing." A good EXPIRENCED professional stager WILL ALWAYS make the house MORE enticing.
ANGIE: I hate to burst your bubble... but I am NOT an Accredited. I am SELF TOUGHT. This is not to say staging training is of no value. But, at this point in time, EXPIRIENCE always trumps credentials.
DEBRA: I know you know it! The thing others might not know about you is that you do do staging training... and focus on developing professionals. And your comments about realtors... right on the money.
LOUIS: I am anxious to check out your link.
LINDA: In the right hand column on my blog site (www.thestagingblog.com) I list about 40 different foundation training programs. SOME, in my opinion are better then others. YOU will have to do the research, but remember FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER... even when picking a foundation staging program to invest your time and money into.
Stage It Forward…
Me
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