Speaking Up about Home Staging

In our new continuing education membership program, Conversations with Market Leaders, you’ll have an opportunity to listen to live interviews, attend webinars, ask questions and interact with our industry’s leaders and trend setters.

Your membership will include:

• Monthly live call with a well known leader (see some of our past & upcoming guests below). Juliet McEwen Johnson, leads the discussion and tackles topics that will enhance your every day professional life. Each month members will receive live call in information for that month’s broadcast as well as previous month’s recorded session and transcript.
• Monthly continuing education webinars on real estate, home staging & social media. There will be over 20 CE webinars available to you throughout the year. Recorded copies will be available when possible.
• Weekly Tech4Biz sessions – a 15-25 minute webinar showcasing some of today’s top professional apps, gadgets or plugins for real estate and home staging. (Minimum of 40 sessions per year, recorded copies will be available when possible.)
• Bi monthly “Ask the Expert” call in shows with Host Melissa Marro or Duncan Scott.

Angela Batchelor, one of Wilmington’s best Realtors, shared this fantastic video of one of her most recent home seller clients. Angela, a proponent of home staging, (You may remember her from our impromptu dinner conversation at the RESA convention where she discussed how to have the home staging discussion with home sellers.) requires as part of her sales package, that the homeowner consult with a home stager and follow their advice. Just Perfect! Home Staging & more is Angela’s preferred Wilmington Home Staging company.

 

This client, like so many others, was initially resentful of the idea of having their home professionally staged. Knowing that they were already going to lose money on it, based on the current real estate market in Wilmington, why should they spend more money? The candor of this home seller is the perfect match for so many of us in the home staging industry. We know that nearly every home seller feels the same way. They simply don’t understand that staging is more than just adding or removing furniture. It’s more than just moving the bed from here to over there. Proper staging will show off the home to its best advantages.

I love the fact that the homeowner seems nearly speechless when it comes to describing the different in his home after home staging. Kudos to Angela for making her taking of listings contingent upon the agreement to have them staged, despite obvious trepidation from the client. Kudos to Just Perfect! Home Staging & more for turning another home seller into a believer.

What I really love the most about this situation is that it’s a win-win-win for everyone. Home sellers rely on their agents to apprise them of what reality in today’s real estate market is really about. The agent cared enough about her clients, and understood the market well enough to know that NOT staging was going to cost them more money than the investment of staging and then stood her ground. To take the listing without it, would have reflected negatively on her because it may have taken longer to sell, or worse, not sold at all. This would cost both her and the client time and money – and in a declining market, that’s a lethal combination.

No, instead, she used her expert status, to bring in another expert, a home stager, to make the changes necessary to properly market the home. The results? This home was listed for 9 months with another local real estate agent unsuccessfully. After being listed with Angela Batchelor of CENTURY 21 Sweyer & Associates and following her strategic marketing plan this home closed in less than 90 days.

There have been quite a few posts on Active Rain and individual blogs about the cost of home staging vs ROI (return on investment). I built my business and reputation on home staging statistics in my local market, so I’ve personally been all over this issue for years. When you know your market and your numbers, it’s been easy to convey this information to home sellers and real estate professionals.

Still, surveys like the most recent HomeGain Top 10 DIY Home Improvements for Selling, released last week, make it difficult for those who are struggling in their markets. It seems that what we do is still characterized arbitrarily by things like, “Add fresh flowers; removing personal items; reduce clutter; [and] play soft music”

Contrast this survey to the once conducted by RIS Media where, of the 600 Coldwell Banker agents polled, “45 percent said that their clients were more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers this year over last. 94% of their clients said they would be willing de-clutter, paint and fix minor repairs, 78% were willing to depersonalize and 59% were willing to bring in new furnishings, artwork or decorations to help sell the home.”

The truth is that all across the country, home staging is on the rise. In pockets, where there are strong stagers, who with the proper training, not only understand how to create a beautiful room, but market their business, show off their statistics and educate local real estate professionals, thrive and build profitable companies who survive based on substantiated improvements to the market and their clients.

Like it or not, home staging is an investment in equity preservation.

Like all investments, some initial capital is required. If you want to make money, you may have to spend a little. I know you’ve heard this before.

In every market homes sell at the top of their price points, and others sell at the bottom of them. Location, condition and marketing make the difference. The better the home looks at a given price point, the more likely it is to sell more quickly. The quicker it sells, the more likely it is to sell for a closer list to close ratio as buyers will not have as much power in negotiations. The longer the home sits, the more power and leverage the buyer has.

Still, it’s not uncommon to see homes at the right price point, but needing some small improvements, or a simple professional’s touch that turn down $2000 staging jobs only to mark the home down $5000 or more less than 30 days later. (Actually I’ve seen much worse case scenarios, but I digress.) Ironically, they don’t tend to think twice about this action. It’s just simply what needs to be done.

While I realize that the $2000 is money they are spending now, whereas the $5000 is only theoretical money (it’s only gone when the house sells)… it’s still $3000 more. This is not to mention the fact that now the home has been on the market 30 days and now the offers that come in will likely be at least $5000 less than they would have been if it had received an offer in the first 30 days. (And yes, that’s in addition to the markdown, for a total of at least $10,000 in cost differential.)  

To me, this is craziness. There was a reason my clients paid me – because what we did worked. I can  honestly say that no home, where the client listened to every home staging recommendation we had, didn’t significantly beat the market average. Staging works, it preserves equity, and often sanity for those who are feeling under water. 

The key differences between a fad and a trend is staying power. Fads develop quickly and evaporate. Trends develop over time and have staying power. Here in 2012, it's clear that home staging is now a trend, not a fad. Consumers who want to sell their home, and real estate pros who want to build and sustain a business need to take appropriate actions and embrace the reality, we are here to stay.

Over the past few years, in large part due to the boom of real estate shows across cable and network television, consumer's views have shifted as to what is acceptable. While buyers, in years past, were okay with the idea of taking time to personalize their home, stripping wallpaper, painting, or adding new flooring, today that just isn't true. Even buyers who say that they are willing to purchase "a fixer upper" if it's a good value, often end up with "move-in ready", deciding that the work is simply too much for them.

And if you think that this is still a small trend, think again. In a poll of 600 Coldwell Banker agents released by RIS Media this year, 45 percent said that their clients were more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers this year over last. 94% of their clients said they would be willing de-clutter, paint and fix minor repairs, 78% were willing to depersonalize and 59% were willing to bring in new furnishings, artwork or decorations to help sell the home.

Home sellers nervously concern themselves with the cost of home staging. While understandable, in every market around the country, through multiple polls or surveys done by many different sources, the reality shows that home staging beats the market and pays for itself. It is not simply another expense in selling, it's an investment in equity preservation.

So, what should you do now? The first thing is to consult a home staging professional in your area. Ask your agent if they regularly work with one. If they do, you probably want to use them. If they don't, do some research and find one. Do NOT let an agent tell you that you don't need home staging, that buyers just care about price. What that really means is that they will ask you to under price your home for a quick sale, or take multiple price reductions over an extended listing period versus marketing your home competitively.

Once you've found a good home stager to help you create a plan, you'll need to follow it. Many home stagers offer DIY consultation reports, allowing you to keep your equity by doing the work  yourself. Others will do the work for you. Be reasonable with your expectations and time lines. If you have a lot of wallpaper or clutter, you may need more time to properly prepare your home for market.

Finally, listen to the experts. Don't list your home before it has been properly prepared and don't over price it. While home staging helps retain equity, you still need to competitively price in today's market. If you over price, you will not have enough traffic, internet or showings, to establish a successful hook. What you will do instead is help show another staged and properly priced home as a better value, and end up chasing the falling market.

Yesterday we got a sneak peek at the HomeGain Top 10 DIY Home Improvement list for 2012. What followed behind the scenes was a rather heated discussion among many of the  nation's top professional home stagers. As noted in the article, "In past surveys, Home Staging and Lightening and Brightening were battling it out for the number two spot on the top 10 list. In the 2011 survey,  Lightening and Brightening reclaimed the number two position and held on to it in 2012. Home Staging, however, fell to the number five position." Home staging, for the purposes of this survey was presented to Real Estate Professionals as, "Home staging: Add fresh flowers; removing personal items; reduce clutter; rearrange furniture; add new props or furniture to enhance room/s; play soft music; hang artwork in walls. See complete staging checklist." To get a really good appreciation of what is characterized as home staging, check out the staging checklist linked above. It's no wonder that Professional Home Stagers are in an uproar over this survey. HomeGain, while we love you - I keep your little orange monkey, received after writing a really great article about you, visible in my office for anyone who comes here - can you please jump into the year 2012 and catch a reality as to what home staging really is?! Let me sum it up two sentences, just to be clear:

Home Staging helps to control a buyer's eye, with careful placement of furniture, art & accessories, so as to minimize the flaws of a home while enhancing the positive aspects. We help any home, regardless of age or occupancy status look and feel like a model home so that buyers will emotionally connect with it, increasing the odds of a quick sale at the highest possible price."

The commentary of your participants has also left us somewhat baffled. “I don’t believe that staging adds any value except that it gets a property sold when others just sit and sit. To go in spending money and expecting it to improve the dollars in your pocket (whether you spend $100 or $10,000) is just unrealistic. I personally sold my home after upgrading to the tune of $15,000 to an already updated home, and I didn’t get more money but I got it sold.” - Uh yea-ah. That's the point. The fact that home staging helps the home sell more quickly, thus reducing carrying costs, price reductions and perceived value by potential buyers IS value.  We all know that the longer a home sits on the market, the lower the offer will be.  What is the cost of the FIRST price reduction? It is usually at least 1/2 - 1% of list price. That means an average family home (approx $180K based on national NAR stats) is $9,000-$18,000. Having been one of the nation's top home stagers since 2005, I can tell you that I've never seen $10,000 in staging recommendations on a $180K home. The average is usually under $2000 for that price point.  Let me address another favorite one: “We’ve found that we do our own home-staging vs. hiring a professional stager. The professionals we’ve hired in the past cost a lot and the home still sat on the market for over 6 months.” I would LOVE to know if the agent who provided this quote actually picked the best stager or the cheapest. We are not all created equally. I would strongly recommend home sellers or agents considering DIY vs Professional Home Staging read Juliet Johnson's blog about it. Watching a firestorm of comments in a private facebook chat last night after we viewed this blogs, here were some comments from uber successful home stagers about this phenom of poorly trained (and often cheap) stagers.

• "got one of those pro stagers here who gives them a staging kit. oh yeah...plus if you watch the staging shows that automatically qualifies you to be a stager. I actually went to a networking event, met a Realtor who had her young hairdresser with her who stages because she has a flair for decorating. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
• "I just got some photos from a photographer I know, he was shocked at the junk in this $800K property he photographed & he wanted to share his horror- the Realtor said she got the job "cheap" and it showed, I just don't understand what they don't get in this price point of home or think that "towels and fruit" work."
• "I am turning away any vacant jobs that cannot afford to do it right. They're turning to "budget" staging companies and comparing prices - I told them you will get what you pay for and I would not be able to comfortably stand by a product I don't believe in or will work in their price point."
• "I will tell prospects to go to websites and check portfolios when they tell me that my competitors are only charging X - if they want stick furniture & random pieces in their homes then by all means shop "XYZ co." I am not them and have a brand to uphold."
• "This issue is hot right now for me because I've gotten push back lately about pricing - which I am not budging on, I can't because the furniture rental companies charge what they charge and I'm not working for free. Until we all start to value our selves and our businesses I continue to say this industry will remain small and not totally accepted by the RE community."

For years Real Estate Professionals have complained about the hobbyist REP that thinks real estate is just putting a sign in the yard and a listing in the MLS. They complain that homeowners think they do nothing to earn their commission because what they see are bad agents. Hello... McFly. That's us now. As long as Real Estate Agents decide to tell their clients that they just need to lower the sale price of the home to get a buyer, the market will erode. There are homes, all across the country, that are selling at the top of the market bands. Within every neighborhood there is a top and bottom that the market will allow for a given home of a given size. Guess who gets the top of that and who gets the bottom. It's not random. The top of the band are homes that are well maintained and attractive. The bottom ones aren't. They are the majority of homes on MLS. Agents who want to earn more commission and spend less marketing dollar, who want clients whose homes sell quickly, at higher sale prices turn to staging. The rest are the typical agents who don't make any money in this business. Sure, they might sell, but their profit margins are eaten alive with listings that cost them money. It isn't always about having the most listings, sometimes it is about having the right listings - you know, the ones that sell.

Staging & Redesign is one of the largest providers of home stagers continuing education (CEU) courses available through RESA, the leading home staging trade organization in the world. This makes us the right choice for not only for your primary staging education, but your ongoing education as well.

Courses we offer through RESA Pro:

Business Skills. Earn 1 credit per course

• Creating a Comprehensive Business Management Plan $149
• Pricing Strategies E-Book, plus 2-hour webinar $195
• Turning Statistics into Sales $35
• Team Building to Grow Your Home Staging Business $149
• Public Speaking Course for Stagers $59
• Staging Vacant Homes Part 1 $149

Staging Principles. Earn 1 credit per course

• Design Principles and Practice $125
• Improving Your Real Estate Photography Bundle $199
• Curb Appeal Confidence $159
• Staging Vacant Homes Part 2 $199
• Staging Vacant Homes Part 3 $199
• Staging Vacant Homes Part 4 $49

Elective Classes. Earn 1 credit per course

• Overcoming Objections To Increase Your Income $79
• Improving Your Real Estate Photography Part 1 and Part 2 $79
• Improving Your Real Estate Photography Part 3 $79
• Improving Your Real Estate Photography Part 4 $79

Earn the RESA Pro Designation:

You must take RESA-PRO℠ Ethics class and pass the RESA-PRO℠ Ethics Exam.

Current RESA® members have the opportunity to earn to the RESA-PRO℠ Designation for $190.00, this will also give current RESA® members 2 years of RESA® membership.

Non-RESA® members may earn their RESA-PRO℠ for $235.00. This includes 2 years of RESA® membership. Renewal is $190.00 for 2 years.

RESA-PRO℠ is renewed every two years. You have two years to complete:

1-Staging Principles Class
1-Business Skills Class
1-Elective Classes
1-Ethics Class

After 4 consecutive years of being a RESA-PRO™, you are required to take 1 continuing education class in any category plus the ethics class.

The Ethics class and exam, in addition to maintaining the business and insurance requirements are mandatory every 2-years to renew the designation.

Not all real estate agents believe that home staging works. Still nearly all of them believe that there are simple changes that a homeowner can make that will create a tremendous difference in how the home looks and feels to buyers. 

While we always believe that calling a professional home stager yeilds the best results, real estate agents can now provide much of the information to their clients too, thanks to Market Ready Real Estate. 

Our comprehensive reporting system allows for users to create customized reports in minutes through a series of drop down menus and checklists. Because the program is online and works with nearly all mobile devices, they can be created and emailed on the spot. 

Each room has its own selection of common recommendations as well as the ability to add notes or additional menu items easily. 

In a recent report by RIS Media, 94% of Coldwell Banker agents surveyed stated that their clients would be willing to get rid of clutter, make minor repairs or cosmetic changes, 78% said they were willing to de-personalize the home and still another 59% agreed to bring in additional items to help make the home more appealing. 

A custom written report helps clients understand which changes would be best for them specifically, as opposed to a standard checklist that can feel overwhelming.

Unlimited custom reports are only $200/yr or $19.95/mo. 

Other articles that may be helpful:

• Learn how to create a custom report in minutes
• Frequently asked questions
• How home staging checklists can create professional customized reports

 

This is our home staging and redesign training website's week in review for March 18 - 24. Sorry it's a few days late, we've been scrambling over this timeline issue =).

About Home Stagers -

Home Staging goes Cajun. Michelle Molinari's home stager story

The Artful Journey of Lori Kim Polk. Her Stager Story

 

About SAR - 

Hands on Home Staging Training now available in Portland OR with David Peterson

Vacant home staging course reduces stress and provides a clear picture

 

Business Blogs - 

How to add apps to you Facebook Timeline for Business page

 

Home Staging Photo Galleries -

Just Perfect Home Staging & More: 733 Robert E Lee

Annie Pinsker Brown: Stage to Sell: Santa Monica

 

DIY & staging blogs - 

Add drama to your walls, DIY Tips by Ty Pennington

Should you stage a flipper?

Upcycle & recycle your way to a beautiful and unique home

How to repair damaged floors before selling your home

How to hang a mirror or heavy piece of art

How to hang & meausure curtains and draperies

How will you face the canyon? Home staging builds the bridge you need

 

We've already added a bunch of new blogs, so be sure to check us out at stagingandredesign.com 

 

A couple of weeks ago, we began a new series at Staging & Redesign (SAR) Home Staging Training. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the lives and histories of some of our industries great home stagers. 

Our home stager stories, answer the questions:

• What they did before they became a home stager.
• What their best and worst home staging moments were.
• What they would tell those who are thinking about starting in the staging industry.
• Who are their favorite home stagers?
• What they love most about working in this industry.

Michelle Molinari - Feature This... 

My mom has been an interior decorator almost my whole life, and I have assisted her in some capacity or another since my teens. After watching the shows at the time about staging, the idea appealed to us both to  segue into that exclusively. Decorating homes was always a kick, to please the homeowner. But with the premise of staging to sell,  were drawn in by the challenge of having the  specific goal of creating a buzzworthy product to help sell it quicker than non-buzzworthy homes.

Read the rest of Michelle's story: Home Staging goes Cajun. Michelle Molinari tells her home stager story.

Lori Kim Polk - Premiere Home Staging

As an artist, I knew all the elements of design and function. I staged 2 of my own homes that sold on their first Open House, so I knew I had some staging talent.

Read the rest of Lori's story: The Artful Journey of Lori Kim Polk. Her Staging Story.

 

Donna Dazzo - Designed to Appeal

I was working in financial services developing and managing financial products such as brokerage accounts and investment advisory accounts, and at the beginning of 2007 had a 9 months’ heads up that our division was being outsourced and we were all being laid off.  I knew I didn’t want to do the same thing I had been doing at another company.  I had been toying with the idea for several years of doing something different, like owning a bed and breakfast, becoming a real estate agent – but wasn’t sure.  So the layoff was the “kick in the butt” to do something different and ease the financial burden of starting my own business because I was getting severance pay.

One of the reasons I wanted to open a B&B was I loved the idea of running my own business and managing all aspects of it – marketing the business, decorating the rooms, guest services, etc.

I decided a bed and breakfast wasn’t for me, but I always loved decorating the spaces I was in, ever since I was in high school. And being a resident of New York City, I often attend exhibits on design (objects, industrial, architectural, furniture) at the many museums here.

I became an HGTV addict after buying a second home in East Hampton in 2000.  The only staging show on at the time was Designed to Sell, and I thought, I can do that.  I would love to do that.  So I just Googled “home staging” and found out there were training programs for this and signed up for two different programs while I was still employed.  In fact my first staging job was a vacant home in the Hamptons which I staged while on vacation.

So, starting a home staging business combined my desire to run a business with my passion and talent for decorating and design.

Read Donna's story: From Wall Street to Selling NY. Donna Dazzo’s Home Stager Story

Want to know more? Read other home stager stories, or submit your own. 

These days it seems that a lot of home stagers seem to prefer walk-n-talk style consultations over written consultations. It seems, after talking with many, that the process has resulted from disliking of the time consuming task of actually formatting and writing the reports.  Unfortunately leaving the notes up to the homeowner can be a little bit like a game of telephone.

A great home staging consultation or report, should allow for home owners to understand exactly what needs to be done, especially if it will function as a DIY task checklist. It's not uncommon for the home stager to make a simple recommendation like, "Paint this room a neutral color." The homeowner thinks, white. White is a neutral color, right? Written instructions stated clearly and concisely, "Paint the room a neutral color - SW 7569, Stucco" is much more clear to the home seller and is more likely to be followed.

Providing a detailed checklist of how to prepare for a showing, how to minimize the impact of their pet, or how to present storage and closets in their best light, can get overwhelming in verbal format, for both the home owner and the home stager.  

Detailed lists helps keep everyone on the same page. The home stager, the real estate agent and the home seller all have clear instructions and understand recommendations. Real Estate professionals can pull use this as evidence to justify price reductions if the home owner didn't comply.  

While reports were tedious to write and home staging checklists were impersonal, today, Market Ready's online system makes it quick and easy. Since it's online, your phone or tablet with internet connection becomes your checklist system allowing you to have your "walk-n' talk" with your client, while simultaneously creating a written report. A system of drop down menus and checklists make this as easy as clicking a box. Additional notes or photos can be added. When complete, the report can be printed or emailed directly from the system.  

Home sellers and real estate professionals will typically pay more for written reports, allowing you to earn additional income, in a win-win-win scenario. Take the fear out of written reports and try our online consultation checklist system. You'll never do it the old way again.