This may be one of my most frustrating comments to hear. I was thinking on this because of a home that we recently staged that went under contract. I did an email blast to all of the agents that also have listings in that community. I did this once before a few months ago in the same neighborhod after another successful sale. Some of the feedback that I received was (from the previous listing agent) that it wasn't the staging but rather the lower listing price that the new listing agent endorsed.
This really frustrates me because I can't tell you how many times I see homes take markdowns all the time and they don't sell. They get staged and BOOM, suddenly an offer (frequently more than one)! Personally I feel this is a touch of sour grapes on the previous listing agent's price.
I fully and completely agree that the listing price is fundamental in this strategy, but it is not the only factor! Perhaps the prior agent should have realized & suggested a price reduction - perhaps if that was the selling factor then they would have had the sale! It is clear the seller was open to it - they did relist at that price with another agent.
My point is not to create any negativity toward the previous listing agent, I'm sure they were just doing their job the best way they know how. I am just commenting that when you see the overwhelming stats that good staging can provide, just accept the truth! Was the home ever marked down before? Most of the time the answer is yes. What was the magic bullet? It was a combination of price & condition all working together!
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
Staging is a great idea, but it all comes down to price in the end.
Melissa - Boy, isn't that frustrating? I hate that!
I staged a builders model that sat on the market for over a year before they finally agreed to 'try it out'. It sold in 23 days. What was their reasoning behind the sale? It was a friend of a friend who had always wanted the house, but couldn't put an offer on it until they had sold their own and it just happened to work out that way.
Want to know the kicker? I know the buyer personally and they told me they had seen the house several times, but they didn't really get it until they saw it staged. The rooms hadn't made sense to them. HMMMM...I wonder what really sold it?
Greg - if that is true then why is it that we can stage a home, have the price go up and still move it in less time than it was on the market prior to staging? (I can show you real examples as can many other stagers here in SIF)
Also many homes don't adjust the price when it is staged but sells after staging - when it was on the market for months (sometimes in excess of a year).
Sorry, but this frustrates me A LOT! I think agents who feel this way create an incredible disservice to their selling clients. How much more money (and saved carrying costs) could they have saved by having the condition (staging) better?
Kimberly - Yeah, we had one client like that... for 8 months he continued to call us out for price quotes and finally decided to stage. He got an offer an HOUR after the unit was completed. He wanted a partial refund... lol. They then got a back up offer less than 48 hours after that! They haven't used us again because we wouldn't refund the money (even though our contract clearly states that and we had told them up front). Funny, when the home was for sale for 8 months with nothing and 2 offers inside 72 hours, I think they got everything they paid for!
For the record, no price adjustments were made on the above example......... I guess it doesn't always come down to price, huh?
It wasn't the Staging, It was the price reduction. There are a few things that contribute to selling a home. Yes price is one of them, but only ONE of them. You have curb appeal, maintenance of the home, price, location & staging. All the staging in the world won't help if you can't get them in the door (CURB APPEAL). If the carpet is stained or the wall are dirty, the faucet is leaky a potential buyer will wonder what else is wrong with the house (MAINTENANCE). If the house is overpriced as compared to the others in the neighborhood who would want to buy it? (PRICING). Is the home in a location where the schools rank high in education or where the crime rate is low, is it a short driving distance to the potential buyers job? (LOCATION) Then comes the staging. How does the house present itself? Let's look at an example based on my true experience. This house has not been staged. The curb appeal bites, the paint is chipping, the kitchen has dirty dishes in the sink, there is dog and cat hair on the furniture and every wall in the house has something hanging on the walls. BUT, the pricing and location are pretty good. The potential buyer can't see past all the things listed. Therefore he/she cannot visualize themselves in this house, they can't see it as their HOME. The house is staged after 4 months on the market and sells to a buyer who seen the house pre-staging. They said that they couldn't see their things in the space before. It sold for asking price and only a week after staging. (STAGING)
I think these five things play a huge part in selling a home. I firmly believe that staging definetly contributes to the sale of a house. Homes that are staged sell closer to asking price and help homes sell up to 50% faster than other homes in their neighborhood.
I AGREE THE MAGIC BULLET IS A COMBINATION OF ALL THESE FIVE FACTORS!
Corina - I couldn't agree with you more! I typically include curb appeal and maintenance in my staging information to the client, so I didn't add those in. Location, certainly that affects time on market as well - just not something we can usually do anything about - other than lowering the price if it's very negative.
Greg,
Bad marketing, bad photos, clutter and undefined living spaces will ensure that it's all about price.
When all the homes are the same price, what can a seller do then? Continue to drop the price, and play the price reduction game?
Buyers want value today - PRICE and PRESENTATION.
It's not always about price.
-Akanke
Melissa, I feel your frustration and concur. I have more than one agent give me the same type of comment...just like you often from the previous listing agent AFTER the staging and AFTER the house goes under contract. I guess it's their defense mechanism kicking in. Or perhaps kicking themselves in the you-know-where for not doing it themselves.
I think that often many people don't understand that good staging also INCLUDES the updating, the clean-up, the curb appeal and on and on. We don't just do the pretty.
It's price AND condition people and we work on the condition! Move on girl, I know you've told me that more than once and you know that it will happen again. )-: (-:
I'm getting the staging bug.
YES Melissa! I just staged a home last month and it received 2 offers 3 weeks later! It had been on the market for 6 months+ previously, complete with pink (yes, pink) 2-story draperies and pink (yes, pink) velvet chairs in the great room. The new listing agent did lower the price, but I know the house sold because the pink factor was removed, among many other changes I made (uh...a chandelier in the dining room with 6 7-inch Birds of Paradise?). I do, however, fear that the perception will be that the new price sold it.
Chin up, Girl. Yes, price is always a key intgral part of the marketing ~ but "we" know the real story behind the staging and that IT (the staging) is what puts it over the edge to bring in the offers.
That's the Million Dollar Question isn't it? Even more difficult as a stager who alligns themselves with great agents. Can you take the same staged house and have a bad agent who doesn't market it properly and produce the same results? Can you take the same staged house and price it wrong and produce the same results?
Believe me I've been in the same shoes as you and I know staging is what made the difference.
Stagers prove it all the time in homes and condos that have identical footprints - the staged one will sell first everytime. Then they move the staging to another unit and bam it's gone too. In these situations, the price is rarely different and the agent is usually the same.
As Professional Home Stagers we need to be educated on the entire Real Estate business. Business lunches with some of our RA clients helps us stay in tune with the market and it's changes.
Location, Condition, and Price are today's mantra. They all go hand in hand and none without the other.
Melissa, thanks for this great and neccesary blog.
Joe Kaspari
Essential Home Staging, LLC
lovely, just lovely! had one just close -- I staged (occupied) 4 weeks on, lowered the price 15% -- offer in a week. wouldn't have closed if #1 hadn't been staged (best client ever, BTW, doing all that I reccommended) #2 lowered price!
Hey, guess we can't control it all
Frustration is something we stagers must face on a daily basis. Frustration should be our middle name. Thanks to AR we get to communicate amongst ourselves and know that we aren't the only one feeling this way. You have proven your point with your success, no further evidence necessary!
Oh yeah I got this once. I staged a property for clients. The property sat for 9mths NO OFFERS. The house was vacant, so we brought in some furniture, painted, cleaned up, and spruced up front yard and backyard and took care of a humidity problem in the basement, cleared out debris and everynight on the way home my husband stopped to empty the dehumidifier.
The realtor was aware of all that taking place and took the listing off the market for one week while we did our thing. I told her to call prior agents to tell them to come and take a second look at the newly renovated/staged property. SHE DID JUST THAT....BUT got an offer in 2 weeks and when I called her she said OH WAIT A MINUTE IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STAGING, the clients had seen the house in June (3 months prior) and were just waiting for the price to drop. YEAH RIGHT!! Who waits around 3 mths for a house price to drop?? They went back and saw they did not have to do a DARN THING. We took down wall paper, painted, etc. If she knew they wanted the house why didn't she stop the staging and save her clients the money?? HMMM! OH WELL, let me end it here because I feel a vein about to explode, HA, HA
Phyllis Pafumi