Most everyone knows by now what Home Staging is...or do they?
By Wiki's definition, it is....the act of preparing a private residence prior to going up for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to sell a home quickly, and for the most money possible by attracting the highest amount of potential buyers. Staging focuses on improving a property to make it appeal to the largest number of buyers by transforming it into a welcoming, appealing, and attractive product for sale. Many people believe that staging raises the value of a property by way of reducing the home's flaws, depersonalizing, decluttering, cleaning, improving condition items, and landscaping.
That definition is called prep work for home staging. A lot of things need to happen before staging can begin. This is one of the biggest misconceptions. Sure decluttering, painting and depersonalizing helps, but it's not home staging. Putting out towels, and a few candles, is also not home staging. How does that define your space and make it more inviting? Have you ever walked into a model home and have just seen some candles, and towels out and thought, "I have to have this house", I doubt it. At some level there is an emotional attachment when you find a house that you have to have.
Home Staging, is done after the professional home stager's recommendations have been completed. Then the furniture and accessories are brought in or rearranged and are placed throughout the home in the most effective way. The accessories, and everything else "the icing on the cake" is then brought in as the final phase to enhance the homes best features. The space has to clearly be defined, and exude warmth, space and the "I want this house feel". It also takes awkward spaces and give a potential buyer an idea of how to use the space. Some buyers just walk away confused, because they have no idea of how a space can be used. Home staging will show them how.
We are able to take a vacant home, which is a blank canvas and turn it into a piece of art for sale, much like in a gallery. What draws you to that art? There's just something about it that you love, maybe it's just the feeling it gives you or it reminds you of something or someone. Maybe it just makes you happy, or you just can't explain it. All of these are emotions that we have and use when purchasing larger investment type items, especially a home.
So when selling your home, know that completing a general to do list does not make it staged. It's been pre-staged, and your off to a great start. Now cross the goal line and call a home stager to complete your home to show off it's attributes, it is usually your biggest asset, why not give it the attention it deserves?
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Redesign Etc. of Houston is a Full-Service real estate staging company. We stage vacant, occupied, builders specs, condos, townhomes, vacation rentals and commercial property. We offer furniture & accessory rentals at competitive rates. Insured & Incorporated with the State of TX.
Owner, Cindy Bryant has earned the RESA-PROTM designation, holding professional home stagers to the highest industry standards, ethics, integrity and proficiency in staging techniques while protecting Homeowners and Real Estate Agents.
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Cindy: That kind of touches on my annoyance at every "untrained" person out there cliaming the house is Staged or that they are a "Stager". I received my ASP designation from the creator of staging Barb Swartz. I paid my dues. But people think some plates on the table & a plant in the bathroom & voila.
Cindy; I like the way you put this, as it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I have one Realtor who pays me, as part of his marketing, to do a staging report on every occupied home he lists. But I've found that even though I write pages and pages of advice on how to prepare, declutter, clean, etc; the end product is not the same as if I went in to do the staging. I've come to think of it as a Decluttering Report, not a Staging Report. I've spoken to this Realtor about the possibility that he will offer to pay a small portion of my STAGING services, instead of a staging report. He said that might be a good idea, as the homes that are "self staged" just aren't the same. I'm curious, are any stagers out there turning down "easy" money for reports?
Hi Cindy,
Excellent post!
In my REA presentation, I have dedicated a few slides to this misconception. Consulting isn't the same as eliminating distractions, and staging occurs when the homeowner leaves the house and the professional stager gets to orchestrate the furniture, accessories and art to to serenade the features of the house.
There has to be objectivity...Just as a writer doesn't do his/her own editing, a movie producer doesn't usually direct, a chef doesn't present their actual food, and a fashion designer doesn't rule the catwalk in their own creations, an intermediary with certain honed skills needs to take a product to the finish line.
A pro needs to coax the best performance from a home, if time and a maximum equity are of the essence.
Real Estate is all about presentation, as is most every other business. Product packaging is essential, otherwise REA's could drive jalopies, and show up for work with a pair of Elmo slippers and morning breath, hand out business cards written in crayon, and still support their families.
But that's not how it is. And the houses they represent need to get the same attention to appearance and appeal REA's internalize about other aspects of business. The REA is too close to the owners, who are too close to the house to really be effective at staging. REA's need to worry about their relationship with the client and the pricing and marketing of the property. A stager needs to be involved in the beginning to evaluate and and the end toinfuse the property with emotional appeal.
There will always be DIY-ers. But there is a time to save a buck and there is a time to spend a buck. Staging is in the latter catagory. It is the objectivity that is crucial to success when presenting a home on the market.
~Michelle
Cindy,
Great post and oh so true! The REA's who are just having a consultation done are doing their clients a real dis-service in my opinion. A seller has got to 'mentally move out of the house' which a professional stager will help them do but when they do it themselves, they can't remove themselves from living there. I talk to REA's about this all the time when they just want a consultation. And changing out the towels and removing the clutter JUST DOESN"T CUT IT! Buyers are sophisticated and they know the difference. ANd how many of us have gone back to those homes we have done consultations for and many of the recommendations weren't followed anyway.
Hi Cindy! As you know, staging has been around long before the term was coined and I am always amazed at the mis-understanding too many people seem to have regarding everything which real estate staging encompasses. Having experience 'selling homes' is not enough to understand the variety of details which go into a well-staged property! Regards-Kathleen G
Very well written Cindy! Great post!!
It is so frustrating when realtors tell people that I staged a home when I all I did was consult on it and never got the chance to actually finalize with staging. What they consider "staged" and what I want considered as my staging work are two very different things. I appreciate this post as a way to further educate on such a misunderstood term. Thanks.
Professional home stagers make the "magic" happen. It's a transformation that's hard to put into words. It's one of those things that's hard to convey and get the seller to understand even after we've given them a consultation. Until they actually see it for themselves it's a hard concept for anyone to grasp who has never experienced it. Even I stand back in awe sometimes and say, WOW, that looks great after a job is complete and that's not conceit, it's just what it is.
Cindy, I recently took the 2 day ASP course. I learned a lot from it and found out that staging was more than what I had thought. It was fun staging a home. When we went in I didn't know how there was going to be enough stuff in the house to stage but somehow we did it. That was a strange problem as most homes I see have way too much stuff.
There seems to be a lot of different ideas of what staging is and what it isn't. I call updating that needs to be done "deferred maintenance" and consider it, like de-cluttering, to be pre-staging. However, other stagers think it's part of staging. Sometimes where we each draw the line is different; but I think we all agree that the final touches are what create the true emotional appeal!
I have also struggled with these ideas. I like the term "pre-staging" that Kathi used. Often when I go to Open Houses, I can tell that the realtor "staged" the home or told the homeowners what to do. The house I currently live in was put on the market by a realtor who had taken a 2-day class. My house was clean and ready to move into - however, it was also very white and very cold. It has beautiful bones and sat on the market longer than it needed to. Good for me - bad for the seller!
I have always just considered it all staging and when it is not all done it really has not been completed. Decluttering- part, cleaning -part, furniture placement - part, repair & replacement - part.
My favorites are vacants with willing sellers - ahhhh the control factor is sweet.
Great post. I talked to a builder's "stager" just today who says she stages all of their properties with candles & towels, but no furniture. SIGH....