Home Staging services provided in San Francisco bay area, based in San Mateo County

In case you missed it, I am running a 5-part series on Seller Objections:

1. “I don’t believe in staging”
2. “My kids are preventing me from staging”
3. “I don’t want to pay for it”
4. “I am too busy to keep the home staged”
5. “I am too busy to prep the home for sale”

This post is the final conclusion on the 5-part Seller Objections to Staging series. Woohoo! I can’t believe it’s over. Thanks for all the readers and commenters (mostly on my Active Rain real estate community blog). Here is the cliffnotes version of countering seller objections on staging:

On emotionally prepping clients:

1. Plan the sale in advanced with the client
2. Sit down with them and go through their schedules with them and plan necessary steps
3. Walk the steps with them and make sure they are realistic deadlines
4. Have them write down their commitments in making this sale happen with you, working together as a team.
5. Don’t cave in to their whining or threatening, STICK WITH THE PLAN
6. Gentle with the nudge and award for good behaviors

On persuading clients on staging:

1. Involve your stager
2. Show the client visually what staging can do for them
3. Set reasonable expectations — staging is not a fix-it-all or permission to ask for a lot more money
4. Ease any concerns or staging myths that they may have

On keeping sellers motivated while living in the staged house:

1. Remind them why they are doing this again
2. Remind them the possible reward of more equity and less days on market
3. Help them stick with the plan
4. Enlist help if you need to — cleaners, stager, even yourself if come open house, the dirty dishes in the sink are piling skyhigh
5. Make it easy on the seller by using check lists, etc.

When in doubt, ask your stager for help!

***And know this, ultimately the SELLERS HAVE TO WANT TO SELL! Otherwise no matter how much persuasion and prep that goes into your hard work, it will fail.

Here are a few more tips from fellow stagers’ & realtors’ comments:

Nicely put, Cindy! Like the $20 bill analogy.

I have a standard checklist that I provide the homeowners of occupied homes when I do a consultation report. It is intended to be used in two ways: to prepare for the staging by reducing the amount of ‘stuff’ to work with/around and to maintain the ‘stage’ while they are living there. It is difficult to maintain so a little guidance would be appreciated.

I had a client not only reference the list but she went and took pictures of each room when I was done, printed them out and put them in a book and made sure her cleaning ladies knew exactly where everything went so nothing was out of place! LOL

Cindy,

I like your approach to educating the sellers on the benefits of staging. Recently I had a listing where the seller was weary and was not interested in painting and staging her property. She took it personally that the comments came in that the home needed to be painted and lots of mirrors needed to be removed. Consequently, when we got the first contract after 110 days on the market, the buyer insisted that the whole place be repainted a neutral color. Had she done this at the beginning, she would have had a contract sooner and possibly had a higher price. I will use this example when talking with other sellers about staging their property.

Pat

That is the thing I hear the most [Seller doesn't want to pay for staging] and why 50% of the time my service is turned down. Sellers have no clue the time, effort that goes into staging and even though you give a good price they still don’t want to pay. Which is sad as they end up spending more in the long run.

Thanks again for everyone’s comments, suggestions and kudos.

Cheers,

Cindy*Staged4more

ps. Next week will start on a new series: Why Staged Homes Don’t Sell.

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