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Recently I received a response for my previous post on the Price Reduction:

“Actually it depends, First, if the home is not getting showings, then no amount of staging will change that. No showings, is a pricing issue, 100% of the time. Now if the house IS being shown and not getting offers then the issue may be related to something other than price. In this case, staging could help. Maybe. Depending on your market. In my market, vacant homes sale much quicker. So even though I believe staging has it’s place. It is definitely not a cure all.”

Actually, true, yes, it depends. But actually, no, staging will help driving foot traffic, at least in SF bay area. In areas where staging is not common, it probably wouldn’t make sense at all to stage. Therefore I said in my last paragraph that if staging makes sense, do it. If it doesn’t make sense in your area, obviously don’t.

In SF bay area, 9 out of 10 homes are staged. So if your home is not, it is very easy for buyers to walk out of the door immediately. Also, internet previewing is very common in SF Bay Area, a staged home will help driving foot traffic to the home. Seeing home in person is very time consuming because of traffic, so now most people do their previewing online prior leaving the door. It’s like online shopping, why would you actually leave your (more…)

I recently spoke with a homeowner who has relocated for her job and recently also had a baby. She and her husband had decided to put the home on the market for sale. But then a natural disaster had happened that caused the portion of the freeway by their home split (Devil’s Slide) so there weren’t a lot of activities because it was difficult to show. The the Slide had reopened finally after a few months, the golden time of the listing had already passed, of course. So now they are paying for 2 mortgages, one is the one in the bay area and the other in Virginia.

I had asked her bluntly “Why do you think this home has not sold?” “Because it is not staged, it’s empty.” “Why didn’t you stage it?” “The Realtors said we don’t need to.”

Already feeling her pain, I asked,

“So what do you plan to do now?”

“The Realtor said we should think about a price reduction.”

WHAT?! Staging a home costs SO MUCH LESS than a price reduction which generally runs about $10,000 or more depending where you are. I cannot even imagine what kind of sensible agent would recommend such thing when they had committed to work for their clients’ best interests. Additionally, what financially smart agents would recommend such option to reduce their own commission significantly?

Why staging is a much superior option than price reductions?

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I was researching online on trulia.com yesterday. (I do this sometimes to see what are some of the staging trends on the market and what my competitions are doing.) And I was shocked by some of the photos that I have seen online.Trulia is a HUGE website now and it’s well known among sellers & buyers. So it’s so important to have great photos on the site. Not to mention the competition is fierce among realtors and sellers right now. Wouldn’t it make sense to put your best foot forward and attract potential clients through your listing presentations? Here are some deadly mistakes that I have observed:

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If you run a search on Craig’s List for “staging” under real estate services, several pages worth of stagers pop out. All of them promise to sell your home faster and for more. Are they going to fulfill their promises? How do you know? Do you dare to use your equity to gamble on a stager you randomly found on the web?

Here are 5 tips to hire a qualified stager:

1. Ask for qualifications. But don’t mistake this with the letters behind this person’s name on his/her business card as qualifications. When I was working as a Realtor, although I have passed my exams, taken my GRI and e-PRO courses, it didn’t mean anything until I was out on the field. What I mean by qualifications is how much work has this person done in the staging industry? Ask to see resume, portfolio, past before & after pictures (make sure they are done by him/her, not some stock photos from some website. Usually a good way is “Oh, tell me about the story behind this picture!”), or certifications and continue educations if this is important to you.
2. Ask for their professional policies. As a professional, for example, if you are a bank teller, there are certain procedures to follow when a customer shows up at your window with a wad of cash in their hands, right? If a customer is doing something inappropriate, such as depositing someone else’s check into his/her account, there are certain protocols to follow, correct? Similarly with running a small business, which is what most of the stagers’ businesses are. You want to do business with someone who has strong ethics and professional policies because these reflect on his /hers professionalism, as well as how serious they will take your job. When your potential stager comes over for a consultation (many do charge a fee for coming out and many don’t), observe what he or she does and his/hers working style. Is he/she listening to your needs? Respectful? Willing to work with you?
3. Do searches on the internet on the stager or his/hers firm. This is the NEW age of real estate. A web presence is VERY important. If your staging professionals do not even have a website, don’t even think about hiring them. In a 2005 National Association of Realtors study, 79% of buyers now shop on internet first, and that number is rapidly growing. If your stager writes a blog, that is a bonus, read a few entries to get a feel of how this person works and how credible this person is.
4. You have specific needs, since every home is different, but is your stager listening to you or just trying to sell you the most expensive option? Expensive does not equal to good work. Sometimes, you will find stagers who are economical and good (at that point, please thank your lucky stars). Don’t determine on hiring someone based on price. Price does not mean anything really. A good stager WILL work with your budget. (But of course be reasonable, you can’t really have champagne taste on beer budget.)There are a few different ways stagers determine how much they charge. Some, like me, does it based on how much time, work, assistance and materials I need for the job. Some based on Listing Price, which is the main reason why you see $30,000 price tag on a multi-million dollar homes. Some does it per square footage. In San Francisco bay area, there are quite a few price points. You will expect higher pricing in SF in general, and very competitive pricing in San Jose area. I have heard that it will be tough! if you can get $1.10 per square footage, since it is extremely competitive down there. (Which I concur. I did a consultation in San Jose, the Listing Agent handed me her business card. It says “List your home with me for 1.5%, or let me represent you as a buyer for 1%. List a home at 1.5%? How does she make any money between all the marketing costs, MLS fees, ads, etc.?! Or represent for 1%? Just think about all the gas she spends to drive customers around make me shudder. Typically now agents show about 80 homes before someone buys one.)

   If you ask your stager “How do you charge?” They probably will not tell you. BUT, they will tell you how they work. Find out what will they do in your home? You may spend $1000 on a staging job, but the stager may skim on furnishings & accessories just to get your business, comparing to a $3000 stager who will do the job right. So use your best judgment and look at their portfolio.

5. Don’t take it personally. If you do, you won’t survive the Open House. Stagers may make recommendations that offend you because you feel that your taste in home decorating has been totally dismissed. BUT, staging is about appealing your home to a broad range of buyers. You may have an impressive collection of neon green hunchback trolls, but it is much more difficult to find buyers who like neon green hunchback trolls than finding buyers who like no neon green hunchback trolls (even though they are very very rare) in their homes. Usually when a buyer enters a home that has such strong personality, they are blindsided. If they are online, they will immediately exit your listing site and jumps to the next one (just think back when you are online shopping). If they are at open houses, they will walk out the door immediately and go to the next one. It doesn’t matter if you have smashing view and great floor plan, they will not be able to see themselves live in that home.

To read more staging tips like this, visit Staged4more’s company blog at www.staged4more.com/blog