Agent Reader Question: I have heard of an empty house doesn’t sell as well as staged?

An real estate agent reader, Tony, of my Active Rain blog had the following comment on my Blog Carnival Announcement post:

i am not sure that i have enough ideas to add to a “carnival” but i do have one thought - i have heard that an empty house does not work as well as a staged house?

my experience has been that sometimes the staging detracts from the space we are selling

i have sold lots of empty houses and sometimes i wish my clients would move out, so i can sell their homes!!!

please comment on that

also i sometime battle in convincing my clients to change their living habits and the way their house looks - do you have any ideas as to how to get them to listent to my council?

***************

Hey Tony

These are very excellent questions. Let me show you a home I staged last Monday:

Before & After Staging (2600 14th Ave SF)

It is true, empty homes don’t sell as well as staged homes, here are a few reasons:

1. Buyers generally have difficulty visualizing themselves living in there
2. Our brains generally perceive an empty space as smaller than it really is
3. Staged homes present itself well and puts its best foot forward (See Post: Making the Blink Count Here, click to read more)
4. Good staging can help buyers realize the potential of the home when there is a tricky floor plan (See Post: Staging a Tricky Space, click to read more)
5. Staged homes have less Days On Market (DOM) in both hot and cold markets. It can also potentially bring more equity and commission dollars to sellers & agents. Earlier this year, I complied some stats from my staged homes. Average speaking, in San Francisco bay area, homes typically sat for 62 days. My staged homes averagely speaking sat for 31. That’s 1 month’s mortgage difference.

On staging sometimes distract buyers: This is something you need to look at a few stagers. Look at their portfolio before you hire to see what their style is, because not all stagers are created equal. You also need to figure out what will show well with your listing and a good stager should know that. The stager shouldn’t place oversized furniture into the home, nor they should create a theme room that most potential buyers don’t respond to (such as a sewing room, etc. which I have seen in a young professionals neighborhood.) There are good stagers and there are bad stagers. Here are a few tips on hiring a stager, just click on the link to read the post.

On Seller Objections and fighting them on their living habits: I have written a 5-part series in regards to seller objections, in which I cover some tips that may help you turn your sellers around:

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”

Please let me know if this is of help to you and if you have other specific questions in regards to it.

Bottom line is that the sellers must have intention and motivation to sell, or anything we do or say won’t matter. Clients are not going to do what we want them to do, and sometimes the advices we come up with just won’t work with their life styles. They may have young children at home, working several jobs, strapped for cash, etc. that they cannot do what you advise. As real estate professionals, we need to come up with creative solutions that can help them to sell and us with a happy ending.
Here is what you can do:

1. Start the dis-association process once you step into the door as their real estate agents. They need to let go of the house in order to have a successful sale.
2. Show sellers in a different language. We are immersed in our profession and sometimes we forget how to explain things without being too confusing to the layman. So use different languages, visual presentations to get your point across. Janice, a stager had told me one of her visuals: hold you hand out arm’s length and say: “Do you want to make this much?” Then bring your hands closer together “or this much?”
3. Be firm with your professional policies. One of the reasons why I see agents getting frustrated with their sellers is because they let things slide. Once you cave into your clients, then you will never get control back.

I hope this is helpful for you, if you have more questions, feel free to ask!

Cheers,

Cindy*Staged4more

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