Staging Tips

Whew it has been quite a 2 weeks! I must say, not been able to write and blog for the past 2 weeks have accumulated more guilt than a Catholic priest! Now we have a new president elect and my office finally has passed our fire inspection.

Anyway, back to normal staging channel…

I recently received an email from a gentleman who wanted to know if the staging price that his realtor quoted him was reasonable. He said, “I want to know if my realtor is overcharging me, he quoted me $BLAH for Blah square foot.” I also recently spent 20 minutes on the phone with a perspective client, who is a home owner. She is interviewing stagers and she asked if she can see what type of furniture the stager is going to use. The stager replied “Well, it’s going to be a surprise on the day of.” The perspective client told me she was shocked by the response since “as a customer, shouldn’t I know what I am paying for?”

Frankly, as I wrote before in other blogs such as #1 Question You Need to Ask Your New Stager, How A Stager Can Potentially Kill Your Deal, 6 Tips On How To Hire A Stager, Did You Hire Mr. Joe the Plumber to Stager Your House, and many other, there really are no industry regulation as to how someone would charge. My friend who is a realtor has gotten quotes ranging from $2500 to $5500 for a 1,100 square feet condo in San Francisco. So, how do you know if you are paying for the right person and for the right price?

The answer is IN YOUR PROPOSAL. A good proposal should tell you at least these 3 things:

1. Is payment term laid out clearly for you as a customer? Items such as payment methods (cash, check, credit cards, etc.), terms (how long does the payment last for), etc. should be clear. If not, they should be able to answer you without blinking.
2. Is the proposal professional? After all, you are selling this house. It’s a business transaction, so should the people you hire to maximize your return.
3. Do you understand what type of furniture or style your stager uses? Even if they can’t pinpoint the exact chair they are placing into your home, you should at least be able to see a similar sample of style of furniture you will get.

As of getting “ripped off,” this is where you should ask for portfolio and references. A good stager should have strong references, portfolio and success stories to back those up. Don’t judge just by pricing. Just because s/he came in at lowest bid, doesn’t mean s/he doesn’t do good work. Same goes for the highest bidder.

Additionally, do your homework. They invent Google for a reason, use it to your advantage. Other sites such as LinkedIn, Yelp.com, are good reference points as well.

At last, once you hire the stager, you should TRUST his/hers professional opinions. For an experienced stager, this is not his/hers first rodeo. There is no need to question he/hers design decision every step of the way and then turn around and say: “I don’t know, you are the designer. Shouldn’t we do it like this?” If you compared all the proposals, you decided he/she is best to stage your home because his/hers pricing is fair and the work looks great, then you shouldn’t have any more doubts, especially if you already did your homework and make sure he/she is reputable.

I always smile when people ask: “Are you going to do a good job? Make it beautiful?” Because, really, I spent all this time building up a business, I am just going to throw all that money and blood and tears and sweat away by staging your house horribly?

Having a stager should be easy and pain free. Don’t you think?

When mainstream media checked the background of Mr. Joe the Plumber, they found out he didn’t have a plumber’s license to practice.

Joe the Plumber with Obama Courtesy of MSNBC.com

Well, it’s a similar issue in the staging industry: you don’t need a license to practice staging. Additionally, there is no regulation or ethics committee when it comes to business practices for staging. Essentially, anyone and everyone can wake up one day, “bing,” with that lightbulb going off above their heads and say: “Well, I’ve decided! In this recession, home staging sounds like a lucrative career, so I am gonna do it!” Silly as it sounds, it happens more often than we thought.

So as a consumer, what to do when you are hiring a stager? How do you make sure that you are hiring a stager who is responsible, ethical and will stage your home to get you best return on your staging investment?

Here are a few tips:

*Ask probing questions: Instead of just asking “How long have you been in the business?” ask “How many homes have you staged?” Because someone can be “in business” for a long period of time and not actually stage a lot of houses. You want to gauge how many projects the stager has done and what is his/hers past track records.

*Don’t just hire based on pricing: Figure out what you really get for the price tag. When you compare proposals, look at what does the lowest price tag include vs. the highest price tag include. The most expensive doesn’t mean it’s better, and vice versa. Also find out if there are other surcharges.

*ALWAYS, ALWAYS interview more than 1 stager: Hiring a stager is really not a decision to be taken lightly. Because the difference between a good stager vs. a bad stager can be days on market, # of offers, etc. which can have significant consequences of your final sales profit.

Got any other tips? Share them in the comment box below!

Photo courtesy of i can has cheezburger?

Everyone has tastes, and everyone has an opinion about other people’s tastes. However, in home staging, all that personal taste is out of the window.

In home selling, sellers often get defensive. It’s completely OKAY to LIVE with your orange tigger print on regular leopard print, but just because you like it doesn’t mean buyers will too. One of the biggest myths that I hear is that “oh, it’s all about the type of furniture I put in” or “I just need to cram in as much furniture as possible to show how big the room really is” or “as long as I declutter and depersonalize and stack everything neatly, it’s fine.”
Frankly, we are in the business of selling houses and square footage, not furniture. Furniture only really has about 15% in impacting the overall staging effects of the sale, majority has to do with a) the FEELINGS of Functionality of space and b) Being at Home, given pricing and location are both excellent.

Home staging has nothing about your taste or mine, what it matters is if the house appeals to buyers to get the best prices and sell in the least days on market.

It is OKAY to stage your own listings for sale, BUT please do make sure that when you do, you are not just piling furniture into the space. That’s the #1 lethal mistake that I see when people stage their own listings. Do it right, stage it warm and classic, more importantly, make it feel like home without the feeling of feeling bogged down with mundane everyday life stuff like taking out the trash or putting the toilet seats down.

I read this script today that teaches realtors how to teach their clients “on staging home to sell:”

“I’m going to give you the two biggest money-making words there are when it comes to showing your home: depersonalize and declutter. It’ll make you house look bigger and is the best thing you can do.”

Hmm, really?

I have heard agents telling their clients all the time, and I even have sellers say to me all the time, “Oh, I know I need to de-personalize and de-clutter. I learn that from HGTV.“ or “All I need is to de-peronsalize and de-clutter, I don’t need anything else.” And that’s ALL they do.

And you know what happens when you just de-personalize and de-clutter? You are just showing an empty space and a shell of a home. BUT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY MORE THAN JUST 4 WALLS AND A ROOF.

We often forget what it felt like when we were buyers when we sell our homes. We forgot that we continue

I’m wondering what your day is like?
My day to day is very different. It’s like snowflakes, no 2 days are alike. On days when I am doing installations, my call time starts at 7am to pull inventory, or the night before to pack everything up. With bigger jobs I tend to rent a box truck, which means it’s extra hours to pick up and return vehicle. Typically I spend 5-8 hours on job site with 1-2 assistants. That does NOT include prep time and clean up time after we return to warehouse.

On days when I don’t have installations, I have things range from appointments to visit home owners for consultations, meeting with potential vendors, meeting realtors, networking events, to admin work like invoicing, billing, writing, researching, working on expanding my business, marketing, continue education, cleaning inventory, cataloging inventory, moving furniture, shopping for new inventory, working on current trends, reading, LOTS of things to do.

I typically work 6-7 days a week, ranging from 6-12 hours per day.

And how you feel the market is doing?
Market is market, there will be hot times and cold times, busy times and slow times. It’s cyclical, just like any business. Like ice cream truck does better in summer than winter, or coats are more popular in winter. We have ups and downs as well in real estate. The market timing depends on where you are in the country. In San Francisco bay area, the market continue

I was browsing the internet today and found The Home Staging Cheat Sheet by US News & World Report that was an interview with one of my staging teacher, Barb Schwarz.

Barb listed out 6 points for sellers that can help them in a sluggish market:

1. Get them inside (curb appeal)
2. Pretend you are camping (clutter)
3. Balance hard & soft surfaces
4. Work in Ones or Threes
5. Decide from the doorway
6. Make your place Q-tip Clean

I want to especially highlight #1, 2, and 6. You only have ONE chance to make a great impression for your buyers, and Curb Appeal is very important. You want to give people a great impression that you have been taking care of your house. So if you see paint peeling off your exterior walls or unruly trees, it’s time to do something about it.

Do: Show a nicely maintained exterior. It gives people a great impression that you have been taking care of it and it’s nice to live in. (photo credit notnek)

Don’t: Show a haunted house (it’s only cool 1 day out of 365 days a year). A house that is ill-maintained on the outside gives people a bad feeling and impression when they first see the house. (photo credit mar52laine)

With #2, we are in the business of SELLING REAL ESTATE and that is your square continue

(photo by ShutterSparks)

I recent took on a client who wants me to redesign her existing home right now but at the same time preparing it for sale 2-3 years down the line. When I suggested green finishes, she was very open to it.

This is why:

a) Green finishes are healthier to live in the home, especially if you have young children and pets. They roll around in those finishes every day on the floor, touching the wall, you want to make sure the finishes are quality green materials that is safe to live in. It’s also better for your installer, they don’t need to breathe in those terrible chemical smells. Moreover, you are not exposed to off-gasing from non-green materials or chemical glue. In typical carpet installation, the chemical glue emits toxic off-gasing for 8 years after it is installed. 8 years!!! Do you want your children or grandchildren to breathe that toxic in for 8 years?!

b) Quality green finishes and materials perform just as well as non-green finishes, if not better. Take the new green fabrics for example, they breath well therefore reduce the chance for skin allergy. They are not processed in chemicals so they are healthier to wear or to sleep in. You are not rubbing those chemicals off your skin that can cause irritations and rashes, you sleep better. You sleep better, you perform better during the day. Not a bad bargain at all.

c) Green finishes increase RESALE value. It’s true. By being more environmentally conscious and by installing green finishes and green appliances, you are reducing the costs to maintain your home, utilities and helping the planet out. With an rapid increase awareness of being green and eco-friendly, using green finishes and materials make the continue