How Home Staging Sells Real Estate

Cindy: How do you deal with pricing rejections? Like when the seller is thinking, “Why should I spend more money on something I’m just getting rid of?”

Helen: First of all, they’re paying a real estate commission, which is several thousands of dollars and they think, “I don’t want to put money into a house that I’m leaving. I want my money for the new house.” So part of my goal is to help educate them that the cost of home staging is not just the cost to bring stuff in, but it takes into consideration that if you don’t make these changes and you don’t make these updates, chances are your home’s going to sit on the market longer. So you’ve got incurred costs was holding fees, you’re paying your taxes longer, you’re paying your insurance longer.

You know, the stats say that staged homes sell for 7-10% more. So if you’re going to get more money and shorter time on the market, that’s what my goal is: to show the homeowner that it’s not just the cost of staging their home. They are definitely leaving money on the table one way or the other. They either have to put it out up front to pay for saving or they’ll end up paying for it because it’s going to take longer to sell or somebody will come in and low-ball them because things weren’t updated or taken care of. And buyers look at that as an expense that they’re going to have to incur and they don’t want to. So they’ll offer less. There’s always a cost. So my goal is to just try to let them know upfront.

Cindy: How did you get started in real estate?

Helen: Well, I actually started my home staging business in 2011 after losing a corporate job because of the downfall in the economy. And what I found was, even though I had had a background in business and I felt I had so much to offer in business in sales or marketing, which is where most of my background was for 10 years, I had worked in the real estate field working at title companies. I started off as a gopher there and worked my way up to managing an office. The next 10 years after that, because my husband’s job moved, I ended up opening a little retail store, an interior design business, where I got that experience.

I know real estate, I know interior design, I know sales and marketing and that’s what home staging is. I feel very fortunate that I finally figured out where I was meant to be because I really believe that now.

Cindy: Can you tell us about the market in your area? What type of homes are you usually working with?

Helen: Well, I am in the Kansas City area and people always ask, is it Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri? It’s actually one big city divided by the state line. So there is both sides of the state line. I would say I work both sides of the state line and all the suburbs around as well. I do owner-occupied stagings. Actually, that’s what I started off doing — just owner-occupied because it’s what I thought I only wanted to do.

But then I ended up doing a very small project. It was my first vacant and they only wanted one room done. And that house had been on the market for about six months with no offers and no interest. The staging I did all played together so beautifully. That sparked more projects., and now I probably do about 60% vacant and 30% owner-occupied and about 10% redesign work.

I’m glad I tried something new because it’s really opened me up to so many opportunities and so many great people that I’ve had the chance to work with. I’ve pushed myself beyond what I thought I could do at times.

Cindy: How do you create a warm and welcoming home through staging?

Helen: I think when a buyer walks into a home, there has to be an emotional connection for them. There absolutely has to be. So when they walk into the home, they have to feel that it is a warm and welcoming. They have to have a sense of calm and comfort. And we do that by choosing the right colors.

It’s a lot of neutral, neutral backgrounds. There’s a reason that home stagers use neutral colors and that’s because it really makes the space feel calm and at ease and at peace. If you walk into a space that has bright or jarring colors, they create reactions. So when you think about colors, they play a huge part in how a home feels warm and welcoming because if you walk in and you’re at ease immediately, that allows the buyer to really take in the space.

Another thing that I think is really important to make a home feel warm and welcoming is to create a great flow to the house. You don’t want to walk around furniture or through rooms that you can’t get back through. The space, the floor, the flow of the room has to be open so a buyer can go through with ease.

Another really, really important thing is to have as much balance or symmetry in the house as possible. When you walk into a room and things feel balanced, your eyes can relax and your mind can take in the whole space without being jarred or feeling restless.

Cindy: What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to home staging?

Helen: I think people think they don’t want to hire a host stager for a lot of reasons. Number one, they think it’s expensive, which is crazy because it always ends up being less less than your house lingering on the market longer than it needs to.

Homeowners also tend to feel that their home doesn’t need to be staged.They think a buyer can overlook certain things or they can make it their own or, let’s say it’s vacant and they think that buyers can picture their own things in there. What we know for sure is that nine out of 10 buyers cannot visualize. So if the house is empty, they’re losing a lot of buyers just because the space is empty. So if it’s all done for them, if it’s neutral, then that doesn’t become an issue.

Related: How Home Staging Helped This Listing Sell for $308,000 Over Asking

Cindy: How do you figure out the demographics of their potential buyers?

Helen: Well, I take it into consideration a lot of things. First, the location of the property. Is it downtown? Is it more suburban area? That breaks it up for you very quickly. Are you close to schools? Is this a neighborhood where there’s going to be younger families? Is this a neighborhood where they are 55 and over where they’re like looking for maintenance-free living? You take into consideration all those things.

Also you take into consideration the architecture of the house. I mean, here in a modern loft downtown, that could be a young buyer or people who are wanting to downsize and get rid of their traditional lifestyle, which I see all the time.

Cindy: We talk a lot about placing furniture as best we can and working strategically. What does that mean for you?

Helen: Have you ever walked into a home and walked right into the back of a piece of furniture and then you have to walk around it? That’s not the best flow in that space. And when buyers feel physically blocked, they actually are emotionally blocked as well. If they have to navigate around things to get to through a room, it just doesn’t feel like the right space for them. Buying a house is very emotional. It’s also very psychological. The furniture has to feel open. When you walk into a room, you have to have a focal point created.

Cindy: If homeowners don’t have enough budget, time, or resources to stage the entire house, what some tips you have for them to get the house ready for sale?

Helen: There’s always, always something they can do, even if they don’t have any money at all. What they can focus on is always clean up their house. You’d be surprised at how many homes that we all go into to stage and it’s just filthy still. We can’t start until it’s clean.

It costs nothing to pull things out of drawers and closets and pack them away or donate them. By opening up your closet and your drawers and showing more space and that your home works, that’s going to help a buyer like the space too. So if you have limited money, look at those spaces. That’s where the buyer is making the decision to buy a house.

If you’re handy and you can do some work yourself, changing the color of the paint, which has one of the biggest impacts, you can make a huge difference by things like that. If you’ve got old or worn or dated furniture that distracting, remove that. These are things that buyers can do themselves that don’t cost them a penny.

Helen has shared some AMAZING tips for getting ready to sell your home! What was your favorite tip? Let us know in the comments below!

About Helen

A national award winning home stager and home stylist, Helen Bartlett has been staging homes in the metro Kanas City area in both Kansas and Missouri since 2011. She has been awarded several national home staging awards including the Top 10 Professional Home Stagers in the United States for Vacant Homes, Owner Occupied Homes and Redesign work for three consecutive years 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2013 she received the Top 10 Rising Star award for Home Stagers in North America. Also recognized on Houzz, she has been awarded several years of service awards, as well and “Influencer” and “recommended” badges for her professional profile. Her work has been featured on local television in the Kansas City area, The Kansas City Star (Newspaper) as well as Kansas City Home & Styles Magazine.

Kansas City Home Stagers
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