Everywhere you look and listen today, the economic and housing news is gloomy at best and stormy at worst. With so many homes competing for a smaller and choosier pool of buyers, sellers are overwhelmed with fear that their home will sell only at a giveaway price or after a long time on the market—if it will sell at all.  But what if sellers had a way to fly toward sunnier skies while “weatherproofing” the equity in their home? They do! Home staging can help sellers find the silver lining in the gray clouds of the current real-estate atmosphere. Here’s how:

Staging is practical.  Most people wouldn’t leave the house without an umbrella, slicker or galoshes on a rainy day. So why don’t sellers fully prepare to invest in their home’s equity before putting it on the market? Most buyers can have their home professionally staged for much less than the cost of a price reduction. Staging allows sellers to capitalize on buyers’ first impressions and save unnecessary time on the market.

Staging is motivating.  Most owners wouldn’t sell a car without repairing and detailing it. So why would anyone put a home on the market without making sure it’s in good condition and appealing to buyers? Often, the answer is that home sellers simply don’t know what to do to improve their chances of a successful sale or how to do it. A consultation with a professional stager can give sellers the detailed and prioritized information to calm their fears and gain a “can-do” attitude! 

Staging adds value.  Savvy sellers (and realtors) know that staging is a wise investment. Who wouldn’t want to have their home (or listing) appeal to a wide range of buyers in the targeted demographic, and sell faster and/for more money than its competition? Talk about weathering the storm!

Staging is state of the art.  Staged homes not only look better when buyers visit, but also in MLS listing photos and virtual tours. And, since more than 80% of buyers now find their next home online before scheduling a tour, staging helps ensure that a home makes a buyer’s must-see list. Every home for sale must be ready for its close-up, if it is to have the competitive edge in today’s technology-driven market.

Staging yields proven results.  Statistics consistently show that staged homes sell more successfully (faster and/or for more money) than non-staged homes. And, although the exact numbers may vary according to state or region, the profitable results of home staging are being realized nationwide (and beyond)—even in this stormy market. 

So, whether sellers need the expert information and motivation to do the work themselves or the hands-on services of a professional, a home stager can help ensure that the skies ahead will be clearer. During these turbulent times, home staging can provide the ray of sunshine that allows sellers to find their next dream home at the end of the rainbow—while keeping more of their pot of gold.

We are very pleased to announce that we will be hosting a Stage It Forward (SIF)~RESA Home Staging Round Table event on November 13^th, starting at 10:30 am.  The location of the event will be at the Home Matters offices and accessory warehouse, located at 1206 Indy Place, Indianapolis, In. 46214.

We would like to invite all professional stagers in the vicinity to attend.  In fact, if Indianapolis is the closest round table that is taking place to your home location, we would love to have you in our attendance.  Come join us as we learn and share with each other regarding our industry.

SIF, in many ways is the collective voice of the Home Staging Industry. Craig Schiller, the founder of SIF and its members have always been committed to grass roots involvement to form that collective voice.  The driving principals were to provide a venue where Stagers could gather to discuss issues and concepts, share ideas for one and all; a place to listen and be heard, all in a non-biased, non-judgmental way.  In that spirit, the Indianapolis Round Table group will be discussing Home Staging topics ranging from National level issues to those more local in nature.

A big Thanks to our sponsors, Shell Brodnax (RESA), Sandy Dixon (IRIS) and Audra Slinkey (ASHSR) for making this event possible.

To register for the event, go to the RESA web site at www.RealEstateStagingAssociation.com and click on the event calendar and go to Nov.  Find the Indianapolis event shown on the 13^th, click on it to register.  For questions about the Indianapolis event call Gary Barnett at (317) 797-1947.

Real estate and the technological world are like peas and carrots, they just go together. We live in a world of MLS photos, virtual tours, internet directories, press releases, and article submissions.  It’s entirely feasible for a buyer to see every room of a home, in high quality vivid color, from the comfort of their own home, a coffee shop, or just about anywhere they can get an internet connection.  I recently read that as high as 86% of home shoppers will view available homes as well as find their Realtor on the Internet.

As a result of this surge in internet use, many new real estate professionals are relying on the technological highway to improve their services.  The successful sale of your listings will depend on how good you are at digitizing, synthesizing and electronically marketing yourself and your client’s homes.  Curb appeal is no longer the view you get from your 1995 Chevy windows while driving down the street, instead it is the view you get of a home from digitized photos shown on your computer screen.  Finding a Realtor or Home Stager is not a matter of checking with who your friends used in the past, it’s a matter of who comes up first when the phrase “Real Estate Agent, Indianapolis” is typed into your favorite search engine.  And even when you come up high in the results of a search, internet users have learned that they can quickly check the multitude of claims made by eager, computer savvy business men and women, marketing themselves and their businesses. 

As a buyer using today’s technology, I can quickly set the price range I want to pay and the area I want to live in and in seconds view every home that meets my criteria.  From that starting point I can start comparing and eliminating with-in seconds.  A home looks to be priced too high compared to others in this same price range and many others look better, well may not make their must see list. If your home looks dark and dated and your photos are dark, blurred and just plain horrible looking well, again you’re not even in the running.  No photos, well that’s just not good at all.  In much less time than it would take to physically visit just one property, I can view every home meeting my criteria and choose the winners. The National Association of Realtors even claims that homes with more and better photos are viewed exponentially more than those with a few or no photos.  Also, it only makes sense that clients require the Realtors and Stagers that they work with are those that are technologically savvy.  I am hearing from many experienced Realtors that their business has and continues to diminish as time goes by.  These are agents that built their lively-hood on referrals.  First year, 10 clients.  Those 10 clients told 20 more and on and on.  So what happened to their ever-dependable pyramid math?  The Internet happened.  Once again, a client can find an agent on the Internet quicker than it takes to make a phone call to a friend for a referral.  The business diminished because the math just didn’t add up any more. 

E-mail is also part of the changing technological landscape.  E-mail has now grown to the point of being the communication tool of choice.  We can instantly communicate with anyone, anywhere around the world.  We can send our clients quotes, contracts, updates, inspection reports, offers, counter offers and even closing statements.  And it can be done instantaneously and as sharp as the original. 

My how things have changed!  I struggled at age 38 to learn and become proficient at using a computer.  As time went by I also struggled at becoming proficient at using the Internet.  My son learned about computers at age 12 and easily moved into the whole Internet thing at about 18.  Today my 10-year-old granddaughter can do a search and locate every home for sale in my community.  My how things have changed indeed!

Moral of story; you have to diversify your services and your techniques in making a connection in today’s real estate world.

In today’s high-stakes market of real estate, homeowners need to pull out all the stops in preparing their homes for sale. Did you know that 86% of home buyers are looking on the internet to find their next home? Would you be surprised to learn that buyers prepare a shopping list of their favorite homes before ever contacting a real-estate professional? The internet images of your interior and exterior play an extremely important role in making a buyer’s “must see” list. That’s why preparing your home for the market involves more than just a little cleaning and tiding up.

Home staging is a marketing tool to help home sellers merchandise their properties. This is done to help buyers connect with—and envision their life in—your home. The way you live in your home and the way you package and present it to the buying public are two different things. You will need to take a different approach from living in your home if you want to sell your home. The very first step is to emotionally disconnect with your home and treat it as a product you want to sell.

The second step involves looking at your home through a buyer’s eyes. Start by asking yourself the following questions: What improvements need to be made for my home to be competitive in my market? How does my home look in comparison to other homes in my area and price range? What is it that buyers are really looking for in a home? A home-staging professional has the answers to these questions and can help you prepare your home it for its “close up.” Can you picture your home SOLD?