Home Staging Indianapolis Blog

What do you make of a professional home stager that advises some of their clients not to stage?

Well, I certainly want to continue growing my business which may sound odd from someone saying they advise some clients that it is not in their best interest to stage NOW. But one of the founding principles of my business is to be trusted by my clients. I have always believed that every action I take today is either building or destroying my reputation for the future. So, from day one I wanted to be known as someone my clients could trust and rely on. With our real estate agent clients, TRUST is a huge factor, knowing that when they place their clients in our hands that they are placing their own reputation in our hands as well. That is a huge responsibility and one I think needs to be taken most seriously.

Seems like every day we hear stories from our clients that make us stop and evaluate where staging fits into the selling process. It is not realistic to make the comment that everyone should stage their home prior to putting it on the market. We all know where staging fits into the selling process, but we find ourselves asking more and more where staging fits in relationship to return on investment and budget constraints compared to everything else that has to take place in preparing the home.

On some occasions, I am asked to evaluate the best use of a set budget amount that the home owner has to spend and how to prioritize that investment to maximize their marketing potential. And the factors I have to take into consideration can be overwhelming at times. Some of those factors are related to the condition aspect of the property such as outdated light-fixtures, countertops, cabinets, faucets and hardware, old tired and outdated wall colors and/or wall treatments, worn carpeting, overgrown or sparse landscaping and the list goes on and on and on. When a home owner is considering all of this the question inevitably becomes “What’s the best use of our limited funds?

As an example, with a $2,000 budget, there are things on this list that must be addressed before the staging option should be considered. Placing my nice furniture and accessories in a home in dire need of new paint, new carpeting and upgrades will get me and my business $2,000 dollars but do little to increase the marketability of the home and therefore does little to increase the sales potential. My best advice in those rare cases is to put the monies into repairs and cosmetic fixes first and then if there is money leftover then and only then should you stage the property. Condition issues and repairs should trump staging when allocating funds for the potential sale.

A cold hard fact is that not all homes that are “for sale” will be sold. The statistics are really staggering concerning number of listing verses the number of homes that actually sell.

“How far do we have to go before it is a sellable product?” It appears that if you’re not competing in the top echelon of your market on price, condition, presentation, one would have to wonder if your product (house) is really competing at all. And then there is “How far do we have to lower the price to make it a sellable product?” I’m not sure that is relevant in many cases today because there are many sellers up-side down or close to it, with limited or no funds to bring to the closing table and are left with the “all of my options have been exhausted feeling”. So with great sadness on my part, often times I’m helpless to provide the solution so many desire and truly need to project their properties forward and toward the SOLD sign. I can and do recommend they trade some creative services like cooking, sewing, for storage space at their neighbor’s house or take on extra work to buy painting supplies, but I’m sure to them it’s an insignificant suggestion and not the answer they were hoping for. In reality, I sometimes have to turn them down on staging before the condition factors have been addressed because I know that it is in their best interest that I come to that unfortunate conclusion. How about you? Have you ever had to turn them down because you didn’t want to let them down?

How many times have you wowed a potential client with your portfolio, only to have your moment of glory interrupted by the “deer-in-the-headlights” look that came over their face when you presented your quote to stage their home? This is exactly what happens when consumers don’t recognize the value of home staging.

Consumers typically buy a product or service based on their perception of its value in relation to its price. As home stagers, we need to keep this concept in mind as we try to convey the value of what we do to potential clients. Thanks to the ever-increasing media coverage of home staging and the highly-competitive nature of today’s real estate market, most home sellers now understand the importance of preparing their home before putting it up for sale. Still, home staging is a service which is often undervalued by consumers because they lack a clear understanding of the process and skills required to take a home from the “before” to the “after” images they see in magazines and on TV. So how can you help your clients recognize the value of home staging in general, and your skills and services in particular? I suggest that it all boils down to two basic points: education and differentiation.

Education starts with letting clients know that the price they pay for home staging is a wise investment. Your services are valuable because, by transforming their homes into products with greater mass appeal and marketability, you help ensure faster, more profitable sales. To prove this point, keep the appropriate national, state and local statistics on hand.

Education also includes providing information about the process of home staging (e.g., cleaning, de-cluttering, developing a design plan, selecting appropriate furnishings, packing, transporting, installing, de-staging, etc.). Clients tend to get a better sense of our value once they understand how much work is typically involved in completing a project.

Differentiation means letting clients see what sets you and your home staging company apart from the competition. This is the time to show off your credentials, your portfolio, your results, your statistics, your testimonials and your knowledge of buyer demographics. Including images of your warehouse, inventory, and delivery truck(s) in your portfolio or other marketing materials may help clients envision what you can do for them as a one-stop resource. Taking the time to provide clients with a quote detailing all services, fees and specific areas of their home to be addressed can further underscore your value.

Differentiation also means conveying the strong interpersonal skills that make you valuable to home sellers and realtors. With each passing year, there are more home stagers competing for clients by bombarding realtors and neighborhoods with marketing materials and visits. Often the stagers who get hired are the ones who not only have excellent technical skills, but strong “people” skills as well. Your interpersonal skills show realtors and their clients that you can remain tactful and professional in even the most difficult situations, which we all know to be a not-so-rare part of the home staging process. Good interpersonal skills will also get you welcomed back for follow-up visits and referrals.

Conveying your value as a home stager can be as simple as educating consumers and differentiating your skills and services from the competition. Keeping these points in mind will not only help you grow your business; but may have the added value of alleviating “sticker shock” when your clients see the bottom line.

The predominant media buzz about the current “buyer’s market” is everywhere today, making it appear that sellers have lost any advantage in this highly-competitive real estate market. Yes, there is a huge inventory of homes competing for a smaller and choosier pool of potential buyers. This is enough to make even the most seasoned home seller fear that their property will only sell at a giveaway price or after a long time on the market—or worse; that it may not sell at all. Yet, the homes of some sellers are selling more quickly and profitably. How can it be?

This leads me to another media buzz (music to the ears of every home stager) which says that even in the current market, staging remains one of the very best investments a seller can make to protect their home’s equity and increase its resale value. According to HomeGain’s 2009 national survey of realtors, home staging yields a whopping 586% Return on Investment (ROI) and can help “get your home sold quicker and for more money.” The survey ranks home staging as the second best ROI (after cleaning and decluttering) and yielding the third highest price increase to a home’s resale value.

Also buzzing in the media is word that home staging is changing the landscape of the real estate industry and having a positive effect on the overall economy. In August of 2009, CNN.com and CareerBuilder.com listed home staging as one of seven “cutting edge careers… making a mark and poised for growth in the coming years.” This research validates the significant results of home staging—even in this buyer’s market and this economy.

That’s why it’s critical for us, as members of the professional home staging industry, to provide a more balanced perspective on the often-gloomy media buzz. We can do this by reassuring home sellers that they still have tremendous power to significantly improve the value of their homes and ensure a faster, more profitable sale; and that we are here to support them every step of the way. We need to constantly remind home sellers and realtors that, at a time when fewer homes are selling, we help ensure that our clients’ homes are the ones that sell. In today’s buyer’s market, home staging gives sellers a distinct advantage.

Home Staging is a great marketing tool to successfully connection with your targeted audience. It can work for you!

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Michelle Boggs, Interior Design Teacher at the Art Institute of Indianapolis.  Michelle was inquiring about me putting on a brief presentation to her Interior Design students regarding home staging.  I saw this as an opportunity to spend time with some impressionable minds that had already made a strong commitment to working towards a degree in the related field of Interior Design.  Once I had finalized the arrangements and set the date and time with Michelle, I took some time to reflect on how far we have come in the arena of home staging.

 
When I started Home Matters in 2004, it was the first Home Staging Company in all of central Indiana.  Approximately 1.5 million People in the Indianapolis area and me, one lone stager.  Even with having been a former Real Estate Agent, in 2004 I would talk to my old Real Estate colleagues and they would squint and reply, “What is it your doing?”  And now, here we are 5 years and eight hundred plus staged homes later, the Art Institute of Indianapolis wants me to educate their students about Home Staging.  Gary simply smiles and says “You’ve come a long way baby.”  There are moments like this that it feels like a long way, but then again, so much of my time these days is still spent on the education of; Realtors on how to use a Home Stager, new stagers on how to stage homes and run a home staging business and the general public on the psychology and value of home staging.  Eight hundred homes seems huge to me, but then again, it is really just a drop in the bucket considering how many homes have been on the market here in Indianapolis area over these past 5 years. My take on this business is as the educational journey continues, the evolution of our companies will continue.

 
To my delight, last Tuesday, the day of the presentation, Michelle and 13 of her students, along with Fabiola Malerbi, Academic Director-Interior Design for the Art Institute, battled a treacherous storm to come to our training facility to participate in a 2 hour discussion about Home Staging.  What a great bunch of students they were.  So involved in home fashion and so many questions.  Without a doubt they were the most informed and yet inquisitive group I have ever had the pleasure of talking with. I’m hopeful that we may even have converted a few of them to become future Home Stagers.  Thanks to Michelle, Fabiola and all of the Students from the Art Institute of Indianapolis for being such a great group to spend the afternoon with.
So, what does this all mean, besides the fact that I had a really great experience with them?  Well it simply means that I am more convinced now than ever before that we have to keep on teaching about home staging.  We have to teach them and then teach them again and again and then teach them some more!  We have to teach our communities and most importantly, we have to teach each other.  And if we do this really well, then we can all be known as stager just like we planned to be.