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!

 
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.