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 Some of those factors are related to the condition aspect of the property such as outdated light-fixtures, countertops, cabinets, faucets and hardware, old tired and outdated wall colors and/or wall treatments, worn carpeting, overgrown or sparse landscaping and the list goes on and on and on.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?

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.