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I'm just wondering if there's a market for this sort of service in mid size towns with pretty healthy housing markets (in other words, markets that aren't in a crisis). I wonder if it would be easier for agents to have another party meet with the sellers to address issues that inhibit good showings - clutter, cleanliness, too much furniture, etc. Also, would it be beneficial if the service also included taking good photos? There are some TERRIBLE MLS photos out there, even with good listing agents.
If you think there would be a market for this sort of service, what would you consider a fair price per staging plus photos?
Are there such services in your area?
Would it be a selling point if the individual doing the staging had a background in real estate (a strong listing agent)?
One more question - If you had someone who was an interior designer offer to meet with your clients (with you present of course, and discussing the findings with you privately before addressing the needs with the customer) to help them stage their home AT NO COST, would you reciprocate by sending them buyer leads or referrals? (I could see how this would be beneficial to all if the seller was staying in the area and would possibly use the interior designer for their next house.)
I'm just batting around ideas. What do you see as pros, cons, etc?
If the staging thing is completely out of the question to you, do you mind taking a moment to address a question about interior design referrals on my other thread in this section? Thank you very much!
ok heres the first thing, alot of real estate agents can recommend a great staging company. do your research on agents.. look at how much they sold in your area.
if the housing market is pretty healthy, thats great! supposedly statistics show that staged homes sell faster/and sometimes over asking price.
a good selling real estate agent will walk u thru your home prior to listing and would tell u what needs to be put away and what simple little things u can do to get the sellers attention.
most of the time they say stuff like:
* get rid of all the clutter,
*clear counter tops,
*take off anything personalized
* paint in neutral colors
*keep furniture minimal.
*make beds and have house clean.
*open windows and let natural light in.
* when showing home, play light relaxing music at faint hearing level.
there definitly is a market for staging. alot of new home communities use them to decorate model homes and stagers even work in furniture stores to help sell merchandise.
its hard to say how much to pay for the service with pictures. some stagers go by square foot of home to be staged and some go by the hours spent drawing and picking out stuff for the home to be staged.
the selling real estate agent may give some of their commision to the staging company and thats a price agreed upon before u even thought of selling your home. they just have that business agreement in place. like business partners.
I use a stager. She charges around $400 for the staging set up/removal fee for a vacant stage. Then it varies from $200-$1000 a month depending upon how many rooms and what kind of staging is needed. I can get accessory staging for about $50 a month.
I pay a pro for photos or I take them myself. I wouldn't have my stager take photos for me.
You can't say there is a "fair price" for staging because it totally depends on your market. My market has an average home price of $175,000. There are less advertising dollars to work with compared to an area where the average home price is $500,000. My stager is jam packed with business and turns business away all of the time.
She also does staging consults where she will walk through a home with a seller and give them a punch list of things to do. Down to cleaning out the sliding door track.
I think your best bet would be to offer gift cards for buyer consults. Encourage agents to buy a gift card for a paint/furniture placement for home buyers. Lots of people need help coordinating paint colors and it is a great way to get face time with people who are just moving in, rather than people that are just moving away.
Has anyone taken the American Staging Professional course for realtors to get an ASP designation?
No. One, I don't have the time to stage my clients homes. Second, I don't want to invest in and store all the furniture required to properly stage a home. It is more cost effective to hire someone who does it for a living.
1. When selling the estate house of my father-in-law, we hired a stager to provide advice. $80. Worth it. It was a balanced market. We did not rent any furniture.
2. When selling our house in a freaking, totally obnoxious buyers' market, we hired a stager for more money. A lot more money and we rented furniture for $400/month. We hated it. We hated the stager. We hated the rental company. But, we felt we had no choice. But, it hurts when the corn cob goes up your butt. It took 7 months (63 showings and 26 open houses) to sell our house for 85% of the original asking price.
3. If we had to sell today in a freaking sellers' market, we would not spend one frigging dime on staging. Houses in our neighborhood sell in a day.
It's not a seller's market here. It's not a terrible market, but the time on the market is pretty long, especially for more expensive homes.
I am in touch with a good local realtor who is giving me lots of interesting feedback and ideas. I'll keep the forum posted.
One great idea she had was to bill the seller AT CLOSING - not beforehand. If the house doesn't sell, then there's no payment. Of course, that would mean being VERY judicious about what homes one staged.
Also, by staging, I do NOT mean leasing out furniture or furnishing homes. I mean making do with what the seller has IN THE HOME already, for the most part - with a small budget to freshen things up. Decluttering, moving furniture around, tips on organizing, lighting, etc. This wouldn't be where the big money was - it would be when they MOVED (only take assignments when the sellers are staying in the local market). It would be an opportunity to get in front of a potential buyer and building rapport with them before they moved, in order to help them with interior design when they moved. It would also be to establish rapport with the realtor, to get referrals for buyers coming into town.
It would simply be a networking tool. The point wouldn't be to earn a living by staging homes. It would be a foot in the door, nothing more.
I'm not a realtor, so maybe I don't know, but I see these two professions as polar opposites.
I would hire a stager to take my home and make it appealing to the mass market so that they can imagine themselves living in this house and making it THEIR home.
I would hire an interior decorator to help me make my house into MY home, considering only my personal preferences and desires.
I just don't see that I would hire my stager to be my interior decorator.
Truthfully, the realtors I've used told us exactly what to do to stage our house. When we listened, the houses sold very quickly. The one time we didn't take the realtor's advice, we lost big time. Unless you need the furniture, I'm not convinced most sellers need a stager. They just need a GOOD realtor, open minds and to not take anything personally.
Last edited by Jkgourmet; 09-09-2013 at 11:29 AM..
I hired a feng shui expert at $75/hr to make suggestions before I listed my house. She was invaluable! and it took about 2 hrs. My house looked so much better after I made the changes, I could not believe it - just furniture placement and a dsifferent painting. All stuff I had.
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As a houseowner
