High-end furniture rental, San Antonio or Austin (Dallas: real estate, rentals) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

lbco · 09-02-2008, 01:28 PM

I am working on a house to get it staged and ready to put on the market in a few months. It's a large house, and I am in need of some very nice furniture to supplement what is there already. Does anyone know of a place that rents this kind of furniture in the San Antonio or Austin areas? Thanks!

wCat · 09-02-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbco

I am working on a house to get it staged and ready to put on the market in a few months. It's a large house, and I am in need of some very nice furniture to supplement what is there already. Does anyone know of a place that rents this kind of furniture in the San Antonio or Austin areas? Thanks!

No. Unfortunately San Antonio nor Austin has ANY high end furniture rental companies. You might try networking with some local stagers to see if they have any inventory. Right now with the housing inventory being up somewhat from last year, most "staging" inventory is already placed.

Cort is about as good as it gets for furniture rental. We tried getting Brook Rentals out of Dallas two years ago, but they've changed their product line and don't have much better to offer.

Staging is a challenge in the area.....many people are catching on, but they don't want to pay for the cost of staging. It will be a matter of time before the bubble bursts and people will be begging for a good stager. Right now the consensus doesn't see the value it adds to a listing. I'm glad you "get it".

Good luck!

kevcrawford · 09-02-2008, 03:34 PM

On some of my high end listings, I just get a home stager to come in. They'll use their contacts to get all the furniture and get it staged properly. wCat is a wealth of info on that.

lbco · 09-02-2008, 08:23 PM

Thanks so much to both of you! I actually have a small business and stage houses, mostly for a local real estate company. The large house I just previewed would show better with some additional furniture, which would need to be of a higher equality. I have some other ideas about the furniture, and one way or the other, we'll get it looking great and ready to sell. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my question, and if you think of any other resources, even outside the Austin/San Antonio area, I would welcome the info. Thanks again!

wCat · 09-02-2008, 11:51 PM

IB....I added staging to my design biz a few years ago. We've tried it all. You have to find your niche in how you want to "stage". I sort of fell into staging homes that are already finished....higher end, older homes.

We tried the other way around....empty houses with furniture, but the cost of owning inventory, storing it when not in use, the fees to move it and liability to cover inventory damage or lost became unmanageable. We broke even on a few houses....but they did lead to other jobs. We've hit almost all the retail places and antique shops to see if they wanted to place furniture and "advertise" at the same time. Most every single one said no....or their fees and delivery was not something we could pass on to the homeowner.

PM me if you need any specifics. There isn't much I haven't done or tried. It can be harrowing during the process, but often the the satisfaction of helping feels wonderful.

Good luck to you and hope you find the right niche for you!

FIN · 09-22-2008, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wCat

IB....I added staging to my design biz a few years ago. We've tried it all. You have to find your niche in how you want to "stage". I sort of fell into staging homes that are already finished....higher end, older homes.

We tried the other way around....empty houses with furniture, but the cost of owning inventory, storing it when not in use, the fees to move it and liability to cover inventory damage or lost became unmanageable. We broke even on a few houses....but they did lead to other jobs. We've hit almost all the retail places and antique shops to see if they wanted to place furniture and "advertise" at the same time. Most every single one said no....or their fees and delivery was not something we could pass on to the homeowner.

PM me if you need any specifics. There isn't much I haven't done or tried. It can be harrowing during the process, but often the the satisfaction of helping feels wonderful.

Good luck to you and hope you find the right niche for you!

I am in the same predicament. I am a designer and have been asked to stage a very high end home. They basically need a few really nice pieces maybe even antiques. I'm in the Dallas area... any suggestions?

wCat · 09-22-2008, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIN

I am in the same predicament. I am a designer and have been asked to stage a very high end home. They basically need a few really nice pieces maybe even antiques. I'm in the Dallas area... any suggestions?

I personally don't know the Dallas resources. The only plus I think you have is that sellers in DFW are willing to pay more than down here. Get some comfy shoes on and hit the retail or antique stores that you know and see if you can work out some deal. Unless it's for a very short time and possibly in a "tour of homes" type scenario, most retail places don't want to tie up inventory in a housing market that is a little stagnant. Good luck to you.

FIN · 09-22-2008, 02:05 PM

that's what I was thinking. I have been on the phone all afternoon and suprisingly a lot of the antique dealers do this type of thing for designers. I just have to find one who is willing... Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks for your help.

medinapie · 04-08-2009, 02:13 PM

I work for a non-profit furniture store; SAMMinistries' Furniture For A Cause, due to our donors we tend to have a good amount of high-end furniture (we have a few interior designers who shop with us for that reason). We are working on a plan to involve home stagers where we would 'sell' them the furniture for a very, very low price and when they are finished with it, they donate it back to us and receive a tax-deductable donations receipt; in exchange we would ask that our name be displayed in the house in some way so that potential buyers see where the furniture came from. We would get free advertising and they would get practically free furniture to use. If this is something that any home stagers on here would be interested in please email me at ymedina@samm.org and I would love to discuss it further.

akrobot · 10-05-2011, 02:59 PM

I am in need of staging for 1 day! Is this even possible? We (my employer) is hosting a meeting with about 20 people and we would like couches and coffee tables etc for a 24 hour period. Hopefully something that would be impressive. I checked with CORT already and they were out of our price range. Any suggestions??