I attended Marie Graham's home staging workshop this morning at the Ossining Public Library. It was outstanding. While I never disputed the value of stagers, I have gotten into my share of disagreements with them on matters probably not worth arguing about. One is about taking down personal photos. Marie made a good analogy about overdoing the family photo thing. Imagine, she said, you are seated at a crowded restaurant at a table that had not yet been cleared. As you sit, your expectations of a delicious meal are interrupted by a half-eaten fried egg on someone else's plate. You know that people eat at a table prior to your arrival; you just don't want to have to share the experience.
It is a great metaphor, and it wasn't even her best line.
Here is the best reason to hire a stager:
You should hire a stager because their fee is a small fraction of what your first price reduction would be if the home does not sell.
To my mind, that is not something anyone can argue with. Not even me.
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I have tried multiple times in the past to convince sellers to stage the house, so far, it seems like they rather do the price reduction than invest in staging...
two great lines in your post that I will definately try to remember! I love the egg image - well, actually, I find the egg image absolutely disgusting! which clearly is the point! thanks for sharing.
Great post! We're a Home Staging Co. in NJ. I don't understand why agents don't offer this as a selling tool to their clients. It just doesn't make sense as to why they would rather take that huge price reduction then staging it right in the first place.
I am a buyer right now looking for a home and what I see out there is scary. Presentation is key. I watcfh these propoerties lose money hand of fist in the matter of weeks. Hopefully, one day, buyers and agents will understand the importance of home staging.
-Lisa
I agree with both arguments. Being in a smaller market, I have never seen an ad or been approached by a professional home stager or company.
I am curious as to how they determine their fees! By cost, by hour, by size of home, etc.?
What has your experience been?
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
Fees are not necessarily consistent from one stager to another. Also, there are many factors involved, therefore, I only state my consultation fee in my advertisment. Often times, the seller is willing to follow recommendations, but then some sellers need assistance in decluttering, interior painting, rearranging furniture, wall hangings. I then negotiate with the client and between us we determine if we'll set an hourly rate, daily rate, or job rate. Different things work for different people.
Also, Home Staging is becoming more and more a part of the whole selling process.
Peggy
Phil-it never occured to me that you'd blog about that talk, just found this post, thanks!
Staging is a lot like being a Realtor, each client/scenerio is different, it's not enough to know what is needed to get from point A to point B, you need to have good communications with the client so they will go along with it and do what they need to do.
Jerry-simpler jobs where it's just me and my time are billed either by the hour (if I'm doing hands-on work) or size of the home (if I'm doing a report, where there is little interaction and I can just go thru the home). On jobs where things need to be brought in I break it down by fees and my time.
Not sure where your market is, but I recommend going to StagedHomes.com to find some local ASP Staging Professionals, and just start some conversations...in my business experience, if you can communicate well with someone, you can usually work out the rest of it.
Marie Graham ASP, IAHSP, IDS the refreshed home White Plains NY
The "reason" speakes for itself. Excellent post J. Philip!
I heard a comment on television that selling your home without first staging is like going to a job interview in your pajamas. It's funny how when we take those same sellers on a buying tour how much they appreciate a well staged home, or dislike ones that have not put in much effort. Yet when it comes to their own home - the one they don't want to be theirs any longer - they just can't get over spending $1 to make $10 in the long run. All things in time I suppose...
Hello Jerry, great tips as well as i love your social idenity link icon, pretty cool.