Expect the Unexpected!

I love hearing the stories from our members as to why they decided to take our Home Staging  and Redesign Certification course and where they’ve taken their business!  What I find almost always is that it’s never exactly how they expected it to be.  I recently got an email from Debbie O’Neill of Fine Design Home Staging (http://www.finedesignhomestaging.com) and laughed out loud…

Audra-

My apologies for the late response. When you see what I have to share, you will understand why. When I first decided to enroll in your program, my thought was it would be fun and a great “side” career. I already work full time but I wanted an outlet for my creativity and to challenge myself with new goals.

Since mid March, 2013, I have staged 8 homes. Four out of the 6 homes for sale sold within two days that they were on the market.  Two of the houses were model homes for a builder.  All but one of the 6 homes had been vacant and on the market for a long period of time. One home I did a consultation and put the owner to work on two rooms that needed “help”. The owner rolled up her sleeves and implemented everything that I suggested. She received an offer the next day. My first job in March was with a builder who was looking for a local stager in the HSR Directory. Thus, I have continuous work to either stage one of their inventory homes or to stage their model homes. In addition, the builder has requested that I help them with their inventory and get organized! Another activity I love to do!

It has been a whirlwind of projects and put my business into hyper drive. I have done no advertising except for about six SEO suggestions that you made in the training. Everyone that has found me has done so through their Google searching and commented on my professional looking website which HSR created. I received jobs before I even had a chance to update my website.

So that it is in a nutshell. I am learning as I go and am excited to learn more about the business.

Yep, sometimes the “unexpected” can happen but it’s obvious to see from Debbie’s work below that her talent is undeniable!

Great job Debbie!

XOXO – Happy Staging!

Audra Slinkey

Hope to hear from you!

1-888-563-9271

audra@homestagingresource.com

The Art of Great Staging

Anyone who has not had their head in the sand for the last few years understands that there is “no set price” for a home.  The real estate market is a roller coaster ride of highs and lows but one thing remains the same, buyers will always be looking for that “ideal vision” for their family AND will always be willing to pay top dollar for it!

You see, staging is NOT about de-cluttering and cleaning but at it’s essence, it’s an “art form” born from extreme expertise in merchandising and designing a “vision” that buyers will fall in love with!  Staging done correctly, provides the “props and vision” for the buyer to mentally “move-in” to each room while emotionally connecting them to the home as a whole!  Once connected, the offer is made and not usually broken.

Great staging starts with understanding first “the who” and merchandising for that particular vision.  Who is the buyer demographic for that home, what will they desire to see in each space?   HSR Certified stagers are trained to research six “cues” to determine the typical buyer demographic, as well as converse with the agents in the area.

Is this a “contemporary zen” home and lifestyle we are staging for?

What will our buyers be “hoping” to find when they step through that door and how can we create the lifestyle they dream about in each room?

I would argue that many homes on the market today are what I call “half way there” homes because they have been stripped down but not “dolled up”.  They are like a cake with no frosting and will never get the best price for their home in that condition.

Essentially, these homes are leaving money on the table!

An agent might argue, “who cares if they get the best price, so long as it’s sold quickly” but that’s short sighted.

I imagine most of us would not be too happy to see the competing agent down the street selling our neighbors house for $30,000 more than we got because they took the time to bring in a great professional home stager.  Agents build their reputations not only on quickly selling homes but on getting the BEST PRICE for their clients!

Based on the information we have for our buyer demographic, we are able to create a profile of what we are designing for and a plan for the seller.  The plan starts with taking the time to understand the benefits of staging and realizing that a little work today, saves you a lot of headache in the future.  For example, if my neighbor made $30,000 more than me on the sell of their home, how does that $30,000 translate to real earned dollars?  With capital gains it means that it’s pure cash, so I would probably have to make $50,000 to realize $30,000 cash realistically.

How many hours do you have to work to make $50,000?  Definitely more hours then the amount of time, energy and expense of correctly staging the home first!

Which brings me to another very critical aspect of staging and that is photos!  Correctly trained stagers know that it’s not only about the “walk-in” but very critically about the photo for online marketing!

If 95% of buyers are online first looking at photos before they decide to visit the home, how important do you think staging for the photo is in the sales process?  As an agent, how important do you think the photos are to your image and reputation?

Great staging involves the total package!  Starting with the research, creating the plan and communicating a vision that seller’s can understand financially, then finishing with marketing output that makes the buyers fall in love BEFORE entering into the home.

Home Staging Austin

Sarah Swindell of Up Staged in Austin, TX started the course in May of this year and already has a gorgeous before-and-after show I wanted to showcase. She had this to say about her experience:

“THANK YOU!!! Your course is just amazing and you really made the whole process so enjoyable and easy even when I thought I could never do something like this! I was always afraid to start my own business and thought it would be way too complicated, but you made it all possible! I love your sense of humor too:) Your videos were so enjoyable to listen to. As a single mom now, being a realtor was way too hard scheduling wise and I really only loved making the homes I had listed beautiful! All the contracts and legal stuff I could do with out! This is just perfect for me 🙂 Thank you so much for providing such a wonderful forum for women (and men!) to have a fun and fulfilling career!”

Find more photos like this on Stagers Connect