Realtors: Are You Considering Recommending Staging to Your Clients? Here are the Answers to Your Questions about Staging:

What is Staging?

Staging is the art of arranging and decorating a home to maximize its appeal to potential buyers, helping the house sell faster and for more money.

The purpose of staging is to draw attention to the features of the house and to minimize potential problem areas.

Staging can be as simple as cleaning, de-cluttering and rearranging a client's existing furnishings, or as complex as making repairs, repainting and renting an entire house full of furniture. It could also be anything in between.

Could you tell a client that they have bad decor and then turn this.....	...into this?

Why should I recommend staging to my clients?

Staged homes show better than competing houses for sale; often better than new homes and higher priced homes.

Staged homes generally sell faster.

Staged homes often draw interest from multiple potential buyers, creating competition, driving the sale price up.

Buyers view staged homes as "well-maintained".

Staged homes appear "move-in-ready" and buyers' agents will be more inclined to promote these properties to their clients.

Staged homes photograph better and look better in print and on the web.

The investment in staging is a proactive marketing strategy that is typically less than the average price reduction.

Why hire a stager? Can't I tell my clients how to prepare their home for sale?

If you tell them to declutter and get rid of the toys....

....would you get these results?

While you are developing a relationship with a new client, do you really want to discuss

 sensitive issues with them like odors, bad housekeeping and bad decor?

You may be able to identify problem areas, but do you know how to make them better?

Do you have time to source furniture for an empty house and the expertise to place it so the house presents like a "show home"?

Do you have enough confidence to select paint colours?

As a busy realtor, do you have the time to dedicate to making sure every one of your listings gets the attention it needs? Wouldn't it be nice to know that all of the details are being handled for you and that the home will be ready for pictures and the open house.

Contact me to help you make a good impression on your clients!

What is in it for me?

If your listings show well, you will develop a reputation for selling "good houses".

Include staging information in your listing presentations to demonstrate your creative marketing ideas.

Selling houses faster eliminates hassle and expenses of marketing a property for a long period of time.

You will develop a reputation as an agent that can sell houses quickly. It is very impressive when the SOLD sign is placed on the lawn within a few days of listing.

You do not have to deal with sensitive issues such as odor, housekeeping issues and bad decor with your client, potentially damaging your relationship with them.

Overall, houses that show well, sell fast and draw multiple buyers will make you more money!

This empty house sat on the market for months with little interest.	After some updating and staging, it sold in 2 weeks.

Contact me to help you make more money!

Who pays for the staging?

You may want to offer staging as a Value Added Service to some clients and pay for the initial consultation yourself. I know agents who have won clients because of this service.

Just having a stager to recommend to your clients gives the perception that you are providing a Value Added Service, even if the client is responsible for paying for the consultation.

Contact me and we can make a special arrangement for servicing you and your clients!