Really good post by Karen – I’ve had the same type of experience and she really speaks to what staging consults are all about in the this post. Enjoy!
One of the most requested services my company, Home Star Staging provides is a home staging consultation. And if anyone is wondering whether there is value in a home staging consultation, I’d like to provide an answer to that question for any skeptics out there or those who may feel there is no value in this service.
For those who feel that they don’t need to or cannot afford to stage their home using the services
of a professional home stager, I’d like you to think again. A home staging consultation is your personal blue print to do that very service yourself, enlist the help of others or hire the home stager them self if budgets allow and it is most affordable! In fact, I dare say you cannot afford NOT to have this service at your disposal if you have any questions about the marketability of your home in its current condition.
A home must stand apart from the competition in today’s tough real estate market!
Any home at any price point could benefit from a staging consultation with a professional home stager.
Here are 2 things you can expect to gain from a home staging consultation:
- It can provide you with the tools & recommendations you need to do the work
- It can give you the constructive, objective feedback you need to showcase your home for move in ready appeal.
Buyer feedback is crucial to understand why buyers may not be interested in your home. This important information is often non existent but you get the message loud and clear when your home has been sitting on the market for months, price reductions are taken and still you receive no or too low offers.
Recent Home Staging Consultation result:
Last Friday I provided a home staging consultation for a North Texas home seller whose home had been on the market over 45 days. The house had multiple showings but received NO offers. When I arrived at the home the seller informed me that a showing was scheduled that same afternoon just after our consultation. I really felt the need to make sure we could do some work in the 2 hour time frame that could help showcase the home better.
I immediately identified a few areas that needed addressing and we quickly went to work. Yes, the home seller and I worked together in the 2 hour time frame to get some things moved, fine tuned and “tweaked” before the showing. From what I could initially see, the home was clean, neat, very de-cluttered (in fact too much so) and well, lacked some warmth, appeal, purpose in some areas and flow was a problem in another area.
We were able to do some of the work and I also made further recommendations to be done after I left. We got a lot accomplished in a short time frame and my client was surprised at the difference the changes made in how the house “felt” and showed.
Home staging is not just cleaning, neutralizing and de-cluttering folks, sometimes I think too many Real Estate professionals overlook that and recite that mantra and some homes are actually too stark and unappealing due to a lack of “stuff”.
Neutralize does not mean sterilize.
I left hopeful for the client’s prospects after these changes and thanked him for allowing me to provide him with the service. I don’t always hear back from my consulting clients but this time I did the following Monday. The message was short and to the point and I’ve included it here below:
“Hello Karen. Thank you for your help last week. The people that came by after you left made an offer on my home.” Jeff D.
I followed up with an email and asked if it was an offer that was acceptable to him and he answered yes and I congratulated him and am hopeful this will go through to a successful closing.
If you’re still a skeptic you may be thinking this was just luck. For those who believe in the power of home staging and the marketing and merchandising of properties to showcase them to their fullest potential this was no coincidence.
Home Staging has the ability to get a home noticed on the market, it can create buyer appeal and the desire to purchase. It can be as simple and affordable as a home staging consultation or a full service staging job if a budget allows.
If you sell homes or you are selling a home, one of the best values for your marketing dollars is to consult with a professional home stager.
Professional Home Stagers are here for YOU!
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For expert advice on preparing a home for sale contact Home Star Staging, a Real Estate Staging and Consulting company. Home Star Staging is here for you North Texas!
Copyright 2009 Karen Otto
