I received a call from a young, new agent. He was in the process of flipping his first home, which happened to be his parents house, the home he grew up in. His parents had done some remodeling a couple of years ago with a new kitchen and some bathroom upgrades. He had spent a lot of his own money and time prepping the now vacant home for sale and he really felt that staging it would help.
He wanted to stage the kitchen/dining area and living room and so he called several stagers and they all told him the same thing, they could not stage the area for the $1000 he was able to include in his budget. Now I suppose I could be hurt or insulted that I wasn't the first or second stager he called but it doesn't matter, he did call. He told me what he was doing and what he wanted to accomplish and that he knew his budget was low and there was a slim chance I'd take the project.
Lucky for him, I have a real thing for helping people in need. I know how hard it is to get that first successful deal into your portfolio and I felt compassion for him for the spot he was in. I also saw how hard he was working trying to get his childhood home ready to sell. Also lucky for him, I had 2 sold homes being de-staged and I really didn't want to move all of that stuff back into the storage container. So, I told him I'd take the job and I gave him a huge discount. A really huge discount. If all goes well (which I suspect it will), he will hire Pro Staged Homes for his next flip and refer me to the other agents in his office.
So because Lady Luck smiled down upon him, this is what this client received for his $1000.
Kitchen Before Kitchen Before Dining Area Before Living Room Before Living Room Before
Kitchen After Kitchen After
Dining Area After
Living Room After Living Room After
This lucky agent really got a great deal between the timing of his call and my passion for helping people in need and he is very grateful for the help and he knows it was a one time shot. With a larger budget, there would be window treatments, more artwork and accessories (and a larger area rug under the dining table). But for $1000 - he didn't go wrong!
We can work with most budgets so don't think because you have limited funds that staging is out of the question. But a word of caution - when you do get a great bargain, make sure you check out what you're getting for your money before you sign the contract. There are times when you get what you paid for isn't what you paid for.
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