"My Vancouver realtor said just to leave the pool table in the living room because people know it's a living room."

Sorry but a pool table does not make a good focal point in a living room for selling in Vancouver!

During my 5 day PRES home staging and redesign course I take students into real client's homes so they can apply what they learned in the classroom. Students love this and so do my training home clients because their only cost is a donation to a charity - this year I am promoting Habitat for Humanity.

So when I was talking to a potential training home client I asked her about her situation and time frames. She said she wanted to sell quickly and for top dollar. All good so far....then I asked her to tell me about some of the furnishings she had so I could have some idea of what I would be working with.  She described a dining room that didn't have anything in it ...okay I might be able to make something out of some boxes, and find some chairs that  would work, tablecloth, etc. - stagers get the idea. Then she said the living room had a gorgeous very large pool table in it. We all know this tag line "the way you live in your home is not the way you sell your house' so naturally I wanted to make it look like an inviting living room unlike the way they were living in this room. She said she didn't really have any other furniture we could take from other rooms, and I said, well I could not in all good professional conscience recommend they leave the pool table in the living room. I even gave her the name of a very cost-effective rental company (Easy Home) and she said,

"My Vancouver realtor said just to leave the pool table in the living room because people know it's a living room."

This is SO WRONG! She wants to sell quickly and for top dollar - I never suggest to my realtor's what they list a property at, and so I am sometimes very surprised when they give advice like this.

I WORK WITH LOTS OF FANTASTIC, SAVVY REALTORS who understand my role as a home stager, and I totally understand their role as a realtor. It gets down to us working more closely together and educating the public on what needs to be done to a property before it goes on the market.

This is not the actual client's home but another home I was working on. Would you leave this in the living room and expect to sell quickly and get top dollar for your client?