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Realtors vs Stagers

Realtors know:

how to get a listing

the State laws concerning selling & buying

contracts

determining a listing price

marketing

closing the deal

Home Stagers know how to:

Assess the outside and inside of a property

accentuate architectural details photo by dcJohn

create good traffic flow in rooms

neutralize a lived in space

let the light in

create ambiance

use accessories to detail a space's perceived use

prepare a property according to the market

use a variety of styles - from retro to contemporary - to appeal to the widest audience

shop for owners, usually with discounts

maintain an inventory of accessories, many stagers have furniture also

apply the latest color trends

Can you imaging what a force we could be working together as a team to get a house sold!

Why don't we all do what we do best?

For help preparing property to be sold and to stand out from the rest of the pack contact Re$ale Design and Home Staging in the beautiful Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota

If you live in a different area - check out the stagers on Active Rain for your state

PS - If I missed something that you do, feel free to add it in the comments

Welcome from the Brainerd Lakes - where outdoor and indoor recreational opportunites abound. Looking to buy on one of our many lakes? Ready to move up or down? Having trouble selling your home? Falling behind on payments or already in the foreclosure process? I am a Certified Short Sale Specialist as well as a Home Staging Expert.

Call me!

Posted by Kathleen Lordbock Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes on 12/12/2007 10:19 AM

Comments (50)

homestaging brainerd, selling your home nisswa, preparing homes for sale aitkin, resale design and home staging

Originally posted at: Brainerd Lakes Real Estate News: Realtors vs Stagers

This post has been included in Minnesota Information Crow Wing County, MN Information
Post is included in group: Stage It Forward...

50 Comments on Realtors vs Stagers

DEC

2007

Excellent summary!!! It is good to know about a fellow MN stager. Keep warm up in Brainerd!

Dear Kathleen,

I wish we had stagers here in Breckenridge, Colorado. It's a great way to maximize proceeds. I would think our sellers would really benefit from it.

Meredith

Would be awesome Kathleen. But some of us are up against realtors like the one I mentioned in my previous blog. I'm not exactly sure how we can cure them of that affliction!

Kathleen,

It seems like a very obvious and mutually beneficial match to me! Everyone wins- the seller, the realtor and the stager.

Marla

Design by Marla, Burbank, Ca.

Kathleen ~ I saw your title and right away thought - Softball game and then I saw the picture you had! But that would put us on opposing teams, and I think, as your list suggests, we all bring talents and expertise to the table that used together could make us all a winning team. (Did that sound really corny?) : )

Good point Kathy - we are sort of on opposing teams in certain respects, hoping to be cooperative. Perhaps one day we'll all be on the same team!

I concur with the above Kathleen, clear points - excellent post!

Kathleen

I hope one day this to be the case, but when I have a Realtor in my own business group, tell me he sent a agent to a 2 day course so he can be affiliated with a certain association of stagers, and he just gives out the paperwork they collected over those 2 days to his agents to try to stage their own listings, and he wouldn't even take our portfolio because he said to my stager you better keep it hun, I will never hire you. I think we have a long way to go before this happens.

Only thing we can do is move on and try to educate the benefits of a properly staged home, compared to a home that was just cleaned up some for the open house.

Best Wishes,

Brian Bloom

Kathleen -- This has just been added to my favorite posts list! It is excellent -- so simple, so clear. I have a thought on this and I will e-mail you off line about it later today -- I gotta run out now for a meeting.

THANK YOU FOR THSI EXCEPTIONAL POST!

Kristina - Were you aware of our staging roundtable in Mpls in January? You really should go, contact Beth Patnode.

Kathleen, isn't that a picture of Georgetown U baseball team? I have many fond memories of that place, as an employee, not as a student.

Bret and Meridith - If there are not any stagers there yet - there will be- that is a beautiful area of the country/

Terry - Some disease are incurable - I could say more but wisely choose not to.

Marla - There aren't many games where everyone wins, this could be a first. Even the buyer gets a nicely detailed and updated, ready to move in property.

Kathy - that was actually one of my points - some seem to think we are on rival teams and that has to stop. We can all play nicely together.

Deborah - It would go so much smoother if we could all work together to achieve a winning result.

Brian -" to his agents to try to stage their own listings," - we stagers don't try, we do - there is a difference.

Brian - I knew someone famous said something about this - here it is

“Do or do not... there is no try.” Yoda

Great points...maybe some Realtors will read this....

Karen - what an unexpected honor thank you so much - & I would like to thank all my friends and relatives and people watching in cyberspace......

Waiting for that e-mail Chicka

Kathleen I bookmarked this....to refer back to ...thanks

Kathleen, you are so much fun. When the teams get together it will be the best. It is coming; right?

Good Points Kathleen! Teaming can make a situation more fun, and more successful all at the same time.

That's the team spirit, "All for one and one for all!"

Kim Dillon, Creative Eye Home Staging

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STAGERSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DEC

2007

HELLO KATHLEEN!! I have been so absent here and been overseeing two renovation projects which have me waaaay stretched thin! This morning I popped in and saw your post-NICE! Continual messages and postive 'win-win' reminders is a great way to remind people in this business that team effort will ultimately make everyone win! Thanks KL!! Regards-Kathleen G

Kathleen: One of the most important things we do as stagers is prepare a home for sale so that the REA can do the most important thing that they do: market and sell the home. If the REA is worrying about which towels to buy, where to rent the furniture for a vacant or what color the bedding should be, they are wasting their efforts and time that would be better spent actually selling the home.

If the homeowner is willing to pay for the staging, it seems silly and working against the clients' best interests, not to use a Professional Home Stager.

Excellent post, Kathleen! I'd rate it a 5 if I could (smile).

Kathy

Terry - Georgetown Hoyas with St John's team on Povich Field - good eye

Mary - some are reading this - thanks for the bookmark, too.

Yvonne - We all are playing in the same game for the same goal so we might as well join forces.

Julianna, Kim and Fernando - Sounds like you three are on the cheerleading team - gimme a S gimme a T gimme an A.......

Kathleen G - Absent due to work - excused.

Michelle & Kathy - We know what we know & that is "staging works"- silly not to.

DEC

2007

Kathleen-I soooo appreciate a home stager's knowledge and expertise. Defining the differences are important.

Julie - thanks - it is always good to hear from my Realtor team members and we appreciate savvy Realtors who go the distance.

Kathleen

Thanks for your post. YOu have hit a nerve with me...I am sosooo weary of finding out the realtors who I staged for in the past have stopped calling, and GUESS WHO is doing the staging ? And it is not terribly good staging...imagine that. One has even trained her brand-new-realtor -daughter to do it for her, without any staging credentials or relevant background. Why don't they just focus on the transaction and business development...I thinnk that is best use of time for all.

It takes a team to win Kathleen and as you said, "Why don't we all do what we do best?" working together is a winning combination for sure!

Paula - I had a booth for a week at our county fair for my staging company. So many women (not men) would stop and point out things they liked in the booth (set up as a mini dining/ living room) and then talk about staging. Most thought they were quite capable of starting their own business because they "were good at decorating" and that it would be fun. The Realtors commented that "they do that". I wonder why with all the expertise floating around the MLS photos are not of staged rooms, in fact they are not even cleaned or organized. The men stopping by asked questions about staging and seemed to grasp the concept - they probably didn't have sugar plums dancing in their heads.

Karen - thank you , I know that you understand the team concept on all points.

Ahhh, Val and I just had this same conversation, great post. NOW WHY don't we team up....unfortunately too many realtors are also becoming home stagers. In order to successfully market their listings they will NOT be able to successfully stage...That's my opinion and I am sticking by it. Staging is time consuming and very hard physical work...can I get an AMEN

Phyllis Pafumi

Kathleen - This is a pretty comprehensive list of staging - I do realize there are *some* Realtors(r) that are also staging their listings and doing a very good job at it too! I wonder though about the message they're sending their clients about how busy they are and how they figure this is the best utilization of their time. More importantly, I wonder what they'll do when the market does turn around, as it eventually will - will they continue in this vein of taking listings and staging each individual property or...what then?

Ultimately I do think it falls on us to educate the consumer as to what we actually do as professional stagers so they can ask for professional stagers to be brought in - even free sometimes isn't worth the price.

Jackie

DEC

2007

Hey Kathy -- did you get my e-amil with the answers to your two questions? Hadn't heard from you; so thought I'd check in at. Let me know!

Karen - Had a funeral - will get back to you soon, we need to keep chatting.

Very nicely put Kathleen.

When you look at the two lists you can clearly see the talents of the REA are NOT artistic...kinda like having an accountant come in and decorate for you just because they set the budget.

DEC

2007

Kathleen! I just saw your new photo - very nice!

At first as I was looking at all the posts on SIF and I saw the face I was trying to figure out how someone else managed to put their face on your post! LOL!!

Jackie

Dane - Very good point, their talents are focused on another set of priorities and with an entirely different set of skills.

Jackie- I was just having a little fun in Picnik and wanted to do something a little different for those who were tired of the black and white me. I did a Meez too but haven't figured out how to put in on AR - help, anyone????