Kate,  I agree there does need to be a national non-profit to oversee the staging industry.  The home staging course I took does not offer accrediation etc.. and I had a realtor question me on it once but after I explained there is not national guidelines and all being accrediated or a designation after your name means is you completed a groups course and they bestowed the titles.  Turns out she just wanted to make sure I had training.  With that said, I do believe a true national standard for everyone would be a good thing for the industy as a whole but to get everyone to work together might be difficlut as this would cut into the money making aspect of this very hot and popular career.

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for your comment and great job on educating your realtor about the truth on designations. To clarify, I am NOT suggesting that people should not make $$ teaching classes (I taught one and I know how much money those companies made on a single class) I just think that the public including home sellers, realtors and people wanting to become stagers need an organization that they can find a stager that meets national standards that all stagers regardless of designations must meet. Otherwise the public thinks that the training company with the most marketing dollars is the only company whose designation matters.

Kate,

I'm not sure Kate Hart PMS has the professional touch you're looking for! hehehe  At least being cranky is better than going around naked. ;)

We need to have a nationally recognized standardized test and universal designation of stagers.  But I personally don't have time to work on that right now.  I'm already a very active member of my local realtor association, and our Colorado Stager Association.

Kate...

I can not agree with you more. I have blogged on this same subject... when there were LESS designations out there.  Our industry IS being polluted! All for a quick buck. 

While there are some FINE companies out there... that are training and educating to get people STARTED in the business, there is much be done, There needs to be more available to ongoingly grow and educate home stagers about running a staging business. NOT just fluffing a nick nack!

Oh don't get me going!

Me

Kate-

What a timely post this is for me.  I have been in the business for over 18 months, but in the beginning naively believed what I was told about staging designations by my instructor.  I have since found that there IS more than one and that mine is nothing special. I'm currently struggling with changes made within that company and wondering whether I will carry on with the fees....(in the interest of keeping my behind out of the fire, I will send you a personal email about this later. I paid for this designation and don't want to be undeservedly stripped of it 8 months before I decide to keep it.)

I met with a flooring and window guy this week as I am working to build a referral network that will meet all of my clients needs and found myself explaining to him that though I have a designation, there is no governing body that bestows an independent test and the letters just mean I did take a class.  People are not taking those letters at face value and are delving deeper into questioning it's validity.

I agree with everyone that a standard needs to be set so that the clients are comfortable in hiring us.

Kate,  I knew what you meant. I was not saying I didn't think people shouldn't get paid for training either - I just meant if someone was offering accrediations or designations they "might" be less likely to want a national governing body.

This is a very interesting post. Thank you Sandra for bringing it up in the New Year. I cannot imaging who is going to develop this standard...that could take months of meetings. Experience is what will seperate the good and the not so good stagers. The talented will rise to the top and possibly go on to be decorators. This all remains to be seen. I think what the home staging industry is offering is a way for a person to make a living doing what they love to do without all the education that goes with it. As long as a stager does not portray themselves as decorators, we have time to ponder and ponder we must. Sandra, how would you like to start a group here on AR exclusively to dialog ideas between us?

Kate - I never use initials next to my name.  I have found that when people don't even know what home staging is they care even less what initials go with it.  I try to let my portfolio speak for itself. 

Hi Sheron,

I think your idea to start a group to talk about standards is a great one and is something that I think we can work on in the New Year. I agree with you about experience speaking for itself. When I was training stagers I always made a caveat on the first day that I was not teaching a design class- people either have design talent or they do not.

I find your comment most interesting, however, because I think that it speaks to a lot of the problem that we are having in educating Realtors and Sellers. Home Staging Professionals are NOT decorators or interior designers nor do they claim to be. I myself have had a design firm for 7 years and have worked as a designer for HGTV and Fine Living. Interior Design is about personalizing a space and dictating the design of the space based on the home owner's personal likes and dislikes.

What I do as a designer is entirely different that what I do as a home stager. As a home staging professional my job is to market the property so that it is desirable to the most potential buyers in the current market . I focus primarily on the best use of the space, how to make the home more competitive with other homes that are comparatively priced and how to neutralize the space so that buyers can envision themselves and their families living there. For example, I may have a design client that wants me to cover every square inch of their family room with taxidermied animals they have shot. As a designer I would find a creative and tasteful way to do this. As a stager however I would insist that they remove the dead animals because they are an overly personal statement and also may limit the pool of buyers that will find their home attractive.

The confusion between the role of the designer and the stager is something that needs to be addressed. Sure there is a lot of cross over in our professions but a "decorator" is not necessarily trained to give advice about staging. After doing both I actually prefer the staging- not only do I make more $$ butI can also manage the clients better since it is not about their personal taste but what they need to do to make more $$ for their home.

Thanks for commenting about this since I think it speaks to a lot of what is happening in our industry now. KH

Kate,

Well said. I don't know if you have visited my blogs yet but I do address many of the issues you mention...take a peak when you have a few minutes.

I am currently working on a concept developing a standard, not for the home stagers, but for the work and what it should represent to the consumer. When I am ready to launch it...I will run it by my trusted AR friends to get the kinks out. It is nice to know you. Home staging is so much more gratifying, isn't it...and quick. Love it!

Stage It Forward! 

Kate,

I'm with you on this...I agree that we need to create a Non-Profit organization that sets standards and supports the Stagers who are serious about providing their clients the highest quality of service (and aren't in it just for the money or because it appears like an easy thing to do). 

An organization that furthers the Stagers' efforts to educate and inform the general public is greatly needed, but in order to do that, I think that we must all be 'on the same page' as far as creating guidelines as to what constitutes 'staging' (or property merchandising/styling).  I'm not saying that we all need to charge the same rates or offer the same levels of service, but there should be some level of 'partnership'.  Also, I believe that professionals need to be held accountable to those they serve as well as the industry that they represent. 

So, what do you have in mind?  I would like to hear more..........

Can you imagine how our customers feel? In many areas home staging is still new and even beginning the search for a home stager can me difficult. Couple that with the fact that anyone, good or bad, can call themselves a homestagers - you begin to see why we have a hard sell.

Right now anyone can call themselves a home stager, and that the fancy letters after names don't necessarily mean a whole lot nor does it offer the customer any form of guarantee.

But like anything the cream will rise, we need to be have patience. We need to work together and build Stage It Forward and help educate homeowners on home staging.

Hey lucie,

As far as I can see...anyone is a home stager. You have got to be good to last and time will tell.

A word of caution. Be careful what you ask for- you might get more than you imagined. My experience with "certification" programs and other bodies set up to insure standards is that they tend take on a life of their own and sometimes have exactly the opposite effect than the one they set out to have. They have a habit of turning into bureaucracies whose main function degenerates into justifying their own existence. I feel my own blog coming on about this one.

James, I agree with you. I am not a person who joins groups including    ASID   so I won't be joining a home staging group either. But the community as a whole needs some kind of direction. You cannot learn a business in one week and be turned out into the world. Put your thinking cap on and throw out some ideas. As I stated earlier, I am working on something that I began a few months ago and now I am compelled to get it launced. Will comment on that later.

Kate,

Dear Kate

First of all, love your photo ;)

Second of all, completely agree. There are too many programs out there. The truth is if you are good, you are good. That's why I keep educating sellers & realtors to make sure to hire a stager who is in it for the long haul, not just jumping on the band wagon or simply has the education but no good.  This has been a long debate for us stagers here on AR, which I am happy has become a forum for all of us to contribute freely.

Perhaps we should all get together and start that non profit ourselves?

cheers,

cindy

i love staging and all things staging!

i stage to sell, live & work in san francisco bay area

www.staged4more.com

http://stagingtipsandmore.com 

Veronica- Thanks for your comments. Clients always say to me "oh you do what they do on those flip that house shows" I smile and say "something like, that but for a whole lot less and without the lowes endorsements!" The key to this dilemna is educating Realtors and Sellers and the quality of your work. I am going on a bid today and the client already told me that they interviewed another stager and that she told them that she trained under me and I am the expensive stager! What a way to win business! I now have to bowl the client over with my professionalism, creativity, passion and knowledge and win the bid! I am not opposed to healthy competition but winning jobs by making negative comments about another stager is not the way to go- how about the quality of your work?? This subject is going to be very popular in 2007 and welcome to active rain! kh

Cindy- Thanks for your comments. I have read a lot of your posts and they are great. I thought that pic was far cuter than the one I had before! I need a new headshot so I thought that would work for now. Maybe we can use this forum as a way to discuss standards in the industry? kh

Sheron- I can't wait to see what you have in mind. I will take a look at your blog later today. Thanks! KH

James- I understand your caution and thanks for the advice. I do not want us to get bogged down in standards that mean nothing and become immersed in red tape. I do not think that this is the year to form something official- I just think we need to start working together towards creating standards for the consumers and hopefully this site will educate them. KH

Kate---great topic....definitely generated some interesting dialogue.  I don't have anything to add about a governing body to set and enforce standards in the industry....as I agree with most of what has already been said. 

In addition to setting standards for stagers, I think there needs to be a website or some authoritative organization that evaluates and maybe even rates the existing staging training programs.  A place where someone considering entering the staging field could go to get information that would be useful in helping them decide which program is best for them.  I have seen staging programs advertised on the internet where the trainer never even claimed to have actually staged homes for sale.  There were no before and after photos of homes she had personally staged.  I actually took the time to do a google search of all the names on that website that had left glowing testimonials and not one showed up as having a designated staging website....couldn't even find any that had been interviewed about staging.  It is like they just took the course for fun!  These are things that should be pointed out as well as advice on what to look for in a quality staging training program.

As someone who is currently trying to decide which if any training to take, and trying to explain to our local agents/sellers that the letters actually mean nothing... I think I'm going to ad "AR" to the end of my name!! lol

I also agree that we should combine our efforts and creat one governing body.  I have learned so much from everyone here on AR - people from different back grounds and different training. 

Alyse - I like your thinking - we should all put AR after our names