Okay, I know you are all waiting with baited breath on the next installment of the Step By Step Series, but I could not hold this in any longer...
A large amount of discussion goes on here about effective marketing. Print vs. Internet, open house or no open house, yada yada yada. I am here to tell you that not one of things are as effective if you have not AT THE VERY LEAST, provided your clients with a staging consultation. Staging is a MARKETING TOOL and the most effective use of our marketing dollars. It is not a gimmick, it is not just for high-end listings and it is not just another way to "skin the cat".
Look at this from this angle - no amount of newspaper ads will make your listings look better. No Virtual tour can change the fact that the brown, mushroom accented tile in the kitchen lowers the asking price. No open house will improve your listing photos. No "artfully written" description will cause your potential buyer to 'overlook' the 100 creepy dolls in the lving room. Have you ever done your absolute best to advertise a house, but know that no matter what you do, this house is going to take a miracle to sell? Get where I'm going with this?
Staging is your miracle. Staging eliminates those distractions that can cause a buyer to spend more time looking at the fridge photos than the kitchen. It can also totally change the atmosphere of an uninviting house. Would you rather invest your dollars into educating your clients on what they can do to increase the salability of their house, or would you rather spend it on advertising that in the end will not ensure a sale?
Staging your listing = a house that is appealing to a much broader audience = a house that photographs well = a house that shows better in online AND print advertising = a house that invites many more showings = a house that is more likely to sell.
Will a staging consultation solve ALL of your problems? Probably not. But it will arm you and your client with all of the information you need to eliminate all those things may prevent offers from coming in. And is that what you really want?
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Kimberly, this is the best description of what Staging can do that I have seen. Excellent job.
I often wonder why sellers bother with pictures, let alone a virtual tour of horrible interiors with creepy collections. I have even seen pictures with taxidermy as the decor-SCARY. This shows how difficult it is for sellers to view their houses objectively.
Your make an excellent point- staging may not be able to solve all of a houses problems but staging always helps many of them and can make a big impact on how buyers view and value a house.