Tell me, am I crazy? Is it that hard to get it?

I was reading some online comments on another website (pardon my admitting I do browse) and they were speaking so negatively (actually bashing) about staging.  How it was just a scam and a way to get more money out of sellers.  WHOA, I thought.  I know there are people who don’t believe it or other who don’t understand it, but I don’t usually hear those people bashing staging.

The people seemed knowledgeable and most seemed to be Realtors.  At first, I thought they had a bad experience with staging, but the more I read, the more it came out that they thought everyone should be able to see past the dirt, clutter, pink flowered wallpaper, etc.  It then hit me, they don’t hate staging, they don’t understand the concept of how everyone is affected by marketing everyday and more specifically the concept of staging.

Marketing and sometimes staging is around us all the time in grocery stores (the cans and boxes all neat in a row, strategically placed) clothing stores (mannequins sporting outfits looking like they stepped out of magazine) furniture stores, on TV and radio, just about everywhere.  If it wasn’t, how would we be ready to buy a perfume or scents from a television add where we can’t smell the scent?  It’s visual marketing.  They set the scene, show you how your life will be if you use this scent and by Gosh, you’re ready to buy it, even if you haven’t smelled it.  There is marketing all around us.

Example:  Offer someone the choice of a crisp new dollar bill and a crumpled, torn one and see which one they choose.  They will always take the clean one.  They are worth the exact same amount.  Same with houses.  Most houses in a neighborhood don’t price that far apart.  There are of course exceptions, but for the most part it’s the upgrades, the way the house has been cared for, the way the house looks that determine which house commands a higher price.

The minute a buyer emotionally connects with a house they start to re-prioritize their “Must Have” list to make the house fit it.  Staging helps clean away the obstacles and sets the scene to show them how their life in this will be whether it be making that office in the dining room disappear and become a beautiful dining room again so that the buyers can imagine having their whole family over for the holidays to picking out paint colors that make buyer’s feel welcome, not turned off (just because your daughter loves fuchsia, doesn’t mean the next person will appreciate it).

I guess I just don’t understand how someone wouldn’t understand the concept of improve the product, improve the salability and price.  You can either lower the price or improve the product.  In this competitive market where there is an absurd number of houses for sale, why wouldn’t you want you yours to stand out right away, look better than the rest giving it an advantage. 

Sharon Conner, Founder of Southern Home Staging.  Let Southern Home Staging provide all your staging needs for your occupied home or vacant home for sale.  Southern Home Staging serves the Metro Atlanta areas Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett and Henry counties in Georgia including Atlanta, Brooks, College Park, Decatur, Douglasville, Dunwoody, Fairburn, Fayetteville, Griffin, Hampton, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Marietta, McDonough, Morrow, Newnan, Palmetto, Peachtree City, Senoia, Sharpsburg, Smyrna, Stockbridge, Tyrone and Woolsey.