Home staging is a service-oriented business, but it goes way beyond that. There is a mutual bond of trust and respect that must exist.
Comfort Zone
A home stager is being given the trust of a homeowner to enter their home and turn it into a more appealing, sell-able property. It goes beyond just giving them the lock box combination to gain entry. A homeowner must feel comfortable with their choice of stager. After all, a home is the largest investment that most people will ever make. To turn your home over to just anyone for a home staging job can result in disaster.
Sensitivity and Respect
A home stager must be sensitive to the fact that they are dealing with not only bricks and mortar. A home is a great big box of memories (for lack of a better description). Whether those memories be good or bad, a home stager must respect that and act accordingly. People move for various reasons. Sometimes they are moving because of a job transfer, promotion, wedding or to be closer to other relatives. Other moves are not for such happy occasions such as a family death, divorce or an aging parent that can't live alone anymore. These situations require sensitivity and respect.
Trust
A homeowner must also trust their home stager to do what is best to bring out the full potential of their home. Once you are selling your property, you have to let go of your attachment to it. If you don't like the colour your stager selects for your living room, it doesn't matter. You won't be living there anymore. He or she has chosen that colour to appeal to the broadest range of potential buyers. If you don't like the way your furniture has been re-arranged and you find it not functional for your particular lifestyle, try to bear with it - it's temporary. Your furniture was placed in that fashion to give the room flow and to show potential buyers the many options that they will have available to them as to the placement of their furniture.
If you are unsure as to whom to hire, ask your real estate agent if they have a stager that they work with. If not, check with family and friends. They may know someone who has worked with a home stager with successful results. Another option is to go to the Real Estate Staging Association's website and do a search for reputable stagers in your area. Their web address is: www.realestatestagingassociation.com. The Real Estate Staging Association has undertaken a new program called the Staging Excellence Alliance which some stagers now belong to. It is similar to a Better Business Bureau type of program. You can review a home stager's profile and find out a little bit more about how long they have been in business. You can also find out if any complaints have been made against that home stager from past clients.
As you can see, there are many facets to the home stager/homeowner relationship. It goes beyond just painting, re-arranging and de-cluttering. All of these aspects should be considered by both parties in order for it to be a win-win situation for everyone.
Dezigner Digz is a full-service home staging and interior decorating company located in Burlington, Ontario and servicing Ancaster, Hamilton, Aldershot, Burlington, Niagara Region, Bronte, Oakville, Milton and surrounding areas. To find out more about us, go to our website at www.dezignerdigz.com.
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