This morning my Facebook feed was all a flutter with a blog on RIS Media's House Call titled, Set the Selling Scene with Pop-Up Staging. After reading and reviewing the article, I went to my Home Staging Facebook page to write my introduction to share it, with my take on the information. After a moment I realized I was about to write a blog, so I should take my opinion and actually write a blog, not just a long introduction.
As I read the article mentioned, my gander started going up, particularly when looking at the photos that they presented. While the pop-up furniture does demonstrate size and scale, it misses the mark on several key features of home staging.
Home staging is about more than neutrality and furniture.
When I look back at the most successful of our home staging projects - success defined as fast sales that significantly beat the market statistics - I believe that the results came from a clear understanding of:
- Neighborhood demographics
- Architecture and functionality of spaces
- How to control the buyers eye to focus on key selling features of property
- Use of color & texture to embed a memorable experience for potential buyers
Looking at the above photo, I don't see any of these represented. There is no clear understanding of who is most likely to purchase the property and how they will likely live in the home. Bland, boxy lines define the furniture. There is no warmth and the placement is well within "the box". There is nothing interesting or memorable about this space and frankly I cannot define a single key selling feature (other than the hardwood floors).
Home Stagers haven't done a good enough job defining our benefits.
In order for anyone to believe that adding cardboard and plastic furniture is a solid and viable substitute for a professional home stager, our industry must not have created a solid conveyance of what we actually bring to the table for both home sellers and Realtors.
A few weeks ago, on a flight to the Real Estate Staging Association's first Canadian Convention, I sat next to a gentleman who had recently sold his home in Toronto. He and I discussed, at length, the value that my company provides and how staging is perceived by the average homeowner. He also told me that he asked his Realtor to bring in a stager and that the Realtor, instead, recommended a lower selling price and brought in some of his own "props". These props were items that he had "hanging around" and weren't part of the demographic positioning that I discussed in the commentary of what my company does.
Articles like this one, along with conversations like the one on the plane, tell me that our industry still has a long way to go to prove our effectiveness. Meanwhile, tonight I received an email from one of my customers, who renovates homes to sell. He gave me background of a home that we recently staged, and he listed. In the end, the offers he received were more than 10% above any other property in the area... and more importantly, the home appraised.
A successful home staging project isn't the one that gets more than list price.
I'm about to wrap up this article, but I wanted to clarify something. The photograph mentions that the home in the photo sold for more than list price. The home I mentioned in the previous paragraph did as well. The big diffentiation is that I believe that for success to be achieved, it's less important what the home sold for vs list price, and more important to know how it compared to the market.
Many agents sell homes above list price because they price them below the market banking on the idea that it will create a feeding frenzy and bidding war. While this is a successful practice in a strong market, it doesn't necessarily tell you that the home sold above market value. Often these numbers are still within market value. When you are trying to decide which staging job is most effective, be sure to check the numbers and compare them to market data.
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