Staging - The Seller's Perspective

I think you hit the nail on the head!  There are indefinitely two sides to every story.

Great post.  I'm not a stager, but I do make suggestions to my sellers.  I hear some of these same arguments.  I think your logical reasoning was great!  :)

Cari,

Excellent post, which I'm bookmarking.  You've stated the same objections I've often heard from sellers.... and also listed some gentle reminders of what we can tell them. Another one is "in today's competitive market, we need to do everything possible so that you gain the most profit/equity when selling this property.  If you follow these suggestions, your home will be seen as move-in ready and appealing to your target buyer."

Hi Cari, we are not stagers and this is what we share with our clients, it is amazing how some of them just can't see what we are saying. Great post.

When working with older folks who are content with their home and all of their belongings, I make sure to point out that even though the home may be on the market for a few months, together we can create a strategy that will help them continue to comfortably live in the home while also showing it at it's best.  I use a strategy experts suggest to use with small children - the "either/or" strategy.  "Can you live without the Precious moments collection or the family photo wall?" You may not have a perfect home to show when all is said and done, but it will definitely be improved and usually when people are hesitant but go along with some decluttering and prepacking they find it is not as emotionally devastating as they had thought and will go on to do more.

Great information.... now if only we could get them all to listen to us instead of what they are thinking!  I mean, it is why they (or their agent) are paying us!

I guess you are on some kind of roll, here!  post featured in the group "Real World Home Staging for Newbies"

Cari: My personal favorite is "We don't want to put any more money into this house. We are moving. Buyers can take it the way it is or go buy someplace else". My thought at the time was "I guess they aren't really that  interested in selling right now". The house was on the market unsold for over a year with multiple price reductions. It wound up selling for about 25% less than the original asking price.

That's tough when sellers don't seem to want to follow any advice which they have sought out.

I went into a home recently in an upscale neighborhood of Newport and the interior looked like one DIY project after another - marble tile kitchen countertops, faux painting, etc.  Yuck!

I love your post.  Isn't that the truth.  It's so funny that they call to ask us for help, then when we try to help, they think we are crazy.  I understand that some home owners are more emotionally connected than others, but if you are trying to sell your house in this market, it seems any suggestions from a professional would be worth a try. 

Great post Cari! 

One elderly couple told me, "we'll let our kids take care of this stuff when we go if we don't sell" and I personally related my own story of "taking care of this stuff" when my own father passed away.

I love my dad dearly and miss him tremendously but my dad would always say that "it won't be my problem when I'm gone - it won't matter". I won't go into all the details but it was a traumatic experience flying home, sorting through things and deciding what to keep, donate, give away or throw out. I was the only one who wanted to do this in my family. Had he done that and made those decisions himself, it would have been much easier on everyone. It's selfish honestly to say "I'll let someone else take care of it" it's truly a gift to yourself and others to get rid of things that no one wants or treasures. Memories go with us in our hearts, minds and spirits, it's never about the material stuff of our lives. Take photos of things, make a collage, scrapbook or pillow out of old clothing - there are many ways to keep alive those memories in tangible and intangible ways.

I have a heart for older people. They deserve respect and care when talking to them especially if we're talking about selling and staging a property they've spent most of their adult lives in. But it is freeing for them too to know that the stuff of their lives isn't what matters most. It just takes practice and sometimes a real life story to help them see past that.

Excellent post, Cari! The most resistance to staging improvements that I encounter is from my parent's generation.  Those Depression years really made a huge impact on them not wanting to get rid of anything! If family members live close by,  they often will help the folks sell and have the motivation to pitch in with having a family garage sale. Especially if they get a cut of the garage sale profits!

Kathy

When I bid a job,  my little introduction on what staging is and why it works so effectively harks back to one single phrase..." Staging is the Art of Eliminating Distractions and Enhancing the Architectural Features of the House."

 When something is messy, ratty, busy, loud, or placed poorly, I just say "It is a distraction that we know can be eliminated." I never use the following words: de-clutter, pack, paint, fix, repair, replace, buy, change, remove, relocate, clean,  prune, plant, re-seed, etc.

Almost anything I have to say that sounds like work can be phrased to include my magic phrase!

"We will need to reduce the distraction-level the hedges present to the bay window "

"The color in this room is a distraction to the fine molding, and we will be able to eliminate that."

"The children's toys are distracting in the living room, and we can quickly eliminate that."

LOL.It works, believe it or not. Eliminate is a great word to use, because it doesn't have a negative connotation. It just means "get rid of", but it sounds so much more authortative and necessary!

But just in case the "elimination process" is too taxing ("pack" is a four letter word!), my sister Sue is a professional organizer and people person, and she handles resistant people much better than I do.

Ok, I have to  go eliminate some dirty dishes now...

~michelle

Cari, Those are all important points and the sellers can think very differently or even take offense.  I can only give my clients the reasons I'd like them to make changes and what I think it will do to help them.  And hope that they chose to make them....

Thanks for yout tasking the time to provide us with this information in the Active Rain network.  AR is the new "cyber backbone" of the industry, and with it's uplink to Localism.com it will transfrom the marketplace. Agents who don't see which way the cyberwind is blowing are going to find themselves at a considerable disadvantage inside of three to five years.