House Sitting... Free Staging, or the Dumbest Idea of All Time?

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House Sitting... Free Staging, or the Dumbest Idea of All Time?

House sitting might appear to be free staging... live staging, even! But can it really work?

Sure the seller/builder gets free furniture and a free, LIVE demo of lifestyle for his (her) potential buyers, but does it work? It can't work for all vacants can it?

Surely, if the home's biggest asset or at least, it's biggest justification for the price, is that it's new construction (i.e. unlived in) - you can't have people living in there, even if they are only "sitting" in the place? What happens about the now-used appliances? The now scratched stainless steel sink? Do you have to build a temporary kitchen for the sitters?

Maybe it works for homes that are not new construction. Vacant pre-owned homes, for example, where the family has had to move on, usually thru relo. Those homes wear badly when left vacant. For some reason, they give off an unusual odor and the rate of deterioration seems faster when unoccupied somehow.

Anyone any advice or experience here?

__________________________

I had actually read Thomas Scott blog on this... and did ask him a question or two. Those went unanwered, so I'm assuming he's away or busy. Here's how he says it works -

"The house sitter pays the staging company low monthly fee, usually about 25% of what a mortage would cost. This allows the staging company to charge the homeowner less for the staging. A reputable company screens its sitters carefully, checking criminal history. Smokers and pet owners are out. Actually, the staging company pays for the move. In return the company gets a percentage of the sale once the buyer closes on the home."

I wouldn't do it this way. Because I'd be sending in the "sitter" with the sitter's own furniture. That's how it would be FREE staging... because I don't run my business with my own furniture any more. (My own stuff is all antiques, not by preference, it just is, and didn't stand up to moving often.)

I wouldn't have the sitter pay anything - their "cost" is that they have to live clean and in "show condition" at all times. (This means being prepared to leave whenever the house was to be shown, etc.) I would have the seller pay for the moves in and out. Further, I'd have them pay for the utilities, except cable and gas - the rest they'd have to pay for anyway. Phones would have to be all wireless. No reason for even more holes in the floors and walls, unless the property was pre-wired I suppose. Would the sitters be entitled to a piece of the final sale? No, surely they just get to live for free.

I dunno, does it really work?

I'd like to invite you to connect with me on these other places:

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Juliet Johnson serves Jacksonville, FL realtors, home sellers and small business with social media strategy, online visibility and product creation services, that include training if you want to do it yourself.

"If your social media activity isn't a revenue generator for you, you're doing it wrong."

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Posted by Juliet Johnson - Web Based Marketing Specialist on 08/13/2008 07:47 AM

Comments (33)

house sitting, new constuction, vacants, vacant homes

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33 Comments on House Sitting... Free Staging, or the Dumbest Idea of All Time?

AUG

2008

I agree with you Juliet, and would not recommend live staging to any builder I work with. I do think it can help with a resale though. Your comment on the deterioration increase when vacant is right on point. Great post.

Juliet - Is this along the lines of what Showhomes does? Thomas Scott posts alot about their successes, but I don't know of any franchises in the NY Metro area, do you? Julie

In 2001 I had people do this in a vacant, newly remodeled home that I was flipping. This house was like new. My house sitters were awesome! I would let this couple live in a model home. They were perfect. He even made minor repairs. They never called me with issues and the house showed beautifully with all their furnishings. I tried to get them a few years later for another house but they are not doing it anymore.

Thank you, Edie. This is good news. Did you let them live for free? What did you do about the utilities payments?

Julia, this does appear to be what Thomas does personally, but differently from how I would do it, and how I think we should use it in high-end homes where sellers can not afford to stage because their house is just sitting there, unlooked at, with even a loss-in-progress with a price reduction.

Ray - I hear you, buddy, and thank you for the wording. I couldn't think of the words Resale vs. New Construction when building this post this morning. I like the words live staging, too.

They paid only utilities, which they put in their name. they even put up window treatments. And, they never turned down a showing. I don't know if you could ever duplicate this couple.

Edie

I just posted a couple days ago about this sort of thing gone REALLY BAD...

It's called...."Homestaging Hell"

But it's really the story of what happens when bad people do bad things to good people!

Tonight on FOX Atlanta an I-Team investigation titled "Homestaging Hell, Part 1", set out to tell the story of homestaging gone bad. But the story isn't about bad homestaging, it's about a woman apparently running an escort service out of a home belonging to an unsuspecting homeowner.

It seems that a local woman contracted with a home stager/manager to prep her home for sale and as part of the contract, to maintain the home. The home manager lived in the home (rent-reduced) in return for keeping the exterior clean, mowing the lawn, picking up the papers, and such. But the home became obviously unkept and the homeowner had a heck of a time getting her out.

But it gets better... or worse. The I-Team is now claiming that the home stager/manager is running an escort service out of the home. Unbelievable!

As we watched the story unfold my husband looked at me with that "Oh, no! Mr. Bill!" face. This is the worst kind of advertising/marketing for our profession. It is difficult to get home owners to understand the value that a good home stager provides; capturing the attention of potential buyers, showing a home to it's biggest advantage, making the most of space, light and decor. But one story like this will haunt us for a long time.

I don't think most homeowners will be able to separate the home manager's issues from what the home stager's role was. I'm not even that clear on it!

The story concludes tomorrow night, but not before it leaves a foul taste in the mouths of potential clients! :(

Interestingly enough, I am currently working with a Realtor whose Home Owners requested a PT "live in" to go along with the "staging" - but this was so that their insurance would be far less than leaving the house vacant (They were quoted almost $10,000 for vacant home owners insurance) and they don;t get the "live-in" unless they go with MY Staging.

However, I DID recommend a viable, reliable gentleman to live in the house a few nights a week. He's my 6' 5", 25 year old Nephew, who is a Pastor and is returning from Korea next week to begin his Services in a nearby community. I would NOT recommend anyone else who I didn't ultimately trust my entire business and reputation on.

Juliet - As Laura mentioned above, we're in the midst of horrible publicity tied to home managers (of which throughout the clip they've referred to this service as "house staging.") And while Laura is correct, the investigation is centered on her running an escort service out of the home she was tasked to home manage, they also pointed to shelves not staged; reference by the homeowner to the dirty laundry littered throughout and a shot of newspapers lining the driveway. Do I know any of this to be accurate? No. The team at Fox 5 and the investigators will have to determine the accuracy.

Here are some concerns; some out of ignorance perhaps and others out of plain fear.

1) On the surface it would appear that the risk is high and therefore the liability is high. More specifically, what if something devastating happened (i.e., the house burned down). Who is held liable? You? The home manager? The homeowner? I honestly don't know.

2) One of the things uncovered by the investigation centered on the difficulty the homeowner had with respect to evicting the home manager. Evidently, the contract is with the home managing company and not the individual home manager. Again, this is just reiterating what was aired.

3) Background checks are just that. They check the background of the individual. My biggest concern (outside of the risks/liability) is not knowing what potentially could happen. Again, another risk. The only person I have complete control over is me.

4) My understanding, and this is something you may want to check into if this is something you're truly considering, is with new construction. More specifically, I've been told by a builder that if they were to use a home manager, the house can no longer be considered "new construction." I don't have that confirmed and also don't know if this varies by state, county, etc...

Like with any service, I'm sure there are good home managers and some not so good.

Good question, Juliet.

Kathy

For what it's worth, we were "home managers" in the Showhomes of America program - you can see more about it in my profile...

We paid all utilites, moving expenses, etc. We even paid "rent" to SoA, but it was a very reduced rate, and went towards their office expenses & marketing needs.

It works better for previously occupied homes, and I know that we always left the homes in better condition than when we moved in. We were not allowed to turn down any showing, even if they requested one in 5 minutes - NEVER. I did find this very rude of the agent to give us such short notice. We made it work though. Our goal was to live in several homes with varying floorplans and amenities so that when we were ready to purchase our first home we would know what features were most important to us. Coincidentally, our home is is almost identical to the last showhome we lived in just less square footage. Oh that leaves me with one last point - the homes we lived in were all over $250k. It made the hassle of moving, staging, showing, moving again, staging in 5 days again.... worth it.

Just a little insight from someone who's been on the other end:)

Jessica

Thank you, Jessica, that explains a lot. And I'm sure that as a stager, you were an excellent tenant, the best really, in that you knew how to make every showing count.

Kathy and Laura - wow! Gadzooks! What a horrible situation! However, it does indeed seem so extreme that surely people can't make the connection or the giant leap to think now ALL house managers are bad.

Is that what it's called when people move in? House Managers? That sounds like a NYC super to me, a guy who can fix things.... not sure one can always find such a set of folks.

Connie, well, if I do say, THAT is the quintessential, text book "good guy", no?!! A member of the family AND a pastor!! Did it work out? I'm interested that the insurance is impacted and will have to go research that around here.

Hey, thanks all. Good info.

I've found an article in the LA Times from May 4th of this year -

"The use of home managers seems to get fresh legs whenever the market hits a slowdown. Chuck Miller, associate manager and sales agent with Coldwell Banker in Studio City, recalls house managers providing their own furniture in exchange for about 50% off the going rental rates during the real estate crash of the early ’90s.

Although a few regional companies have entered this field, the big fish in the pond is Showhomes, a national franchise based in Nashville that claims managers can help homes sell faster and for “a premium price.” In return for screening managers for sellers, working with them on furnishing and presenting the home, and paying utilities, Showhomes keeps the managers’ monthly rent payments. The company also receives 0.5% of the price when a home sells; that would be $5,000 on a $1-million home."

Which explains our own Thomas Scott... and Jessica above. Of interest to me is that they are getting a piece at the end... a la Melissa Marro, Tom Scanlon and Michelle Molinari.

Read more of the article.

Yes, it is quite the "perfect" situation - family, Pastor, no girl-friend, no parties, etc, etc, etc. I wouldn't even consider offering anybody else and it just-so-happens that the timing is right. We'll see how it goes.

As for the insurance, here in CA, home owners insurance for vacant properties has sky rocketed due to the large amount of vandalism, vagrants, and believe it or not - theft of copper pipes & wires which they are literally ripping from right out of the walls!

I always wondered how this "house sitting & staging" thing worked.

I was recently contacted by a home seller that told me he was approached by this kind of Home Staging Service and that he thought it was a scam. He wanted to know if I offered this type of service too. I do not. He was afraid of having a potential house sitter/tenant that he would have to evict when the home sold. He has been through the eviction process before and did not want to have to worry about it again. He asked his attorney if the house sitter would be considered a tenant? His attorney told him that if the "house sitter" had a key, had utilities and was paying rent he was a tenant.

Not sure if this is true. I just know that my client wasn't happy with this service.

Isn't there a franchise staging company that does this specifically? I think it's Showhomes as Julia pointed out. I think it's an interesting concept, but it really comes down to the people who stay over.

Cheers,

Cindy

I think I would pass on this too. Too many negative what-ifs to contend with.

I would be very, very nervous about getting exactly the right kind of person to be the live-in. I am glad that Jessica weighed in with her comments; interesting to hear the other side. I suppose since it would be free staging and you would expect the live-in to use their own furnishings (at least that is how I understood your blog) then you would also have to screen their furnishings for appropriateness as well. Good luck!

AUG

2008

Juliet~ this must come from being married to a lawyer but I see liability issues and problems with this idea.

I do not place my inventory in occupied homes and just see all kinds of problems with this sitter/staging.

AUG

2008

I remember house-sitting w/furniture being 'popular' several years ago in Sante Fe but do not know if it remains popular. The eviction problems would be daunting. Maybe daily rent-a-tenant services would be better, or just add closets full of clothes to your staging inventory and dummy milk cartons. XXOO

With the right people who come with references this is a fantastic deal. I, as homeowner and realtor, really benefitted from my couple. I forgot to mention the lower insurance rates for an occupied house.

Yes, I can see all the potential problems, but I agree with Edie - with the right alignment of the stars, I think this can work.

So much so, that I'm actually going to look for a place to do this - personally, and with my family in January of next year for 6 months. It will give us a chance to figure out which town we want to live in next.

Thanks, all for your feedback and thoughts.

I recently went to do a bid on a new construction home in my area. The builder had contracted with a home staging company that provides home managers. The day before the home was to be staged and go on the MLS, the home staging company pulled out, saying that they couldn't find a home manager for the property. They were advertising in local rental listing services to find a home manager. It was all over the local blog for this city, and not in a good way. This information was given to me by the listing agent.

The builder, who was having financial difficulties, chose their services because he wouldn't have to pay them until the close of escrow. He didn't understand that they would be charging someone rent to live in his home, and would be using whatever furniture the home manager happened to own. Maybe he didn't read the contract carefully, I don't know.

The house was selling for between $2 million and $3 million and was over 5,000 sq. ft, Mediterranean style. How many people do you know have nice enough furniture, the right style of furniture and enough furniture, to stage a 5,000+ sq. ft. house? As we all know, good staging that helps sell homes, is not just filling a house with whatever kind of furniture happens to be on hand.

The Atlanta story that was in the news is frightening. There are very few people I know that I would trust to uphold the reputation of my company by being a home manager. I don't care how responsible someone is or appears to be. Mistakes happen, accidents happen, errors in judgement happen. Suppose a home owner decides to sue your company because the house didn't sell and they are saying it is because the home manager didn't wipe the toothpaste off the sink one morning before a showing. People sue, and win, for spilling hot coffee on themselves or because they slipped on soda they just spilled on the floor. Sorry, just too much liability.

I check on my vacants at least once a week just so that they are taken care of. Plus, here in CA, if the REA is having open houses, and we have a key and are actively checking on the house... it is not considered vacant. We have anough to worry about without adding that stress. I say Nay.

AUG

2008

Juliet, I know what they are doing with the vacants here (having parties and trashing the homes, basically) but they are homes that have been left empty for some time and are not taken care of. They have increased patrols. It's got to be more of a risk and liability to have someone live there--except a part time person as mentioned above who can be trusted. What happened to all our neighboorhood "watch" programs? I would certainly report something if I saw it.

AUG

2008

Hi Juliet,
I definitely see some advantages to having sitters in a vacant home. An empty houses goes down hill quickly. What about liability? Who is liable for any damage that might occur?

AUG

2008

MORE FROM A PREVIOUS HOME MANAGER:

I see so many of you are intrigued by this option. Here is some more facts and details for you to chew on:

- You must apply to be a home manager. As part of the application you must take pictures of the home you currently live in - which contains the furniture you will be staging with.

- When you move into the home you put up a $500 deposit plus show proof of renter's insurance for the new property you will be living in & have all utilities put in your name.

- The contract holds the tenant liable for all damages.

- From the first day of possession of the home, a home manager has 5 days maximum to have the home show ready and during those 5 days the home must be staged in an orderly fashion that the Realtor may hold showings during that time. On the fifth day, the home staging "Agency" has a "decorator" of sorts that walks through the property to approve that the way you have staged it adheres to their standards.

- The "decorator" will make a list of any changes necessary along with any items the home manager may need to purchase and will come back in 3 days to ensure all of the changes have been made. In the contract the home manager agrees to purchase any items deemed necessary by the "Decorator" for the staging agency.

-when the home is under contract, the home manager is notified about the upcoming closing and the "Agency" then works with the home manager to move to their next home to stage from their selection of vacant properties. It is a seamless transition and the home manager is out of the house with the home ready for the new owner prior to the closing.

...THAT'S ABOUT IT, for now anyway :)

Sheesh, Jess, that's amazing! Very well organized and an excellent system. I'm prepared to do it once, with my furniture and my family to see what it feels like before I set about recruiting anyone to do it for my company. The two dreamy houses I had my eye on for the experiment have now sold (our market's not bad) ... so...I will have to wait.

Thank you so much for sharing this info. It's fascinating and useful.

SEP

2008

Juliet - do you plan to recruit all on your own and promote it as a service you offer? Have you thought about seeing if there is a showhomes of America office in your area that you could partner up with? You could use them as one of your solutions for staging vacants...just a thought.

Jess

Nah, there's none of them near me. I wasn't thinking of recruiting people until I'd done it myself to see what it was like. Then I'll know, experientially, what the form is like here in NJ.

SEP

2008

Hi Juliet,

I haven't read through the other comments, so I apologize in advance if I repeat....

I've heard of the concept of hiring 'actors' to sit in houses as part of the staging. I have absolutely no idea as to its effectiveness in helping the house to sell.

What you suggest sounds like it is more like 'renting' until the house sells, but the rent is paid to the stager instead of staging fees? Am I interpreting this correctly? If that is the case, it just sounds 'messy' to me....that could be because I recently staged a 'vacant' where the seller had sent just about all of his furniture 'south' to the new home but remained behind until the house sold. So here he was sleeping on my bedding, and using all my accessories. He was a smoker and when I loaded my SUV today to take everything to storage, I almost passed out from the stench!

Maybe you're just getting me on a 'bad day'!

Val

SEP

2008

I used to work for Showhomes and it does work, amazingly well and especially on the higher price points. The key thing is to get the RIGHT people in as home managers. Probably can't say much more since I might still be under NDA. ~Rita

Howdy from Houston!

I've got to keep pedaling (spelinkt?) to keep the generator working so I'll be quick <G>!

Although I'm honored to be included with Melissa and Michelle, Houston Home Staging has a pretty strict "pay as you go" policy.

This past spring we had a flurry of marketing activity here in the Houston area from Showhomes. Several of my Realtor friends called me for information about this process. Clients who considered a 'house manager' were investors who were flipping properties. Most of these clients felt that it was too complicated a procedure, and they didn't like the liability (or the pricing).

I was unable to gather information about this process, so I found this blog to be really useful!

OK, gota go, my ice cute just melted (only one ice cube per day allowed <G>)

Obviously not very well, considering the recent scandals regarding this, huh? Dumb idea in my book, fraught with peril. I am a property manager and once you let someone into a property they have so many rights, it's hard to get rid of them if things go bad. NOT a good idea in my book.

SEP

2008

Juliet- This sounds to me like it could be very problematic! CA protects tenants and if they have a key and are paying rent, they are a tenant! I would not want to be part of this, as I see lots of potential problems for the owner !

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Juliet Johnson - Web Based Marketing Specialist

St Johns, FL

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Once a Manhattan realtor, I have bought and sold 12 homes in 19 years in 4 countries. That, and 7 years of staging homes for sale in New Jersey adds up to a lot of experience.

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