In the Race to Sell, Sometimes a Stager Has to Shift Gears

Yesterday morning, I was scheduled to perform consulting duties for one of my favorite RE agents.  The particular client I was scheduled to meet with is notably motivated to sell their home as their new custom home is near completion (it will be move in ready in approximately 2 weeks).  Because of these circumstances, the agent went against the usual stage-list-show schedule by placing the listing on the MLS without photos before I had been there to steer the seller in the right direction as to how to prepare their house for the market.

Generally, I try to arrive 5-10 minutes after our scheduled consulting time(she is always in attendance and is a tremendous support for my suggestions) so that she can be the first to arrive and run through the procedure of stage-list-show with the client.  By the time I get there, they are prepped for my speeches and fully aware of how the race will be run.  It works out great that way.  But, yesterday was different, because she got stuck in some sand at another listing (a whole other story) and was sidelined in the pits.

Undaunted by her absence, I started prepping the client on how I would conduct the consultation and what they should expect to gain from our time together.  I had completed that task and was well into the initial walk through with the client when the agent arrived.  I had expected that she would just join us on the tour and things would continue as usual, but that was not the case.  The first thing she did when joining us was inform us that she had just scheduled the first showing....in 24 hours.

Now, let me tell you that even though the seller had been well aware of the pending sale of her home, she works full time and has two (beautiful and polite, btw) children to care for.  Her husband is also employed full time and though they had started packing and ridding themselves of excess furniture, they were far behind the rest of the pack when it came to race readiness.  It became quite clear that the race was on and they were not in need of a consultation, but needed an experienced pit crew to get them ready to run.

We immediately shifted gears, rolled up our sleeves and got to work.  Thankfully, many of the rooms just needed a bit of tweaking and as we went through each room making our changes, we also made a mental list of minor repairs and organizational suggestions for them to tackle on their own.  In less than three hours time, we had prepped and reviewed 6,000 square feet of space and jotted down a 2 page checklist for the sellers.  As we finished each room, it was photographed so that the photos could go online ASAP.

Our work time went very quickly as myself, the agent, the seller, and her two children worked together to get everything done.  Many of the things left undone were things only the seller could do and we prioritized them to relieve some of her stress.  Though she may not have been 100% prepared that first showing, we left her infinitely closer than when I had arrived and well prepared to complete the race.

I know without a doubt, that we did the absolute best job we could for our sellers and I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish given the circumstances.  Unfortunately, it meant not wasting time on before pictures, just producing some quality 'afters'.  But, in the end, they are definitely contenders to finish first!