I remember the first time I had a home staged. It was 2001, and I was having trouble getting a nice vacant home sold. I thought that if we furnished it, and tastefully decorated it, the space would be more well defined, and easier for buyers to comprehend the floor plan and mentally move their things in. It worked well. The home sold within a few weeks after staging it. It was the first of many sucess stories I had with staging properties. By 2003, all my listings were being staged in some way, and in 2004, I actually had a full time assistant/stager on my payroll along with a large storage room of accessories and small furniture.
What I've always loved about staging was using the furniture and accessories to showcase the best parts of the home, and de-emphasize some of the drawbacks. I wanted buyers to walk in and think "this is the kind of place I want to live". I never wanted them to know that there was anything deliberate or intentional about what they were seeing, or that the home had been "staged" for their benefit, just that it was a nice comfortable space they could enjoy, and thus, they should buy it.
How things have changed. I was out with some buyers the other day in Danville. Virtually every house we looked at was "staged". Evidently, all the stagers read the same book, because instead of any of these properties standing out as special, they all looked like an IKEA showroom. In one case, the seller was home, and complained that the stager made them take their TV down from the wall in the family room so they could make the room more appealing. Since when is a nice TV on the wall in a family room a distraction that needs to be changed? Don't most people WANT a TV in their family room? At another house, the agent actually had a "this home is staged" rider on their sign. Then when you walk in, there's a giant flyer stand with the stager's info and business cards on the table. What is that supposed to accomplish? Are we selling houses or staging services?? When I bring a buyer to a home, I want them to focus on the house, not whether or not it's staged. Staging is becoming so predictable, it's almost a joke to many buyers now. The vacant house with one chair, a shawl thrown over it in the corner and a fake plant next to it in the family room? This is supposed to entice buyers? By the last house, my clients were more engaged with the checking out the similarity of the staging in each home than the houses we went out to look at.
Another common idea that's become some sort of staging law is depersonalization. Now, I couldn't agree more that Grandma's pics in the hallway of all the kid's graduation pictures from the 1970's have to go, but most stagers have taken this depersonalization to a silly level, as if every trace of the family living there has to be erased and sterlized away. Recently, I had clients with a beautiful wall of family picures, interwoven with artwork and motivational phrases in wood letters. They were going to take it down. I told them to leave it (Gasp!). It was beautiful. It made the room a better place. Was it going to prevent a buyer from mentally moving in? Not in my opinion. Exactly the opposite, I thought. This was a house that was going to appeal to a family with young kids, and to see that there was a happy family here now was inspirational, not distracting. The house sold in a week to a family with 3 kids, just like the family that was leaving.
All these endless HGTV staging shows don't help. You can't turn on a TV anymore without seeing a perfectly staged home. Sterile colors, sterile accessories. What was once something that was used to help sell a home has become a distraction in many cases. Stagers and agents need to get back to the main job at hand. Accentuate the positive and de-emphasize the negative. Each home is different, and requires a different approach and expertise. Throwing some furniture in and a few pictures from Pier One Imports just doesn't accomplish that. And please - get that silly tray with the champagne glasses and fake fruit off the bed! Who lives like that? Who wants to live like that? Stagers also need to quit promoting themselves in homes, and agents need to stand up to them on that - no staging flyers and business cards. You're trying to sell a house, not get the stager more business. If an agent thinks their stager is great, they should tell everyone in their office, and every other real estate office in town, but they don't need to have their marketing materials greeting potential home buyers. It's about selling THE HOUSE!
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