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Realtors: Do You Have "But I Can Do This Myself" Syndrome?

By
Home Stager with Designed to Appeal, LLC

This past week I made a couple of presentations regarding Home Staging to real estate agents at their weekly meetings.  In chatting with one of them after my presentation, he said that he usually does his own staging.  This can involve anything as simple as telling the client to declutter to as time-consuming as going shopping for new bedding.   

When I asked him why he does this instead of hiring a home stager, he said "well, this way I don't have to convince my client to spend money.  Also, I can do what stagers do".

So ask yourself, does this sound like you?

And if the answer is YES, ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you want to tell your clients their home is untidy and has too much stuff in it?
  • Do you want to tell your clients to get rid of family photos and their prized collections?
  • Do you want to tell your clients that their home smells like a cat or a dog?
  • Do you know how to get a vacant home fully furnished and accessorized?
  • Do you have the time to shop for bedding, towels, knickknacks, etc? 
  • Do you want to spend hours deciding the optimal placement of furniture and accessories?
  • Do you really have the eye of an interior decorator or a home stager?
  • Are you comfortable recommending paint colors?
  • What do you do when the husband and wife don't agree with your "staging" recommendations? Whose side do you take?
  • Is this how you want to be spending your time?
  • Do you think your client would appreciate you taking time away from marketing their home rather than leaving this up to a professional?

So the next time you think "But I can do this myself", think about the fact that it's the same as a seller thinking they don't need a real estate agent to market and sell their home.  You know that you can do a much better job than they can because of your experience, knowledge and contacts, to name a few qualifications.

Hiring a home staging professional is the way to go if you want the job done right.

Comments (33)

Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Ok you aren't going to like this comment but - I am a REALTOR/Staging Specialist and do stage my listings.  I have been through and completed 2 training programs and staged for 14 years before becoming an agent.  I am an AR Rainmaker not because I bought the title but because I earned it. I have mentored  many stager newbies here on AR alone and teach through Kaplan.  I have a complete inventory for my vacants, take fabulous photos, do virtual tours and get them all over the internet - mega marketing.

Agents  in my area were(are) putting out terrible photos, too chicken or oblivious to talk about preparing a home for the market and just plunking a sign in the yard and putting it on the MLS.  I could do better and so I am!  Yes it takes time and I can not list 100 homes in a year.. Listings don't count - only SOLDS!

Oct 09, 2009 05:33 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

Good post and I did not feel it was combative, I thought it was good selling in a Web 2.0 way.  Getting sellers to pay the money is always the challenge.

Oct 09, 2009 05:38 AM
Tammy Fullriede
Bale Realty - Wilmington, IL

I would love it if we had professional stagers in our area.  If we did then I would definitely use them!  We have no place here to rent furniture on a cost effective basis so most vacant homes stay that way.   I do not have a staging degree but I have always loved design and I do try to promote staging. Here are some photos of a home I have staged myself.... http://www.tammysellshouses.net/Why_Stage/page_2055871.html

Oct 09, 2009 05:45 AM
Diane Beck
Vibrant Interiors - Pittsburgh, PA
Greater Pittsburgh's Award Winning Home Stager

WOW!  You really are getting some good conversation going here. Maybe it's naiive of me to believe that realtors and stagers can work together to get a house sold with each doing what they do best. Most agents in my area aren't stagers and would like to avoid telling sellers the awful things about their homes.  That's where the stager comes in.  We can tactfully converse with the homeowner telling them exactly what will get their house sold from a buyers perspective.  Everyone wins in this scenario- the sellers sell at a better price (according to statistics & my experience), the agent earns a bigger commission, the stager earns her/his income, and the buyer purchases a home they love.

 

Diane Beck, VIBRANT Interiors

Oct 09, 2009 06:42 AM
Jason Burkholder
Weichert, Realtors - Welcome Home - Lancaster, PA
Associate Broker, Realtor, e-Pro, CMS

Interesting thread here.  I thought the post was great, as Realtors we can't be everything to everyone but the title says it all, look at HGTV as your enemy, provoking an ingrained DIY culture where everthing is cheap and easy and magically works.  Many agents feel they can do it themselves, many read staging notes and blogs and try it as a value added service and in reality they can't do it well. Comments made by post #4 (whoever is hiding there throwing cheap verbal firebombs, you obviously have deep seated anger issues no one here can address in one post) about agents being under trained are not really helpful in having agents see you as someone on their side.  Our industry is under fire and people like commenter #4 put agents on the defensive, constantly having to justify their very existence, so much that when someone like you comes and says they need help, they immediately reply "No, I can do it myself".  If you want to win us over, try working for it a little.

I think your real issue here is the fact the generalizations are where you get in trouble.  Not every agent will see the value in what you do, but many will.  Not every house is right for staging, but many are.  Not every seller is willing to pay for your services, but many are.  Not every person who calls themselves a stager is worth what they charge, but many are.  Stagers need to work on a case by case basis, just like everyone else. 

I have a great stager who is very talented, yet she is constantly frustrated by the fact that not every agent wants to use or recommend her.  Yet she does not want to sell her services.  She won't say it, but she obviously feels selling is "beneath her".  So, her business suffers.  You are running a business.  You need to sell your services.  Instead of lamenting why groups don't embrace you, go out there and win new clients one by one, person by person.  It's what good agents spend their time doing every day.  That's why many won't recommend you, because they can barely convince people to use them and pay a decent fee, let alone pay for a stager.  Many agents are struggling to sell themselves, arguing with people like commenter #4 and have no time or inclination to sell you.  You can argue that if they sold you they would sell more, and you would be right, but it won't happen.

Want to do business with more agents?  Then go do it WITH them.  A stager who is a partner, who shows up and sells themselves, instead of relying on agents to do it for them, will succeed.  Go along on listing appointments. Sell yourself.   Don't wait for the business to come to you, go get it!  become a partner, an invaluable part of their business by pulling your own weight, help them sell your joint services and you'll see a difference in people's reactions.

Oct 09, 2009 07:15 AM
Bill Gillhespy
16 Sunview Blvd - Fort Myers Beach, FL
Fort Myers Beach Realtor, Fort Myers Beach Agent - Homes & Condos

Hi Donna,  I think there will always be those who have the " DIY " mind set.  I've seen staged homes and the difference is dramatic.

Oct 09, 2009 07:36 AM
Steve Andrascik
Lake Mead Area Realty - Boulder City, NV

Donna, thanks for your information and good luck with your business!

Oct 09, 2009 09:50 AM
Anonymous
suggesting

sure,

Realtors can
suggest to have a stager
suggest to have the house painted
suggest to have new carpet, Laminate wood flooring
suggest to have professional landscapper
suggest to run commercials on TV
suggest to update kitchen and bath
suggest to drop the dang price
suggest to do all sorts of wonderful things that can speed up the selling of a house

bottom line,  its up to the seller

and the seller doesnt want to pay the commisson less all the wonderful things suggested!

Oct 09, 2009 11:13 AM
#22
Anonymous
suggesting

I would love to use a professional stager.....

Stager gets paid when I get paid,  ....if and when the house sells!

Just like the Realtor.

Waiting!  Waiting!  what, no offers?

Oct 09, 2009 11:23 AM
#23
Steven Pahl
Keller Williams Tampa Properties - Tampa, FL
Real Estate Consultant Tampa, FL 813-319-6423

Yes, there are definite benefits to staging, but I have seen staged homes languish on the market and unstaged homes sell quickly and vice versa.  Price is the ultimate indicator of how quickly a home in a particular market sells, it is very hard to tell what actually sells a home to a particular buyer.  I would like to ask, other than expecting the Realtor to sell your services to the home owner and then pass the referral on to you, how do you market yourself to the home seller.  Do you do the cold calling, door knocking, mailings, internet marketing...etc that I do to acquire new clients.  I agree to some extent with the response above, I get paid when the house sells or I have wasted my time and money and that is part of the business model I work with, would you and other home stagers agree to the same practice.

Oct 09, 2009 01:18 PM
Anonymous
Tom

Steven:  Most businesses have to expend money to advertise before they receive actual business.

Most businesses have to invest in equipment, lease space, etc. before they receive actual business.

In fact, EVERY business operates this way.  It's called "the cost of doing business".  

Realtors are in business, however most don't act like it! You have to put out money in order to make money.  Just because you put out money does NOT guarantee you're going to make money either.  Hopefully you will!  Hopefully the full page ad I take out for $2,000 nets me more than $2000 worth of business.  Hopefully!  No guarantees however, just like in real estate!

This notion that the real estate business is somehow "different" than every other business out there is ludicrous and I get so tired of hearing realtors constantly "whining" about their "expenses".  Other businesses don't whine about their expenses... those are just part of BEING in business.

Well all put out money in the hopes that it comes back to us in the form of profit.  That's BUSINESS.

 

Oct 09, 2009 01:52 PM
#25
Steven Pahl
Keller Williams Tampa Properties - Tampa, FL
Real Estate Consultant Tampa, FL 813-319-6423

Tom, I think you missed my point entirely!  I agree fully with you that "Realtors are in business" and that we have to spend money to make money.  I am not in any way whining about my expenses vs income.  My whole point is that of the home stagers I know in the local market that I work all of them market directly to Realtors and expect us to "sell" their services to the home seller.  None that I am aware of market directly to the seller themselves, possibly they don't want to incur that expense.  Just a guess, don't know for sure.

Oct 10, 2009 12:48 AM
Debra Ghysels
Debra's Designs Home Staging and Redesign - Dayton, OH

Debra's Designs~Home Staging and Redesign Steve, I really appreciate the work that a Realtor does to get their clients! I think real estate agents are in a tough business and would never want to do what you do! As a stager for the last 6 years I continue to market to both the home seller and the Realtor by putting on 4-6 seminars a year at the local community college or in design centers for both target groups. I am state certified and teach the Realtor CE courses for home staging, participate in local expos and fairs, attend several networking groups, sponsor door prizes at many brokerage parties and events, and send post cards to all new listings (to name a few of my marketing strategies). However, as much as I market to the home seller directly, it is still under the direct persuasion of the Realtor that a home seller will employ our services. I do over 100 homes a year and only 21% of them are not from the referral of the Realtor. I will continue to market to both the Realtor and the home seller, but I know that if the Realtor does not endorse my services, I will not be able to assist the majority of home sellers. That is why I must  learn to better work with my Realtors. While I can talk to the home owner over the fence, in a very real sense, Realtors are the gatekeepers for the home stager.

Oct 10, 2009 01:45 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Why yes I can do your job. Should I? No, just like I feel I shouldn't be a loan officer either. Our job is segmented and we should stick with what we do best.  Some of your comments seem to gravitate toward: Are you afraid to tell the seller their house stinks? Clutter everywhere? If you are an agent and you can't 'get yourself' to do your job, there are videos that will say what needs to be said.

Oct 10, 2009 03:17 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Congratulations, Donna, on a job well done.  You have inspired quite the conversation.  I have seen similar posts written in an attempt to discuss this with no comments at all.  I agree with Debra that even with marketing directed toward sellers, the majority of our business comes from an attachment to a realtor.  I've always looked at my role as a supportive one...I'm there to make the seller's life and the realtor's life less stressed and the whole process a little less overwhelming.  Don't we all want the same end result?

Oct 10, 2009 08:31 AM
Donna Dazzo
Designed to Appeal, LLC - Manhattan, NY
Home Stager in the Hamptons & New York

Again, I am very glad to see this spirited discussion.

A few responses:

Jason B.  - you've made a lot of good points.  However, as I said under my prior comments, we stagers would love to come along on a listing presentation.  I ALWAYS tell agents when I do a presentation to make me part of their marketing team. But I've yet to be invited by any one of them. You are right, we can't expect realtors to sell us (for the reasons you mention but also because we are probably our own best salespeople), we have to sell ourselves to the homeowner, but we need to be invited first.

Suggesting - I always refuse when someone, whether a homeowner or realtor, suggest I get paid part or all of my fee when the house sells.  There are various reasons for that, but most importantly, staging is ONLY one of the three most important things that need to be done right to get the home sold (see my blog on the Three-Legged-Stool). The other two we have no control over. The first is it must be priced right.  No matter how beautiful it's staged, if it isn't priced to sell, it won't sell.  I've staged many homes that were overpriced and took months to sell because the seller refused to budge on price.  The second leg is that the listing must be marketed properly by the agent (or homeowner, in the case of FSBO).

Steven - Too bad for the stagers in your area to depend only on real estate agents for their business. I think it's foolish for a stager to depend wholly on having the real estate agent sell their services.  Stagers have to market to the general public.  I don't know what other stagers do, but I pay for google ads, do things to increase my presence on google organic searches, make presentations at libraries, go to numerous networking events and belong to networking groups, etc.

Sharon and Debra - this may be anecodotal evidence, but I've actually had home sellers tell me it was THEIR idea to get their home staged, NOT the real estate agent.  Sometimes the homeowners believe in staging because of its exposure on television, and the real estate agent is too jaded or too scared (I don't know) to recommend staging.

Oct 10, 2009 10:13 AM
Mark Velasco
West Shores Realty - Whittier, CA
Top Producing Broker Associate

Great blog Donna. It is always easier to pay a professional to do their job.

Oct 11, 2009 05:58 PM
Anonymous
Jeff Mitchel Press

Donna, we saw first hand just what an amazing difference a qualified home stager makes when I called you in to stage the six story brownstone on W69th last Summer. If I had my choice, a stager with your skills would be on every shoot! You can see the difference in the images: http://www.jmitchelphoto.com/html/gallery.php?gallery=5&psi=37

Not only will a professionally staged and photographed property sell fast and often for substancially greater pricing, it is a strong differentiating factor for the listing broker, who is trying to get the listing. It adds a lot of prestige to the agent and firm's professional image. I have been able to overcome some of the pricing concerns by working a flat monthly rate for my larger clients based upon a range of properties to be shot.

Best,

Jeff

J. Mitchel Architectural Photography

www.JMitchelPhoto.com

516 236 9277

 

Oct 12, 2009 06:19 AM
#32
Leslie Hackmeister
Moon Real Estate, Utah - Farmington, UT
  • Do you want to tell your clients their home is untidy and has too much stuff in it?  YES
  • Do you want to tell your clients to get rid of family photos and their prized collections? YES
  • Do you want to tell your clients that their home smells like a cat or a dog? YES
  • Do you know how to get a vacant home fully furnished and accessorized? NO
  • Do you have the time to shop for bedding, towels, knickknacks, etc? NO
  • Do you want to spend hours deciding the optimal placement of furniture and accessories? NO
  • Do you really have the eye of an interior decorator or a home stager? NO
  • Are you comfortable recommending paint colors? NO
  • What do you do when the husband and wife don't agree with your "staging" recommendations? Whose side do you take? NEITHER
  • Is this how you want to be spending your time? NO
  • Do you think your client would appreciate you taking time away from marketing their home rather than leaving this up to a professional? DEPENDS
  • I have "before you sell" information that I give to sellers and that information includes things like decluttering, cleaning and depersonalizing.  When I talk to the clients about staging I get; don't want to spend the money, I'm picky about what is put in the home, what if I don't like it, I don't want holes in the walls. 

    I'm apparently just not capable of getting the message accross with regard to the benefits of staging by a professional.  Some listing literature with lots of before and after photos by a local company would be helpful.  Most sellers ask about getting their home ready for sale at the listing appointment and want answers to their specific design questions right now.  A professional designer that could be available to go with the agents might be a good idea but only if they are not pushy.  I wouldn't want the designer to kill a potential listing.

    I've been in tough with a local stager about getting some brochures with pictures that I can present at a listing appointment.  They never did send any and stagers are not routinely brought up at meetings.

    Oct 25, 2009 11:40 AM
    Teri Short
    Emerald Isle, NC

    Donna,

    Thanks so much for your blog! I think there are a lot of Realtors out there who think they can do Staging themselves, but it's always better to hire someone to stage.

    What Tom said about advertising reminded me of an ad that I submitted to my local newspaper to advertise my Staging biz. I sent her the pictures I wanted included, and the text I wanted her to use. But, the bad thing was that I tried designing the ad myself--big mistake! She took what I sent and had her professional ad people design it, and she sent it back to me for me to proof it. Wow!! The ad that they designed for me was SO much better than what I had. They were true professionals, and I think instead of trying to do a job that is out of our league, we should leave it up to the professionals. Same is true for homeowners and Realtors. They should leave the Staging to the people who are trained in Staging and the results will have that Sold sign up so much faster!

    Great post!

    Dec 09, 2009 11:15 AM