Before you sign-up for training...

The week-long interior redesign course offered by SCHOOL OF INTERIOR REDESIGN was FABULOUS!  Ann Anderson, the intructor (actually, she is an amazing goddess if it all) was careful to understand what each student was looking to get out of the class.  My focus was on staging, and she was sure to outline how each  thing we did for redesign might be tweaked for staging.  She also offers a two-day staging course, but I felt I got much more from the five days spent with her.  This led to certification with IRIS, and I just passed their new certification test for staging.  Woohoo!  I can heartily recommend SIR.

Craig,

This is a great list! This will help anyone who is considering training to become a stager. Unfortunately, what cannot be taught is having an "eye for design" and a feel for each property individually instead of trying to fit every house into the cookie cutter mold of the training. On my very first job, which was a vacant home staging, a Realtor came through with a client and commented that the furnishings I chose were exactly correct for the house. She further stated she recently saw work of some other stagers where the style and atmosphere of the home was not taken into consideration and they just put some furniture in. The Realtor was surprised to find out this was my first job and took my cards to put me on her list of vendors. The point being is that the intangibles have a large part in whether an individual will be a successful stager, the training is just the icing.

Leslie Berdahl

1st Stage Home Design

That seems like a pretty comprehensive list, I am curious to read all the comments! I am not a stager but like to have a well presented product if possible. So sometimes we hire and sometimes we just make our suggestions, etc. depending on the receptiveness of clients. This staging stuff seems to be an art and a  science!

I took the training through stagedhomes.com. Although I have always had a good eye for design, the course gave a lot of good information that really helps you to focus on the property from a buyer's perspective and from the viewpoints from which they will first see the rooms. They also gave decent business advice on how to set up your biz, pricing, and so on. There is also very good ongoing support on the official website area for members. The group itself was also very supportive and invaluable as a help in getting started after the classes were over. I'm glad I took the training.

There were 2 negatives for me. The first is that I was absolutely unprepared for the sheer magnitude of the financial investment I had to make in furnishings. In the training, I feel I was led to believe that I could create a business solely doing occupied homes. In our market here in Portland Oregon, it is still difficult to get clients to hire professional stagers for occupied homes. I'm not saying they don't do it, it's just that the vast majority of the calls you get are for vacant homes. Very few stagers are making it on occupied homes.  Yes, they taught us about using rental furnitiure and some stagers use that, but they still have pretty hefty inventories of accessories.

The second thing I wasn't thrilled about is the fact that they give the same training to Real Estate Brokers at a fraction of the price stagers pay (minus the one-day business info). Their theory is that those brokers will understand staging better and hire us to stage. But in reality, I'm not finding that happening. Those brokers are tending to do their own staging. I realize they have every right to compete, but I don't think they should have received the same training I did for so much less.

I also trained with staged homes. It was a great introduction to the business and really gave me the confidence to get out there and build a career in staging. I already had a "good eye" which is good because you can't learn that in 3 days! Some of the other courses seem more comprehensive but I don't know much about them.

I had a good background in merchandising and business and real estate, so didn't take training.

Just found out that IRIS is going out of business.