Home > Blogs > Barbara Jennings > Home Staging and Redesign

5 Simple Staging Tips Any Agent Can Master

Home Stager with Academy of Staging and Redesign

April 10, 2010 05:49 AM

If you've never taken any staging training, you might feel a little overwhelmed and inadequate when it comes to making recommendations to sellers. While a truly staged home is more complicated and involved than one might expect, there are some simple solutions that will greatly help no matter what. After all, some improvement is better than none at all.

Take down heavy drapes and advise seller to put up sheers instead (or even nothing at all if there is a great view). Heaviness on the windows makes the home feel weighted down instead of spacious and airy. And you never want to obstruct a great view.
Bring in large plants. Live plants bring oxygen into the room and help to soften the hard surfaces. Most people fail to have plants or they are half dead and look terrible. A few well placed plants can obscure some of the more ugly things like lamp cords, electrical plugs and so forth.
Plump up the pillows. Most people have some throw pillows but they tend to scatter them everywhere. If the colors blend in the room, arrange them together neatly on the sofa or bed and plump them up.
Change the electrical cover plates to the same color as the wall if possible. This will make them virtually unnoticeable in the room.
Put out a new welcome mat and make sure all brush that hides the front door is removed.

From the author of A Real Estate Agent's Guide to Offering Free Home Staging Consultations (or Advice), 232 pages, published by Ahava Press.

Re-Blog

Comments (7)
Subscribe to Comments Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Don MacLean

New England Real Estate Center Inc. - Easton, MA

Realtor-Homes for Sale- Easton, Mass 02356

I have one tip and it's leave the staging to the pro's

Enjoy the day

Apr 10, 2010 05:54 AM

Dominick Dina, MA, REALTOR®

Christian Realty San Antonio - San Antonio, TX

GRI, e-PRO, TAHS, SFR, Notary Public

Barbara, thanks for sharing. The only way to learn is ask a pro!!

Dominick

Apr 10, 2010 12:46 PM

SHARON CHARBONEAU

UPSTAGING YOUR HOMES - Sechelt, BC

Barbara,

I agree with Don.

I do not understand why you are undervaluing the important role a professional stager can make to improving the presentation of a property for sale.

The above tips are not staging per se - they are additional touches we may make after we have dealt with the more serious issues or flaws that a property for sale has which will result in a lowball offer or no offer.

taking down heavy drapes may or may not be necessary, depending on the property and type of furniture. Tying back the drapes is an easier and cheaper solution
If there is too much furniture in a room and it doesn't have a focal point and proper flow, bringing in a large plant is not going to be the answer to effectively staging a room
plumping up pillows is not staging - ensuring the pillows are the right colour, material and even needed in the first place is the first step
painting cover plates the same colour as the wall is, in my opinion, the sign of an unprofessional paint job. I find them to be very tacky and replace them in a property I am staging. I do encourage sellers to upgrade the cover plates and ensure they are all the same design and colour - either beige or bone. No painting them
putting out a welcome mat is not going to make much of a difference if the front yard is a mess, the stairs to the front door are falling apart, there is cracked glass in the door, the door needs painting and there are weeds galore in the front yard

Teaching realtors to pass these things off as staging to their clients is misrepresentation and a serious disservice to their clients.

As I have mentioned to you in response to another post before I am troubled by your short-cut approach to staging for realtors.

If realtors want to be stagers as well as realtors, they should have to qualify through the same level of training that stagers do and held to the same standards we are through RESA.

Your approach to staging is counter productive to the standards that professional stagers are working to establish.

Apr 11, 2010 02:04 PM

Margaret Oscilia

Creative Concepts-Home Staging and Contracting, Salem Oregon - Salem, OR

Home Stager, Salem Oregon

I'm sorry Barbara but I have to agree with Sharon here. I too love to give some top tips and frequently do, BUT giving these general tips can lead to disaster. I was thinking of the exact scenarios that Sharon was pointing out while reading your post.

Apr 11, 2010 02:17 PM

Barbara Jennings

Academy of Staging and Redesign - Huntington Beach, CA

Decorate-Redecorate.Com

Sharon and Margaret, with all due respect, I guess you missed the fact that I have written a 232 page book full of indepth training just for agents who can't or won't hire professional stagers or who aren't even convinced yet that it is essential or whose clients can't or won't hire them. It would therefore be silly of me to offer 5 little tips outlined above, in view of my vast writings, as the sum total of what they ought to know - or even tips relevant to all or any situation. It was to get them curious enough to learn more, be more, give more and hire more stagers whenever possible.

Far from it, I have never ever devalued the quality and services of professional stagers. I make my living helping people start, develop and grow staging businesses, with thousands of testimonials. I point out over and over again in the book the differences between offering a few free tips and the benefits derived from hiring the pros. I encourage agents to use stagers whenever possible and believe that further education is needed to bring the two groups together more fully. For this I get attacked?

I teach anything BUT "a short-cut approach to staging for realtors". As a matter of fact, I've written 10 books to date for the staging industry (16 total), each focusing on different aspects and delving into the subjects at great length, such as:

A Real Estate Agent's Guide to Offering Free Home Staging Consultations (or Advice)
Home Staging for Profit (for anyone wishing to start a staging business)
Home Staging in Tough Times
Getting Paid: Financial Strategies for Home Stagers
Staging Portfolio Secrets
Staging Luxurious Homes
Home Staging for Yourself (a thorough checklist over 100 pages for stagers and agents)
Decor Secrets Revealed (furniture and accessory arrangement design)
Arrange Your Stuff (a sequel to furniture arrangement concepts and solutions)
Wall Groupings: The Art of Displaying Art and Photos
Rearrange It! (for anyone wishing to start a redesign business)
Advanced Redesign (advanced strategies for professional stagers and redesigners)

In addition, I host one of the largest online directories for stagers, doing my best to connect the professionals with sellers and agents in their local areas.

I also offer the toughest designation in the industry (CSS). My professional stagers must pass an exam and submit a portfolio of their work for review before they are granted use of this professional designation and I believe that is far more stringent than any other designation or association in the industry.

Education is the key to helping all those connected in the selling process of homes and providing people with the right information to achieve all their goals.

Apr 12, 2010 12:16 PM

SHARON CHARBONEAU

UPSTAGING YOUR HOMES - Sechelt, BC

Barbara,

I cannot speak for Margaret; however I am raising concerns I have, with no intention of attacking you.

I did not miss the fact that you have done a lot of writing;however there is a mixed message coming through to me. You state you have rigorous standards which stagers taking your course must pass before they are allowed to use the professional CSS designation. This is a good thing. So, I do not understand why you would have far less rigid standards for realtors who take your abbreviated course or read one of your publications and then go around calling themselves stagers.

This appears contrary to me?

A medical doctor who also wants to be a psychiatrist does not qualify for MD and then get a shortcut to the psychiatrist designation. Or more on point, if stagers approached the real estate board and stated they wanted to be a stager/realtor, they would not be given s short cut to being a realtor.

One of your publications, A Real Estate Agents guide to offering free home staging consultations, is contrary to what professional stagers do. Our time is valuable, as is our advice: we don't arrange home staging consultations for free. If convenient, we will do a quick stop for no more than 15 minutes for no charge and offer some suggestions. This is not however a consultation.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

Apr 12, 2010 02:36 PM

Barbara Jennings

Academy of Staging and Redesign - Huntington Beach, CA

Decorate-Redecorate.Com

Sharon, thank you for your comments.

There is a huge difference between an agent offering some free suggestions to their client and that of a consultation and service by a professional stager.

My purpose is to more thoroughly educate agents, not only on the differences, but the importance of giving good, authoritative advice when they do choose to do so. In the book I most emphatically draw a difference between advisers and stagers.

The reason their requirements for my agent designation is not as stringent as for stagers is because they are taught not to exceed the area of "advice" and they give less to the sellers as a result. They wouldn't even be involved in actual staging themselves so how could they even produce a portfolio for review as part of the process? I specifically tell them that the contents of the book will in no way turn them into a professional stager, and I even advise them not to become stagers unless staging is the major focus. In that regard I then urge them to get the indepth training I give to actual stagers, which is substantial when compared to agents.

The whole goal of agents and stagers should be for the welfare of the seller, not for their profit margin. So wouldn't you agree that a book showing them how to offer some practical, authoritative advice would be a good thing? I'm sure you would agree that there are plenty of agents and sellers alike who just aren't "buying" into the concept of staging or who just feel they can't afford the services of a stager and no amount of argument to the contrary will suffice.

So wouldn't it be great if the agent has at least some knowledge of staging beyond the superficial stuff like declutter, fix, clean and so forth? And wouldn't it be good for them to know about staging if they are having a difficult time competing with other agents who do or who are more well established than they? When they get on board with staging and they can compete with resistent agents, would that not be good for the stagers they are willing to recommend?

I think it's a good thing. I should think stagers would be happy to know that someone like me is out there trying to educate agents about staging so they have less educating and convincing they have to do themselves. Some areas of the country are well acquainted with staging and other parts are virgin territorities, so to speak. Isn't it better for stagers to devote their marketing efforts to promoting their benefits and not having to spend time educating agents?

My agent designation, by the way, is not a stager designation. It is an "advisor" designation and it's meant to give them confidence to offer simple solutions only to those sellers who can't or won't hire stagers. There is a huge difference.

No stagers of mine get by without design training too, so when I give out the CSS designation, they have to prove to me and my team that they have the professional design knowledge as well as the business knowledge and their portfolio proves that they can apply the design and business training they have received in real world situations.

Again, so there is no confusion. I train agents to give good, authoritative advice to sellers who can't or won't hire stagers. I train agents to use stagers whenever possible. I train stagers to do it all with tremendous design training as well business training. I believe the requirements for both groups to be fair and tough at the same time so that no seller gets short changed.

To compare staging with a medical degree is not, in all candor, fair. Becoming a realtor requires a state licence and regulations. Staging doesn't even require a designation actually, and certainly not a license, so I'm perplexed there is an issue here at all.

Apr 12, 2010 03:39 PM

Older Post

Newer Post

Rainer
28,292