Last Friday I attended a very interesting panel discussion in NYC on the Evolution of Home Staging. The panel included HGTV's Matthew Finlason and top producing NYC Real Estate Brokers....all of whom routinely have their listings staged.
The event opened with: "Staging is a vital committed member of the real estate sales team".
With that said, gone are the days of asking homesellers to tidy up the place and bake cookies before a showing.
In todays brutal real estate economy, hiring a professional Home Stager to prepare a property for sale is often key to getting it sold! Today, Staging is part of the sales team!
Many Real Estate agents understand the value and process of "merchandising" their listings. Some in fact are certified home stagers and offer this service for free as part of their contract.
And herein lies the problem....the "for free" part.
Agents must take care when offering Home Staging services for free. If not, then one day soon, homesellers everywhere will expect free staging as part of their marketing package....and if we don't offer it, we may not get the listing.
By offering this service for free, Agents are setting a standard of expectation among homesellers. Do we really want to shoot ourselves in the foot and work even harder for the same commission?
This dilemma presents a very unique opportunity however...but only if Agents band together and create strong perceived value for professional Home Staging services. Services which the homeseller, not the real estate agent. pays for.
If Agents everywhere sing the same song, then homesellers will hire YOU to sell their property and hire a Home Stager to Stage it. They will happily invest in merchandising their home for sale.
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