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The Winning Way To Sell Your House

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty 0575737

Chained HouseThis is not the end result you want to have happen when putting your house on the market for sale. You do not want a foreclosure, a short sale, or be chained to your house and can't get out because no offers come in, and no one wants to buy your house.

Who can come to your rescue to make life easier?

They are called Stagers. Those magical women or men who have this unique ability to "transform" what is ordinary surroundings and appearance of your rooms and its interior decorating into a grand experience of a house feeling like a home. They also extend their talent to recommendations on the exterior of the home, landscaping, and improving curb appeal.

If you haven't cozied up to a Stager lately for getting your Realtor fanny out of the fire in making a deal happen you need to get chummy with one today.

Stack Books

I get many what may be called spam emails from Amazon.com based on building a library of reference materials for staying abreast on times in the Real Estate world. Today I was alerted to another book called The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money. Guess what subject it was on? Staging. At that link along with many other books on the subject you can see that Staging is very important in the sales process of getting the end result we all want which is a SOLD sign and not looking like the imprisoned house above.

Have you hugged your Stager today?

Comments (22)

Kathy Passarette
Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY
L.I. Staging/Decorating
Aww Gary, how nice of you! I wish it were more prevalent here, although I think it is more of a paying the fee issue than anything else.   Even if they just do the consultation, get a report and the homeowner works on their home themselves, they are ahead of the game. 
Mar 01, 2008 12:14 AM
Marzena Melby
Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty - Richfield, MN
Realtor, Twin Cities Minnesota Real Estate
Gary - I share your opinion.  It is also very important to work with someone really good.  As we can make magic (or it seems that way) when it comes to generating interest and an offer, a good stager can do the same to make the home look much better, almost much different from the original look. 
Mar 01, 2008 12:37 AM
DeAndrea "Dee Dee" Jones
Samson Properties - Manassas, VA
DMVRealEstateChick
Ok but what happens when you have staged a home and it still sits?
Mar 01, 2008 12:43 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Stacey: I agree with "hot" homes creating "buzz" amongst Realtors. I hear that discussion on tours and among office co-workers.

Jill: Good point about the photos looking more attractive.

Kathy: Even if they just do the consultation, the Stager can come back an review the progress with the homeowner as part of the checklist.

Marzena: That transformation is what I call the magic. It downright impresses me.

DeAndrea: If staging still doesn't assist in the sale, the Realtor has to look hard at the marketing and obviously the price. Lowering the price to some point WILL move the house!!

Mar 01, 2008 01:02 AM
Kathy Riggle
STAGING SMART N SOLD - Houston, TX
Houston Home Staging

Thanks for this post, Gary. We are team players with Realtors to showcase the appeal of each house, and get it sold!

Kathy

Mar 01, 2008 05:14 AM
Elaine Manes Gage
Home Staging Online Services - Denver, CO
Staging done ONLINE!
Thanks, Gary- I wish more Realtors were like you and recognized what an incredible tool staging can be! If I was a seller, I want want a Realtor who is willing to suggest whatever is out there to help me sell my house quicker and for more money! Hiring a stager is such a win/win/WIN situation for everyone!
Mar 01, 2008 05:59 AM
Robyn Guinn
StageAZ - Phoenix, AZ
Home staging, Arizona

Love that guy!  Thanks Gary.  I want to be your stager!

Robyn Guinn

StageAZ

stageaz@cox.net

Mar 01, 2008 06:11 AM
Audrey Hoffman
VoteAudrey blog - Columbia, SC
VoteAudrey
You get hugs from me Gary!
Mar 01, 2008 07:17 AM
Janis Gaines
Staging Sells Eugene Homes - Eugene, OR
Home Stager Eugene OR - The Notably Well-Dressed H

Gary - Thank you so much for acknowledging how valuable a service professional Staging is in selling a home.

DeAndrea - I let my clients know that Staging is not a magic bullet. We are in a challenging real estate market these days. But what are the other alternatives:

- Lay down and roll over, figuring the home will probably never sell in this market anyway!?

- Don't stage the home, which is sort of like going to a job interview in your pajamas, or other less-than-appropriate attire

- Crossing your fingers and seeing what happens if you don't stage before placing the home on the market (then, if the owner finally decides to stage after one or more months, the home is already "stale" so it's like a salmon swimming upstream to then jumpstart the newly Staged listing.

 

If it's staged and not selling after a reasonable period of time, what other alternatives are there? Probably a price adjustment! That's what I recently had to do with my own staged home. I "ate" thousands of dollars in unrecouped remodeling costs, but I just had to bite the bullet and be glad that my new home (on a half acre with a 1200 sq ft storage/garage facility) was awesome and worth the sacrifice in the long run.

 

Mar 01, 2008 07:26 AM
Liz Kennedy ~ Stage It Simple, Bedford, TX
Stage It Simple - Bedford, TX
Great post Gary!  I echo Elaine, I too wish there were more realtors out there that felt the same way you do.
Mar 01, 2008 09:55 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Kathy: Definitely part of the winning team!

Elaine: I like the three WIN idea.

Robyn: If I'm in your neighborhood selling houses, you're the one! : )

Audrey: Hugs back at you. I know how hard Stagers work and how valuable they are.

Janis: When nothing works, you definitely have to look at price, I agree.

Liz: Realtors would use more Stagers if they tried them, I am convinced of that. A lot of them just need more education in this area.

Mar 01, 2008 11:44 AM
Linda Sticklin
Home Staging & Organizing - Berwyn, PA
Wow--what an advocate you are for our industry! Obviously you have seen the results this service brings to the selling process. I am receiving more calls from realtors looking to include a staging consultation (at the realtor's cost) as part of their listing presentation to sellers. 
Mar 01, 2008 11:21 PM
Terry Haugen STAGE it RIGHT! 321-956-2495
Stage it Right! - Melbourne, FL
Gary, unfortunately I haven't been hugged lately.  Oh, the REA's write articles for the newspaper telling sellers how to sell their homes, i.e. bake cookies so your house smells nice, but never once mention hiring a stager.  Here we are left out of the home selling loop as we continue to hope that one day, the REA's will catch on.  Thanks for the kind words for us stagers!!!!
Mar 02, 2008 04:06 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Linda: Staging works. Smart Realtors know this.

Terry: Baking cookies is great for the smell in the kitchen, but it takes more than that to sell houses these days. I hope those in your area start working with Stagers.

Mar 02, 2008 05:09 AM
Kathy Nielsen
http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA
Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

You deserve a hug.  Thanks for the support, Gary.

Kathy

Mar 02, 2008 06:53 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth
Kathy: Stagers need warm fuzzies like all the rest of us. Glad you are out there doing your thing making homes better looking and ready to sell faster.
Mar 02, 2008 08:06 AM
Latonia Parks
Top Bragg Realty, Fayetteville NC, Home of the 82d ABN DIV - Fayetteville, NC
Certified Military Relocation Expert
As usual Gary, I expect you to have good posts.  I happen to agree with you.  Some homes need it more than others.  Today's sellers have to do alot more in this market than when we are in the seller's market.... if they want to get it sold.
Mar 02, 2008 08:21 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth
Latonia: Sellers you are right, need to be open to ideas to maximize a timely sale, even any sale, if they don't do things right.
Mar 02, 2008 08:43 AM
Susan Peters
Dove Realty Inc. - Seattle, WA
The Better it Looks the Better it Sells

Gary,

Selling a house is like selling any other product. You need packaging to attract the buyers attention and that's what staging is.

You are a hero! 

Mar 02, 2008 03:56 PM
Alexandra Fletcher
Vancouver, BC

"Have you Hugged your Stager today?" I think I'm going to get that made into a bumper sticker and stick it on all our vehicles!! I love it!! Thank you for this great post Gary!

Cheers, Emily~ Celebrate Staging, Vancouver, BC

Mar 03, 2008 05:51 AM