Home Staging Glossary by Staging Diva

A person who fills their home with so many possessions that the home is no longer functional. Home stagers sometimes encounter hoarders when doing home staging consultations, which can be quite overwhelming. For tips on how to handle hoarding situations, see Following Up on the Filthy House Staging Dilemma.

A home stager decorates homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. There are no official qualifications or credentials to become a home stager, anyone can call themselves a home stager whether they've taken any training or not. Additional reading: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Home Stager.

Home Staging is the art of decorating a home to sell quickly and for top dollar. A professional home stager knows what changes yield the greatest return on investment for the home seller. Home stagers work with both vacant and occupied homes. Services may include any or all of these options: choosing paint colors; identifying necessary home repairs; packing and de-cluttering; arrangement of existing furniture, art or accessories; bringing in new furniture, art or accessories; supervising repairs, painting and moving of items. For additional information on the services of a home stager or how to become a home staging professional, visit the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

When structured and priced correctly, home staging consultations are a major source of revenue for home stagers. During a consultation the home stager will make recommendations for how the home needs to be decorated to sell more quickly on the real estate market. New or inexperienced home stagers make the mistake of not charging for these initial client meetings. To learn how to make money from your very first home staging consultation check out "Taking the Mystery Out of Home Staging Consultations"

Many training companies claim to offer home staging credentials, or they say that you will be "certified" or "accredited" after taking their courses. It is important to know that home staging is a completely unregulated field. Therefore, there is no such thing as an official credential to become a home stager. Furthermore, most companies offering so called "credentials" will charge you an ongoing fee to say that you have their certificate. This is further proof that it's not a real credential, you are essentially paying to license their terminology. Clever for their marketing, but not necessarily in your best interest as an aspiring home stager. Additional Reading: 15 Questions You Should Ask Before Paying for Home Staging Courses

An alternate term for "home stager." Some feel it's a derogatory term since stagers do much more than fluff pillows. Unfortunately, the term "fluffer" is used to mean an entirely different thing in the porn industry (don't ask), so if you choose to call yourself a fluffer, make sure you say "house fluffer" especially in mixed company!