Welcome to the third installment in this “5 Massive Mistakes Homeowners Make When Hiring a Home Stager” blog series. If you’ve read my first post about focusing on price when hiring a home stager and the last post about wasting time searching for home stagers’ credentials, hopefully you will avoid making those mistakes. Today I want to talk about what you should look at when hiring a house fluffer – a portfolio and website.
I always recommend that people not hire a home stager unless they have a web presence. Because you’re hiring a professional in a visual field, you want to see how they express themselves through their biggest marketing piece – their website. As an alternative to building their own website, many graduates of the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program list their businesses at www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com which is like a mini-website, allowing potential clients to view an online portfolio and learn more about their business.
A professional portfolio full of before and after photos is a must. How else will you know what kind of results you can expect from a real estate stager? Because some companies provide ready-made portfolios to home stagers as part of their training programs, it’s important to ask questions about the photos anyone presents as their own work. If they can’t tell you details about the property or you’ve seen the same shots on another stager’s website from the same “school” or training program, this should raise a red flag.
When you try to find a particular home stager’s website or proof online of their existence, if you can’t find them you have to question how serious they are about their business. Alternatively, if they have a very unprofessional looking website, you have to wonder whether they’ll be capable of staging your home the way you expect from a professional.
In the next installment in this series I will talk about the importance of references.
‘See’ you then!
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. Debra Gould developed The Staging Diva Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging, real estate enhancement businesses.
Searching for an expert home stager? Visit the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.
If you’re interested in becoming a home stager, check out the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.
Technorati Tags: home staging, home stager, home staging business, real estate staging, make money in home staging, Debra Gould, Staging Diva, advice for homeowners, mistakes homeowners make, hiring a home stager, home staging credentials, home staging portfolio, Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, home stager directory
Related posts:
- 5 Massive Mistakes Homeowners Make – Part 2: Looking for Credentials
- 5 Massive Mistakes Homeowners Make – Part 1: Focusing on Price
- Real estate agents make their financial situation worse
- Stage yourself to sell: Image is everything (Part 2)
- Stage yourself to sell: Image is everything Part 1
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