Six months ago I wrote a post called Virtual Staging or Just Misleading Pictures? in which I said that I considered using software to manipulate listing photos was a waste of money because as soon as perspective home buyers visit the house they’ll be disappointed (which of course doesn’t lead to an offer to purchase). That’s the best case scenario in my opinion.
At worst, they might even be horrified with what they find as happened to Texas real estate agent Greg Nino, who had a pretty angry client after he took him to see a house that looked nothing like the listing photos. His experience, and some of the surrounding issues, are highlighted in an article this week in the Seattle Times called, Virtual Staging is raising concerns: Virtual Staging can make nightmare look like a dream house.
In it, columnist Kenneth R. Harney describes the slippery slope you’re on when you start manipulating room shots. After all, where do you stop in a virtual staging? Do you only put in “virtual” furniture? Or while you’re at it, do you also change laminate counters to granite, virtually paint over ugly wallpaper, add in crown molding where none exists, etc.?
Many people rationalize that as long as all photos disclose that the property doesn’t really look like that, it’s OK. Or they say,”if there’s no budget to stage for real, using digitally altered listing photos is the next best thing.”
I still think having a big disconnect between what a prospective buyer expects after seeing the listing photos, and what they actual experience when they walk into the home, is a problem.
Imagine going to an online dating site, falling in love with someone’s photo and then you meet them in person and they’re 25 years older and 40 pounds heavier than their photo. Do you stick around long enough to get past that? Maybe if you’ve committed to a dinner and you’re too embarrassed to walk out immediately. But if it was only a coffee, my guess is you drink it up, say you’ve got a meeting and bye bye now!
Now before you accuse me of being overly shallow, consider this. If someone lacks that much integrity when they’re representing themselves in their photo, wouldn’t it make you wonder what else you shouldn’t trust about them?
A real estate showing is rather like that “coffee date”. There’s no obligation to stick around for any length of time. You just turn to the agent and say, “Forget it, this isn’t what I was expecting. Let’s move on to the next house on our list.” Or in agent Nino’s case, you have to deal with an outraged client who is blaming you for wasting their time taking them to a disgusting property that looks nothing like the listing photos.
What do you think of virtual staging? Please share your comments.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
Technorati Tags: virtual staging, virtual staging software, home stagers, home staging, home stager, home staging training, home staging courses, home staging business, staging diva
]]>With FSBO properties being so common in the marketplace nowadays, you’re probably wondering how to attract some of 
them to your home staging business. Targeting FSBOs or “For Sale by Owner” properties is a great idea but remember, they’re selling their homes themselves so they don’t have to pay an agent. This could mean they don’t want to pay anyone for anything or it could mean they aren’t spending money on an agent so they have a lot of money to invest in helping their house show better.
If you’re thinking of approaching these homeowners about staging, try doing an Internet search on “FSBO yourcityname” which should bring up some of the FSBO companies that operate in your area. Check photos of your local FSBOs to find out which ones need the help of a home stager. I would then directly approach these owners explaining what home staging is and what it can do.
Be mindful however, that many FSBO properties have specifically requested not to be contacted by sales people and you have to respect that.
Before meeting with them, ensure you have a collection of before and after photos of your own work to show what a difference staging can make. Explain to them that 70% of prospective homebuyers in the US and 90% in Canada shop on the Internet before ever scheduling a viewing. These buyers are reading listing information, poring over photos and deciding which homes to see with or without their agent, regardless of whether it’s a FSBO or not.
Make the homeowner understand that with people shopping online before they decide to see homes, the way their house is presented on the Internet is absolutely critical. Good photos are essential when listing a house on the Internet.
Explain that you can help make their photos much more enticing by how you would decorate their house to sell. In conjunction with that, you could offer to give them better quality after photos for their website, and that could be part of a package you charge them for.
> Read what one Omaha Staging Diva Graduate did for a FSBO property.
Home stagers, do you market to FSBOs? Have you found a foolproof approach? Have you had little luck? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
Technorati Tags: home stagers, home staging, home staging business, home stager, home staging course, home staging program, home staging resource, home staging training, staging diva
]]>
Last week I wrote a post called, “Stagers, don’t let real estate agents discourage you”. I was motivated to write it because for the 7 years I’ve been staging homes I’ve been running into real estate agents who:
- don’t understand why an empty, disorganized or ugly home is harder to sell
- list it as is, put a few bad pictures on MLS and then talk their client into subsequent price reductions when the property doesn’t sell
- are afraid they’ll have to pay for our services if they recommend them, or worse, feel threatened by what home stagers do instead of realizing we make them look good and their selling jobs easier
- want to be proud of a listing that has their name on it because they know it reflects on their reputation and who know if they have great MLS photos they’ll attract more showings and quicker and higher offers.
Sadly, that last group is harder to find. The good new is that the “unaware” or “fearful” real estate agents can be educated and many of them do come around to understanding the benefits of home staging to themselves as well as their clients, as you’ll see from the comments from home stagers on my original post. That’s why I emphasize the messages and selling points you should use with real estate agents when selling your home staging services in course 4 of the Staging Diva Program.
I was also motivated to write that post because for the 5 years I’ve been teaching home staging courses, I’ve watched too many really talented stagers feel they should give up on following their dreams because they let the discouragement of real estate agents stop them in their tracks.
It’s important to note that in the past, most of a real estate agent’s power came from the control of information.
Before the Internet, you couldn’t get any details about a house for sale without using a licensed real estate agent. I’m old enough to remember when listings were printed out and carried around in binders and the only way to see them was through an agent. Then MLS was available by computer, but the public couldn’t access it. There was no way to tell how fast homes sold or for how much, without a real estate agent.
As the gate keepers of all information about real estate, agents had tremendous power to establish asking prices, sway buyers and to convince their sellers to accept certain offers.
They still have power and influence of course (which is not a bad thing as a good real estate agent has an important role to play), but the rest of us no longer exist in an information vacuum.
With 90% of buyers in Canada, and 70% in the US doing their own online search for properties before even calling a real estate agent, the competitive environment agents operate in is completely different. Not all agents have woken up to the paradigm shift in their industry. That’s where a lot of the resistance home stagers run into comes from.
Not to mention that change always brings up fear. For agents old enough to remember when they controlled all information, it’s hard to let go of habits that came with that. For newer agents who flooded the industry when the market was booming, it’s hard to recover from the giant reality check the last 12 to 18 months have brought, and look for ways to change how they sell properties.
All this is to say, home stagers and aspiring home stagers: don’t give up your power to real estate agents. Many of them will discourage you, but keep on going anyways.
We offer a tremendous and valuable service to home sellers that makes a huge difference in their lives. If you have any doubt of that, please read the many examples of what Staging Diva Graduates have done for their clients here.
I welcome your comments to this story. Let’s keep this conversation going!
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love while helping others at the same time.
]]>
Last week, I discussed how home sales in the United States are at their highest level since 2007, but things are also looking up in the Canadian real estate market.
Though the economy in Canada has not been hit as hard as its US counterpart, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) will be adjusting its forecasts for 2009 and 2010 based on recent sales activity.
Sales records have been set every month since July and national sales in average are up 6.6% from last year. CREA is now forecasting sales activity for 2009 to be on par with the healthy levels seen in 2004. MLS sales activity has been forecast by CREA to go up an additional 7% in 2010 which would make 2010 the second highest year for sales on record.
According to CREA President, Dale, Ripplinger, buyers late in 2008 and earlier this year were putting off buying or selling until the economy improved. In a recent report released by CREA, Ripplinger states, “With the economic outlook having improved since then, the release of that pent-up demand will boost activity over the rest of the year and in 2010.”
Many sellers were taking their homes off the market in late 2008 waiting for market conditions to improve. Others who might have listed their homes in 2009 held back. At the same time many first time buyers were jumping into the market due to low interest rates, the fact that prices had dipped, and bidding wars were no longer the norm.
With higher demand and lower supply, of course home prices started to rise again. In fact based on results to date, the year is forecast to be up 4.2 per cent in 2009 and a further 4.7 percent in 2010. With strong price increases, new listings are likely to continue to increase as well.
Naturally this increases the demand for home stagers as more homes come onto the market. As a home stager it’s critical to educate home sellers about the importance of staging and especially why it’s most effective with first-time buyers. For more information on why this is true and a more detailed explanation of how demand and supply in the real estate market effects a home staging business, download my free Ask Staging Diva report: “Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Are you a Canadian home stager? Can you share what your experience has been as the market has been shifting? Please leave your story in a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Technorati Tags: home stagers, canadian real estate market, CREA, real estate news, home staging, debra gould, staging diva
]]>
Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes are at their highest level in over two years which bodes well for home stagers.
It is believed that Obama’s $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time home buyers has been a driving force behind these high sales levels. The tax credit deadline, which was supposed to be at the end of November, has been extended to April 30 which will give more first-time buyers the chance to dive into the real estate market and take advantage of this tax credit. And that is great news for home stagers because it will help boost demand for staging in the new year.
The group of buyers home staging has the greatest impact on is the first-time home buyer.
These buyers often have the strongest emotional response to homes that have been staged. Since they’ve never had the experience of buying a home before, this is the group most worried about the responsibilities that come with being a homeowner. They are also the least realistic about how great a house they can get in whatever their price range is.
A well-staged home is not plagued by a bunch of repair projects, ugly wallpaper or an abundance of clutter that would scare off many first time buyers. Home staging helps them see the home in its best light and it helps them imagine themselves living there. Not only that, it creates the “I can just move right in” feeling that would comfort a nervous first-time buyer.
On Monday, I’ll post some information on what’s happening with the Canadian real estate market. In the meantime, for more information about the economy and how it can affect your home staging business, please download my free Ask Staging Diva report: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Technorati Tags: real estate, home stagers, home staging, first time buyers, real estate news, staging diva, debra gould
]]>
As Labor Day approaches, homeowners who have been thinking of moving, or who have been forced to sell because of a job transfer or divorce, will be getting ready to list their homes in the coming weeks. That’s because the fall season is the second busiest real estate market after the spring.
Not only new home sellers will take advantage of the fall real estate market. You’ll also see homes being re-listed that did not sell last spring—often with a new agent, a new price and if the sellers know about you and they’re smart, staged to appeal to home buyers.
That means if you’ve been marketing your home staging business as I’ve taught you in the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program, you should soon be getting lots of calls that will keep you busy from now well into October.
If you’re still contemplating whether or not you should start your own home staging business, now that everyone is going back to school, there couldn’t be a better time to do it.
The Staging Diva Training Program can be completed in a couple of days (with no need to travel to take the staging courses because you learn from home) and you still have time to cash in on the fall real estate season—the busiest time of year for stagers besides spring.
Although you might be trying to hang on to summer or are in full preparations to send your children to school, you’re also an entrepreneur. Only you are in control of building your business so get out there and market yourself!
Home stagers, have you noticed that surge in calls yet from sellers preparing to list after Labor Day? Please share your experiences by commenting below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
Technorati Tags: fall real estate season, home stagers, staging diva, home staging training, home staging business, learn home staging, staging diva home staging training
]]>
Congratulations to Anne Gunson of Home Staging by Anne who is featured on an upcoming TV segment of Australia’s A Current Affair.
The show followed Anne from her initial home staging consultation right through to the final completion of staging the property before it went on the real estate market. The home sellers were also interviewed for the segment and noted “the house wouldn’t have sold without staging.”
Thanks to Anne Gunson, who graduated from the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program 2 years ago and has seen steady growth in her real estate staging business since then, the property sold in only 4 days for more than $50,000 (AUD) above what it was expected to sell for prior to staging.
With real estate sales rates in the Brisbane region falling significantly, home staging offers a welcome solution for home sellers hoping for a faster sale at a higher price.
]]>
In a slow real estate market like this, it’s not unusual to see several houses for sale on the same street. Desperate home sellers are scrambling for ways to make their homes stand out from the competition. By decorating a home to be more appealing to buyers, home stagers offer the perfect solution.
Buyers have less incentive to buy today because they know that increased inventory means that asking prices may go down even more tomorrow. Home sellers are trapped in their non-selling houses for longer, but home staging offers a way to end this costly inconvenience because staged homes have been proven to sell faster.
If you don’t have a copy of “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?” you should download this free report now. It’s full of information about how the current economy and real estate market can affect your home staging business.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Technorati Tags: Debra Gould, Staging Diva, home stagers, home staging, home staging in a depressed economy, starting a home staging business, slow real estate market
]]>
In a hot real estate market, buyers usually have to present unconditional offers in order to get the properties they want. But a slower real estate market means that it’s not uncommon for sellers to get offers that are conditional on the sale of the buyer’s current home.
When someone falls in love with a new home and has to sell their old one by a certain date in order to avoid nullifying their offer, they’ll bend over backward to sell their old house. In a case like this, when a seller has made an emotional connection with a new house and they’ve come to terms with selling their existing home, home staging provides the perfect solution. This is one of many reasons home staging makes so much sense in a slow real estate market and stagers should be pointing this out in their conversations with potential clients.
It’s a fact that staged homes spend less time on the market than unstaged homes, so this should be a key point in your sales presentation to home owners – home staging can help them meet the deadline to sell their current home contained in their conditional offer.
Another bonus when you work with clients like this is they’ll often love what you’ve done with their existing home so much that they’ll ask you to decorate the home they’re moving into.
For more reasons why home staging works in a slow real estate market and many more tips to growing a successful home staging business in today’s economy, download your free copy of “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Technorati Tags: Debra Gould, Staging Diva, home stagers, home staging, home staging in a depressed economy, starting a home staging business, deadlines for conditional offers, slow real estate market
]]>
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this is actually a very good market for first-time and trade-up homebuyers because interest rates and prices are low. According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), there were 4.9 million homes sold in the U.S. in 2008, and the projection for 2009 sees that number growing by 6.6% to 5.2 million.
Furthermore, all the doom-and-gloom news about declining property values fails to mention how much more homes are still worth today than they were 10 or 15 years ago in most markets.
In fact, a seldom-mentioned statistic is that the decline in stock portfolios and home prices in 2008 only wiped out the gains in household net worth from the previous THREE years, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Listening to the news, you’d think we were back down to 1930s levels!
Over the long term, real estate is always a sound investment. The only people losing money in real estate (and in the stock market, for that matter) are those who bought at the height of the market and have to sell at a loss. Real estate moves in cycles, and prices will eventually rebound.
In fact, for anyone considering trading up to a more expensive home, this is the time to do it.
Here’s why: If the market goes up 10% and you have a $300,000 home, your home’s value will only go up by $30,000. On the other hand, if you have a $500,000 home, your home’s value will increase $50,000 over the same period. But you should only trade up to the $500,000 home if you can afford the $200,000 price difference.
I’ve only included this point as one example of the many opportunities that still exist in real estate today, and an additional reason why homeowners and real estate investors who aren’t in financial trouble will continue to buy and sell homes.
With over 5.2 million houses projected to sell in the U.S. in 2009 alone, that’s a huge potential demand for home stagers. As you can see from this projected growth of 6.6%, the real estate market hasn’t come to a dead stop at all!
Notice that you don’t see much mention of this in the news media because bad news gets more attention than good news. Media outlets are profit-oriented corporations. Their mandate is to increase their audience so they can sell more advertising. They do this by keeping you anxiously glued to the latest “crisis.”
For more information and a more balanced look at the current economy and real estate market, you should download your free copy of “Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”
Technorati Tags: Debra Gould, Staging Diva, home stagers, home staging, home staging in a depressed economy, starting a home staging business, NAR, National Association of Realtors
]]>