In real estate, there’s nothing quite as sad as a vacant home. When a potential buyer walks through a home with no furniture besides bare mattresses in the bedrooms, even if it’s the ideal property for them, their thoughts are distracted as they wonder what caused the homeowners to leave in such a hurry. That’s one reason why home staging is so important!

Staging Diva Graduate Dolly DeWald, owner of Omaha home staging business D3 Dolly DeWald Designs, was approached by a couple who had recently moved out of town. They knew they’d have better luck selling if their home wasn’t a mish-mash of empty rooms and randomly placed remaining furniture like a couple of beds and a baby grand piano.

The homeowners agreed at their home staging consultation to clear out the clutter and take care of some cosmetic changes Dolly suggested. While they were doing that, Dolly shopped for accessories and sourced rental furniture. The entire home staging project took fifteen hours and it was completed just in time for the homeowner’s first open house. Dolly stopped by before it started to arrange some fresh flowers (plucked from the property’s gardens) and to freshen everything up.

That evening the real estate agent called Dolly with the good news that the home sold at the open house for 99% of asking!

Everyone involved was thrilled.

About her home staging training, Dolly says, “My goal was to do something I truly enjoyed doing. I love staging homes. The Staging Diva Program has given me the tools necessary to help me realize my goal.”

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 thousands of people like Dolly how to earn a living doing something they love.

If there’s one thing most home stagers can agree on it’s that there’s never a dull moment in this career. You’re constantly being challenged and forced to think on your feet, it really is an exciting career. It’s only made better when you hear back from a client about the results your staging brought about and realize there’s more to this career than making rooms look nicer!

Staging Diva Graduate, Patricia Adamic of Ma Maison Home Staging in Oakville, Ontario wrote me recently to share an interesting home staging success story that really proves home staging works.

Patricia received a call from a lawyer who wanted help staging one of his clients’ homes. Sadly, however, it was a client who had passed and there were no surviving family members who would do anything in regards to selling the house.

This compassionate lawyer arranged to meet Patricia and the real estate agent at the home and there she learned this situation was about to get more difficult. The agent did not believe in staging and the home was in terrible shape. It was dated with decades-old wallpaper and Patricia was given a very small budget to work with.

Instead of turning and running from the challenge, Patricia faced it head on wanting to impress the realtor and the lawyer (who would both be wonderful sources of future referrals), and prove to them that home staging works.

Patricia writes, “With my talent and all the knowledge that I got from the Staging Diva Training Program, I staged the property and it sold in 5 days with multiple offers above asking! I was thrilled to be able to prove that home staging really works!”

The Realtor® provided Patricia with the following testimonial, “When I first saw the property, I knew I had my work cut out for me and that this house would take a long time to sell. With Ma Maison Staging’s expertise, enthusiasm and skill, the home was transformed into a very sellable property in no time and she did a fantastic job of staging it. Patricia made my job easy. The house sold in 5 days and with competing offers! I would definitely recommend Patricia’s services to agents and homeowners who want to get their property sold quickly and for top dollar. ”

About the Staging Diva home staging courses, Patricia writes, “The training has helped me to have confidence, to know how to approach different situations with clients, to organize my business and to present a professional image, while helping me do something that I love!”

Home stagers, this story does more than prove that staging works, but it’s also a good reminder that we never know where our next project might come from. Don’t be afraid to leave your business cards with everyone you meet and to talk about what you do! It also demonstrates how much good we can do as stagers, in this case, helping to settle the estate of a man who had no family wishing to do so.

Stagers, do you have an interesting story about an unlikely source of business? Please share 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.

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Many Staging Diva Graduates start out as part-time home stagers because they simply can’t afford to leave their job right away. This option works great for many people who are able to decide eventually whether they’re making enough money to warrant quitting that day job or if they just enjoy the flexibility of part-time staging and the extra cash it brings.

The biggest benefit of being a part-time home stager is that you can easily book your appointments around other commitments. You can fit in consultations around when you have childcare or on your days off. Also, because part-time home stagers are working around another job or certain lifestyle (stay at home mom or retiree for example) there’s the beauty of being able to work as much or as little as you want.

Staging Diva Graduate, Anna Dovger, operates her Texas home staging business, Add Value Home Staging, around two other businesses and a family. She operates her staging business part-time but she’s passionate about promoting it and getting her name out there.

This spring, Anna decided to become an exhibitor at a local Home and Garden Show (something most full-time stagers never pursue!) and that was a move that really paid off.

In the five year history of this twice-yearly show, Add Value Home Staging was the first staging business to exhibit!

Anna built her 8×8 show space herself and cleverly turned it into before and after rooms to show exactly how home staging works. She received many compliments about her booth and the event went well for her – she got leads from homeowners interested in staging to sell and from those wishing to use her services to decorate their existing homes. She also met several local real estate agents who took away her business cards with them. What an ideal way to position herself as the expert stager in her market!

This is a very energetic endeavor for a part-time home stager to pursue, but Anna writes, “Even though I was tired I felt inspired and proud of myself. I booked appointments right at the show! I’m working on my newsletter that will be sent regularly to those who stopped by my booth as they’re now on my mailing list. I am a strong believer that home staging is needed and that it works. Even though things may be slow, it will pick up and the business will grow. I won’t give up because I know staging works and that it is needed!”

About the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Anna says, “The program motivated me a lot and pushed me forward. It was very informative and easy to follow. I also find Staging Diva Dispatch is very helpful and keeps me going.”

See, just because you’re a part-time home stager doesn’t mean you’re focusing your energy on a hobby! You can certainly grow a successful home staging business on a part-time basis. It all depends on what you put into it!

If the economy is still holding you back from starting your staging business, even on a part-time basis, I encourage you to download my free economic report for home stagers, Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy? I know it will rest some of your fears.

Part-time home stagers, I’d love to hear from you! Did you start staging on a part-time basis around a more profitable job? What did it take for you to transition to staging full-time? Please share your unique 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 staging course, home staging program, staging diva

Not everyone who has the desire to start a home staging business has the luxury of quitting their full time job to do so. Some people enjoy their day jobs but feel they’d like to use a staging business as a sort of creative outlet while they continue to work full time.

The good news is, it’s very possible to have a successful part-time home staging business that operates alongside a full time job and Staging Diva Graduates are proving it.

Amuradha Rathore of Wisconsin had always wanted to start her own business but she didn’t know where to start. A public relations consultant working full time as a banker, she loved her career but had a constant nagging feeling of creative discontent. However, with the uncertainty of job security and the poor economy she was reluctant to give up her job to start a business.

One day, Amuradha came across StagingDiva.com and discovered that starting a home staging business was exactly what she needed to do considering she’d been helping family and friends decorate their homes for years and she was already a qualified consultant.

Amuradha combined her talent and flair for decorating with her education, experience and what she learned in the Saging Diva Program to start her home staging business, Nine Dimensions. Not only does her home staging business serve as a financial safety net but she also gets a tremendous sense of creative freedom from it which makes her enjoy her full time job even more.

She writes, “As of now, I am working full time, raising my family and running my own business and it’s possible because I love my job, my business is my hobby and my family keeps me going. Home staging has helped me turn my passion and talent for decorating into a real business and Staging Diva, Debra Gould made it happen.”

Remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can keep your job and work at your home staging business on the side and have a very satisfying life! If you would like to read more about how having a home staging business on the side can really help you whether you currently have another job or not, check out my free report, “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Home stagers, have you found a way to operate a home staging business around a job you love or are afraid to give up? Please share your story 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 staging, home staging business, home staging course, home staging program, staging diva

Before finally hiring Staging Diva Graduate Fabia MacNair, a desperate house seller had accepted an offer of $250,000 for her home knowing it was worth more. She wasn’t interested in doing the work needed to complete the home staging to-do list, however, because she just wanted to sell. Fabia hated that her hands were tied and the seller was losing so much equity for the sake of a little elbow grease. But nothing could be done with a signed offer and a date with the lawyers.

In an odd twist of fate, the deal fell through and as soon as she left the lawyer’s office, the homeowner called Styling Spaces.

The homeowner took down notes during her two-hour consultation with Fabia and followed her advice to the letter doing a clean-up and making repairs. Fabia helped choose the renal furniture and prepare the home for showings. The work was done two weeks after the original deal fell through.

After the first open house, the home sold for $330,000 after an investment of less than $6000!  Remember this house seller originally accepted $250,000. So that’s an extra $80,000 after spending $6,000. I’ve always said home staging is one of the few legal ways to see such a quick return on an investment, especially when you consider what’s happening on the stock market.

The homeowner was obviously thrilled and now Fabia has this glowing testimonial to use in her marketing, “We were ready to sell the house, as is, because we didn’t want to spend the time or the money fixing it. When the deal fell through I invited Fabia over to see what needed to be done so that I could make my proper profit. My sister and I did as Fabia suggested and with two weeks work, in between my full time job, we went through the home staging to-do list and made all the design and redesign changes. I spent about $6000 on construction materials, furniture rental and her fees. I had doubts about putting in the amount of work that Fabia said I should, but when it was done, it sold on the first day. I’d have to work two years to make profits like that!”

If you’re a Staging Diva Graduate with your own story proving home staging works, send me some information so I can write about you. I’ve made it super easy, all you have to do is visit this link and plug in your news. I’ll turn it into a story like this that you can use in your marketing!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows the key to success in business is in how you market it. She’s taught thousands of people around the globe how to make money using their natural creative talent as home stagers through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Technorati Tags: home stager, home staging, fabia macnair, staging diva, home staging success story, home staging program, staging diva graduate, home staging course

I was chatting with a friend recently who happens to be in the market for a new home. She thought of me when she did a drive-by of a property she saw online, in the rural area where she lives.

It was the perfect location for her family and it was surrounded by attractive homes but there was a huge “Keep Out” sign on the actual house itself. The second thing my friend noticed was a black and yellow “No Trespassing” sign on a post in the yard and another one nailed to a tree along the driveway.

She was certainly not interested at all in picking up the phone and calling her agent to book a showing.

A basic home staging tip would be to take down those signs!

She was happy that her husband insisted on driving by to look at the home before scheduling a showing. They couldn’t help but wonder what sort of thing could possibly go on there to warrant erecting three signs to keep people away. Is there a security issue? What goes on in that house?

I would imagine any prospective buyer who pulled into the driveway as described by my friend, would have been turned off enough to not want to get out of their car. That’s the purpose of a Keep Out sign, after all – to keep people from wanting to enter!

There isn’t any excuse for listing a property in that condition. If it was not a bank foreclosure and the homeowners are actually trying to sell that property, they need to start looking at their home not as the place where they live, but as a real estate listing.

If it was a bank foreclosure, either the financial agent or the real estate agent should have had those signs taken down. That alone could make a big difference because the truth is, a home that looks like it’s in foreclosure is not attractive to most people.

According to an article on CNN Money, there were a record three million homes in foreclosure in the US in 2009 and that number isn’t expected to go down anytime soon. Given this large number, I’m surprised there aren’t more home stagers like Corrine Mann, a recent Staging Diva Graduate who just wrote me about her first project. She’s been hired by a bank to stage one of their foreclosure properties, an opportunity that came about while she was doing the homework assignment for Course 1 of the Staging Diva Training Program.

If Corrine does a good job on this project, there’s no good reason why she won’t be contacted again to stage other foreclosures. What an excellent “foot in the door” opportunity! I’m hoping that Corrine will keep me posted about this project and its results so I can feature her in a future article.

Home stagers, have you ever been called to stage a property like the one my friend saw, with signs everywhere warning people to “keep out?” Or have you worked with a bank before to stage foreclosed properties? 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 staging tip, home staging, home stager, home stagers, staging diva, home staging foreclosures, staging diva graduate

Over the past three years, Ontario Staging Diva Graduate Margaret Harlos has been solidifying her position as the expert home stager in her area with her business, Living Organized.

Margaret is a former Volunteer Manager and Program Coordinator for a non-profit organization and has been featured multiple times in the local media both in print and on local TV.

This savvy Barrie home stager quickly made a big splash in her local real estate market, and wasted no time becoming familiar with her neighborhood real estate agents.

When Margaret and her husband were looking for a larger home they swung by an open house that was listed by an agent familiar with Living Organized. After viewing the property’s photos and descriptions online, Margaret was expecting to view the perfect home but even from the driveway she knew that wasn’t going to be the case. She tried to remain optimistic thinking she would be able to see past the bad curb appeal and would at least be able to negotiate a better price.

Once inside, it was proving difficult to see past the home’s flaws. The agent, knowing Margaret was a home stager, told her the homeowners would be willing to paint and fix the house up a bit. When Margaret asked why she hadn’t told her clients to do those things before scheduling any showings, the agent didn’t answer.

Ten days later, Margaret was called by another real estate agent she was tightly aligned with. He had a client willing to do anything Margaret asked to get her home sold.

Through her conversations with the homeowner, Margaret learned the previous agent had just been fired after a failed 15 day trial. This homeowner was devastated to find out that while away on an extended business trip, her home had been shown in terrible condition. The homeowner said she’d asked the agent prior to listing if the house needed to be cleaned or painted but despite asking the right questions, she was told that it was fine as it was.

At that point Margaret realized who she was speaking to the owner of the same home she had recently visited as a potential buyer. She didn’t have the heart to tell her new client that she was one of those potential buyers who had been turned off by her home.

Margaret was hired and the family went to work on all the tasks she suggested to improve the overall condition of the home.

After staging the home was listed again and sold for just under asking in less than one week.

About her home staging training, Margaret says, “The Staging Diva Program has helped me to market my business. The reason that I chose to train with Debra Gould was because she focused on business training. I wanted the skills and information needed to help me build a sustainable business. I learned a lot in the program but combined with her private business accelerator coaching I am well on my way.”

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows the key to success in business is in how you market it. She’s taught thousands of people around the globe how to make money using their natural creative talent as home stagers through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Technorati Tags: home stager, home staging, margaret harlos, staging diva, home staging success story, home staging program, staging diva graduate, home staging training

What could make a stronger case for hiring a home stager than an offer coming in after a home was staged…from a person who saw the home before staging without any interest?

That’s exactly what happened with a Maryland property transformed by home stager and Staging Diva Graduate, Holly Battaglia.

Her clients, who found her online had their house on the market for part of 2007 and for most of 2009. They didn’t have a single offer on the property despite all that time on the real estate market.

After they hired Holly to stage the house, the couple had 7 showings in 7 days and one resulted in an offer.

That offer was not accepted because it was too low and the sellers knew with all the activity happening on their property thanks to Holly, they wouldn’t have trouble selling it.

Credit: Danielle Arcilesi Photography

Holly believes the offer (which had come from someone who’d seen the house before), was because the prospective buyer felt an urgency to take action— fearing that since the property looked so good after staging, someone else might snatch it up first.

That’s what home staging is all about…perception of how desirable a property is. And that’s why it works.

Besides working full time as a home stager, Holly works part time as a nurse and is a busy mother of four children. When someone has as hectic a schedule as Holly, it makes a lot of sense to market online because she has something promoting her staging business 24/7 while she carries on with her full life.

According to Holly, the fee she made on this one project, which was a result of her online marketing efforts, covered the cost of her home staging training program and her Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers listing.

Staging Diva Graduates, if you’re still trying to decide if a listing on the Directory of Home Stagers is worth it, does this story change your mind?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows the key to success in business is in how you market it. She’s taught thousands of people around the globe how to make money using their natural creative talent as home stagers through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Technorati Tags: home stager, home staging, holly battaglia, staging diva, home staging success story, home staging program, staging diva graduate, home staging course, directory of home stagers

Master bedroom before staging

I’ve featured New York home stager Donna Dazzo before here in the Home Staging Business Report after one of her impressive media appearances. I’m happy to have the opportunity to write about Donna again because she is such a model student!

In January, this Staging Diva Graduate was featured in Yahoo! Shine with her inexpensive and easy design tricks for selling and she was also recently featured in Newsday’s weekly paper and online in the “Long Island Makeover” column.

Donna certainly deserves this recognition because she so obviously knows what she’s doing as demonstrated by her latest success story.

Donna’s home staging company, Designed to Appeal, was contacted by the owner of a Manhattan apartment who was relocating to a different state. She and her husband had one month to move due to a job relocation, so needless to say they needed to sell fast.

Master bedroom transformed

Luckily, these homeowners had family members on the West Coast telling them they just had to have a home stager because “no one puts a home on the market in California without having it staged.”

It wasn’t too difficult for Donna to evaluate what wasn’t working in the space as it was. The dining room had a sofa, the living room had two dining room chairs and little else, the master bedroom had a set of bunk beds in it and the children’s room had a full-sized bed and was also doubling as a home office.

Donna made recommendations for the furniture placement and the homeowners decided to simply move their own items out and bring rental items in to show the apartment in its best possible light.

What happened after staging was finished?

• The real estate agent booked 35 showings the first week
• The homeowners received 3 offers at the first open house
• The house sold in 8 days after the first showing

This homeowner was happy she listened to her family members so she could carry on with her move with that much less stress.

About her home staging training Donna says, “The Staging Diva Program’s emphasis on continuous marketing and marketing to more than one group (not only real estate agents) has helped me with increased exposure and more clients.”

Donna is obviously focusing on marketing to the media just as she was taught in Course 4 of the Staging Diva Program. Home stagers, do you consider the media one of your target markets? What have your experiences been? How have you managed to get noticed by local media? Please share your experiences and let’s discuss!

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. More than 4000 Staging Diva Students around the world have been trained by Debra.

Technorati Tags: home stager, home stagers, home staging, donna dazzo, home staging training, home staging business, staging diva

Home stagers who take the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program know that I emphasize using staging stories to pull your audience in rather than throwing a bunch of staging statistics at them.

Please know that when I say “stories” I’m not suggesting making anything up. What I am saying is, use real life examples of what home staging has done for real home sellers who have had trouble preparing or selling their home on the real estate market.

While it’s fine to quote studies that say that the average staged homes sells x number of days faster or for x number of dollars more, it’s hard for the listener to put their own situation into the numbers.

If on the other hand, you share a meaningful staging success story, especially if it’s one that relates to their situation, they will connect with the power of what you do.

Here’s a great example of what I mean. It’s an ad for Google, but watch the unique way they had of sharing what their search engine can do.

If you’ve just watched the clip, notice how you feel right now. Realize this could have been an ad where Google told you how they dominate the search market, how many seconds it takes to get a result after typing your query into the search box, etc.

But would that have had the same effect? Would you remember the statistics an hour from now, or would you remember the story? What about later when you’re trying to decide which search engine to use?

Home stagers, I’d love you to share your comments about this topic. And please share examples of how you’ve successfully used staging statistics or staging success stories in your marketing and whether they helped you connect with your potential clients.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould has an MBA in Marketing and has been writing about the subject since the 1980s when she was a regular contributor to Profit Magazine. She has been running her own home staging company, Six Elements Inc., since 2002 and knows first-hand how to make money as a home stager. She developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.