New Stagers..Why Are You Special

My business partner Leslie Godbold recently blogged on Active Rain and I thought I would share what she had to say here.

As a budding new home stager your opportunity for success is dependent on so many factors. All things being equal, if you do not use your marketing and web site to tell potential clients why they should choose you over your local competition, your chances of selection are minimized.

So think about it. You may well have the talent and the eye for this sort of thing. You may also think you do after watching how easy things appear on the many decorating and home staging programs on HGTV and TLC. But reality is another story. Your business must be founded in sound business practices and demonstrable talent in the field and you must communicate those 3 things.

Don't start your business until you have a solid foundation in business practices, communication skills and have your special "IT", i.e., what makes you the best choice. If you ask yourself this question and do not have a good answer, think again. Without an "IT" you can communicate, you are in for a long road ahead. Visit Leslie's blog at Active Rain.com.

Getting Started Isn't Easy - Home Staging Business

When I first conceived of becoming a home stager, I thought I knew about staging. And, I did know some things, but not near enough. So I am sharing with you what I think was the most helpful thing I did to come to understand what being a Home Stager is and more importantly, how to run a successful home staging business.

The first step is simple. Grab a notebook and sit down with a cup of tea and record what it is in your head about this "product" of home staging that makes you want to make it a career. How did I come to discover this as a potential business opportunity? What is the basis of that knowledge, how deep is that knowledge and is that knowledge experiential, intellectual or something else? On another page in your notebook, ask yourself and record the answers to questions about the business side, what do I kow about starting a business, managing a business, where can I go for guidance, wgat does a home staging business actually do and how do they know what and how to charge for services.

The point of this exercize is to write down what you THINK you know about the "product" and the "business", today as you sit and contemplate. Next is the tougher part, use what you wrote for honest reflection of what you know AND to determine what you must learn before you begin. I can tell you with certainty, if you are not honest with yourself about what you know about the home staging business you will likely fail.

Next consider the reality of time. Record how much time you can commit to this business and then embark on research to determine the time requirements, estimate the elements. If you do not know the elements, research the answer. Step back and again make an honest reflection of whether you have not only the time to develop the business model and plan but also to execute effectively with a profit.

Next, set all of this aside for 7 days and devote yourself to research. Come back to those same questions and answers and see if you have improved your knowledge base and if so how much. If your knowledge base did not increase ask yourself why. If you did not spend the time to research, what might that say about the time to run a successful business and whether or not you can commit. If you did the research and your knowledge base increased, then the next cup of tea session is to create a Gantt type chart or table of sorts that defines each activity in which you need engage and the order in which that needs to happen.

After honest self-reflection and research to understand the "product" and the "business" of home staging you may choose to engage with a real estate home staging school for classes. There are many from which to choose, do a thorough investigation to determine which fits your needs.

Good luck.


The Asheville Home Staging Company
The Real Estate Home Staging School ewheeler@therealestatehomestagingschool.com

Home Staging for Sellers

When selling your home, you want to understand and utilize to your advantage the psychology at work in the mind of the prospective buyer, Perception and Behavior.

To tap into the prospective buyers perception let’s understand perception. Perception is how they see the world and there place in that world. That belief is filtered by experience. That belief, or their reality, may not be an accurate reflection on what is real. Simultaneously, this is how human behavior happens. There is an event that happens prior to a behavior, the behavior, and the consequence.

Let’s translate these two concepts to your potential buyer. The buyer’s filter, they step in your home and begin to perceive your home (the world) and how they fit into that world (could I live here)? Perception is sensed through smell, touch, sight, sound and taste. A quick example, buyer walks in…using the sight sense says this house is too small. Is that reality or is it poor room planning, flow and color selections? How do I correct that perception as a seller?

View your house as the first step in behavior, the event. It is the trigger for the potential buyer’s perception and behavior, buy as a consequence or walk way as a consequence. Your agent and your Home Stager can help you use these two concepts.

As a professional home stager I’ve seen many times, sellers that embrace the five senses in preparing their homes for listing sell their homes faster. They employ the core requirements that shape perception: space and room planning, balance, visual and physical flow, lighting, focal points and color. They know that first perception is the critical one and use their house to trigger a buy effectively.

Employ a great agent, price effectively, and utilize the advice of a professional home stager to create the right perception and impact buyer behavior.

Eileen Wheeler

Owner, The Asheville Home Staging Company

Home Staging Advice - 5 cents

Want some home staging advice for nickel? If so stop in our booth at the Sourwood festival in Black Mountain, NC Aug 8 and 9, 2009.

We will have live demo's twice each day for creating custom art and drapery at a fraction of the cost of purchasing.

Many people think Home Staging is too costly. Quite the contrary, with a little ingenuity, you can stage your home and control the budget spending only what you can afford.

While at the booth, you can also talk to us about classes designed for homeowners who may want to do-it-yourself, real estate agents that want to advise their clients effectively and anyone that wants to become a professional home stager.

Goodwill In The Home Staging Business Model

In an economy of recession, depression, growth, rising GDP, declining GDP, it doesn't matter. Goodwill should be included in your home staging business model. Answer this question as a business owner, What is the value of your business over your tangible assets?

If your business model is short term you may be missing the advantages of goodwill. A long-term view is a model for business success.

A potential client call came in needing a 1050 square foot outdoor area staged. After a walk thru of the area it was clear that placing my inventory of outdoor furniture in an unprotected outdoor area to be ruined by nature's variances was not financially a good decision for me, nor the client. The rent would have to be enough to carry the cost of deterioration and replacement. But still the client needed help.

Empathy kicked in, the client family was so like-able and their need was so great. I sourced the job via the Internet and provided a detailed staging consultation to the client at break-even.

The rewards have been never-ending. Not only do I feel good, I have photographs to add to my consultation results portfolio, I have a client that will not hesitate to recommend my services, and a recommendation useful in marketing. Having a goodwill advocate is a great thing. It has added to my tangible assets as a result!

Home Staging Economics

In the last week we learned more bad news about the economy and specifically pending home sales prices. If you are paying attention to the economic indicators you know that the selling prices of homes are continuing to be slashed. One in 4 homes across the U.S. for sale July 1 have reduced the selling price at least once according to Trulia.com.

On the bright side, the housing stimulus plan it is taking shape, and each day a little more detail is revealed. For the market to start making it's move their are a couple of other indicators that need to fall in line simultaneously, job losses often referred to as non-farm payrolls and consumer confidence. It's like a reverse domino effect, once they start moving, GDP will start moving, when GDP starts moving, even more consumer confidence improvement and investment grows. On these fronts, there are Administration efforts to jump start. We will start to see, if nothing else, a reduction in the rate of growth of the bad numbers. Job losses may still be high, but at a lesser rate, and with that consumers will start to feel better about their futures.

The reasons to stage a home remain. When the economy is declining there are generally fewer buyers and you have to fight for the ones out there. A staged home is a clear advantage. When the economy is rising, you have to compete still, and a staged home remains a clear advantage. The year 2008 was clearly a bad year and yet the Real Estate Staging Association reports days on the market staged vs. unstaged (same home) improved a staggering number of days.

In my own area of the country, Asheville, NC, home sales are up, but at a reduced price. It is encouraging even with the caveats. Keep your heads up, recessions always end!

Eileen