Quick tips for Real Estate Professionals when Marketing Your Listings with Home Staging Professionals

Discussing the idea of a professional home stager to assist your 'newly listed' clients may not be within an agent’s comfort level especially  if you believe  the home owners will ‘boo-hoo’ the idea or may be personally insulted.  Here are some quick tips to ‘teaming up’ with home stagers and incorporating home staging into the scheme of marketing your listings.

•        Connect with one or more home stagers for your listings as early as possible.

 This will allow you the opportunity to select the stager whom may be the ‘best fit’ or connection for the specific needs of individual clients and their personalities.  Use the analogy of ‘Goldilocks’.  Arrange a coffee meeting for a personal meeting with the home stager to review their consultation processes – vacant, occupied homes – and fee structure.   Select only those stagers that are insured, properly trained with both a legitimate home staging business and have a current website complete with testimonials and portfolio.

There is extreme value in collaborating with an experienced home stager that is highly knowledgeable in the creative science and  psychology of marketing properties for sale, and with a keen eye for detail.  Avoid a home stager that offers 'free consultations'.  

•        Pay for the staging consultation from your marketing budget OR consider reimbursing your clients for this cost upon the sale of their home.  

 If this home has been listed previously by another realtor and/or real estate brokerage, this gesture demonstrates an added value benefit to securing you as the listing agent and further solidifies your marketing plan to sell their home.  

•    Communicate with the home stager to share pertinent client and listing information, including the preferred method to contact the home seller. Allow the professional stager to recommend or suggest any changes with the home owners directly.

Providing DIY generic lists to clients how to stage their homes is not the ideal or more importantly, be effective to achieving the end results in the home’s presentation.  Each home required a customized and tailored look. Honest communication with the home stager is key to a successful consultation and implementation of shared collaborative ideas prior to the consult.  This prevents any road blocks and confusion which recommendation(s) the home owner should consider to be the 'best bang for their buck.'  Too, decide early in the process, the preferred method of communication between the real estate professional and the stager.  

Prior to meeting any client, I consult with the listing agent(s) to identify any specific changes they may have suggested previously, or if any, with the home seller.  In the event this is a repeat client or a new client of the real estate professional, I highly respect and value this information. 

This photo is an example where the real estate professional was concerned about the outdated melamine cabinetry.  During the consultation, I presented another option to revamping this kitchen - installation of a new 'classic white subway tiled' backsplash and new cabinet hardware.  Both the home owner and real estate professional were delighted with the impact of these simple revisions within their home seller's budget and the overall impression of an updated kitchen.  

• Arrange  photography with a professional real estate photographer immediately upon the completion of showcasing the property

Enlist a professional photographer with real estate experience to obtain professional photos of the home immediately after the home is prepped, cleaned and ready for sale.  If the home is being professionally staged, this is vital in any home currently occupied by the home owners to avoid re-tweaking of the final staged presentation and reduces the stress for home owners to maintain this 'showcased' look when currently living within this home.

Professional home staging + professional photography equates to an improved MLS presentation, more interest from motivated buyers, increases your individual statistics of successful sales within a shorter period of time,  with the potential  for  increased profitability with fewer marketing dollars spent per listing and more time to secure other listings.

London-based professional property stylist , Cheryl Trudell, Founder and Lead Property Stylist of Home Staging 4 Success, has been honoured with two RESA®  awards ~ RESA’s 2014 Top 10 Best Occupied Stagings™ North America and  RESA’s 2013 Top 10 Rising Star Home Stagers of the Year™ .North America. The Real Estate Staging Association® (RESA®) is the trade association for professional real estate stagers and re-designers.   Real Estate Staging Association® (RESA®) is recognizing leaders within the staging industry for their outstanding contributions and personal accomplishments. 


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