The A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s of Home Staging

I often now receive inquires about home staging, from home sellers all over the country, that typically start by asking a question such as, “Can you give me a little information on how staging works and what staging a home costs?” Since so many start their inquiry with the same question, I thought it would be helpful to answer with what I call the “A-B-C’s of Home Staging.”

A is for ABOUT home staging in general. Actually, if you are going to stage your property you need to know that it is ABOUT a 2 step process. The first step is the “prepping of the property. Prepping the house basically attends to the conditional issues that need to be repaired, cleaned and/or updated. The second step is ABOUT the “pretty visual” that people think of when they think of home staging. This step has to do with the physical setting/arranging of the furnishings and/or accessories within a house. The combined goal of the 2 steps is to create a house that shows it best and ultimately will draw the interest of the widest buying demographic possible.

B is for BASIC types of staging services. While there are 6 Basic types of staging services, it is important to note that all stagers offer all six. The services a stager offers the better it is for you. Since you actually won’t know what you will need until the stager visits for the first time, a stager that provides more service types is better equipped to guide you based on your needs and not cut short the impact of staging because of their own limitations.

The 6 BASIC staging service types are:

1. Consult Staging: This type of staging solely taps into a Stager’s knowledge. First focusing on the condition of a home, a Stager visits a property to meticulously instruct on all that must be done to best prep and then set the property for market.



2. Re-Arrange Staging: This type of services relies on both the Stager’s knowledge and their physical labor. Once a home’s conditional needs are met, a Stager arranges the property by physically setting it using only the seller's existing furniture and decorative accessories.



3. Enhance Staging: Again, once conditional issues are addressed, the Stager will then set the interior space. But not only are the existing furniture and accessories used, but the Stager will bring and blend in decorative accessories and/or furniture from their inventory. These “props” are loaned or rented to the seller while the home is for sale.



4. Reseller Vacant Staging: When a "preowned" house is vacant, there is not much else to look at, conditional issues and concerns are amplified and ultimately fixated on by buyers. So while it is important that conditional needs be addressed, a Stager is hired to then maximize the home’s visual appeal by fully setting it with the appropriate furnishings and accessorizes.



5. Rehab Vacant Staging: When conditional issues throughout a older property are repaired and updated to today's trends, a Stager is hired to then maximize the home’s visual appeal by fully setting it with the appropriate furnishings and accessorizes.



6. Model Vacant Staging: While conditional in new construction is not an issue, “life-styling” is. Models typically rely more on projecting a “life-styled” visual appeal then a preowned vacant. A good Stager understands and designs within a specific life-style marketing concept when furnishing, accessorizing and setting a vacant spec / model property.

C is for COST to hire a home stager. What hiring costs actually are depends on how much Talent (knowledge), Time (physical labor) and Treasure (props) a stager provides. If a seller has a limited amount to spend, then the best value a stager can provide is the Consult. For as little as $100 (in some markets) a Stager can be hired to scrutinize a property and provide professional staging advice and guidance. From there it is realistic to expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $75 per hour for a stager’s services. As for props, the fees for renting these items will vary based on just what is being rented and the length of time the items are being rented for.

Sellers are not only realizing the cost of staging will pay off, but actually ARE benefiting from making the investment. Let’s face it; if “time is money” then reduced market time is a great return on investment. So regardless of staging solution proposed, a good stager will do all they can to maximize the return on a seller’s staging budget so that the house sells… 1-2-3.

So there you have it, today’s blog lesson on the A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s of home staging.


Staging It Forward...
Me

Not All Staging Bananas Are Ripe & Ready

So my home selling pets, would you like to pick a house stager but are not sure which in the bunch to hire? Plus does the fact that when you think about it, it seems like there are more and more people becoming Home Stagers almost overnight?

Well, you are right; it can be a tough to know which stager you should work with, especially since staging is still relatively new in most parts of the USA. You are also right if you noticed that there are many new bananas rapidly joining the staging bunch.

To make a wise and informed pick, you need to understand that unfortunately a “professional stager” may just be an average green Jane or Joe who just fell out of a training tree. Many are transformed into “professionals” because they sat through a one, two or three day foundation training workshop. That's it, as little as one day, and WA LA a new staging banana with a title tacked on.

So be wise, home staging credentials that hype “trained,” “certified” or “accredited” can be a bit deceiving… especially considering that it can take as little as one day to be trained and graduated from foundation training programs. This is not to say that there are well qualified real estate stagers who have been professional trained. But remember, above everything, the ripeness of EXPERIENCE trumps all else... even “credentials."

Unfortunately, the home staging industry is an unregulated wild bunch. Because this so... sellers are at risk, especially in this tough selling market. Picking a green stager could cost you some green. So while staging looks mighty tasty, to those of you who are looking for some hope and help, don’t blindly accept the fact that a stager, who has a horde of initials after their name, is experienced and fully yet knows what to do to maximize your homes staged appeal.

So how can you pick out a green novice house stager from the ripe experienced stager? Well, it is not the difficult, if you keep in mind that home staging is an “image” industry.

Considering it is a stager’s job is to create a good first visual impression of home seller’s property, then a good stager needs to do the same for themselves. A good stager knows the importance of and how to present a good visual first impression of their company and their work.
To start to help weed out amateurs from the experienced, consider first looking closely at the stager's portfolio, for examples of their work. Also, make sure that you ask the stager if they ACTUALLY staged the properties they show in their portfolio... believe it or not there are some foundation training programs that give green stagers a set of “starter” portfolio photos. Finally if you have any doubts, you can always ask the stager for testimonials from past clients and/or references.

So that’s it, considering its a jungle out there, this is pretty easy. That is all you need to know and do to be a good home selling monkey and pick the ripe stager.

Staging It Forward...
Me


POST SCRIPT of THANKS: Thank you to Rich at the "The Official Active Rain Blog" for seeing the merit in this post and selecting it as a WINNER in the Carnival of Real Estate. CLICK HERE: To read "The Top 10 Rides" in the 89th Carnival of Real Estate.

You Can Stage It... Even if THEY Still Don't Get It

In the 4 years I have been staging, I now notice a new trend taking place... the number of calls we get directly from home sellers, prior to their hiring of a Realtor, is on a sharp rise. But the odd thing is that while staging has been out there now for a number of years, it still AMAZES me how snubbed, ignored, and misunderstood the staging message has been by the Realtor community in general. For what ever reason, many Realtors seem to have shut down any possibility to understand any opportunity staging offers.

Why aren't Realtors getting it? Well, I have a feeling that what many Realtors think staging is... actually is not all that it is.

• If a seller goes on line and finds a list of "10 Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home for Selling" and does as it advises... THAT IS home staging.


• If seller’s Realtor then comes to look at the home and directs them to do 10 more things, that better readies their property for selling, and they do those things... THAT IS home staging.


• If a Stager is hired and they find and additional 10 MORE things for the seller to attend to and the seller and/or the Stager do them... THAT IS home staging.

Just as selling a house does NOT always require a Realtor, staging a house does NOT always require a Stager. However, home sellers who have worked with a good and reputable Stager have learned that we do see more issues that work against the homes sale and offer more creative ideas and solutions to ready/package/market a home for selling in ways they never considered.

First, and most often, the service a Stager does is give advice. We guide, direct and counsel home sellers as to what they can do to BEST to prepare their property for selling. A Stager can also coach sellers on how to quickly, easily and inexpensively accomplish and address that which can be done to help make the home more appealing. Consulting services from good Stagers are, in some markets, less then $100. If needed, Stagers can come in and help do some of the things that need to be done to prepare the home for selling… including “setting” the interior space.

Information is power. The more you and your Realtor knows and understands what home staging does and does NOT do and when to use our services , the more empowered you both are.

So don't let the words "staging" or "Stager" trip you up. While these words are relatively new, what we advise has been given as advice in real estate sales for year. All that has really changed is that there is an entire INDUSTRY now committed to understanding the intricacies of how a home can be best merchandised and marketed as a product so that it entices them to buy.

Staging It Forward...

Me

POST SCRIPT of THANKS: Thanks you REACHED.COM for seeing the merit in this post and selecting it as a WINNER in the Carnival of Real Estate. CLICK HERE: To read "The 8 Top Picks" in the 87th Carnival of Real Estate.

Chipping Away the "PRICE IS KING" Myth in Home Selling

The way many Realtors and home sellers rely on pricing as a marketing strategy for home selling is not entirely all it is cracked up to be. Believe it or not there is a simple yet profound parallel lesson both Realtor and seller can gain from the way Lay's potato chips are packaged, priced, marketed and sold and how real estate is packaged, priced, marketed and sold.

First, lets me be clear... when it comes to selling anything, be it real estate or potato chips, price IS king. It is a fact that the selling market will only get the price the buying market is willing to pay... this is what makes price "KING". However, I think that too many agents and sellers collapse the concept of "KING" down to mean it is the ONLY thing that matters when it comes to selling real estate. They don't understand the total ramifications of HOW pricing is but one factor managed and integrated into the overall marketing and selling process of real estate.

With that in mind, let's crunch on the pricing lesson of the potato chip...

Recently I saw a persuasive news segment on CBS Sunday Morning. In the piece the correspondent reported on the dynamic and well-regulated world of food labels. Interviewed for the segment was the Product Manager at FritoLay that was responsible for marketing their "natural" potato chip product. FritoLay knows that while Classic Lay's Potato Chips (Bet'cha can't eat just one!) have been a snack "staple" in America for years, consumer tastes change. Because markets and tastes change, FritoLay knows they must ongoingly develop products… including potato chip products.

Surprisingly on camera, the FritoLay's marketing manger shared a company "secret" about one of their newer products... the Natural Potato Chip. She revealed that Lay's Natural Chips are for the most part exactly same product as Lay’s Classic Chips. BOTH are nutritionally the same product and are made using the same type of potato and are cooked in the same way. The only real difference, between the two, is that "natural" chips are salted with sea salt, a salt PERCEIVED to be more natural, are cut thicker and are put in bag that looks more earthy in color and has a matte (paper bag like) finish. Classic Chips go into a shiny red and yellow bag.

Ok, so what! Both bags of chips are the same. What's does that have to do with price?

Well, there is one other BIG difference between Lay’s Natural and Classic chips. FritoLay admitted that they put LESS chips in the Natural chip bag AND the then charge MORE for them. That's right, less product for MORE money. So if price really is KING, how could they get away with this? Well, FritoLay's knows that buyers buy what they want...some potato chip consumers want "natural" chips. Buyers do not perceive Classic Chips as natural... even though they really are. If FritoLay wants to sell chips to the "natural" buyer, they have to sell a product that is viewed as "natural" they know he packaging then becomes essential in driving home the "natural" point.

So even though these chips are basically the same, because the potato chips are packaged in a way that buyers can easily and visually relate to them... they buy them. FritoLay knows that buyers buy products, as simple as potato chips, when they connect to it.

Or said another way... even though homes are often the similar, when homes are packaged (staged) in a way buyers can easily and visually relate to them... they buy them. Stagers know that buyers buy products, as COMPLEX as a home, when they can connect to it. A real estate stager's job is to package a house in a way that the buyer will relate to. In a chip, THAT is what staging is all about.

So, while it is important for a home/listing be priced right, don’t be misguided into solely believing the "Price is King” myth… if you do then your home/listing may just end up sitting there on the market as a Real Estate Couch Potato.

Chip It Forward...
Me

It Ain't All Pretty... But it is Darn Good Marketing!

Even though America is a consumer society, it's an odd fact that the typical home seller does not view their property as a product for sale in a marketplace. Because this is so, many home's sales end up languishing. But this need not be the case.

Basic old fashioned marketing principals teaches that how a product is perceived and received within the market can be positively altered and impacted… and this is where home staging can help. More then just being decorators or designers, good home stagers are focused in applying a full array of strategic property marketing principles and practices which positively influence the consumer about a product (your home) in a market.

So even though a staged home might look attractive, it is important to note that staging is NOT solely about making a home just look "pretty." In fact there are homes that CAN look visually attractive and STILL not be staged.

Any Realtor, home seller, or builder who thinks that all staging is is making a home look "pretty" is grossly ignorant to the reality of what a good stager does and therefore probably not using a stager and benefiting from what we do.

The "Why" and "How" a home is prepped and set for its showing and ultimate selling is what a staged home is all about. Be it Macy’s, Best Buy, Safeway, Walgreens etc., what we do is much like what happens every day in these retail stores across America.

Real estate staging is actually more about the process of strategically setting up (merchandising) a property in a manner that makes it not only easy for buyers to tour, but also creates a way for their eyes and hearts to connect to it with a powerfully effective first impression that lingers and stays with them.

Today I am not surprised to find there are many pretty homes that still are not selling. But a staged home, that is priced right, will sell quickly, even during ugly markets.


Stage It Forward...
Me

POST SCRIPT of THANKS: Thanks you HotPads.com for seeing the merit in this post and selecting it as a WINNER in the Carnival of Real Estate. CLICK HERE: To read "The Fools Edition" in the 84th Carnival of Real Estate.

When Realtors Commit this Crime… Sellers Do the Time!

Earlier this week I received a phone call from a desperate a home seller looking to home staging as marketing solution that would help finally sell his $499,000 town home... that had been on the market for over 1½ half years. Right from the start, the caller was frank and wanted to make sure I knew that when compared to similar sized units for sale in the development, his townhouse was the most expensive. He also wanted to make sure I understand the price difference was due to the fact that his property had been totally gutted and extensively remodeled… including the kitchen and baths. So while they all were same size on the inside and looked the same on the outside… his was NOT exactly the same as the neighboring “competition”.

Intrigued to know what we would be working with, I hoped to take a little "sneak peak" and pop over to the listing Realtor’s site. I asked the seller for the name of his Realtor and the name of the firm he sold for. Hmmm… I never heard of THAT company. So I did a quick Google search to find the Realtors site. To my surprise NOTHING came up. WOW… the listing real estate company, nor the Realtor, had a website to market themselves OR their listings. OK, that is a bit odd, but it was a small real estate company… after all there are other online property marketing options available to Realtors for their listings.

Luckily the seller happened to know his MLS#. So with no other place to go and see view the property on line, I did what I have done before... I went over to a popular online-listing site here in Chicago that give buyers the power to preview and pre-screen properties ahead of time. At that site I punched in the MLS#. WA-LA! The listing popped up with an exterior shot of the caller’s property! (Shown Above)

But to my surprise and dismay that was the only picture available on line for anyone to look at. The Realtor was relying on just ONE picture on one publicly accessible site to capture and sell all that this totally updated and rehabbed property had to offer. Why wasn’t the remodeled interior of this town home being marketed? If you ask me there is no excuse for this level of service and is nothing less then a marketing crime. Why a crime? Well, if it is estimated that 80 to 85% of homes buyers now FIRST pre-shop properties via the Internet... what would you say about a Realtor relying on one exterior shot for the buying public to preview is? But the story gets worse.

After we hung up, I was now even more curious. Something told me to take a look at this seller’s competition. So I dug a bit deeper. I then found 2 comparable properties within the exact same development. (SEE clipped ads shown in the larger graphic along with larger original ad) One property listed for $84,000 less then the property the caller owned and the other listed for $89,000 less. Now I know there could be a lot of discussion, pro and con, about the effect listing price has on property sale’s probability, this is NOT the point of this post.

The point I am making has to do with marketing. While I know there are many marketing options and tools (like real estate staging) available. Each Realtor, of these 2 cheaper properties, invested the time and money to tap into one of the most basic yet most effective marketing tools available today. Each used MULTIPLE photos posted on easily an accessible listing site to help build and reinforce potential buyer’s interest. Considering the seller, who I was talking to, had a property that costs more AND offered more, would it not be helpful to capture and display those differences to potential buyers? Plus, what does NOT showing the interior communicate to potential buyers?

Finally just let me say that most likly it is not just the lack of pictures that are keeping this property from selling. The point is that Realtors in today’s industry MUST realize that digital photography, which is cheap and easy, coupled with easily accessible on-line listing sites now give buyers the power to preview and pre-screen properties. (Watch my CURB APPEAL SHOW) Any Realtor that chooses to ignore this basic yet very important fact is committing a crime, that ultimately can cause his client's to have to do some time while they wait for their homes to seller.

Market It Forward…
Me

WOW... REUTERS picked up on this post! (Click Here to see)

Absolute BEST 13 Home Staging Tips

Are you having a hard time determining where to start your own home staging and just what exactly are the best home staging tips? Well... I feel your pain and totally understand.

When I Googled the phrase “home staging tips" today my search I ended up with 29,300 results. WOW, if you even ask this home stager, going through THAT result list is a daunting task and would be far too much research for ANY home seller.

So to help home sellers narrow down their options, I did my own research... and found what I think is a great list of basic tips on HGTV’s website. HGTV lists a comprehensive list that applies to both dwelling & selling. So to help focus the message only on staging, I rewrote them and condensed them down.

So while there is a lot being said out there, this "best of" real estate staging tip list is a great starting place for advice that will surly help any home seller begin their own real estate staging project.

So lets get started...

1. WORK ON YOUR ENTRANCE – Whether you are on a job interview, going on a first date or selling your home… first impressions matter. What buyers see on the outside starts to inform them on what to expect on the inside. So clean it up, touch up the paint, add plants and flowers… in general, make the buyer feel welcome.
2. CLEAR OUT CLUTTER - We think counter tops, cabinets, closets, garages, basements, and attics as storage spaces, but often they become clutter keepers. Purging out the old is not only therapeutic but allows a path for the new. Remember too much clutter distracts and obstructs buyers from seeing what you are selling. So clear it out.
3. LESS FURNITURE = MORE HOUSE - A room full of furniture can feel as cluttered as an accountants desk top during tax season. Removing all but what makes sense and is necessary will make the room fell bigger… plus it may free up a piece better used elsewhere.
4. FLOAT YOUR FURNITURE – Typical furniture arrangement makes me think of young boys at their first junior high dance… wallflowers! When you “float” furniture, bringing it off the walls in into the centerof the room, you'll end up with rooms that result in three positive benefits. The rooms will feel open, interesting and appealing… all working to the seller’s advantage.
5. CROSS POLLINATE – Sellers get so used to seeing their furnishings, art and accessories used one way and never then see it any other way. Moving pieces that have always been used in Room “X” into Room “Y” can give new life and meaning to an old rooms. But don’t stop with furniture… color, texture and style elements that dominate one room can be moved into and amongst others to visually link the home and create flow and continuity.
6. GIVE OLD ROOMS NEW PURPOSE - As time moves on, the way people live and use their homes changes. Extra bedrooms become TV Dens which then become Home Offices. Basements go from being storage areas, to Rec Rooms to Media rooms. Setting up an old room with a new purpose helps buyers see more potential in a contemporary way.
7. LET THE LIGHT SHINE IN – Letting natural sunlight in always helps buyers SEE the home and its features. Draperies that are not open, or even when they are open still cover up a large portion of the window. Either way they can make a room feel closed-in and smaller. However, equally important is the fact that sellers may need to redirect a buyer’s attention from the view out the window. If that is the case, there are plenty of options today that downplay the outside but lets the light inside.
8. LAMP & LIGHT DONE RIGHT – Lighting in a home that is too dim, too harsh, or too cold can work against the sale of it. Warm and balanced lighting is what it is all about. Using a combination of as many of the different lighting types (overhead, accent lamps, and task) in each room will give a home the overall appealing glow buyers like. Oh, and don’t forget to light up the exterior… especially the entrance.
9. COLOR WITHIN THE LINES – Wallpaper is out and color (paint) is in… especially when selling a home. Wallpaper is typically a very personal design expression that overtime looks dated. While the popularity of color does trend, updating with paint it is an easy and inexpensive way to freshen up a home that is for sale. Don’t limit yourself to thinking of white as the only neutral color. Some shades of white can be the worst color to use to “neutralize”. There is a wide variety of beiges, tans, taupes, soft gold and greens that are not only “on trend” in a buyer’s eyes, but will also work well with your furnishings while you are selling.
10. BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK - Every year we hear how “Black is the new _______”. (Fill in the color of your choice.) The NEW _______ is typically a fleeting trend color. But black never goes out of style and most likely already in your home (maybe more then you ever noticed) in its finishes, fixtures and finishes. So use it to your advantage. Link the look of your home together with a variety of black accents, accessories and furnishings throughout that will ultimately create a home with visual appeal that buyers buy.
11. HANG ART ARTFULLY – A general rule of thumb… hang art so it easy to look INTO it and not up or down at it. Considering the average American’s height is 5’8” tall, hang art for that person’s eye level, so that they look slightly above center of the piece, works best. But, besides height, placement is also important. If a seller takes into consideration how a home buyer walks through and tours the home and what walls a buyer actually looks it, will help determine where to put art and where is it’s not as important.
12. COUNT TO 3 WITH ACCESSORIES - When it comes to balance don’t make the mistake and assume it is only created with equal symmetry. Balance can also be achieved using an odd number of items… typically 3. To help you accessorizing a table top, mantle or shelf start by selecting 3 items. One item should be lower/smaller, one medium sized and one taller/larger. Group them. If one, in relationship to any other, seems to big, or small, wide or skinny then swap it out for another.
13. OUTDOORS COMES IN – Bringing flowers and plants into a home is great advice. Adding them does 2 things to a home... they soften it and add life. So while bringing the outdoors in is a great tip, sometimes live plants are not available or practical. Don’t be afraid to invest in QUALITY silk plants and dried flowers, but remember a dusty silk or old faded dried arrangement can look as DEAD as any living plant that died. Finally, avoid seasonal plants and flowers… go for the green basics.

SORRY... If It's Ugly on the Outside Buyers Ain't Going Inside

CURB APPEAL... well I am sure every home seller has heard about how important it is. But the truth is there just is not as much information out there that helps a seller understand what to do to stage the outside of a home as there is to stage the inside. Which is unfortunate because in some ways staging the outside of a home is even MORE important then the inside. WHY? Well let's face it, if the outside of a home looks bad a seller is probably NOT going to get a potential buyer to look at the inside... they will literally drive on.

So it was good to see that the Chicago Tribune published an article that took new look the “staging story” in its Special Curb Appeal Addition. In today’s Tribune, Carol Monaghan does a great job reporting not only WHY staging outside a home is important, as well as sharing some great home staging tips on just what a seller can do to make the outside of their homes be as appealing as possible.

Carol quotes a certain Chicagoland home stager who gives this simple advice... "Sellers should consider a home's ‘Web appeal’ too, says Craig Schiller, a home stager and principal of Real Estaging in Park Ridge. Because many buyers begin by prescreening houses on the Internet to determine which houses to visit, finding ways to make one stand out can give it an advantage over its competition."

This certain stager goes on to say… "People always say buying a house is the biggest purchase of your life. The reverse is also true: Selling a home is the biggest sale of your life. You want to do all you can to make buyers excited about your house." (Boy I love that quote! I wonder where I’ve heard that before?)

But seriously, while Carol's article offered some great curb appeal staging tips I think the most interesting tidbit she dug up and reported was a fact that every home seller should know… "A recent Real Estate Agent Community Trends survey, sponsored by Jeld-Wen Inc., found 82 percent of real estate agents had buyers refuse to look inside a house based on its exterior appearance."

WOW! 82% of the buyers won't walk into an "ugly on the outside" house! I gotta admit... even this certain stager didn't know that!

Me

OOPS Goes the Staging!

From when we were just little kids we were taught there is a difference between what is right & wrong and what is good & bad. While these initial lessons of life had to do with basic relationship skills and behaviors, as we got older, we expanded in our awareness of good & bad, right & wrong rules that applied to other parts of our lives. Rules, we grew to understand, helped to guide us in subjects we study, the hobbies we undertake, the sports we play, and the work we do. In short, we gained insight and knowledge that there are proper ways things are to be done if you are going to do them well.

So while learned knowledge is a good thing, we also have discovered that correctly applying that knowledge can prove to be a quite a challenge…which also holds true to home staging. Even though there are those who are knowledgeable and appreciative of staging, some have come to realize it takes skill and ability to properly apply that knowledge. This is one of reasons why the staging industry is on the rise.

BUT, if you are young in your understanding of what staging is, there is something ELSE you need to know about it and the people who present themselves as stagers. Be advised… not everyone that says they know staging or claims they are stagers really can do it. There are far too many people now jumping in to an unregulated industry claiming they KNOW how to stage. Their final staging results unfortunately demonstrate their gross lack of understanding and break basic staging rules. AND I have to admit this really ticks me off!

To make my point, let me give you an example of a problematic staging in the form of a short video called "OOPS Goes the Staging!" (Oh… be sure your speakers are on.)

For the sake of fair disclosure, I want to let you know we here at Real Estaging are VERY familiar with the property featured and critiqued in my video… we actually lost the bid to stage it to whoever did the work in the video. So while some might think I am upset because we lost the job that person... that is just not the case. (Anyone that has been in sales for any length of time knows that is the way it is in sales... "You win some and you loose some.")

Anyway, the reason I am so ticked-off is because good and proper staging DOES follow certain rules, practices and procedures that when done well and done right will help the property sell. It is upsetting to know that this Chicago developer finally got the message that “staging helps to sell homes” and they were willing to invest hard earned money, only to get a final "staging" that actually works AGAINST their property's sale. Plus what makes this staging a sadder story is the fact that this was to be the model for a multi-unit property.

Unfortunately, Realtors, home sellers and small builders really don't know exactly what good home staging is and what it is not. Why? Well, for one reason home staging is still a relatively new marketing tool and has yet to be fully embraced as a viable option for selling homes. So if you are wondering, "What is GOOD and what is BAD staging?” or “What exactly makes a staging RIGHT from what makes it WRONG?" Well, to help you let's start with 4 Basic Staging Rules most of you have likely heard of. These basics are...

1. De-clutter and organize the home to minimize visual distractions.
2. Neutralize the home's look so that it appeals to the largest buying audience as possible.
3. Arrange furnishings and accessories to best show the home's space and features.
4. Add what's missing to finalize the home's appeal.

So as you watch the "OOPS goes the Staging!" video keep these very basic real estate staging rules in mind. By the time you are finished with it, you will begin to see and understand a little of what bad staging is and where this staging pooped out. And… in closing, if you remember nothing else I hope your remember this... filling a property chock full of pretty furnishings and accessories is NOT staging!

But when staging is done well and done right... it sells homes! PERIOD!

Me

PS: If you would like MORE detailed explanation of the 12 BIGGEST STAGING OOPS in this property...be sure to click on the "DETAIL" button located along the bottom of the embedded video.