Via Melissa Marro, Staging & ReDesign

How do you earn money as a home stager?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Melissa

Becoming a home stager and earning a six figure income seems so easy when you listen to some training companies talk about it.  Now, I’m not saying it’s not possible, but it’s not what some trainers will tell you.  Ask any full time professional home stager and they are more than happy to talk about income with you though.

So, why would I, a professional trainer and owner of a successful home staging training company want to tell you that it’s not a cake walk?  Because I want successful students in my classes.  I don’t want to just earn a nice pile of cash for duping people out of their savings.  I remember my industry peer saying early on, when I first started training, that all the training companies were just there to “make a quick buck.”  I had to constantly defend myself and let them know that I was a real stager too and I “got it”.

Still to this day we hear rumblings inside our industry against the training companies because they spend so much effort asking the newly trained stagers to sell their brand, to buy their pens, clipboards and stickers, or worse yet, sully their newly forming reputations by hocking “home care” products like green cleaners or air purifiers to clients.  Newly trained stagers are often left wondering how they will ever earn their tuition back in the hard hit economic markets of today.

For those who are reading that are wondering the same thing…. I’ve got some news for you.  Staging can be a GREAT business.  It can be VERY profitable and you can make a pretty comfortable living from it.  I do think you need to separate the fact from fiction, however.

I earn over $100 an hour as a home stager.

Yes, that is true…. except for one tiny detail.  That’s the BILLABLE hour rate.  For most home stagers, their billable hours are only about 25-35% of their total work time.  To put this in perspective, the average 40 hour a week home stager can only actually bill for about 10-12 hours of that time. The rest of it is spent doing things like marketing, billing, packing, writing reports, and so on.

Building a team will help you increase your number of billable hours and in turn, increase your overall income.  Of course that comes with additional overhead too.

I can earn a full time paycheck with only part time hours.

When was the last time someone said that who wasn’t trying to sell you something? Typically if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.  Home Stagers have to work when the clients are available.  We have to be available when rental companies, movers or other demands require.  Again, if you only have nights and weekends available, or only want to work when the kids are at school, then you may have to consider adding on help or set up a referral base for clients who cannot work around your schedule.

You still have to fit all of the demands of the job into your part time schedule. The general rule of 25-35% billable hours is still true.  If you can only dedicate 20 hours of work a week, then you will only get paid for about 5-6 of them.

My training company will list me on their directory and then jobs will come pouring in.

Uh huh… You will get the occasional referral from  your training company.   Virtually all paid staging jobs, however, come from building relationships with agents and sellers in your area.  Your training company can’t do that for you.  Your training company, should however, teach you how to begin doing it.

All I need are a few clients and my business will run itself.

This one is nearly true to be honest.  My partner and I ran a staging company in Charleston (before I sold it to her earlier this year).  Our annual sales were mid six figures and we really only managed about a dozen regular clients between us.  Those clients would refer other agents, some who became regular clients, others who were occasional clients.

Still, the company didn’t run itself.  We still had to have a team to help keep up the day to day operations.  We still needed to put out newsletters, update our websites, blogs and network with those agents.

So, what’s the point of all of this?  Surely it can’t be to discourage you from getting into an industry that I now make my income from getting you into.  Hopefully, it is to open your eyes a little.

Becoming a home stager can be a completely fulfilling and profitable way to do what you love.  But be prepared for a lot of hard work.  It’s all the things that current working stagers are all too quick to tell you about and training companies try to minimize, that make the biggest difference to your success.

You won’t make a profit overnight.  No REAL BUSINESS does that.  It takes time, energy and work.  It takes a plan, marketing and resources.  If you play your cards right though, if you do what the successful ones before you have done, learn, listen and act – then you just might find the best is right at your fingertips.

The staging industry is still in its infancy.  We are still feeling our way along.  A few pioneers have started a path and now we watch and wait for the newcomers to pave it. The question is…. do you have what it takes?

Related articles

• Selling Your Home? Without a Great First Impression You Could Be Losing Valuable Home Equity (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)

Keep your driveway and walkways shoveled and accessible. The last thing a seller wants is for a potential buyer to decide not to preview the interior because the exterior is treacherous or difficult to get access to due to snow and ice. Make the exterior too much of a challenge and your buyers will simply move onto the next property on their list. By keeping all access points clear, you will welcome visitors inside and showcase the fact that your home is well maintained and taken care of.

Be wary of heavy or potent smells. Winter makes it almost impossible to open windows so a home’s smells are important to be aware of. While your house is on the market, do your best to refrain from using incense, heavy perfumes or pot pourri and doing a lot of cooking with heavy spices. These things not only linger in the air for days, they also permeate the soft decor in your home – your carpets, draperies, pillows and these smells can stay trapped in these items for long time. This means even if you air out the house, when you close it back up, your soft decor items will still release the same heavy smells back into the home. Keep on top of pet smells and ensure that their litter or bedding is changed daily – sometimes twice daily. To keep the air light and fresh, keep the house clean, keep the air purifier working and use natural citrus scents to add a warm welcome to the air.

Make sure every room is well-lit. This sounds logical however there are a staggering number of people who do not have adequate lighting in their home. In order for buyers to buy a home they need to not only be able to see each room but they also need to be romanced – especially in the key selling areas such as the living room, family room, bedroom and kitchen. This means having levels of lighting, not just a harsh overhead light, so that you set the mood and ambiance for your visitors. In the winter when sunny days are at a premium and it gets dark very quickly, these levels of lighting are vital to proper showcasing. From table lamps to modern floor lamps and kitchen fixtures – these items play an important part in a home’s overall presentation. Another way to ensure rooms are well-lit is to keep blinds and window treatments open as natural light is one of the best ways to make sure a space appears bright and welcoming.

Keep holiday decorating minimal and tasteful. As we discussed during our post Staging to Sell over the Holidays, while decorating for festivities is important, it’s also vital to keep the decorating tasteful and in balance with the space. It’s very easy to overwhelm a room with too many decorations, too many ornaments and too much cheer. Your buyers will appreciate simple decorating touches so don’t feel you can’t celebrate. Once the holidays are over however, make sure decorations get taken down quickly and if any photos online showcase holiday decor, have them refreshed so your listing doesn’t seem stale in January.

Create simple winter curb appeal. Regardless of the time of year, your home needs to have welcoming appeal. Shoveling is a first step but one of our top suggestions is to add some urns with seasonal greenery, hazel twigs, berries and even soft white lights flanking your front door which will add pops of color against the snow as well as warmth and welcome to your porch. Ensuring bushes and small trees are trimmed back, house numbers are visible from the curb, all lights work are all elements of strong curb appeal.

Clean out closets and storage areas to make room for winter clothing. From heavy winter coats and snowpants to heavy boots and skis – winter comes with a lot of extra things to store. Pare down the contents of hall or mudroom closets, taking the opportunity to pack away lighter clothing to make room for all these winter must haves. As a general rule, all winter clothing and boots should be stored neatly in these closets so buyers don’t think the house has storage issues. Skis, snowshoes etc should have a home in a closet or in the garage however it may mean packing away other items to make room for these winter essentials.

Be aware of your home’s temperature. You don’t want your house to be overly warm so your buyers are too hot to enjoy previewing the home. At the same time, we have been in a lot of homes which are freezing – either because they are vacant or because that is how the current home owners like the temperature. Keep the temperature comfortable so your buyers feel welcome and then want to stay.

Warmth and welcome are key aspects to luring buyers out to see your home during colder months. By following these tips and consulting with a professional stager to ensure all areas of your home are properly showcased, sellers will reap the benefits of impressing the buyers who are shopping for properties even when the market typically slows. Regardless of the time of year, a home which has been properly prepared and staged will stand out against its competition, making it the house to see!

Do you have any idea what the dollar value is of a buyer’s first impression?

Home Stagers talk about first impressions all the time. We talk until we are blue in the face and sometimes we are still dismissed with “it’s not that important, I have a great kitchen.”

That may be true but the first gut reaction never goes away. I heard Real Estate Agent and Mogul Barbara Corcoran put an actual dollar value on first impressions and I sat up straight in my chair. I had never heard it expressed in actual $$$ before.

If you are not aware of who Barbara Corcoran is, she is a Real Estate Contributor on NBC’s Today show, part of ABC’s reality hit Shark Tank, as well as a frequent guess on one of my favorite shows “The Nate Berkus Show”.

It was on Nate’s program that I heard this discussion*. A young couple had their home for sale for six months with almost 100 showings and without receiving a single offer.

Nate asked Barbara if Home Staging is really needed and worth it in this depressed economy and Real Estate Market. Barbara’s reply and I paraphrase:

“Home Staging is no longer an option. It makes a difference of a house selling or not. Homeowners do the heavy work of upgrading kitchens and baths but Home Staging makes the biggest difference on first impressions. People walk in and feel like ‘I want to live here. It feels like I could see myself living here’.”

With Designer Nate Berkus’s expertise they assisted this couple with their living room, the first room the buyer walked into. They took down blinds, painted the dated brick, rearranged the furniture which was pushed against the walls, deleted bulky over-sized furniture and a wall unit blocking the view of the fireplace and added some new items.

Do you know what Barbara said was the dollar value to the bottom line for this change?

5% – 7% of the value of what the home is worth!!

Now do you understand how important a first impression is?

With a $400,000 listing that is $20,000 – $28,000.

If you think you can’t afford Home Staging you may want to think again. You may be leaving money on the table.

Let’s put that into perspective so that home owners understand and can compare how much equity they are losing vs the costs of home staging. First of all, there will always be a home staging consultation where a professional stager will walk through your property to give you a PLAN for both preparation (painting/de-cluttering/smart upgrades/maintenance) as well as showcasing (professional staging). The cost of a home staging consultation for a home owner will range between $150 – $300 in our specific area. Remember, its a PLAN customized for YOUR house, not a list of general ‘to do’ items. Additionally, if you select one of Rooms in Bloom’s Realtor Partners then the fee for a consultation will be part of their listings services so you as the home owner do not have to pay anything at all.

If your home has been well maintained and updated then the preparation costs are negligable. On average, preparation costs can range from $500 to $5,000.00 depending on the property. Opting to skip this step and simply showcase the home won’t fool your buyers. No amount of staging is going to hide the fact that your kitchen dates from the 1970′s or that there is pink carpet throughout or that all the  wall colors and wallpaper make the home way too personal and dated.

Once all the prep work has been done, then comes the vital showcasing step. This is where a professional home stager will come in and set up each space to show off all the selling features in each room. Room function will be defined and modern home decor accessories will add that WOW factor which makes properties memorable. In an average occupied home, showcasing will cost between $325 – $800 depending on the size of the home and whether or not rental furnishings are required. In a vacant property, the staging fees are higher because the home stager has to fully furnish different rooms in the home. Typically, our vacant home quotes range between $1,000 – $3,000 depending on the size of the home and how many rooms we need to furnish. This can sound like a lot but staged vacant homes sell a whopping 89% FASTER than unstaged homes which translates into 7 months LESS of carrying costs which is a savings of thousands and thousands of dollars.

So, let’s run a little scenario based upon those numbers for Sue Ann and Paul who have a typical home in Kitchener which will be listed for $379,000:

1) Home Staging Consultation: NO COST as they opted to work with one of Rooms in Bloom’s Realtor Partners who offers home staging as part of his listing services.

2) Preparation: Based upon the consultation, Sue Ann and Paul painted their main floor and master bedroom (5 Gallons of Paint = $225), replaced the hardware on all the cabinets (50 handles = $150) in their home and got a storage unit ($150)  where they stored all their boxes after they de-cluttered. Total Cost: $525.00

3) Showcasing: Sue Ann and Paul opted to go with Rooms in Bloom’s Customized Staging Package which included the rental of artwork, luxury bedding for their Master, beautiful table centerpieces and home decor accents for each key area in their home. The showcasing took 2 hours, the house looked like a model home and the total cost was $350.00.

Total Cost: $875.00

Results: House showed well and got multiple offers over a 4 day span. House ended up selling for just over the list price with no conditions. Sue Ann and Paul were thrilled – now they could go and make the down payment on their dream home and start the next adventure in their lives. Bottom line: It all starts with a PLAN and home owners who invest in both the preparation and professional showcasing of their home get results! And yes, if you’re wondering, Sue Ann and Paul are REAL clients and although we changed their names, this situation just happened in October 2011.

Compare: $875.00 vs losing $22,740.00 (6% of the home’s value)!!

For more information on how to ensure that your property makes a positive first impression on buyers, contact Rooms in Bloom Home Staging & Design Inc. to book a home staging consultation. Rooms in Bloom is Kitchener-Waterloo’s premiere home staging company whose staged properties sell, on average, in less than 15 days on the market!

For a list of Realtors who work with Rooms in Bloom, please contact us. These Realtors are professionals who know that the way in which homes are sold has changed and they emphasize and value the role home staging plays in the real estate process.

Related articles

• Getting Top Dollar for Your Home with Home Staging (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)
• Top 10 Things NOT to do When Listing Your Home For Sale (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)

Why Sellers Should Remove Wallpaper

Today I received a call from a home seller in response to an expired letter. Her home had been on the market for over a year. It was easy to see from the photos why her home had not sold.

Several of the rooms were wallpapered. It looked like something my grandmother would have hung in the ’80s.

I advised the seller that in this current market, it is important for her home to appeal to the largest number of buyers. The best way to do that would be to remove the wallpaper and paint the walls with a neutral color.

Her response, “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re telling me my home hasn’t sold because of the wallpaper?”

Through further questioning, I was able to determine that in a years time, she only had one showing. And that was almost a year ago, when the home first came on the market.

This home is a million dollar listing. Homes at this price point look like something out of a designer magazine. This home is definitely not up to that standard.

From a professional stager’s perspective, this realtor’s advice is spot on. Homes, especially in this price bracket, need to portray the luxury lifestyle that buyers are shopping for. Are they shopping for wallpaper? Not likely. In this price bracket, most buyers will walk away and find a home which has both the upgrades they want AND which models the upgraded lifestyle they want to have.

Here are the reasons she gave for not removing the wallpaper:

1. She paid a LOT of money for that beautiful wallpaper!
2. It’s too costly to remove it!

Here are the reasons why sellers SHOULD remove wallpaper:

Neutral paint colors have a broader appeal to buyers. Wallpaper is an extremely personal choice. That personal choice may not be the same as a buyers. Not everyone is a fan of wallpaper. By removing wallpaper, sellers increase their chances of selling.
The photos displayed in MLS (multiple listing service) have become your first showing. The National Association of REALTORS, reports that 90% of home buyers begin their search on the internet. Buyers determine the homes they want to see by the photos shown in the MLS. If the home doesn’t show well in comparison to other homes at the same price, the buyer will simply choose not to see that home. If a home isn’t being shown, it’s not likely that it will sell.

Wallpaper like this is VERY dating and taste specific

Without wallpaper the focal point is the fireplace and the room has bright, modern appeal!

Removing wallpaper can be costly. That’s right. Removing wallpaper usually requires the aid of chemicals or steam. It can be a painstaking process and, in some cases, damage may occur to the walls. If that happens, the walls may require additional repair. Buyers don’t want to deal with the additional expense or hassle of removing wallpaper. Especially, in a market when so many homes are picture perfect.
My question to the seller was:

Do you want to limit your buyer pool to a buyer who loves your wallpaper? Her response, “Yes, I do.” Obviously, that hasn’t worked so far.

I wished her well and said, “If you’re not willing to take the advice of a trained professional who looks at homes everyday, then I’m sorry I can’t help you sell your home.”

Sellers, do you want to limit your buyer pool to a buyer who loves your wallpaper? Of course not. In order to sell your home, it must appeal to the largest number of buyers. The only way to do that is remove obstacles that will keep them from buying your home.

Additionally, from a pro stager’s perspective, we always tell our buyers that by waiting to remove things about your home which buyers might object to you narrow your buyer pool and risk developing a stigma for your home. Taking down wallpaper or changing out carpet might seem costly but buyers will ALWAYS overestimate how much it costs for them to make the necessary changes. Its always more than what it would cost the seller so rather than risking losing buyers, make the necessary changes first. Reality is, if you don’t, even if you make the changes later, you may NEVER get those buyers back in the door.

Buyers are design savvy; they are looking for homes which have both upgrades and 'the look'!

Why do I say this? Because I want the same thing you want…to SELL your home.

Great post by Tammie White, Realtor @ Benchmark Realty, LLC. in Franklin, TN.

Wondering how best to present your home for sale is stressful!

While that basic premise does involve cleaning, painting, repairing, or editing furnishings; its really about a change in perspective. You must stop seeing your house as your home and instead see it as a product which needs to be merchandised effectively to be sold at the highest price possible. To do this successfully, you must put aside your ego and view the home selling process without emotion. This is probably the toughest thing a seller has to do because to them, the house represents home and it is very difficult to be objective about what needs to be done to get the best possible return on the sale of the family home.

So what does this mean? First off, it means you realize you aren’t selling your home you’re selling someone else’s dream. But it doesn’t stop there; once you understand that your home is a commodity and you’re marketing a dream, that is when the real shift has to take place and your ego needs to move aside.

The way you decorate and live in your home is probably not the best way to market your home. Ouch! Even if it has been professionally decorated (especially then). Even if you clean until the whole house sparkles and you declutter and depersonalize, it’s likely that your personality and the way you relate to the rooms in your home will shine through. It is also a safe bet that your home is decorated to suit your individual tastes, not the broad market. Too often this is the point where the homeseller draws the line, mistakenly thinking that buyers will look past pink carpets, acres of wallpaper and personal decor choices! A seller will think “I think this house looks great! I’d buy it, and if I would buy it,  then other people will appreciate it the same way!”

Selling Your Home? You're Selling a Lifestyle Upgrade not a Dated Time Capsule.

What a shame! It’s likely, with this mistaken thinking, that the seller – you – just turned your back on cash. The truth is, if your house is priced correctly for the market, somebody will buy it. But in terms of maximizing your selling price, a home’s appearance needs to be memorable and impressive to get the best return on investment. The more people who fall in love with your house, the better the chance you will maximize the equity in your home. However it’s more than just getting the right number of people or the right price. Ask any marketing professional and they will tell you that price and packaging go hand in hand. The better the packaging is at selling the dream, the higher the price a consumer is willing to pay. 

Design savvy Buyers pay Top Dollar for Bright Spaces with Modern Appeal

That’s where a professional home stager comes into the picture. Home Stagers understand the art and science of marketing homes. Since they have no attachment to the contents or decorating style of your home they can view your home objectively and make the changes that will maximize your sales price. Additionally, they will have the resources and partnerships to take a home from ho-hum to stunning in a very short amount of time. From modern furnishings available for rental to creative and innovative ideas on how to maximize the value and impact of every space in a home, their assistance is invaluable. An experienced and talented professional home stager will add the tangible WOW factor to a property so buyers fall in love with every space and can therefore justify the list price – whatever it happens to be!

Professional home stagers specialize in marketing homes and creating appealing lifestyles. For more information or to get Rooms in Bloom’s professional assistance with making your home ‘show-worthy’, visit us online today!

A sincere thanks for some article content and inspiration courtesy of Larry Hahn, a Realtor in St. John’s Newfoundland. To read his original article, follow the above link.

Related articles

• Top 10 Things NOT to do When Listing Your Home For Sale (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)
• So You Want to be a Home Stager: Top 10 Things to Consider (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)
• The Power of Paint Colours (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)

In the spirit of being helpful, we have compiled a list of the top ten things NOT to do when listing a property for sale.

Defer Basic Maintenance

Opting to let the new home owners take care of basic maintenance is a highly risky move. At best, a seller may attract a property flipper who is comfortable taking on these tasks and who puts in a low offer or at worst, buyers will be turned off by all the work which needs to be done just to make the house liveable. Either way, its a bad first impression and is often a key reason why a property lingers, sad and unloved, on the market.

Leave up Wallpaper & Borders

Even though wallpaper IS making a comeback, its not wise to leave it up when you go to sell your house. Why? Because wallpaper and borders are often very personal decor choices and a seller seriously narrows down their buyer pool if they opt to wait for someone who will love it just like they do. Murals and specialized painting applications also fall into this category for the same reasons. We can’t stress enough the importance of neutralizing these decor choices with some great modern paint hues which have broad appeal. If only 1 person in 50 likes wallpaper, guesstimate how long it will take to sell the house? If on the other hand a property appeals to 23 out of 25 people, think about how much FASTER it will sell and for how much more money …

Block the front of the House with Bushes & Trees

Yes, and if you’re wondering, I saw THREE local MLS listings today where it was impossible to see the front of the house because of overgrown bushes and trees. Curb appeal is a vital component of getting any house ready for sale as buyers driving by properties at all times of the day need to actually SEE the front of the home.

Pack a Room Full of Wall to Wall Furniture

In order to create strong visual appeal, rooms need a balance of scale appropriate furniture and open areas in which buyers can navigate around or through the room. Rooms which have every wall jammed with furniture and ‘stuff’ make spaces appear a lot smaller than what they, adding visual clutter and turning off buyer’s who are looking for large, bright and airy spaces. It can also end up looking like a seller hosts parties for 20 or more instead modeling a modern, functional living space. A living room for example, should be staged with a sofa & loveseat (or two accent chairs), coffee/end table set, rug to anchor the space and a set of table lamps. That’s it. No bookshelves, curio cabinets, pianos, chests etc unless the room is huge and its possible to define multiple functional areas with plenty of navigation room in between.

A functional and appealing living room

Put up EVERY Piece of Artwork You Own

We like to get a room down to having art or a framed mirror only on one main wall. This visually pulls the eye to one main area (usually a focal wall or focal point) without making the eye jump crazily around a room. Not only does this cut down on another area of clutter but it makes rooms feel larger.

Block Architectural Focal Points in a Room

Architectural focal points are normally features such as a fireplace or windows in a rooms. These are key selling points to a house and they need to be enhanced and showcased instead of blocked with furniture. Many times we have seen real estate listings  where these types of focal points are completely blocked and eclipsed by furnishings within a space. As people are not buying a seller’s furniture, but are buying the architectural elements in a house, it makes sense to highlight these focal points instead of obscuring them. This is where a professional stager can really help; editing out furnishings and arranging them so that the eye is naturally drawn to the right focal areas.

Its Important Not to Block a Room's Focal Points

Showcase a Kitchen or Bathroom Which Features 1970′s or 80′s Decor Styles

We have written blog articles about smart, modern upgrades for kitchens however the bottom line is, kitchens and bathrooms are key decision making areas. Dated cabinets with dated hardware aren’t going to impress buyers. Stained, scarred or discoloured countertops are another detraction for most people touring a house. Paint, new hardware and new countertops are smart and budget friendly upgrades which instantly updates these types of spaces. 72% of buyers who are not impressed by a home’s kitchen or bathrooms will keep shopping and will pay MORE money for a home which features these upgraded rooms.

Bright, updated Kitchens Make Buyers Fall in Love!

Don’t Clutter Rooms up with ‘Stuff’

Heard the saying ‘clutter eats equity’? Couldn’t be more true. Well loved homes feature layers of things which we keep around us to make us feel more comfortable. From extra furnishings to collections showcasing our favourite things, rooms easily become clogged and can appear overwhelming for potential buyers. Peeling back those layers to reveal the true size, shape and function of rooms in a home not only showcases their innate charm but also makes them appear bigger and brighter which in turn increases a home’s intrinsic value. We tell clients all the time that a home up for sale needs to model a lifestyle upgrade because that’s what people buy. They cannot visualize what a room looks like if its filled with clutter, so they will keep shopping until they see a home which models a lifestyle they want to have.

Have Your Pets Meet Visitors at the Door

Pets are wonderful and an intrinsic part of many families however when it comes to selling the family home, just like everyone else has to leave for showings, so too should the family pets. This works fine for dogs and can be worked out for cats but what about other animals? Well, as difficult as it is, when a home owner decides to sell the home, alternative living arrangements for fish/turtles/bunnies etc is one of the best things the seller can do. Not only does help alleviate pet odors, messes and extra equipment but it also alleviates some of the stress associated with getting ready for showings. Buyers will appreciate not having to ‘look beyond’ pet odors or having to tour homes where there pets which make them uncomfortable. Bottom line, a seller wants to make buyers as comfortable as possible in the home so putting pets into the preparation plan when it comes to selling is a very smart move.

Sell a Home Which is Unfurnished

As mentioned above, buyers are looking for a home which models the lifestyle they want to have after they purchase a property. It is an emotional choice which is made after they fall in love with a house, already visualizing how their life will be once they have purchased it. Homes without furnishings lack warmth and appeal; they often appear cold and sterile which turns off buyers. Additionally, a lack of furnishings means rooms have no defined function which decreases the value of the home and when only 10% of buyers can visualize a space with their items in it, sellers are therefore losing 90% of their buyer pool who just move onto the next house.

We hope this helps in terms of what not to do when listing a property for sale. When the average buyer is 28 and the average seller is over 50, there is a significant gap in decor styles and the expectations buyers have today. This young, design savvy buyer pool know what they want and will pay more money for a home which showcases the upgrades and lifestyles they are searching for. Sellers who tap into this need, taking care to invest in key upgrades and staging ensure maximum appeal and a swift, profitable sale of their home.

Related articles

• What Do Your Online Photos Say About Your Kitchener Home? (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)
• Getting Top Dollar for Your Home with Home Staging (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)

Our latest article is one which many people will find relevant as it details some cost effective ways to update your kitchen without spending a fortune. Regardless of whether you are staying in your home or selling it, kitchens are the most important space for a number of reasons. Kitchens are the hub of the home; they are where families come together after a day apart to spend time together. They have to be functional, storage friendly and beautiful to look at as we spend so much time in them. Since our generation is trending towards re-using what we already have and giving it a fresh new look, many of our recommendations are not only budget friendly, they are also great for the environment. We encourage you to pick up a copy of the magazine usually found at shopping centers, real estate offices or even at the local drugstore.

Additionally, we encourage you to send us your home staging and design questions so that we can help you. From color to room function to smart upgrades to .. so much more .. please email your questions to roomsinbloom@hlkw.ca. For the month of June we are are focusing on creating beautiful bedrooms so if you are stumped on how to make-over your bedroom, let us know!

Related articles

• Beautiful Waterloo Home Showcased to Perfection! (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)
• Top 10 Home Features Buyers Want (decoratingdivas.wordpress.com)

It’s really easy to become a home stager – easier than wanting to start in real estate – because unlike becoming a realtor, you don’t even have to take any courses. You can just wake up one morning and decide“hey, today is the day I start staging houses!” Bam! Now you’re a home stager! Do you know what you’re signing up for? Many don’t; they think it’s this glam job where TV cameras follow us around all the time and we get to tell people their stuff is ugly and they should throw it out and buy all new. Ummm .. it’s not quite the same thing and it takes a lot of time, perserverence and talent to make a staging business a success.

So here are the top things to consider if you want to become a home stager:

1) Realtors aren’t always your friends and most of them won’t want to work with you right away. Often home stagers when they first start out think that if they go to the different real estate offices and introduce themselves, bring some business cards, their portfolio and some treats that the realtors will flock to talk to them. Not so much. Because there are SO many home stagers, especially in larger cities, realtors often feel overwhelmed by all the home stagers who drop by their offices. Many are still figuring home staging out and will say ‘no’ without even considering what is being offered to them. It takes time, perseverance and creating a good reputation to change that. Even then, rejection is a normal occurrence even for seasoned professionals.

2) It costs money to start a home staging business – sometimes a lot of money especially if a stager is investing in building an inventory right from the start. From business registration, liability insurance, staging training & education, branding, marketing materials, gas, storage fees, website, cellphone, laptop, camera … and the list goes on. These are all essential business building items however if you didn’t budget for them they can have you wondering what you got yourself into.

3) Its hard prospecting for clients and if realtors aren’t interested in your services then its even more difficult to get actual staging jobs. If you live in an area where staging just isn’t taking off then it can be very hard to make a living staging homes. I know of many stagers who want to work but are frustrated because the people in their area ‘just don’t get it’.

4) While training programs have come a long way, its difficult to find one on one training (without paying a lot of $$ for it) so that an aspiring stager can benefit from the mentoring guidance of someone who is more experienced. Many of the stagers who approach us have taken a staging course but want more in-depth guidance and they would prefer to be hired and trained by a successful staging company as opposed to starting their own. As there are only a handful of actual staging companies across north america – the majority of stagers work alone or with an assistant or partner – so very few can afford to mentor or hire a stager as staging doesn’t really get lucrative until you have established yourself.

5) Home owners and realtors will get upset with you; you WILL offend some of them no matter what you do. Staging by its very nature is intrusive for most home owners and you touch on some very sensitive topics so its only natural that at some point you will offend some of them. Additionally because we tend to work on very tight timelines so that homes can get listed for sale, there is a high level of stress that is felt in both the sellers and realtors and can make for some tearful and angry blowups.

6) Other stagers in your area may not be your friends. As much as we want to all get along, the reality is that stagers are fiercely competitive and some may just not play nice at all. My motto is that I treat everyone the way I would like to be treated and even if I hear that someone else has not been as kind, I can’t let it affect me. Stagers should find other stagers that they can befriend however – whether it’s in the same area or here on AR – its important to have others in your profession that you can talk to as well as exchange advice and stories.

7) The road to becoming a successful home stager is time-consuming. From consults to staging jobs to social media to presentations … and more .. its easy for the job to take over your life. This is one of the areas I constantly struggle with which is creating boundaries between work and my family life. It’s very easy, especially when we are incredibly busy, to be working 10 – 12 hour days, 7 days a week.

8) Bad things can and will happen on the job. From scratching a seller’s brand new cherry floors to dropping their antique birdcage that their husband’s mother bought for them for their wedding, these things will happen. Ensuring you are insured, have contracts with your clients to cover you for when of surprises goes a long way in this business. You can’t protect against everything however and there will be jobs where because something unexpected happened, you make no money or you lose money. C’est la vie.

9) That you need to have a solid business plan - and stick to it – to make your staging dreams a reality. Some stagers never do this but the really successful stagers that I know of have business plans not only for the short-term, but also for over the next 5 – 10 years. They are extremely detail oriented, organized and focused.

10) You’ll need to become a social media expert to some degree to ensure that you are hitting all your target markets. From interactive websites to Facebook Fan Pages to Tweeting to Blogging .. all of these play vital roles in creating a viable staging business. Building brand and name recognition happens slowly however if you aren’t online then the odds are high your target clients will never find you.

11) I know, I said top 10, but I had to add one more! PORTFOLIO! Get one. Make it all your own work and even if its your house and your sister’s house – make it showcase your talent. You can do all the other things here but if you don’t have actual staging talent then nothing else really matters. If you do have talent but don’t have a portfolio then no one will know what you can do. So show them. And don’t pass off stock photos or other people’s work as your own. People find that stuff out and then your credibility is shot so don’t do that.

So I’m not advocating that you don’t give staging a shot, just understand that it’s not as easy or glamorous as its made out to be. It’s very easy to get into the business but very hard to stay in – for many of the above reasons.

Hopefully this list helps aspiring stagers and if there are more things other stagers want to share about starting up their own staging business I hope you will share!

Too Personal Color Palettes Turn Off Buyers

According to HomeGain, painting your home in light, neutral colours has over a 300% return on investment (ROI). Why? Because buyers these days are trending towards purchasing homes which have an overall neutral colour palette. They want a home which is turn key and which has a color scheme which goes with their current furnishings so they don’t have to spend time and money repainting and redecorating right away. In fact, over 62% of buyers these days will spend more money on a home which is neutral and ready to move into than opt for a home which needs some painting and fix ups. We have labelled this as model home mentality and its a very prevalent real estate trend.

Pops of Color Should Be Added Through Accessories

So, when we refer to personal colours, we mean hues like:

Pink: Is the colour of universal love however its also the colour the majority of us connect to pre-teen girls, barbies, pepto-bismol and dated 80′s decorating styles. This is not the colour you want to showcase in your home – not in your walls or flooring. Purple also falls into this same category – these are highly personal colors that only a select few like and want for themselves.

Pink is Pretty but its not for Everyone!

Dark Blue or Green: These colours, because of their dark tones, can make a room feel really dark and claustrophobic. They overpower a space and unless balanced with light hued furnishings, they make rooms feel much smaller than what they actually are.

Red or Orange: Passionate, strong, dynamic colours which add drama and warmth to any space. They are fantastic for decorating a home to live in. They are not great choices for staging to sell because once again, they are very taste-specific. These colours take a lot of paint to cover over – sometimes several coats of both primer and paint – so they tell buyers who don’t like strong colours that alot of work and expense is needed to change the paint in the room.

Red is a Great Choice for Accents or Decorating to Live in a House

Black: Yes, we have seen rooms painted out all black in fact we went through a model home which had a bedroom that had been painted black. Black isn’t a color which we recommend painting a whole room in when it comes to selling your home because it is equally as hard as red to paint over and because it closes a room so that it feels small and dark. Buyers are looking for big, airy, bright spaces so black walls are only going to tell them to ‘run for the hills’ instead of ‘ohohoh I need to make an offer right now!’ Which message would you rather send to your buyers?

White or Lack of Color: Pure white walls create a highly impersonal and almost clinical feel to a space. Paired against gorgeous dark mouldings and trim, white can work really well. With white baseboards and trim, the effect is very stark and impersonal and the space will have little character or warmth. This means that buyers will find it hard to make an emotional connection to the rooms in the home and they will naturally feel that they need to add some color in order to make it feel like home. Again, this means a lot of work for most people and so this is why we recommend sticking with a neutral as opposed to leaving walls builder white.

We have talked in other posts about the differences between decorating to live and staging to sell and we use color differently in both cases. When we are staging a home, we always opt for colors which will open up a space making it feel large, bright and airy. We infuse pops of color through accessories, artwork, pillows and throws because these things by their very nature, are easily changed. What this means for buyers is that they can easily see how their own furnishings will fit right in with the decor without them having to lift a finger to change it. This adds tangible value to a home if they can literally move right in without any additional costs or projects to take on.

When it comes to staging, our favourite colors tend to be gray, brown or soft yellow neutrals. We know this sounds blah but honestly, there are a LOT of different neutrals out there which have these basic undertones and they have depth, richness and character when contrasted with crisp white baseboards and crown moulding. These neutrals have a wonderful transitional appeal which means that they can be used in both very modern spaces and also inherently traditional rooms.

When it comes to getting your home prepared for sale, don’t discount the power of color and don’t wrongly assume that buyers will be simply be able to ‘look past’ your personal color palette. Too many personal colors = too much work for most buyers and this could cost you a sale. Instead, opt to consult with a professional home stager and have them make color recommendations for your home so that when your house goes up for sale, buyers can’t help but fall in love with it.