Halloween Decorations or DISTRACTIONS?

Well it's that time of the year when the ghost, goblins, gouls come out of attics and basements and into homes. While for some the day is great fun... for other's Halloween carries a negative connotation.

Realtors, you might want to suggest to your seller's that this year they cut back or totally avoid decorating.

As a stager I advise our clients to use VERY little or NO decorations. WHY? For the simple reason... when selling a house the HOME is to be the "star of the show" not the stuff.

PRO OR CON Halloween... NOT decorating makes sense because:

* If a buyer LIKES Halloween you don't want them looking at all the wonderful cute decorating... you want them to see the house.

* If the buyer does NOT LIKE Halloween, you don't want them "spooked" by the decorations.

STAGING 101... When selling a house, make it appeal to the largest home buying demographic possible.

BUDDING STAGERS... here are 7 tips to OPEN DOORS to business.

One of the delights of being blogging is receiving emails like this...

"Hi craig, Im in the process of getting my staging business off the ground but so far no one seems interested! I live in a area that staging is very new. My business is the first of its kind within 100 miles! How do I convince homeowners about staging?
Help in Southern Indiana!"

So here is SOME of MY ADVICE that might help new stagers get going.

To get to the seller... look to the realtor. Make connections with a realtor first. THEY are your initial gateways.

1. Study study study about ... websites, books and classes (either on line or in person) are filled with tips, techniques, info, messaging and facts about staging. YOU HAVE TO BE AN EXPERT... not a wish washy kinda sorta person that THINKS they would be a good stager if they had a good "opportunity". You gotta MAKE the opportunity.


2. THEN Consider your audience and craft YOUR marketing message accordingly. What you say to a realtor is WAY different then what you say to the seller. BUT the message STARTS with the knowledge you have gained.


3. Find a realtor you like, respect and trust. THEN offer your services for free, for the first 1or 2 jobs. Consider YOUR payment to be the real-time experience you get AND the pictures of your transformation. Tell the realtor to tell the seller that THEY will pay your fee. THAT way the realtor looks like a "winner" in the eyes of their client. This is NOT a lie, they are "paying"... as they brought you in and are paying you with their reputation being at stake.


4. When you stage it.... go above and beyond expectations of both the realtor AND the seller. Get them buzzing about you.


5. Fake it till you make it. Be professional and ALWAYS remember you are in the business of FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Everything you do, say and show must PROJECT that you have a command of that concept.


6. Observe and adapt what you say and what you do. Then move to the next and the next and the next.

It really is as EASY as this… and as HARD as this.

USE YOUR EYES!

I know there are those realtors out there that have never heard of staging. So I blog on... for YOU are the gateway for recommendation of our staging services.

If you are interested in considering using a Real Estate Stager... USE YOUR EYES and look at stager’s websites and get a cross section of what the Professional Staging Industry has to offer.

Regardless of WHERE they were trained or WHO trained them, if you USE YOUR EYES you will see the level of quality and skill is "all over the place". JUST because someone attaches the word professional to their name... does NOT make them so.

Some Real Estate Stagers are trained by an organization, some are self trained. (Keep in mind that most people who have STARTED training organizations were not professional trained when they started out>) So more importantly, USE YOUR EYES... you will find there are some AMAZING stagers all over North America.

Folks, stagers are in the MERCHANDISING BUSINESS, they SHOULD be able to merchandise themselves. Go to a stager’s website... look at their galleries/portfolios. You WILL SEE fantastic work... and just plan garbage. Again, I can not stress enough, LOOK at the website...is IT attractive? Organized? THAT should tell you much.

One place to get a good cross section is to look at the stager’s category on the ACTIVE RAIN website. Active Rain is an online social network for the ENTIRE Real Estate Industry. It is a great source of information about the industry.

USE YOUR EYES and see the good Active Rain stagers and use them as a litmus test to which you compare the stager you are considering in your market.

REALTORS you need to know you are the gateway to an amazing beneficial service... but first you must USE YOUR EYES!

Another FEISTY BLOG about "Professional" Staging!

Well is seems like everyone and there brother/sister is becoming a stager. Which is a good and bad thing...

GOOD... because it means the industry and the concept is growing.

BAD... because is seem like all a person needs to do is get a cute name, business card and a “staging fairy” can turn them into professional stager.

Well tonite I JUST went to a staged home site where a “professional” proudly displayed their work. AND I KID YOU NOT... the BEFORE was BETTER THAN the AFTER! The BEFORE was BETTER!!!!!

NOT every home needs staging... AND JUST BECAUSE YOU MOVE STUFF AROUND DOES NOT MEAN IT IS STAGED!

OK, I am a bit miffed! NO, in fact I am VERY miffed. WHY? Because this is NOT helping our industry grow.

Bad staging AND bad stagers makes the rest of us look like a bunch of charlatans trying to take people for a ride.

THE FACT that the "staging professional" did not even have an understanding of what constitutes good staging ticks me off. AND on top of it all this person has the audacity to boast that they are “accredited”.

BUYER BEWARE!

(Previous pixs removed by request)

Your Royal Highness: The CLEAN of Staging

When we speak of staging, we talk of a lot of things. Like thinning, de-cluttering, organizing, rearranging, repairing, trimming, mowing, painting, etc… but Cleaning reigns over all. The house on market should be cleaned as if Royalty was coming to visit… and remember royals wear gloves.

In today’s age, with all the cleaning products and resources out there, there is no reason to show a dirty house.

Buyers notice and comment on dirt. Not only does a dirty home show bad, it distracts the buyer’s attention off the house and on to the dirt… they start thinking about what they would have to first go through to get it clean if they would buy a dirty house.

The rooms that need MOST attention are bathrooms and kitchens. Every nook and cranny, from top to bottom needs to sparkle. Buyers will look at these spaces MORE with “white gloved” eyes than ANY OTHER. So, extra attention may need to be devoted to these areas.

So remember when the Royal buyers come to visit… keep it clean.

OH, and when showing remember to put the lid down on the throne!

A Stager's Website

Since I have been blogging I have be in contact with so many people "intrigued" with staging and the possibility of staging.

I am honored to "field" the questions of stagers or wanna be stagers ( by "wanna be" I mean people intrigued in the opportunity staging offers). So many have asked for my advice about staging and marketing staging services, to which I ALWAYS answer...

STAGERS are in the business of AMAZING first impressions. EVERYTHING we do has to convey a understanding and knowledge of a good first impression.

But latley I have found stagers that display their web links that either:
1.) Do NOT work... and say they are under consruction....or
2.) Have one or two sets of before & after Transformations, that really are not that impressive!

FOLKS... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember you are in the first impression biz... BE IT! LIVE IT! SHOW IT!

Be POWERFUL and make a impressive statement for the sake of your own business and the industry.

An event INSPIRED by a blog community of friendly cooperation

I am thrilled to share what I have been worked on ALL day yesterday. I finshed this ad that brought together a message of unity and cooperation among realtors in one building.

Influenced by the kind and generous spirit of cooperation shared between realtors on Active Rain (an online real estate industry community) a realtor/friend of mine Annie Alexander, of Keller Williams, and I came up with the idea of creating a building wide Realtor Open House Tour.

Knowing and believing that synergistic teamwork can create so much more... we developed what we call a "POWER TOUR". We were able to get 11 of 14 agents that had listings in one building to work together to create ONE BIG Realtors OPEN HOUSE that will take place next Tuesday from 11AM to 2PM.

As they say, there are no orginal ideas and I know that this type of thing "has been done" before. However I am new to the world of Real Estate, so for me it is a new thing.

Getting 11 agents to work it out so that their schedules jive in a highly competitve Chicago condo market was a bit of work.

Anyway, we are calling the event “TOURIFFIC!” You can see a sample of the ad created for the day below.

Real Estaging is "staging" the day by coordinating the event. This is just one of the many ideas I have to make a stager be MORE of a resource to the realtor and the seller... I have a few other "things" I am going to do during the Power Tour to make it flow.

NOW if I could just create this same spirit of cooperation within the staging community… I would be thrilled.

Be careful what you ask for

Well this past week has been the busiest of my life. Hard, long and both physically and mentally exhausting. This is the one thing about staging I fear all the staging seminars are not teaching in their weekend workshops.

I woke a 3 AM 3 times this week to try to get on top of all that we are doing. I have lost count on the number of 16 hour days I put in this week.

For so long I wished to have a career like this... and now that I have it, I gotta admit I am not enjoying the dance as much as I thought. But I will NOT let one week get me down.

For in spite of it all... I am still in LOVE with this STAGING thing. WHY?!!!!because it works.

So for now if I need to spend hours upon hours trying to work in and then streamline and organize my company I will. The rewards for everyone are just to wonderful.

To all the realtors that use a stager... I hope you realize what all that it takes to stage a house. It is so much more than fluffing a "nic-nak." Hug your stager.

OH and if you don't have a stager... get with it. This stuff works.

Prop Libraries, are they worth it?

To follow up on an earlier blog, I wanted to share with other stagers my thoughts on why creating and maintaining a Prop Library is a GOOD business decision.

While some stager's suggest that it is easy to find perfect "hidden treasures" in and around a home that could be used to stage the property, I find THAT is not always the case. In fact I find it not to be the case most of the time.

If the purpose and reason for staging is to help the seller BEST prepare and merchandise their home for its sale, then why would you NOT want to have a Prop Library? The access to our library gives us the ability and flexibility to provide an effective and COMPLETE staging solution for ALL clients... regardless of need.

Prop Libraries REALLY help the seller. They save the seller time as they do not have to go out to find a "prop" on their own. It saves them CONSIDERABLE money, for they need not buy items at FULL retail. And, let's face it, even if they have the time and money to go out and shop, some sellers lack good taste...remember scale, proportion, style and color DO matter.

Working with and having access to furniture rental companies furnishings is helpful (and we do use rental companies when the job calls for it). But recognizing their own limitations a MAJOR furniture rental company here in Chicago looks to us to add the "bling" on top of what they can provide.
The NEGATIVES about having a Prop Library are:

1. They are VERY expensive to create, manage and maintain.
2. It takes time to source and stock... and time is money.
3. Managing what is going out and coming in is a logistical hassle (we are currently having a software application created to manage this for us)
4. Moving props in and out of a property as many times as we do creates wear and tear on the props, and sometimes damages beyond repair.
5. Warehousing is another financial issue.
6. Shipping to and from requires having or renting a truck/van.

So why do we do it? Because, it BEST serves our clients.

To date, our library valued at nearly $80,000 sends a STRONG message to our clients that WE believe in staging and a commitment and investment in a Prop Library will differentiate you from the competition.

Prop Libraries send the clear MARKETING MESSAGE... "you don't dabble in staging, you DO IT!"

Staging should BLEND with the house

Recently I came across a blog by Debra Gould the "The Staging Diva" in which she said that staging should NOT "...look contrived and artificial, it needs to fit the mood of the house. You shouldn't be able to walk into a home and know who staged it because they always do the same "look". Nor should you walk into a home and know immediately that it was staged at all!" I totally agree!

In fact I advise Realtors not to tell the buyers that a property has been "staged" as you do NOT want a buyer feeling as if they are being tricked or duped into liking a property. Nor do you want a buyer thinking they have more negotiating room... because it has been staged.

But I have a totally different philosophy than Debra when it comes to owning a Prop Library. We do own an extensive (and when I say "extensive" I mean EXTENSIVE) Prop Library of nearly 2,000 items... and growing.

The key to using props is that they need to blend in. In almost every home we stage... we have found it necessary to add props. Sometimes it is just a few things... other times (like in the case of the "Bachelor Pad from Hell) we brought in hundreds including a bedroom set for a small ackward vacant bedroom. In our website gallery you will find many many Before & After images of properties we have added props to (and I am not talking about the vacant spaces) and you will be hardpressed to identify our props from the seller's personal belongings. Regardless of weather they are purchased or rented the mark of a "good staging" is that added props should subtly blend in, yet enhance the properties overall appeal.

Recently we worked with an older couple (just married for a second time) who were blending 2 households... and the kitchen table he had been using for years in the property they were selling was way to massive and overpowered the kitchen (pictured below).









And while he and his 2 sons had learned to live with and around it... it was NEVER right for the small kitchen of 3 bedroom home. We brought the table and 4 smaller chairs (because at least a family of 4 would most likely be buying the home) in from our own Prop Library. The "staged" kitchen now made visual sense (in terms of style, scale and proportion) to the buyer.

Thanks Debra... once again you prove yourself to be a wealth of information, ideas, and a source for creative insite to the staging community.

Church Blocks view and ends sale.

(Alternate blog title: "God really knows how to be a kill joy!")
So all week long I have been "ranting and raving" about the high rise luxury condo we just had completed staging and how the priced was raised and how a person who had first scene it at the lower price was now considering it at the higher price after touring it 2 more times (for a total of three tours). Well this staging story does not have a happy ending.

The buyer opted NOT to buy this beauty, out of fears that the new Episcopal Diocesan Office building which is scheduled to be built in the block north of this condo would obstruct the amazing view.

The Episcopal Church desperately needs new office space to support its growing ministries and came up with a GREAT idea to lease the land they own to a developer who would then build a 63 story tower.

This new building (only one block off of Chicago's famed Magnificent mile shopping district) would not only house the new diocesan offices, but condos, shopping and a Canyon Ranch Hotel and Spa. Actually I gotta admit it is really a GREAT solution... and is not going to cost the Diocese anything to build their facilities... so the monies that would typically go to building... can go to those in need.

How do I know all this... that's my church. But sometimes you gotta laugh at the irony in life. How I would have loved to tell the story of Staging a place and having the price raised and it being sold in 4 days to a person that originally toured it at the lower price. But to be honest... I'd rather tell the story of a great church doing amazing work for those in need in the world.

WOW... so much positive feed-back so fast!

In my blog post from earlier today I was glad I could show you all just what we do. Staging really is a great tool for you and YES I do love it. But I love it because it "works" on so many levels.

Think about it... so even if the seller ends up selling it at the price he INITIALLY listed it for... he comes out ahead.

It does however take a lot of work to accomplish this so quickly... AND while I was doing this one with my team... we had a second team working doing the exact same thing in a second home. PLUS we have yet another totally vacant property to do this upcomeing week... so keep watching.

THANK YOU for noticing that each picture is from the exact same vantage angle. I have been a stickler about that (for the reasons you point out) and if you go to our website gallery you will see that we do that in the 100's of photos of before and after photos of our work.

Finally... I wish Real Estaging could help all the agents I have met here in this blogging community who are scattered all over the USA. Just know that there are other wonderful stagers out there in your area. BUT becareful... there are many less than talented amatures out there too. If I can be any assistance helping you evaluate a stager you are interested in working with... just ask me, I would love to help in any way I can. After all THAT is what a community of colleagues is for.

Craig

Here are another set of Before & After Photos from the same project.









Before & After photos copy written by REAL ESTAGING. 2006 ALL Rights Reserved

Asking Price RAISED $55,000 after Real Estaging!

I know I keep ranting and raving about how staging can impact the asking price of real estate. So I am just THRILLED to share this story of a property we JUST finished staging yesterday morning (September 1). We fully staged the Foyer, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Hallway, Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom of this luxuary condo with VIEWS TO DIE FOR!

The realtor, who has used Real Estaging services before knew the quality of our work... when she recently got a listing she convinced the seller that if he had it us staged it he could ask for more... $55,000 MORE! Our fees are well covered and the seller stands to walk away with alot more cash in his pocket. Plus the seller can expense our fees as and advertising expense... reducing his capitol gain. WIN WIN WIN!

The realtor no longer is selling a drab vanilla box. In fact, yesterday... no sooner had we finished then the realtor had a second showing... to someone who had already toured it when it was listed at the lower price. They buyer was blown away.

Here are before and after pictures of the living room... the before pictures were taken a week ago TODAY (on Aug 26th). The after pictures were taken YESTERDAY (Sept 1).

Needless to say this was A LOT of work... but I am thrilled with the result. Oh and by the way, ALL props are from Real Estaging's Prop Library.

I'll keep you all posted as to how this story transpires.... just remember QUAILTY staging is well worth the investment!

Craig

Before & After photos copy written by REAL ESTAGING. 2006 ALL Rights Reserved

Curb Appeal Dilemma (Humor)

Seller's know that curb appeal matters. Unfortunately, many seller's they have limited budgets to spend when they are preparing their properties for sale.

So we at Real Estaging have come up with a novel solution for the seller who not only needs to repaint the exterior of their home, but also need some landscape. We call it PaintScaping.

Now even sellers with limited budgets can benefit from a fresh coat of paint AND a well manicured yard.

Another advantage for seller's in northern states is that the home will be in full bloom EVEN IN THE DEAD OF WINTER.


PaintScaping... another QUALITY service of Real Estaging.

History CAN repeat itself... even for stagers

I love the staging industry... but sometimes I am dismayed by it.
I can't help but compare what I see happening in this industry to what has happened to the auto industry.

Years ago (back in the 60's) my father bought a Toyota. People laughed, ridiculed, and dismissed these cars by calling them names like "rice burners". No one thought GM (and even Ford) would ever have anything to worry about from this small manufacturer way over on the other side of the world. So GM went about its ways, doing what it wanted to do, THINKING it was an untouchable "star" and professed to know it all.

Last weekend... when I went car shopping with my in-laws (both retired factory workers from Wisconsin farm country and in their 70's). They bought a Toyota! After years and years of buying American cars, they decided to buy what they KNEW was a better product.
Today it is indisputable that Toyota has raised the bar in THAT industry... so high now that GM now is scampering to keep up with it.

Sad part is that GM could have maintained its leading role in the industry if it didn't spend so much time investing in its own righteousness and spent more time listening to the consumer and leading the industry in quality and innovation.

Mark my words, if things don't change in the staging industry the same will happen to those who profess to be leaders... but now are becoming more petty and self absorbed. AND, because of the internet it will not take 40 years.

I see and have been told by others in this industry of those who spend more time and energy holding tightly to what they say is theirs. They put more energy into holding on tight that they miss seeing new innovative ideas & creativity and they loose respect of those who once looked to them as leaders.

People might think and say I am ignorant & naïve... but like Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota, I believe much more is possible.