Home Stager's Websites are the Display Windows of their Skill & Talent

I believe that the home staging industry is in the business creating amazing first impressions; therefore, I often search the Net for websites of home stagers to check out what kind of first impression they ARE or ARE NOT creating for the consuming public.

I first started doing this 3 1/2 years ago when I was opening my own staging business and researching the staging industry. At that time, two home staging company's websites caught my attention and left me with an amazing and favorable first impression. Those two staging companies were: Nest Home Design in San Francisco and Dekora in Vancouver BC. (They still are shining examples of professionalism.)

A little while back, I happened to stumble upon and then was blown away by the website of Turton Interiors. Then, just yesterday, I found yet another great website… Bella Casa Staging. It happens, by coincidence, that both of these stagers received their initial foundation training from the same training resource (stagedhomes.com), however each has gone on to find their own unique way to express their creativity, staging styles, and business acumen within their individual websites. It is also important that I note that both of these stagers have chosen to further differentiate themselves within their respective markets by NOT having a web presence provided exclusively through the company that provided their initial foundation training.

In my opinion these 4 staging company websites embody the essence of GOOD home staging. Just like a well staged home, these sites are fresh, clean, uncluttered and easy to maneuver in and around. All are stylish and creative, simple... not flashy. They are well thought out, and beautifully display both creative skill and talent. When a consumer visits these sites they can SEE that these professional stagers know what they are doing.

Now, as more stagers graduate from the multitude of staging training companies and enter the home staging industry and as home staging continues to gain in popularity... it only makes sense that more and more of the consuming public will first "shop" the internet and use a stager’s website to "pre-screen" them. It is only natural that prospective clients be attracted to stager’s sites that are beautiful, simple to navigate and demonstrate an understanding of scale, proportion, color, and balance.

As a professional stager, “who you are” and “what you can do” must be displayed on your site. With the accessibility and ease of digital photography, Before & After Galleries/Portfolios are essential to a home stager in there website. By investing no more than $500 in a decent digital camera and then taking the time to READ the operation manual and learn how it works will pay off.

If you are serious about growing your business and differentiating yourself from other home stagers, I suggest you invest in and create your own website that is a beautiful "Display Window" of your talent. To help, I list and link (in the right hand column) many of the best sites that I have stumbled upon, so that those of you who are committed to improving and growing your own staging business can easily access examples of some of the best DISPLAY WINDOWS with the Home Staging industry.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois

(This is Part 2 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 1, 3 & 4 are below.)

When one of the most architecturally significant areas in the world is right here in Illinois… in the Oak Park / River Forest area! For it is there that Frank Lloyd Wright had his first "studio" and created his famous and easily recognizable architecture design known as the Prairie Style. When touring the area it is easy to spot amongst the gorgeous mansions and tree lined streets the historic Architectural masterpieces, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

However, due to this area’s close proximity to Chicago, builders find it profitable to tear down less pleasing older homes and replace them with new homes featuring all the amenities today’s homebuyer expect and enjoy. And it is at this point that my staging story begins.

Real Estaging was recently contacted by a builder who last fall completed building a totally new home in River Forest. But this home was no “ordinary” home. From inside to out… the builder built with accurate attention and detail his own Frank Lloyd Wright style masterpiece. Built-in handmade cabinets, inlaid woods, barreled ceilings, etched glass hutches where just of the few prairie style elements that were designed into this new home. In fact, the home even has a cozy inglenook fireplace. (How COOL is that?) This home of “yesterday” that was built “today” is a magnificent feast for the eyes. Unfortunately it wasn’t selling.
Real Estaging know that a home on the market MUST appeal to the LARGEST buying audience as possible. Working against this beautiful Prairie Style home’s sale was the fact that it was TOO Prairie Style. For while potential buyers liked the home… they could not understand or envision how their lives (and their stuff) could fit into a home with such a strict architectural style.

In fact our Services Specialist in the Oak Park / River Forest area, Susan Hamaj, had to explain to the builder that it was NOT in his best selling interest to stage the vacant home with Prairie and/or Mission style furniture. WHY not? It is because the average consumer does NOT typically own that type of furniture... and might just feel a home in that manner would be too hard (expensive) to appropriately furnish.

So we at Real Estaging went to work, staging this vacant home to help SELL it. I have to admit this was a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be. However, here are the results of our staging efforts... to which the builder was quite pleased. It is important to note that while we created a look that HONORED the style of the home... we were far from being Prairie Style purists. Our ultimate staging goal was to create an appealing home the AVERAGE home buyer could see living in.

Now we can say when it comes to Prairie Style homes... Real Estaging stages it Wright!

POST SCRIPT: This is the 2nd blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 1: Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka Illinois
• Part 3: WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging
• Part 4: I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!

Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka IL

(This is Part 1 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 2,3 & 4 are below.)

Since I started blogging about staging I know I have shared and yapped a lot. Unfortunetly, lately I have been very quiet... but for good reason. WE HAVE BEEN BUSY! (Thanks to all who have sent emails asking me if all was OK.)

Anyway, I thought I might share some of what our crew here at Real Estaging has been working on that has kept us ALL so busy.
Here are a variety of pictures from the second staging project we completed for a "boutique" builder I first blogged about last summer entitled: UPSTAGING the Competition. The first property we staged for the builder had been on the market for nearly 10 months when he finally agreed to have us come in and stage it. But once did stage it, it sold in about 45 days. Needless to say the builder was SOLD ON STAGING.
So when their next property was ready for market, instead of waiting to see if the HOUSE would sell, the builder had us come and stage it the INSTANT it was ready.

The builder, Sandstone Bluff Properties is METICULOUS in their renovation efforts and the result is a stunning $1,850,000 home... this time in Winnetka Illinois. (This builder really creates renovation miracles!)

Needless to say Real Estaging is proud to be the staging company associated and used by this quality builder on Chicago's North Shore.

Above is a sample of Sandstone Bluff Properties L.L.C. and Real Estaging's work... if you would like to see more go here: http://www.1353tower.com/ (Be sure to click on the Panorama Tab.)

POST SCRIPT: This is the 1st blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 2: Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois
• Part 3: WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging
• Part 4: I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!

MY ADVICE: Don't drink the Kool-Aid, but keep your Staging Training Pride!

Last July, when I was invited to join Active Rain, the real estate social network, I knew it was going to be a very special site. Right from the start I was amazed to see how Realtors from "competing" companies reached out to their colleagues to freely share information that helps and betters their "rivals". So it is no surprise then that because of all of the shared generosity, Active Rain has been a successful and rewarding venture for ALL who participate.

When I started on Active Rain, there were only a small number of Home Stagers on the site. Slowly, at first, Stagers found and began contributing. Amazingly, Stagers from across North America (YEAH CANADA!) started sharing ideas, challenges, frustrations, tips, successes and techniques to staging homes and running home staging businesses.

When Active Rain created the "group" feature, Stage It Forward was born. Stage It Forward now provides Home Stagers with ONE easy forum and resource where, regardless of where one’s foundation training was received, all can gather and learn MORE and become BETTER Home Stagers. Any Home Stager who has spent any time on Active Rain in Stage It Forward knows the benefit from diverse and free flow of ideas and dialogue that takes place each and EVERY DAY.

So as more and more home Stagers find Stage It Forward… just know that when you come gushing in with "foundation training pride” know at times it looks like you "drank too much of the Kool-Aid" from the company that provided your base training in home staging.

Just know that Active Rain and Stage It Forward are places where Stagers and the Home Staging Industry has and will continue to grow to greater heights through the simple acts of kindness and sharing.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Raise Your Standards by Setting Your Sites Lower

As a professional home stager I know what home buyers look at (regardless of where, when or how they see it) matters greatly. In fact, I believe in "SEEING" so much that I am ongoingly investing in and building an entire company devoted exclusively to improving what home buyers see and visually experience when they shop for real estate.

So to keep my eye on what is happening with technology and in the marketplace I often go out to realtor sites to research and SEE just what has been featured by realtors for buyers to look at and evaluate on the web. And I have to admit it surprises me to see so much sloppy photography that realtors use to market their client's properties.

One of the MOST common problem I repeatedly see is with photo composition. So often I see the interior room photos featuring far to much of the ceiling in the photo... and I don't know why. Seriously... when was the last time you had a client ask you to show you a house with the biggest ceiling? If you ask me, with digital photography being easy, quick and cheap, there is NO EXCUSE for this to occur in room shots. To me... in the not too distant future, bad photography this is going to be the sign of a lazy agent.

Now, there are times when ceiling beams, light fixtures, skylights, or some other feature or element on a ceiling should be featured in the photograph... but let's face it, this is typically NOT the case for the majority of the homes that are being photographed. Below are 12 of nearly 50 images I found last week when for about 1¼ hours I sat down to do some on-line industry research. I’ve posted these examples because I know SEEING what I saw will help SEE what buyers are SEEING.

TIP: Showing more of the floor is typically better then more ceiling. So the good news is it does not take expensive photo editing software or classes in photo composition to correct this common error. All it requires is that the realtor take an extra moment and look at what is in their camera's view finder and lower it if too much ceiling is being included in the shot.

I write about this VERY basic point about real estate photography because as more and more consumers rely on internet sites to prescreen and preview properties, the knowledge and application of BASIC photographic skills is going to be a simple yet critical competence that WILL distinguish the amateur from the professional realtor.

So remember, simply lower your sites and you will quickly raise your own standards and gain the marketing advantage shooting and posting good room photos will make in creating that favorable first impression of you are looking to gain for both you and the properties you are selling.

Stage it forward...
Craig (Me)
NOTE: While some of these photographs have other quality issues... for the purpose of this posting they were selected for how they featured ceilings.

Home Staging is Sweat Equity ON STEROIDS!

Agents, with the spring real estate selling season just around the corner I think now is the time to FLEX YOUR MINDS to make a strategic point about pricing point! While real estate staging will not raise the appraised value of a property, STAGING A HOME CAN STILL CAN BE A VERY PROFITABLE ENDEAVOR for the home seller!

Consider this... As every real estate professional knows, a property that goes up for sale on in the market has a possible low/high listing price range. This low/high price is primarily based on features, condition and finishes and of course location.

But did you know that if staging is done properly, and timed right, the asking price can be raised toward the high side of the listing price range? This raise in price can be considerably higher in some cases!

So, if one regards staging as "sweat equity on steroids!" and if you are able to convey that fact and your sellers stage BEFORE they list (in fact the "sweat equity on steroids!" analogy is a good way to explain to sellers what staging is) then staging can bring HUGE returns to them... and a faster sale to you.

Here at Real Estaging our best "sweat equity on steroids" success story was for a young couple who last spring ended up raising the LIST price of their house for $20,000.00 MORE from what the realtor originally was going to list it for, had we not done to work of staging!

YES, it is possible to stage a house after it has been for sale in the market for awhile... but proper timing does matter. If everyone (seller, agent and stager) wins bigger and better from by staging that occurs prior to listing the property... then why not stage from the start?

The listing agent and seller both need to understand that staging BEFORE a house before it goes to market is key to tapping into the financial rewards possible from staging. That is why Real Estaging coined a simple phrase... "stage it, list it, show it, sell it." It is THAT ORDER that ultimately works the BEST!

So realtors its time to FLEX YOUR MINDS and bring this strong and profitable venture to your sellers.

Stage it forward...
Craig (Me)

DO YOUR HOMEWORK... before you sign up for home staging courses

With more and more people positively experiencing the rewards of all that real estate staging brings to both the home seller and real estate professional, Home staging has begun to bloom in interest and knowledge of it continues to grow.

So, with so much positive feedback and real estate industry "buzz" about what a professional stager does... people are looking at home staging as a career option and are researching home staging training resources for professional classes and courses.

Each week more and more people are asking me for my opinion home staging classes. So to make it easier I thought I would take a pro-active step to help those interested in home staging training. This past weekend, I when I was working on updating the look of this blog, I decide to create one comprehensive listing where many (if not all) the resources that offer kind home staging educational training courses in North America could be easily referenced. WOW was I very surprised to find 30 (large and small) companies across North America that offer classes in home staging training courses.

So if you are personally interested in formal classroom training in real estate staging, let me give you a VERY IMPORTANT Tip #1… OPEN YOUR EYES and LOOK at the companies offering foundation training. Their websites are windows into their ability and professionalism.

As you click on each you will start to SEE for yourself who leaders are and who are not. Tip#2 look for copy write dates. If the site has not taken the time to update a small little copy write, what makes you think they have update the details of their curriculum?

Finally the biggest TIP of all is 3#. Its really quite simple, when researching these companies and their informational web sites, keep in mind that the career you are undertaking is Home Staging. This is the business of creating AMAZING first impressions. So if a company is going to TEACH it... they should BE it. EVERY element of their site should be clean, clear, beautifully display and convey just what they are about. They SHOULD be and LOOK like leaders in the industry!

To date, the industry has evolved enough to have trained and produced a number of individuals who now have gone out and applied and perfected their skills and are now offering their own courses. So another KEY POINT to remember is that while the “biggest” may not be the best for the small “mom and pop” shop just offer a less expensive and more comprehensive training package. This is where you must LOOK to do your homework.

I believe there are NO coincidences in the world… so oddly, as I was researching and composing this post, I stumbled upon 2 other separate and unrelated post on Active Rain, that shed new light on the subject of home staging training.

The first was a comment by (literally) "the staging diva" Debra Gould on one of my older blogs that to this day gets quite a bit of traffic... ASP? HSE? What's-a-stager-SUPPOSED-to-be? Debra who teaches foundation training offers her wise insight to anyone considering training. I encourage you to check out what she said by clicking the link above.

The second was very revealing (if not scandalous) blog about training posted by a Shell Brodnax also on Active Rain. Shell worked for 4 years for one of the largest professional staging training organization in the country that expounds upon the fact that they “certify/accredit” people who take their course.

The blog Shell wrote sheds some interesting light on the subject of training from home stagers. For in this blog she explains that while students had enjoyed the initial training experience, they soon became disillusioned after getting out in the real world and having to deal with what was NOT trained or covered in the EXPENSIVE course they took.

Shell's lists of 35 questions she often had to dance around, when asked by graduates after training. Shell speaks to the complexity of what it REALLY takes to stage a home, and run a staging business. She shares with us all some of the basics that NEEDS to be taught by organizations claiming to offer professional staging training.

Bottom Line... Home Staging is NOT just fluffing a nick knack, it is a BUSINESS! So if you are going to invest in your time and money for a future career, look for companies that not only trains staging... but focus on teaching the ins and outs of owning and operating a home staging business.

So I guess it comes down to… let the buyer LOOK and be aware.

Stage it forward...
Craig (Me)

Post Script: I happen to know that this is one of my most visited posts... if you are looking into a career and training in home staging I STRONGLY encourage you to read this: Home Staging 101: Day in the life of a stager- this ain't for the faint of heart! This post by Kate Hart is a bit tongue-in-cheek... but it REALLY is what this "glamorous" industry is all about.