Phil,

It would have been interesting to see how you stage the bedroom.  Congatulations on your sale!

Phil,

What a great change! Just out of curiousity... how much did the staging cost?

Phil, who paid for the staging? I am a big fan of staging and try to convince all my sellers to do it...at their expense. We have done it with furniture belonging to the seller if they have things we can use.

I found it interesting you did not stage the bedrooms, I have done that as well. I like a fully staged home the best, but if you have to cut somewhere, the bedrooms are one area that might not hurt. If you can stage the master and leave the other bedrooms, that is better.

The way I present it during the listing presentation is like this, "How quickly do you need to sell and how far down are you prepared to go on your asking price?" If they say, "I need to sell quickly and I don't want to go down much at all on my asking price." I come back with statistics on how much quicker and at a higher price, staged homes sell. "You can spend $xxxx on staging and sell quicker, or take longer to sell and reduce your price 4 to 6 times $xxxx as you wait." Smart sellers understand this and go for it. I mention holding costs if they have already moved out. I often point out the timing of the market as well. "It is June (or July) and the best time of year to sell is March through August. If we want to 'catch the wave'  we need to do the things that help a home sell quickly and staging is one of those things. Otherwise, we go into October through December when the market traditionally slows significantly. It is up to you."

Nice work!  Now you've set the bar high for all your future listings.  But we should all be aiming to exceed expectations.

Phil, I agree with Jim, nice work. My question is, was that carpet blue or gray? It looked gray and a good stage throws off the negatives. At least I thought the gray carpet was a negative with the light khaki looking paint. A critic in every crowd, lol.

All in all, it made for a great presentation of the product and visually TOLD people what they sometimes can't figure out, what to do with their furniture.

I love staging and there is a new program on HGTV about this. I do my own staging and I am very cheap. Don't tell anyone.

I've noticed seeing a lot LESS staging being done around here these days. Staging was pretty big, especially in case of higher price point homes when the market was hot but a lot of it was paid for by the agents and they simply knew they would get their money back. But these days even with great staging we have so many homes sitting on the market and no guarantees that the properties will sell that nobody really wants to pay for it. Agents' pockets are dry and sellers aren't willing to spend the money either.

But what a great difference the staging did at your listing!

[Dee sez: It would have been interesting to see how you stage the bedroom.]

I dunno Dee, not sure how mirrored ceilings woulda gone over with the buyers to be!

KIDDING!

The difference between 'before' and 'after' is so dramatic, it's no wonder the result was so powerful. Speaks to the imagination of the prospect and encourages them to envision the house as theirs.

Staging is a no brainer in quality marketing! Though I must agree with Michaela...in this market it may cost you. Great post!

Hi Phil, I don't pay for staging myself, I encourage my sellers to stage at their own expense in veiw of the fact that staged homes sell quicker and for a higher price.

Phil,

Because of the odd layout of the bedroom, I just wondered what would you do with it!  I like the stagging effect especially if you have rooms that buyers may not know what to do with.  My brother has his house on the market (in Virginia) and it has a small master.  His agent suggested that he stage the house and he is thinking about stagging the one room because as you say, it can get very expensive.  The furniture he has is already in his new home and to bring it back opens a lot of 'what if.'  

In the last couple of weeks we have had guest speakers at our office meetings.  Three weeks ago it was a representative from Mayflower movers that have a very reasonable priced de clutter program.  They come in with storage bins and remove all but the essentials, store, then deliver once the home sells.  They were advertising 2 free storage vaults for 2 months then $45 each a month after that.  The cost of the men to pack up was based on 2 men at $85.00 an hour.  

Last week we had a representative from Showhomes.  They claim to be America's largest home staging company so perhaps they are a national staging company?  They do have a twist, not only do they stage the homes with the help of interior designers but also provide a home manager that will live in the house and keep it clean and in show-to-sell condition.  Their website is www.showhomes.com.

Jana

Phil,

Congrats to you for reinforcing staging-it is really the market standard now. I started my own staging company and stage now more than I do real estate.

Phil, great post. Perhaps people that read this will understand the difference between discount and full service and why it pays to hire the professional that uses all the tools available.

Phil, very nice!  I love the vibrancy of the reds.  The difference is remarkable and was obviously worthwhile.  Congrats on the contract.

Gail