Personally, I think staging is important, but not necessary to go all out.  Avoid having the empty cave feeling by warming place up with cook books, bottles of wine, glasses, place settings, hand and bath towels.  These are things an agent can keep and use at minimal cost.

I have had sellers ask about staging, but they don't want to pay out of pocket for full out staging in any form.  I get "I thought that was your job."  That's why it's so important to spell out exactly what you are willing to do for your commission in the listing presentation.

If we could just get them to get rid of those people pictures (family photos, etc) and get rid of the clutter and half the furniture, that would be a good start.

http://RealtyByDan.com

I will take my sellers through a listing of mine that has been staged and then I will take them through a home that is not staged. Then I ask the question, now do you see the value in staging? That works 9 times out of 10.

Space clearing also 'energizes' the house. Definitely a big thing.

It can also be cool to photograph a house you know is going to be staged or cleared 'before/after' to show a new seller the contrast.

When I briefly worked for a new home builder, they did 'vignettes' like Bee described. Very minimal, yet maximum effect.

Roberta, you posted on this a while back - are you looking for staging work?  

While I feel that staging is important - if you were the lowest best priced condo in the building - that unit would fly fast - given a good location.   The seller might not have seen the full advantage of staging and maybe, just maybe, the furniture budget might have been too high for a low priced sale.

If it's the property on Marine Drive, it had a nice floor location and congrats on 87 DOM!  

Unit 310 sold close to list.

Unit 1511 sold over list.

both of those properties took a long time to sell.  

The question to ask ourselves:  Is it worth it to stage given the low price and the location?  Can this be justified in the final sales price?  If those questions are qualified then it is a good thing.  Remember, it's not our money.

But staging does help when layout needs to be enhanced, guided, etc.

I agree that staging is important, but sellers just don't want to spend the money doing it!  Well most of them anyway!

Staging? Ha! We're delighted if we can get them to clean and tidy up sometimes. LOL

Seriously though, staging just hasn't become a part of our local real estate market yet.  We've 'heard' of a few homes that have been staged but haven't actually seen any of them... except builder models of course.  We spoke with a person who is trying to get her 'staging' business off the ground but the expense involved was way beyond what any of our sellers are willing to spend without hard evidence that it would bring a faster sale and/or higher sales price... personally, I'm unconvinced myself so I don't think I could sell them on the idea and expense.

Roberta, hey, I'm up for it.  

On the staging - the condominium developers and builders need serious help.  Reach out to me and I'll let you on some insight..

Staging works but certain elements have to be in place like location, price, etc.  I am not opposed to it at all, that's why I asked you the question on staging.

Best,

Barb

There is a DVD that I ask my customers to watch prior to listing (actually there are two!

#1 - A home staging DVD from http://www.peggyscorner.com/index.html

#2: "Pricing Your Home To Sell"  by David Knox.

BOTH very good DVD's!

I don't give much credit to chiropractors or stagers. Interior Designers and Physical Therapist when you need them. Otherwise, Steven's DVD is all you need.

that and LOVE!

We're always giving you lots of love, Gregory :)

That's the magic word. It keeps me coming back here to see ya.

I actually do believe that staging will be more and more important with the market times we are seeing (Chicago's northern suburbs in my case). While I can't see the sellers spending thousands of dollars on staging (renting furniture, etc.), I think they'll be more willing to spend couple hundred dollars on the stagers advice as to how to de-clutter and reorganize what they already have at the house.

I offer a staging booklet.  And www.peggyscorner.com is offering staging your home on line.  Not sure what the price is but you download pictures to the web site.

This survice is available in Nov 07

www.peggyscorner.com  

My staging booklet I can mail or email it to the client is about the basics

including the importants of cleaning the house. How the agent can't market the house well if it's not clean....won't list if it's not clean

etc.  I thought about a staging class but only when I get everything else I want first.  That really is last on my list.

Roberta, I've found that higher end property owners are more willing to invest in staging.  Most of the people I'm dealing with are younger families or elders and they just don't have that kind of cash.  Younger families also have a difficult time "living" in a staged home.  

Also, and I think this was mentioned earlier, many sellers are all in favor of staging until they realize it's not included in the commission.  They consider it "advertising".  There's no way I can afford to pay for staging for a client.

HGTV has a great page on staging that my sellers have found helpful.  I tell them I'm no staging pro but here are the things I recommend.  Sometimes, like Tim says, it's hard enough getting them to sweep the floors and do the dishes (even with a dishwasher).