5 Massive Mistakes Homeowners Make When Hiring a Home Stager
When you decide to hire a home stager to decorate your property to sell faster and for more money, you need to make sure you're investing in the right person. After all, you're trusting someone with the sale of your largest asset, your primary real estate, so youave to be careful to put that trust in an experienced professional.
Having operated a successful home staging business since 2002, and having trained more than 900 people worldwide how to become home stagers, I am well aware of what a homeowner or RealtorĀ(r) needs to look for when selecting an expert home stager.
Here are the five biggest mistakes homeowners make when looking for a house staging professional:
1. Focusing on Price
The last thing you should be focused on is how much the home stager is charging. Saving a few hundred dollars in fees and getting bad advice will cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Of course you have a budget in mind, but you stand to make a huge profit from effective home staging. That's why you should consider hiring a home stager as an investment in the sale of your largest asset. For optimal results, invest in the highest quality stager you can find.
There are ripples being made in the industry in light of a training company that guarantees its students they will make $31.45 per hour as home stagers. You should know that this is not what the homeowner or agent actually pays, it's what this particular company is willing to pay people who take their course, they actually charge the client far more.
Professional home stagers expect to earn anywhere from $250 to $500 for their initial consultation. Beware of anyone willing to work for significantly less for doing work that you stand to make anywhere from $10,000 to $70,000 profit from.
Rates will vary, depending on your geographic location and the stager's experience, but you shouldn't hire someone just because they charge a ridiculously low rate. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
2. Looking for Credentials
Another common mistake is to look for "credentials," since none existin the home staging field. There is no governing body or official organization ruling over the home staging industry. There are no official home staging accreditations or certifications in this completely unlicensed field. The letters you see after some home stagers' names simply come from a particular home staging training company who pushes them as part of their marketing strategy.
Instead of relying on unofficial credentials, look at testimonials from past clients, before and after photos and real estate knowledge.
3. Hiring someone without looking at a website or portfolio
I always recommend that people not hire a home stager unless they have a web presence. Because you're hiring a professional in a visual field, you want to see how they express themselves through their biggest marketing piece - their website. As an alternative to building their own website, many graduates of the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program list their businesses at www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com which is like a mini-website, allowing potential clients to view an online portfolio and learn more about their business.
A professional portfolio full of before and after photos is a must. How else will you know what kind of results you can expect from a real estate stager? Because some companies provide ready-made portfolios to home stagers as part of their training programs, it's important to ask questions about the photos anyone presents as their own work. If they can't tell you details about the property or you've seen the same shots on another stager's website from the same
"school" or training program, this should raise a red flag.
When you try to find a particular home stager's website or proof online of their existence, if you can't find them you have to question how serious they are about their business. Alternatively, if
they have a very unprofessional looking website, you have to wonder whether they'll be capable of staging your home the way you expect from a professional.
4. Not looking for references or a proven track record
Read through the testimonials you'll find on most home stagers' websites. If there are none available (or they only provide initials and not full names), contact the stager and ask if they have any references. You shouldn't hire someone to stage your property without
hearing about others' experience with them.
Every stager has to start somewhere. If they haven't staged a client's home yet, they should at least be able to tell you about the many homes they've bought, staged and sold of their own and be able to provide real estate agents they've worked with for their own homes. The point is to look for practical experience.
5. Neglecting to hire someone with real knowledge of the real estate market
You're not looking for someone who just knows how to decorate. Make sure the home stager knows the local housing market. A home stager is as much a part of the real estate industry as a real estate agent, and they should have a good grasp of the market they're in. If they don't know what homes usually sell for and how long they can sit on the market, you should look for another stager in the area.
Because there isn't an independent organization or association monitoring whether or not a house stager is operating professionally and providing a high quality service, it's buyer beware. If you avoid these five common mistakes as you search for the perfect expert home stager for your needs, you should be pleased with the professional you choose.
Happy House Stager Hunting!
Related Tags: interior design, home staging, real estate staging, home stager, home staging training, home stagers
Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six
Elements and creator of The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program
with 700+ Graduates worldwide. Debra is the author of two home staging guides
and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents
locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar.
To learn more visit http://www.stagingdiva.com
Recent articles in this category:
- Tips For Changing The Basement Apartment Into The Cheerful Place
A basement apartment is identical with a dark place that usually could not offer the feeling at home - The Great New Stylish Home Decoration
Creating a new stylish decoration commonly require a high price including the budget to buy some new - Refurbishing Your Kitchen For A Timeless Look
General preservation of old homes is a favorite conversation for householders of vintage houses but - Simple Steps To Restoring Your Padded Dining Room Seating
While many people would feel comfortable hanging wall tapestries or wrought iron wall crosses or eve - Skylights Texas
Sleep under the Stars with Texas SkylightsBe it glass, fiberglass or polycarbonate, skylights in Tex - How To Choose Shabby Chic Furniture Styles
It can easily be considered that shabby chic furniture is something of an oxymoron, since furniture - The Character Of Chandeliers
Picture a room in which chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Before you start rolling your eyes and wo - Why Buy Cheap Venetian Blinds?
There's nothing inappropriate about getting low cost Venetian blinds. Nowadays you can buy incredibl - Using Swags Window Curtains For A More Elegant Appeal
Living in a house that is well-decorated can make you feel so comfortable and relaxed. Having a well - Flat Roof Skylights
Flat Roof Skylights: Be Your Neighbor's EnvyThe trick to creating the feel of spaciousness and addin
Most viewed articles in this category:
- Home Decor Shopping On The Internet
You need not struggle with the decision on what to buy when you are shopping for home decor for your - See the Difference Feng Shui Color Can Make for You
Those familiar with Feng Shui know that this science has special colors associated to each of the ei - Stage Lights
A live performance is considered the ultimate head rush for many. An act before a crowd leaves no ro - Bedspreads are the First Decision When Designing Your Master Bedroom
Why would you want to start with a Bedspread? The best answer is that there are an almost infinite - Some Interesting Decorating Styles
There are a lot of reasons you may be looking into decorating a bathroom. Perhaps you have just boug - Mix and Match Your Decor for You
Many of us become almost obsessed with decorating styles. We worry about what the current style tren - Candles: Elegant and Popular
Walk into any home these days and if there is an aroma in the air relating to fruit, apple cinnamon, - There's A Place For Everything With a Closet Organizer
When people think about organizing their lives to save time, they rarely think that their closet - t - A Personal Review of the Tempur Pedic Mattress
My wife and I bought a Tempur Pedic mattress back in the early days when most people hadn't heard of - Natural Square Area Rugs: Getting Squared Away
Oh, no. You have a square room, and you are feeling boxed in by your decorating dilemma. Four iden