Monday, July 28, 2008

Home Staging for Investors

Home Staging - the tool that helps Buyers imagine themselves living in a house that has been presented for them - is not just a marketing tool for traditional sellers. Home Staging is also a key tool for marketing Investor properties.

A professional Home Stager can offer valuable assistance to an investor that is picking up properties sight unseen at auction. The Stager can help with everything from remodeling the property - coordinating local service providers, handymen, contractors, as well as help select options for improving the property for Buyers. Instead of selling a "blob of oatmeal" - real estate jargon for a house that has beige wall, beige carpeting, and bland appliances - a Home Stager will know what colors and materials to use based on the market and type of house, helping the Investor place their funds in the most important areas and priority items for the house.

Home Staging once the house has been repaired or remodeled will help it show better to Buyers on the internet, in photos, and in person. This is important as the Investor property is now competing with normal resale homes as well as the foreclosures that are still on the market. Investors that are able to place a small investment in the Staging of their property up front, will recoup that money in the sales price and time on market.

On average, Staging of a vacant house can be as little as $750.00 to about $2,000 depending on the size, style and price of the property. Some Staging companies can offer Investor Staging packages for their clients - addressing key areas of the house with furniture and decor that will help highlight key rooms. Even with with ongoing rental of about 50% of the upfront Staging investment, the overall fee for Staging the house is less than a price reduction. When an average price reduction is 5-10% of the list price of the house, the Staging will then help the Seller - the Investor - keep that much more in their pockets.

Some Home Stagers can help with additional marketing of the property once it is Staged - and offer to place it on various websites and share the property informaion with their sphere of influence, helping give key exposure to the property.

Investors that are savvy enough to purchase properties and take advantage of a sluggish real estate market need to keep in mind that Home Staging is a savvy marketing tool for that property when it is reintroduced to the market. When the Investor changes hats and becomes the Seller, it is important to put the best face forward for the house they are now selling - and make it appeal to all Buyers, and Home Staging is the key to open that door to Selling Success.

For information on Investor Home Staging, please call We Stage Sacramento at 888-WE-STAGE, www.WeStageSacramento.com. We Stage Sacramento has Staged over 2,500 houses for sale since 2002, and is the largest and most versatile home staging company in the greater Sacramento area. Contact Jennie Norris, ASP Master, IAHSP, for more information.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Home Staging - It's All About Packaging That Product to Sell

Home Staging is all about Presentation and Marketing.

Sellers that understand this are going to be able to benefit from the process of preparing their house for sale.

First, when Selling, it is important to understand that the Home you have been living in is now a House that is coming on the market - and it going to be marketed like a Product - and this Product will be competing against other Products on the market. Much like you go to a grocery store to purchase items, you would not likely grab the crushed box of cereal or the one with a torn edge or label. You would select the one that looks the best. Product Packaging.

We live in our Home, we Sell our House, and we Market the Product.

I first learned this concept under the mentorship of Barb Schwarz, the Creator of Home Staging, who incorporated Staging long before it was the "hot trend."

That mental transition has to take place in order for us to truly be able to move out of our home - and present the house for a new Buyer.

The process of Staging involves neutralizing the house - but this does not mean making everything plain and of one color like oatmeal. It DOES mean we need to remove things that are too personal, potentially offensive, or distracting for Buyers. It also means we need to think like a BUYER and ask ourselves, "Would I want to see this in a house I was touring as a Buyer?"

What I have found in my years as a professional ASP Home Stager is that when a Seller resists Staging their house - even in a small part - it is because they either do not understand WHY they need to follow the process, or they are not motivated to sell. My job as their Stager is to help them understand the reasons why we do what we do in Staging - and to help them along the way.

When a House is Staged properly, it can be Marketed right, and Buyers will be able to make an emotional connection to the house - and feel like it could be their HOME. So we go full circle.

Buyers are looking at Products on the internet and screening them out. They tour Houses to see which one is right for them. And they make an offer on a HOME they want.

When that happens, we know the Staging has worked, the Seller is happy, and the Buyer is Home.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Home Staging Roots are Long and Deep - the Truth about "Where Staging Came From"

Barb Schwarz, ASPM, IAHSP, Certified Speaking Professional, has been recognized for many things in her career - Successful Realtor, Broker, Mentor, Motivational Speaker, and Creator of Home Staging. In this last role, she once again demonstrates why she is at the forefront of the real estate industry as a visionary and expert.

I felt the need to post this blog because I have seen the industry change in the past 6 years as a professional home stager, and certain areas like training have been flooded by many that want to profit off the need for education. That's fine. But I keep my ear to the ground and hear the craziest things about "how" someone supposedly came up with the idea for their course or association - and this post is about giving credit where credit is due - and about being honest about origins and education.

Having had the privilege of being in Barb's company many times as a student, mentoree, and friend (more like family) I have seen how dedicated she is to furthering the education of the public through press, seminars and one-on-one conversations about the benefits of Home Staging and how it can change lives, one at a time. She literally sleeps, eat, and breathes staging, and no one that I know is as devoted (or as she says, "possessed") with this responsibility of properly educating the world about Staging.

The roots of Home Staging are long and deep and like an oak tree have stood the test of time. The character of an oak tree is about strength, courage, endurance, and truth - and this is a great parallel for our Staging industry and Barb Schwarz, President & CEO of Stagedhomes.com and President of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. Barb is not "perfect" but if she has made any "mistakes" in her journey, they are few, and her successes are many.

Over the past 36 years the service of Staging has been shared with over a million Realtors and helped launch the careers of independent business owners that started a home staging business. For over 15 years in the 1980s and 1990's, Barb toured the country, sharing the benefits of Staging as a key marketing tool for Realtors - reaching mass audiences and nearly 1 million Realtors with her message and success principles. Since that time, she continues to educate mass audiences, with her Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) Course - the first course, designation and Accreditation developed for Realtors and Stagers.

When she created the first professional designation for Home Staging in the 90's, she opened up a door for many others that would come years later that saw an opportunity in the educational arena. She clearly remembers the moment she had the vision to create the first professional designation - and it was a vision for the future. Ask others about their "moment of inspiration" - I know it was not the same as Barb's - where hers came from a spiritual place of a calling that was bigger than herself and was not about ego.

It's like that movie "Working Girl" when at the pivotal part in the movie, Sigourney Weaver's character is asked how she came up with the idea for the project, and she bumbles and stumbles - because she did not originate the idea, and she instantly loses credibiltiy and respect for lying to her colleagues and trying to claim someone else's work as her own. Wouldn't life be great if it were so easy to expose "imposters?" (or at least those that are not truly honest about their own education origins?)

In a place where Barb nearly lost her life, and did lose her ability to walk and talk for a period of time, the vision for a designation and industry that would parallel the National Association of Realtors and National Speakers Association are clear benchmarks in the development of the educational process that has now reached thousands of Stagers and over a million Realtors. Most of the others have come from a place of competition, of trying to benefit from what they saw as a profitable industry, and were not born from innovation or inspiration, or heart.

We have had posts on the origins of home staging where others have claimed to have been the first, and I have even heard first-hand at trade shows those that were associated with Barb's claim THEY trained Her - which is laughable.

Some of these people's claims are just fraudulant - they never were in the real estate industry and so would not have been able to come up with the concepts, phrases and processes Barb developed as a succesful Realtor and innovator. And yet they are teaching programs that are eerily similar to the ASP program developed by Barb and based in HER years of success in real estate. She even has a book that was published in the early 1980's where much of the content of her program is published - so the idea for the ASP designation and course was based largely on her stories and success principles chronicled and documented in this best seller. No one else can demonstrate that clear connection or history in the industry.

She was recognized as one of the Most Influential People in Real Estate - as voted on by her peers in the real estate industry. Other awards that I have seen are given by relatives or friends of those that are nominated and in my opinion do not have the same merit and prestige as the nominated field was not all inclusive, not voted on by peers throughout the industry, and for some was rather incestuous.

My research on the various companies out there that offer any sort of Staging education - from very basic information with little or no credibility to a handful of companies that actually offer a respected designation - is that they ALL can trace their roots to Barb in some manner. If they were not a student or former trainer of hers, they saw her on the road or read her books on Staging, or perhaps saw her videos from years past. There are those that have come at this whole staging industry from a different origin - decorating or design industry - and so their roots are not in, to me, the purest form of Staging - which is real estate and marketing. Still, they have used the model Barb set forth in her company to build their own training organizations. There may be one or 2 exceptions - but I believe I am pretty accurate based on my research.

Some may dispute my statement above, but go ahead and do your homework, like I have. No one else can boast 36 years of history in this industry - and no one else remembers the day they said the word "Stage your house" for the first time - and created an entire vocabulary related to what we do - stage, stager, staging, destage, etc. - and so I know that the others that came after Barb, like myself, would have found information online or in a book store, or from word of mouth that winds its way - even if in a small thread - back to Barb. All you have to do is ASK - and listen to their answers and find out for yourself where the truth is. Fortunately, the truth is documented and published in books - so it's pretty hard these days to claim something as truth that can easily be disputed by the facts found in many places.

There are those that have blatently (and illegally) taken her copyrighted materials to form a framework and basis for their own "training" companies. There are those that have studied with her, or served with her company - and have started competing groups without even giving credit for where their knowledge came. Some of these people were like family - invited into Barb's home and life, loved by her, and the way in which things unravled were painful and incredibly mean spirited towards Barb by some. Still Barb marches on - because she has to - because she is driven by more than just her emotions that I am sure made her ask herself "is this all worth it?"

These people amaze me - It's as if they want us all to believe they woke up one day in the past few years or less, and had all this knowledge on their own. It sometimes makes my stomach turn to see people that have used Barb to further their careers turn against that which made them successful. No matter the circumstances for departure from "Barb's world," the fact remains that there have been many that have built their next move on her shoulders. I, for one, would like to see that acknowledged but to do that it takes courage, grace, honesty, and integrity. I could not sleep at night if I knew my entire existence as a company or entity was based on anything but truth and honesty.

The media exposure opportunities shared by Barb willingly with her family of ASPs has created a basis for "expertise" in Stagers that today refuse to even acknowledge or honor the source of their so-called "fame," and yet continue to hang their hat on their participation in segments originated with Barb - that she did not have to share - in order to perpetuate their status as an expert Stager or Realtor.

I have not yet seen any other supposed "expert" involve their fellow colleagues or graduates in as many segments, articles, and events as Barb has. Well - part of that is because they don't get the same volume of media opportunities. Others hog the spotlight for themselves - and Barb shares - as it is one of her foundations and commitment to those she serves.

I don't have a problem with other companies taking advantage of a training industry, or others that want to help Stagers launch businesses. That is not the point of this blog post. I acknowledge there are some good courses out there headed by wonderful people. And there are those that I would not give a second glance. My issue is with those who conduct their company with such little integrity - not giving credit to the origins of THEIR own education (formal or informal) and instead want us all to believe they came up with all the ideas for their program on their own.

Each time someone else comes out with a course, program, group, or association (and I know we have not seen the last of "new training companies or designations"), I smile inside because I know for the most part that there are no originators - just immitators. Some have said to her, "You changed my life,"or "I did not know Staging even existed as a career and business for me," and then go off without regard to their origins or remembrance of who got them started. Others may toss in items about decorating, feng shui, etc. - and may call things different words or use slightly altered phrases, or even different methods to educate their students, but in the end, they are emulating the one that started it all - started us all on this wonderful journey in Home Staging - and that is Barb Schwarz. Just give credit where credit is due.

As Barb frequently shares, life is too short to be in the darkness - and instead of using her time and energy to pursue or dispute those that have not honored the origins of their education - she moves forward, using her ideas and vision to move ahead at light speed, paving the way for the future of home staging, always rooted in the truth, with courage, strength and endurance - just like the oak tree.

For me - that is the type of person I want to be around - and I do hang my success - not on the shoulders of Barb Schwarz - but in the heart of what she shares with each person she meets - and touches their lives for the better.

- Jennie

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Foreclosure Home Staging

The foreclosures that are flooding many regions of our country are of great concern to many in the real estate and financial industries, and of course, to homeowners that live in these areas. As more of these vacant homes are put on the market for sale, the only consideration seems to be Price as a strategy for getting these properties sold.

The fact is, a Foreclosure property needs to be treated lke any other house for sale. The difference, of course, is that instead of an individual homeowner selling the house, the bank or financial institution is selling the house. However, Buyers are the same. Even when Investors are purchasing the house, it should be presented in a way that helps it stand out from the other houses on the market.

Enter Home Staging. Home Staging is the only tool that has been proven to help a house sell in a shorter period of time which helps the seller (bank or individual) retain more of the house's value. Just because the bank is losing money on a foreclosure property, they can still invest in a reasonable amount of Home Staging to present the property for prospective buyers.

When the carrying costs on a foreclosure property are in the tens of thousands of dollars, Staging is a minimal investment that will help get the house sold. Price is not the only strategy that helps sell a house. Buyers respond to a Staged home because it feels better than the other empty houses and is easier to imagine living in - and the buyer is then more likely to purchase the one that shows well in photos and in person that the one that has not had any preparation or marketing done to attract a buyer.

When a foreclosure property does not sell, it eventually ends up in auction - where the bank loses an incredible amount of money and potential profit versus selling it with a traditional real estate process.

I would love to see bank managers, asset managers, other real estate owned managers of these financial institutions take an honest look at how their properties are NOT being marketed for buyers and make a small investment up front to Stage the house - and price it for the market - but not just blow out the price as their only sales strategy. The other homeowners that live with the foreclosures in their neighborhoods that are driving house values down, down, down would support and effort by the banks and lending institutions to help the houses sell sooner than later.

This is especially true because the demise of the market is tied to the selling of loans to unqualified homeowners - and this whole mess was created by the banks that are now stuck trying to offload properties. In my opinion, the lenders created this, and the least they can do is do MORE to help these properties sell and help protect the value of the houses and homeowners that are hanging on to their properties.

Home Staging Convention - IAHSP & ASPs Lead the Home Staging Industry

I just attended the annual IAHSP Convention in Seattle and it was so great! I am so excited to share all the new services and tools with my clients - as no one else in the industry has the resources - than Accredited Staging Professionals. Stagedhomes.com has put together state-of-the-art and cutting edge products and services that will make our role as ASP Stagers serving sellers and Realtors even easier!

I met so many wonderful ASP Stagers from all over the United States and Canada that are working to grow successful Home Staging businesses. The open sharing of what is working in all markets was so helpful, and the high level of education we received invaluable. The convention featured speakers that shared on key marketing strategies, internet marketing, working with clients, integrating multi-media approaches to our presentations, and business management, inventory mamagmenet, and business planning. We heard about key new market niches we can approach to grow our revenue and continue to thrive in Staging even with some areas where the foreclosures have outnumbered traditional listings.

Overall it was fabulous and Barb Schwarz, President & CEO of Stagedhomes.com, was the visionary behind our Convention and inspiration that fed our spirits and hearts throughout the event.

I am excited to depart from Seattle in a few short hours and get back home to Roseville, CA where I will be implementing many new services for our key clients.

Home Staging works - and I am so proud to be associated wth Stagedomes.com and the ASP Masters and ASPs around the country that uphold integrity as the number one trait for business.