Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Home Staging - Stage it Right with We Stage Sacramento

When you want to Stage your house, contact the professionals at We Stage Sacramento. With the most years of experience in our region, and the most expertise of any company in the area, we are the right choice for your Staging needs.

Some stagers want to force you to rent expensive inventory to help "showcase" your house, but the truth is, unless your furniture has been totally chewed up by the dog, or is missing a leg or two, it is probably just fine. This is because Staging is not about Decorating. We are not selling your things, we are selling your house. We do want your house to present well - and so the experts at We Stage Sacramento have a few tricks up our sleeves to help present any house in its best form including slip covers, artwork, area rugs for color, and creativity to know to best use your things, and combine our decor only when needed.

There are other Stagers that dabble in Staging because "it's fun!" - and they are hobbyists. They are probably not insured to protect you, your house and their things eitehr because as a hobbyist they don't want to invest the hundreds of dollars annually to provide proper insurance. This means "Buyer Beware." In fact, you need to ASK to see the valid insurance policy before hiring any home stager. When a lit candle "prop" that is not blown out can burn your house to the ground, don't you want to make sure there is someone responsible financially behind the Staging? We Stage Sacramento is fully insured to protect our clients.

There are other Stagers that woke up one day and decided to "be" a Stager. Maybe they watched a bunch of episodes of HGTV, and then "voila!" they found their calling. They printed off business cards at home, and set up shop. No training, no code of ethics, no accoutability. So when they mishandle your project or client, there is no recourse for you - because they don't answer to anyone else. This is risky for you.

Make sure that the Stager you choose has training - and the best training out there is through Stagedhomes.com and the Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) Course. Developed by Barb Schwarz, the Creator of Home Staging, the ASP Course is the most thorough and professional course for home stagers. Others out there have either copied (poorly, I might add) her format, content and ideas, or come up with their own by deviating away from the roots of Home Staging and focusing instead on things like feng shui, decorating, and design. All We Stage Sacramento team members are ASP Graduates and we attend our annual Home Staging convention for the latest ideas and services for Staging.

There are Stagers out there that also don't believe in professional associations for ongoing learning and networking. This is also a sign of someone that does not want to be accountable, nor grow in their skills. Our team are members of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP), the first and only professional association serving the Home Staging industry internationally. Requirements to join include educational and professional standards of excellence. There are other groups out there, but they let anyone in - with no professional standards needed. Again, this is risky. Stick with those that are part of a proven group that has standards and sets the quality level for the industry.

Staging it right means Staging with We Stage Sacramento - as we fit all the criteria listed above. Check out other stagers. They are either part-timers, Realtors that dabble in Staging, or hobbyists. There are very few full-time Stagers in our market. I am proud to blog about our team - we are dedicated to Staging, and are still standing proud in our Staging shoes even with the toughest market we have faced in the six years we've been serving the Sacramento region.

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