All the world is a stage--or should be
Barb Schwarz is a dynamo. After her 90-minute presentation on staging houses, I'm itching to find a house that won't sell and set it free from clutter and staleness and claustrophobia with all the energy and creative genius of a Feng Shui master. I'm convinced I could sell it within weeks--and I'm not even a REALTOR® (I'm an editor for REALTOR.org).
To call Barb's presentation dynamic would be an understatement. She spoke with an ardent passion and respect for both buyers and REALTORS® and stressed the importance of staging a home before it is sold.
So what is staging, you ask?
As Barb would tell you, staging is a few things. It is intelligent merchandising. It is uncovering everything a house has to offer by depersonalizing it. This can mean clearing trees to discover a view the home owners had long forgotten or removing knickknacks from shelves and counters. Last, Barb says that staging is one of only two things that sell houses, the other being price.
She will also tell you what staging is not. It is not spending large amounts of money, and it is not decorating (which is personalizing, and therefore the opposite.)
Over the course of the presentation, Barb gave the audience concrete steps and guidelines to follow when staging a house, as well as helpful sayings, like, "If you can't see it, you can't sell it" and "The way you live in your home and the way you market and sell your house are two completely different things." She positioned REALTORS® as directors who examine and define each room, helping sellers act as producers.
Barb elaborated on the absolute importance of dealing with sellers compassionately. She encouraged REALTORS® not to complain about sellers, but to "understand them before you seek to be understood." She offered insightful ways to bring sellers to a place where they can accept difficult choices--like removing the collection of deer-heads from the living room wall--and emphasized the importance of honesty and respect in all phases of staging.
Near the end of the presentation, the audience was wowed by spectacular before and after photos that showed how radical a change some creative rearranging and painting can produce. Some of these images are visible on Barb's site.
Barb closed on a serious note: More sellers are hiring professional stagers, many of whom hold the staging designation, and many houses are selling based on their work. She encouraged REALTORS® to incorporate staging into their services or at least form referral relationships with stagers, because it is becoming increasingly common and necessary as buyers and sellers grow savvier in the marketplace and demand more from their REALTOR®.
"Don't defend your commission," she concluded. "Be proactive and add more services [like staging]--show people what you're worth, and they won't ever have to question."
Read more about staging a home on REALTOR® Magazine Online.
Comments
Hi Joshua,
I just finished a course with Barb and wondered if Realtor.com has any marketing tool that would allow me to contact just Realtors in Seattle who might now be interested in Staging their listings?
Thanks so much, Susan Gold
Posted by: Susan Gold | November 17, 2006 12:03 PM
Susan,
Good question. You can use REALTOR.com to find REALTORS® in the Seattle area, but there is not a way to market your services to them on the site, as it is built to serve consumers.
I investigated whether you could sort the list of Seattle-area REALTORS® to exclude anyone with a staging designation (assuming they would not need your services), but since there is no REALTOR®-family staging designation, that's not yet possible.
You can advertise to REALTORS® on REALTOR.org, but the audience would be general and widespread. Your best marketing opportunities might be found through your local board, trade shows, list rentals, etc.
Good luck. I hope this helps.
JH
Posted by: Joshua Hunt | November 27, 2006 09:31 AM