Why is it so important to work with a professional, experienced home stager when selling your home? To answer this question, I’d like to share this story with you!
I received an inquire from a real estate agent but did not hear back when I followed up. This happens from time to time, you can’t win them all after all. Then, about a week later, the same agent gave me a call in a panic. She had hired another stager to provide her clients with a consultation and it had not gone well. The homeowners felt like they had not received the advice they needed and where lost as to what to do to prepare their home for market. The agent needed a second consultation.
When providing a consultation, a professional needs to be able to immediately see the challenges and offer a variety of options to overcome these issues in order to showcase the property at its best. This particular home had a difficult layout and the paint colors were dated but the homeowner was adamant that they did not have the time to repaint. This meant I would need to get creative in finding a way to create a welcoming, contemporary feel despite the outdated color palette.
After a discussion with the homeowners, I was able to provide them with a list of actionable tasks to be completed in the two weeks that followed. I was able to provide them with the resources, including labor, to move their heavy furniture out of the home and bring in rental pieces that would make more sense in the space. While these are not inexpensive changes, the homeowner agreed to most of the recommendations and was impressed by the quality of the furniture and accessories we brought in to transform the home.
At the end of project – the results speak for themselves. The home sold in just 5 days, well over the asking price and above the current estimated market value. A wise investment paid off!
So what can we learn from this story? I think there are a few lessons here including:
Don’t make cost your number one consideration! Your home is your largest financial assets, especially in a sellers market. Investing in the expertise and services of a skilled professional just makes smart financial sense in the long run!
Realtors, work with professionals! A trained, well-seasoned professional home stager will help you look great in the eyes of your client. An unprofessional or inexperienced stager can do the opposite.Be sure to check the stager’s portfolio, reviews and references. Your partnership with a professional stager can determine the success of your sales and can help support the growth of your business. Any professional you introduce to your clients should help to alleviate their stress of preparing the house to sell, not add to it.
Remember that old saying, “Penny wise, pound foolish?” Well, my industry has its own version of that: “Good staging isn’t cheap, cheap staging isn’t good.”
iSO Design™ offers professional home appeal solutions in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding areas. Whether your home improvement goal is to live, love or sell iSO Design makes it easy and will help you get there quickly, effectively and on budget. We’ll give you peace of mind – and the WOW factor you’re looking for. For information on our redesign, home staging or home organization services, visit isodesign.ca or call 416.993.0131.
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