10/15/2018
Excellent article by stager Christine Rae. I especially love the quote at the end by Kelly Peletier. Spot on.
"Even though staging is the single most valuable service to use in preparation of selling property that provides measurable value, we still battle ignorance and inflated egos.
Here is a perfect example. Recently there was a post from a” famous” popular TV personality. She and her husband have a show flipping property. She reveals the top five home-staging mistakes she's seen, so you know to avoid them when selling your home.
This is what she said: Mistake No. 1: Purging all your family photos
"You’ll hear staging experts say to take down your family photos, kids’ artwork, and anything personal, so a potential buyer can picture their family in your home, rather than seeing yours everywhere," says Jo. "Personally, I love knowing a house is well-loved, seeing those personal touches displayed reminds me that my family will be happy there, too."
Whether a TV personality or a real estate agent have an opinion (and believe me we have had highly respected real estate agents post on FB that stagers are wrong to suggest removing all family photos) they shouldn’t voice it- it doesn’t help, only hinders.
One said he believes the photos bring the essence of family to the home and helps sell the house. Those are personal opinions and they are NOT correct. Proficiency in their own specialty doesn’t make them experts in ours.
The first problem with comments like this that they totally discredit staging experts!
An expert is someone who has a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly.
Stagers don’t post negative comments encouraging sellers to not listen to agents. It is like saying don’t listen to your doctor or your accountant OR a house inspector. Flipping houses on TV does not a stager make!
Secondly, staging experts advise sellers to pack all personal and family items, including calendars and medication for very particular reasons. First and foremost is the protection of the family. No one touring the property needs to know the name of the seller, their children’s identity, what school they go to, or sport team they play on, which university the seller attended or what they do for a living. You never know who's walking through the house during open houses and not everyone is there because they seriously want to buy. Some are just nosey and predators could use it as an opportunity as well, another reason why calendars are packed away.
Not one client has disagreed with this once it is explained to them.
Understanding the psychology of how buyers buy is an aspect of the selling property process that Certified Staging Professionals study. It is very important to understand staging is for the buyer- not the seller, not the agent..the BUYER. So, another reason photographs get packed is in support of one of the most difficult parts of convincing sellers to pack up early, is breaking the emotional connection they have with their home.
Expert stagers explain disconnecting emotionally is vital in order to objectively process the recommendations. Also, every time the word home is used, emotions are engaged (good and bad); house or property is better. Removing medications is to prevent pharmaceutical theft and nosey neighbours knowing what is going on in the seller’s life. Packing collections – even million-dollar art collections, is to help the buyer visually connect to the features of the space not the collection. The average buyer takes three minutes to view property; where ever the eye rests the sale begins, the work of a stager is not about decorating space, it is an awesome responsibility to visually show the buyer how they can live in the space not how the current owner does. Seeing photographs of another family is a distraction from that goal.
CSP Master Kelly Peletier summed it up well: “I tell owners when you go to a hotel room if they had photos on the wall, of everyone who had ever used the bathroom & slept there... how comfortable would you feel there?"
Staging well involves creative talent, science and psychology – don’t undervalue the power of it, and don’t discredit those who specialize in it and earn a living doing it. "
