Sour Economy Forces End to Staging

By Christine Rae

Got your attention, eh? Isn’t it amazing that negative headlines capture our attention more than positive ones?

Well now that I have your attention may I set your mind at rest by saying the necessity for staging your listings has not gone away.  But what has gone away is half-completed staging, surface staging, fluffy staging and vignette staging.

You might say I have a vested interest in saying these things and I do but they are for sure happening. So putting your head in the sand and ignoring these changes may cost you a listing or your customer to lose equity return.  What do I mean?

When things get tough, and times are leaner, many people cutback on marketing, which I think is crazy since marketing is a leading contributor to sales success. Most marketing gurus will tell you to evaluate marketing but stepping it down in tough times sends a message all of its own (just as stepping it up would).

Staging property is a marketing advantage that you cannot afford to forfeit. You don’t know what your competitor is doing, also many home sellers are contacting stagers directly in order to maximize market appeal.  This will be your competition.

Oh, by the way, stagers are good sources for listing referrals! Have you ever thought of that?

What is important for you to know is that the staging industry has grown exponentially. Therefore, there are great stagers, bad stagers and those who muddle Read more