The Keller Williams Vendor Fair was a blast. I shared a booth with a fellow stager (a great lady I frequently work and laugh with). I met a lot of great people and got a lot of good leads - going to be very busy seeing who and how I can help in the coming days. One agent had tears in his eyes when he described the very sad situation one of his client's is in. I am very hopeful staging will help that poor lady get out of her house, and her situation quickly.
Now, on to that elusive Most Probable Buyer!
Stagers depersonalize. Stagers neutralize. Stagers go in to an occupied house and remove a lot of things, then rearrange what remains to appeal to the greatest possible number of potential buyers. All that means stagers make everything as possible and don't care about design style, right?
Well, that is a very good question.
For some stagers, the answer is, yes, they just remove and rearrange. And, they get good results - the houses sell faster and hold their value better than unstaged houses.
But, some stagers take it a step further. They consider the architecture of the house, neighborhood demographics, and how the house is most likely to be used (primary residence, weekend retreat). Then, they tune their staging to the demographic most likely to buy, and to the architecture.
For example, the house is contemporary with three bedrooms. The MPB is a young professional couple still a few years away from starting their family. The Master Bedroom is staged as the master - a retreat, a wonderful place to rest and recuperate - all stagers do this. The second bedroom is staged as a bedroom, the place guests recuperate. The MPB, seeing the purpose of the room, will easily adjust and increase the purpose to "and we can convert it to a child's bedroom". The third bedroom I stage as a home office. The MPB will feel an immediate connection to this - a place to work, a place away from the TV. Staging that home office tells the MPB the house will meet their specialized needs. This is a huge help towards selling.
On the other hand, still three bedrooms, still contemporary, but neighborhood demographics say the MPB is a retired couple who are going to spend most of thier days on the golf course, volunteering, and hosting guests. All three bedrooms remain bedrooms. Or, if the house is vacant the third bedroom, the last room buyers will view, remains empty. By the time buyers get to it, they should have connected to the house and be ready to imagine using that room to fulfill any remaining needs ("I can make this my craft's room.")
If there is a desk in the kitchen, I may stage a computer on it.
Vacant downtown lofts get tight contemporary staging in a very modern color palate. Vacant country homes get relaxed more colorful staging.
In an occupied house, if I need to pack away three vases and leave only one out, that one is the vase most consistent with the expectations of the MPB - without personalizing or deneutralizing the room.
More about how to figure out who the MPB is and what they want tonorrow!
Have a wondeful day!
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