Despair

My stager friends and I are somewhere between despair and anger.

A few months ago, one friend looked over a neighbor's house. The neighbor had done their own 'staging'. I told you about it in a previous blog: tschotkes everywhere - beautiful, expensive porcelains arranged in huge grouping of dozens of objects; gorgeous, expensive furniture arranged to live and to block or hide the room's best features. A wonderful house, but arranged to live and not, definitely not, to sell.

The neighbor chose to list the house that way. After all, the listing agent said the asking price was reasonable and there was no need to stage.

They just dropped the price $50K.

Assuming the stager did the work - the most expensive way to stage - professional staging would have run under $2K, with a small on-going cost for a storage unit to protect the excess furniture and decorative items.

Would staging have made a difference?

We stagers think it would.....and we each have stories to re-enforce that thought.

Today, I do a Staging Consultation (what I call an Informal Staging Plan) for a new client who is selling by owner. Smart person - my charge will be minimal, they will do the work themselves, and they will greatly improve the marketing of their house.

Have a great day!