A stager’s mantra for real estate agents and sellers is: “Cheap Staging isn’t Good and Good Staging isn’t Cheap.”
It is a constant in our business, educating sellers and agents who use cheap stagers or AI generated fake photos. It cannot, and indeed must not, replace an industry practitioner who invested in learning to be the best at what they do, so someone else (agent and seller) can make more money than the stager!
Why it happens emanates from a belief that staging is a “necessary evil and loss of money” instead of the strategic marketing investment it is.
Today, to be hired in such a competitive world, your work as a stager MUST be outstanding so the mantra changes to OUTSTANDING staging isn’t cheap but it is worth it. What matters most in the end is the result…the property sells, and the seller makes more than their investment back with massive interest, BUT there are results and then there are OUTSTANDING results.. the difference is in the practitioner.
Recently an agent I know, listed a property “As Is” with AI generated rooms for comparison, BUT the list price was $300,000 LESS than others in the market. Guess what? It SOLD woohoo for her. She said the sellers had not upgraded house during their 30yr inhabitancy, hence it needed about $150,000 in upgrades to make it look like others on the market.
Had the agent referred the work to a certified staging professional, they would have known what to do, how to access money to do it, and provide access to the contractors to make it happen quickly. And guess what? The Seller and agent would have benefitted from the extra money that the property would have sold for, which would be at least $150,000 more than they got AFTER deducting the upgrade investment. Who can’t use an extra $150,000?
Talking about …
Getting a house ready for sale isn’t the time for fake photos, a Band-Aid, or lipstick solutions, if the maximum ROI is to be generated. The service from a well-trained and certified staging consultant is vital before listing with any agent. You need someone who will tell the seller what needs to happen, to get that high ROI.
Now, as a staging practitioner, you must create work at a level beyond what can be done by a seller, or an agent who wants to “save money” by doing what they think is a “good enough” job themselves. 100% of the first impression is via photographs so your level of work must exceed average. Scale, proportion and balance need to be applied with a full understanding that you are not decorating the room for the seller or agent, your eyes are on that future buyer. You will not reach outstanding results with passe inventory.
Things that make your inventory look cheap:
- Plain, flat pillows, in wrong size & too many of them
- Small rugs are less expensive but throw off balance and do not elevate the look – looks like a tiny floating island.
Rug rule is: all front legs on the rug or all off, leaving no more than two inches from rug to legs. - Matchy-Matchy anything: furniture, lamps, pillow shams,
- Generic, basic, homemade, or cheap canvas art and fake headboards.
- Furniture which is out of scale for the room. Example using small nightstands with king/queen bed. You don’t want tiny night tables flanking a large bed. For traditional beds the nightstand should be mattress height, or no more than two inches below, allowing at least
1-2” from the bed and the side wall. The width for queen would be 30”and 36” for a king. Low platform beds with just a mattress mean the nightstands would be 12-18 inches tall, which throws off the proportion in an 8ft room. https://www.livingcozy.com/blog/nightstand-dimensions
We have come a long way since the conception of staging, realizing it is not something to “play around” with when equity is at stake. Doing absolutely everything necessary to please the buyer, attract and satisfy the buyer AND ensure outstanding photos, is the role of the Stager if they are to be considered, respected and sought out as an expert in the field.
Sellers, Agents: Staging is an INVESTMENT not a cost, or waste of money. If you tend to try to skip it, do it cheaply, cut corners or only do part of the house, it would be better to think of what is gained by hiring an expert to do the very best work possible.
BTW: The agent shouldn’t be paying for staging – their commission is earned by marketing the listing and finding buyers with the money. The fee for the staging professional is best paid for by the seller. Why?
Two reasons:
1st the seller more than recoups the investment with the better sale price.
2nd the seller stands to make the most money in the whole transaction and has a vested interest in the work being done well. An agent trying to eek out a staging fee from a not yet earned commission is likely depleting a marketing budget which would be better invested in video, ads, luxury materials, outstanding photo spread, open house events.
There are a million ways to cut corners to do anything cheaply, if that is the goal. The question to ask is WHY would you gamble the end game with your largest investment.
