If you are one of the over 2 million real estate agents in the United States, there's a good chance your business is struggling. Agents across the country are feeling the pain of today's slow real estate market. I hear similar complaints from agents all over - from Florida to California. Their commission checks come so intermittently these days that they've taken to staging their clients' homes for free, hoping to sell their listings faster and for a better price. They think this will lead to more listings. Does anyone else see a problem with that?
First of all, as a real estate agent, your time is money. While you're donating your time to help your client rearrange their furniture, sort through their junk, choose the perfect paint color for their den and decide whether or not to move the baby's crib out of the office, do you realize the significant amount of time and money you are wasting? Not to mention the risk of offending your client and losing the listing altogether?
If you list four properties this month and spend an average of four hours staging each of them, you have wasted sixteen hours, or two entire workdays. How many homes can you show in sixteen hours? You could have planned, advertised and attended five open houses in that amount of time. When you're in the business of selling real estate, your strengths are presumably finding and selling property for your clients and negotiating the best deals for them. If you are personally staging your clients' homes for free, those negotiation skills are being wasted on domestic disagreements over paint chips and furniture placement.
Many real estate agents approach me, looking for information on the best way to use home staging to boost their business. My standard answer to these agents is actually in the form of a question:
Do you want to be a home stager with a real estate license, or a real estate agent who stages houses?
Your answer will determine what approach you should take.
A significant number of real estate agents who take the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program do so because they're tired of selling real estate as their primary source of income with all the inconveniences this entails. They no longer want to be on call 24/7, miss family time on evenings and weekends and feel like they live out of their cars. They want more control over their schedules and to be paid for their time.
Real estate agents enrolled in the Staging Diva program are there to learn how to make a very good living staging homes, not how to stage houses for free as real estate agents.
As students of the Staging Diva Training Program, they learn how to be home stagers who also happen to be licensed Realtors, rather than real estate agents who happen to stage their listings. If you are an agent first, your focus needs to be on turning listings, not fluffing pillows and sorting clutter.
If you fall into the category of wanting to be a home stager with a real estate license, there is a great chance you will be given a lot of real estate listings. The majority of my home staging clients are homeowners who are just about to list their properties, and they haven't signed with a real estate agent yet. Many would happily list with me because of the relationship we've built as I staged their home. For a home stager with a license, that's a great listing opportunity!
So what does all this mean? Basically, if your passion for selling real estate has fizzled out and you're sick of being on call 24/7, you might want to shuffle your priorities and start thinking of yourself as a home stager with a real estate license. You should focus on promoting your home staging services, which is a very profitable business if approached correctly. Along the way you will also pick up real estate listings and find yourself competing with other Realtors on a whole new level.
A good home stager will earn a tremendous amount of trust from their clients. (It's amazing how the intimate task of sorting through personal possessions can bring strangers together!) If, at the end of the staging processa" which you've already been paid fora" you also get the listing, isn't that better then staging your listings for free?
Frequently Asked Questions
-
QUESTION:
Have you gone through the Haverhill Home Staging course?
I am interested in home staging as a career as I have a knack for interior decor. I was looking at the Haverhill Home Staging course. Has anyone been through this course? If so, have you had success? What was your experience? Do you recommend it?Note: PLEASE do not advertise other courses to get my credentials in home staging. I'm only asking about Haverhill right now.
-
ANSWER:
i have no idea what you're talking about, but i know we have the same names!
-
-
QUESTION:
Anyone ever do the Haverhill Home Staging course?
I was looking at the Haverhill Home Staging website,it looks interesting but i was wondering if anyone knows if they have a good rep or if anyone works for them..what is the course like,did they hire you? that kind of thingThanks
-
ANSWER:
Hi,I am not familiar with the Haverhill Home Staging course so I cannot comment on their reputation, but I am a member or the following international group. I highly recommend looking into them as an alternative choice.
Their courses are very informative and once you become a member, you will receive all the support you need in all areas of redesign and staging and this includes: business forms, pricing, decorating tips, paint suggestions, marketing tips, insurance, etc. They have annual conferences too.
Whatever your needs are, they will be there for you to help you along with your journey via direct email or through the forum. All the members are willing to share. Your neighbors are not your competitors but your supporters.
Please check them out. And, good luck with your choice and career.
http://www.weredesign.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=184
-
-
QUESTION:
seeking home staging course (online?) I wanted to know what r some good courses and how 2...?
...find them.
I love home staging, I do it as a hobby, with no structure or formal training. I wanted to take a course and was wondering it it would be worth it. I see all these offers for home staging courses but I am trying to weed out the good vs the hype.-
ANSWER:
Home Staging ResourceA very complete course that includes all of the needed forms as well as an optional marketing module to help you market your services. Their own Certification is included.
Probably the best of the Home Staging Courses if you have the budget to invest this kind of money to get started. However, unless you do have an unlimited budget, you do not need to start at this level.
Cost: 5 for Basic Home Staging Course + 5 for Marketing Solutions module
Home Staging Experts
One of my friends took this Home Staging Course and liked it although she had to come to me for some extra help with the forms she needed and advice on how to market her services. The course did seem to offer quite a bit of good information on what is needed to properly prepare a home for sale and includes more instruction on the techniques and philosophies of interior decorating than most other courses.
Cost: 9.00 for home study course and a year registration fee
Home Staging Training Group
This is an excellent "getting started" home staging course. It does not go into all of the detail on the mechanics of Interior Decorating as some of the more expensive courses but does cover all of the information a person needs to do a proper job of home staging and does include a complete portfolio of needed forms as well as very good advice on how to market your business with a minimum of personal effort.
You may want to consider one of the more in-depth home staging courses at a later date, after you have some profits coming in but I have two friends that are running very nice Home Staging businesses with only this training.
Cost: .00 home study course and comes with an almost unheard of Money Back Guarantee
See more on
http://homestagingcoursesreview.com/
www.homestagingsuccess.com/
-
-
QUESTION:
Has anyone taken an on-line home staging course?
I want to know if they are legit, and how successful they are.-
ANSWER:
Be careful with this option. Home staging requires visual feel for the space, you can't get this kind of experience online! You can inspire yourself with free online staging guides, like http://lastdetail.ca/2009/09/livingroom-staging but personal contact with experienced staging veteran is inevitable, if you mean your staging career seriously
-
-
QUESTION:
Can anyone recommend a good course for home staging? I live in OZ?-
ANSWER:
this may sound strange, but I use pics in catalogues, for different rooms and decors, stage like they do to sell their furniture, But keep spacious. good luck
-
No related posts.