Home Staging Pennsylvania- Hart & Associates Servicing the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I received this phone call from a local moving professional that I refer business to on a regular basis:

Kate: Hello?

Mover: Hi Kate, do you have a second?

Kate: Sure, but I am getting the kids out the door to school.

Mover: As you know I am offering on-line classes to train people to become move managers.

Kate: Sure that is wonderful.

Mover: Well I am going to add home staging to that site and I wanted to ask you which classes you thought were best.

Kate: Excuse me?

Mover: I want to add a 2 hour class so our movers can be certified in staging.

Kate: I am not sure that is something I can help you with. You see this is part of the problem with the staging industry. Everyone thinks they can take a class in become an instant stager. 2 hours will give them nothing.

Mover: Well when we go to homes our clients are asking if we stage.

Kate: Our clients ask if we pack and we say no and refer them to you.

Mover: Well, we wouldn't compete with you on a local level....

Kate: That is not what I am concerned about. I am worried that people will not get the quality of service they deserve because they will not be working with a skilled stager.

Mover: Well we would just offering general decluttering advice.

Kate: Well then you would not be a stager!

As you can imagine I was quite shocked by this! Suddenly it seems like any professional service that helps people move is trying to become home stagers:

We have Realtors becoming stagers, retail furniture stores becoming stagers, furniture rental companies becoming stagers, moving companies becoming stagers. What is next?

So this brings me back to a discussion that I feel needs more attention:

What do we do as staging professionals - naked, certified, accredited etc to give our industry the respect that it deserves?

What kind of standards should we, or can we create to protect our industry?

Should it be the responsibility of staging businesses or  staging training organizations to work together on this?

How can we create an organization that is independent and is not all about one group or one class?

Do we even want to do this?

Well, if everyone jumps on the staging bandwagon at least I have other career options- there is a 2 hour class I can take on home inspections and move management somewhere I am sure.

KH

I am excited to announce to my friends and peers on ActiveRain that Hart & Associates has introduced a new service today: Ask the Staging Coach

As many of you know my staging journey has taken me various places over the past 3 years from training for a national staging certification company, to running a successful staging business, to building a staging team in 10 states, to publicizing staging on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, to working to educate consumers to the benefits of staging through my blog. I discovered that the best way to promote our industry is to invest my energy in mentoring and coaching staging business owners so that they can provide the top quality service that consumers demand and deserve.

I invite you to learn more about this program by reading below. I am not offering staging training or certification and I will always "stage naked". My desire is to help our emerging industry to succeed and to offer support to staging companies looking to grow their business and discover new revenue opportunities.

I look forward to your comments, thoughts and suggestions. KH

Like many areas of the country the real estate market in Philadelphia has been a bit sluggish lately. As homes accrue days on the market more and more home sellers are being forced to take price reductions or to offer incentives to buyers. Many of the homes that have sold quickly have something in common- they were priced competitively and used home staging services as part of their marketing plans.

Below are some recent home staging statistics for homes that we have staged in the Philadelphia region.

Spring Mill Road, Villanova PA- Sold in less than 2 weeks for full price. 

Parks Run Lane, Villanova PA- Sold in less than 2 weeks with one offer in 6 hours!

Windsor Road, Wayne PA- Sold in 2 hours of listing the home for full price!

My happy home seller commented, " I listed it on the MLS on Friday and a young couple with a new baby came in 2 hours laters and made an offer at my list price with no questions asked! By the way, the home you staged across the street also sold on Thursday. Great job Kate!"

If you are selling your home and you are still unsure about the value of investing in home staging services please visit our website at www.hartstaging.com to read client testimonials and see more staging statistics.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Home Seller,

Thank you for inviting me into your home today to give you an estimate to help you prepare your home for sale. After reviewing your property I feel that we cannot assist you at this time. Instead I am making the following recommendations:

Foyer:  Perhaps you misunderstood exactly the services a home staging professional offers? We cannot "fix" the peeling linoleum tile by covering it up with an inexpensive area rug. The same is true for your hollow core doors- you must replace the doors with holes punched in them. Adding a poster will not fool the home buyer either.

Dining Room: To make the most of this space I recommend that you make it into a dining room. Remove your son's cacti collection from the dining room table and put away the tequila collection on the window sill- although it did give the room a nice Mexican Restaurant feel. We want buyers to see the space this room offers and appreciate the architectural features such as the deep window sills and natural light. I strongly recommend that you donate the play pen (your son is leaving for college) and return the keg to the beer store. You can use the deposit to pay a painter to paint over the mural your daughter made of the Indigo Girls in 1993. Again, as home staging professionals these are services we do not offer however we can provide you with some accent pieces once this room is cleaned out.

Kitchen: You need to clean. You need elbow grease. Speaking of grease, you need to remove the 25 years of grease off the wall behind the stove and remove the trash can that is overflowing next to the fridge.  You need to scrub the floors to remove the food stains that have not been wiped up in 15 years. You need to wipe down the counters- with bleach, with soft scrub, with anything except the diet soda that has made a sticky film. I actually thought your counters were beige granite until I realized it was stained. And no we do not clean houses and we do not know anyone that will do it for $35.00.

Living Room:Rustic is a design theme but a torn sofa, a carpet remnant and a folding card table is not rustic. I am happy to provide you with rental furniture, however I feel that your dollars would be better spent removing the silver floral wall paper on the walls AND the ceiling.  I know that you adore it however I feel that it is not quite "on trend" with what younger buyers are looking for today. I can bring in rental furniture but this will not prevent buyers from seeing the wallpaper. They will be so concerned with the cost of removing it that that may make a lower offer than you would like or not make an offer at all.

Master Bedroom: This is a great room for sleeping. The dark blue paint and the black velvet curtains make this room feel as if you are in a cave or underground. I strongly recommend that you consider painting this room and removing the dark window coverings- yes you will have to repair the broken window- buyers do not like plywood. You will also have to remove the boxes you have stored in the corner, and the recliner, and the exercise bike and the cat carrier and the extra twin bed. We can recommend a moving company to assist you but home stagers do not move furniture.

I hope that you find these recommendations helpful. Once this work is complete I am happy to provide you with an estimate for our services. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Home Stagers may not clean, paint or remove furniture but we do specialize in hand holding.

Best wishes for a faster and more profitable sale,

Kate Hart

www.hartstaging.com