Starting a
Staging A Home To Sell
Business

A staging a home to sell business is, indeed, a golden opportunity. It’s one of the new, fast growing home-based businesses of the decade.

Loaded with a ton of home staging ideas, this award wining site answers your questions in the following sections:

1. instincts for staging a home for sale; do you have them?

2. easy step-by-step resources to jump-start your profitable business
3. identifies fully researched and recommended home staging courses to sharpen your skills

4. documented home staging statistics to market your business successfully
5. steps you may use to sell home staging to potential clients
6. home staging ideas and home staging tips to make your clients love you
7. virtual home staging resource to help your business prosper
8. identify ideal types of home staging furniture to fit any style of home
9. related resources that boost your confidence as you begin your staging a home to sell business
10. promote your staging a home to sell business with a Website...that WORKS

Before investing your time and dollars to start a staging a home to sell business, you probably were drawn to this idea because of your strong sense of ability plus you’re a big fan of “Design to Sell” on HGTV.

Well, let’s see what you know?

• Your clients are nervous. It’s 10 to 12-days before their first realtor open house. You advise them to (a) Box their excess “stuff” and put it all in one corner of a room or in the garage. (b) Box their excess “stuff” and remove it from the home. (c) Rent a mobile storage unit and park it down the street.



• Your clients will close on their new home in 20-days and will list their old one next week. You advise them to(a) Start packing now.(b) Pack when they actually list their home.(c) Pack after the closing on their new home.



• According to a Duke University survey of realtors, you should advise your clients that the “most important” thing they can do to get their home ready for sale is to(a) Remove all personal items from bathrooms.(b) Remove evidence of pets.(c) Remove kitchen appliances from counter tops.



• Your client’s carpet is badly worn in some rooms of their home. You suggest that they(a) State on the MLS sheet that they give an “X” dollar allowance for new carpet.(b) Spend the money and buy new carpet.(c) Don’t waste money buying new carpet.



• The outside of your client’s home lacks “curb appeal.” You advise them to(a) Trim the shrubs, re-seed the lawn and replace old plants.(b) Power wash the home exterior (if needed), the driveway and walks, make sure your lawn is clear of debris and line your driveway and/or sidewalk with colorful potted plants.(c) Create a cozy outdoor space.

(Please scroll down for the correct answers.)

If you get 3 or more right answers, then you’ll do rather well in your staging a home for sale business.

Section TWO: Resources to Jump-Start your Profitable Staging a Home to Sell Business

One of the clear advantages of home staging consultation is the low cost of entry. With $1,000 to $2,500 you’re in business.

Now, what should you spend your money on that will give you the most bang for the buck?

In order of priority, the six most effective expenditures are:

• Take advantage of other people’s home staging business experiences by investing in two or three low cost ebook resources.

  They have been successful, and their real world experiences will make life easier for you…and prevent you from wasting money

• To build your confidence and to perform superbly for your clients, take one or two home staging courses (The absolutely best ones are recommended below)
• Design and print business cards and a full color flier to use as the centerpiece of your marketing effort



• Put together on paper a 4-6 page Business Plan and a short locally-based Marketing Plan . You do not need to overdo here, but you do need to know where you’re going and how to get there.

  The above two resources are excellent and provide step-by-step guidance that is very effective.

• Identify and establish a relationship with a virtual home staging and home staging furniture resource.

  (This will not cost you anything, but you absolutely need these connections in order to prosper in your staging a home to sell business.)

• Build or have someone develop a “business” website…not just a website, so you may be found on page #1 of search engines. (More about this is found below)

Section THREE: Recommended Home Staging Courses to Sharpen Your Skills

Home staging techniques are purposely designed to focus potential home buyers on the house, not on the contents of the house.

The average homeowner is pleased with how their home looks, “It’s decorated just perfectly!”

This perspective is why homes-for-sale stay on the market far longer than they should…in any economy.

You however, recognize that your staging a home to sell business will remedy this view.

Your message to homeowners is simple:

“Staging a home to sell is a specific skill.

A skill that prepares their home to sell for top dollar in the shortest time possible by providing cosmetic and emotional appeal to buyers.”

There are dozens of home staging courses in the marketplace. Some are great! Many are just so so.

Listed below are the great ones.

For the most part they are low cost and provide easy to follow home staging training which you should definitely consider taking…even if it is just one or two.

Taking a minimum of two staging courses will allow you to pick the best home staging ideas and home staging tips of each.

This will provide you a high level of confidence and jump-start your staging a home to sell business over your existing competition. Your business will need every advantage it can get!

These home staging courses are strongly recommended.

Please do not pay $995 or $1,495 or $1,895 for courses which “give you” certification.

Certification sounds great. The problem is that “anyone” can hand out a certification award.

So, please do not waste your money.

(There is only one professional home staging association that is dedicated strictly to the home staging industry.

With membership in the thousands, the International Association of Home Staging Professionals is the leader in education, excellence and ethics for professional home staggers.)

If you are serious about starting your staging a home to sell business, and you want to know exactly what you need to know to be successful, then explore the following opportunities:

1. The Home Staging Success Course by nationally known Jackie Riley
2. Getting Ready for an Open House in 10 Easy Steps by Dana Smithers, President of the Professional Real Estate Staging School
3. Do It Yourself Home Staging published by the Staging Resource Center
4. Home Staging for the Rest of Us by nationally known Cindy Books

Enjoy!

ANSWERS to “Instinct Questionnaire.”.

1. Q #1: (b)
2. Q #2: (a)
3. Q #3: (a)
4. Q #4: (b)
5. Q #5: (b)

Section FOUR: Home Staging Statistics to help Your Business Prosper

Your staging a home to sell business, to favorably impress prospective clients, can use statistics to its advantage.

First off, homeowners have only two choices to consider prior to putting their home on the market.

• First, they can price their home below their competition, or
• Second, they can make their home “more desirable” than their competition and sell quickly at a market rate.

Convince your prospective clients that the way they live in their home should be arranged very differently when their home is on the market.

Tell them that their interior design is wonderful and that it reflects “their style.”

Your home staging techniques will neutralize their interior design taste in order to appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers.

Andrea Angott, Ph.D. at Duke University explored the psychology effects home staging has on home buyers.

She found that some home staging “rules” are more effective than others in terms of changing buyer perception and behavior.

In order of importance, they are:

1. Remove personal items from bathrooms
2. Use each room for its intended purpose only
3. Remove evidence of pets
4. Turn on every light in the home during showings
5. A Home for sale should be furnished rather than empty
6. Remove garbage cans from rooms
7. No personal photographs displayed in the house
8. Remove art and accessories that are especially attention-grabbing or personal
9. Paint all walls neutral colors
10. Remove all appliances from counter tops
11. Do not have the back of furniture facing the entrance to a room
12. “Tell a story” with your staging
13. Windows should have sheer coverings or no coverings at all
14. Use scented candles, potpourri, etc. in rooms

Other note-worthy home staging statistics:

• 90% of staged homes sell in 30-45 days or less compared to an average market of 145-days
• When buyers approach your home, they decide in “8 seconds or less” if they like the house.
• Curb appeal should include colorful flowers along walks and the driveway when possible
• Garage staging is the most neglected aspect of home staging, e.g., painting the floor, remove “all” garden tools, mowers and items on shelves, etc.
• Staging porches and decks leave lasting impressions with buyers
• “Any clutter at all” in the house or on the grounds is a buyer turn-off
• If buyers see “any” dirty areas in the home, 94% of the time, they will not buy it

Section FIVE: Marketing Your Staging a Home to Sell Business

First, complete the items listed above in Section TWO.

Next, your new business is what is known as a “personality business.”

That is, the power of your unique personality will determine the number of clients you sign up.

This personality factor is most important when initially beginning your home staging business.

That said, marketing your staging a home to sell business boils down to one word: NETWORKING.

A portion of your business start up funds must be spent in hosting real estate offices (providing lunch and giving a brief presentation of your services), taking real estate agents for coffee, speaking before every women’s club and church group you can find and participating in every festival, garden show, home show, etc. you can reach.

Be sure to have “more than enough” business cards and full color fliers to pass out to literally every woman and man you can possible reach.

When staffing a booth, always stand in front of it and continuously chat and hand out your fliers.

If you sit in your booth waiting for people to stop by…you’re dead!

Lastly, use your business cards in two ways.

First, post them on bulletin boards everywhere allowed.

Secondly, give them out to everyone you meet. Yes, even the bank teller, the cashier at a store, the waitress, the mailman, the druggist, etc. You get the point.

This is a very inexpensive way to advertise. You just never know where these cards end up. The percentages are in your favor.

Section SIX: Home Staging Ideas and Tips To Make Your Clients Love You

Probably the best home staging advice you can pass along to your clients is that once their home is placed on the market, it immediately becomes “just a product for sale.”

It no longer is a place to house wonderful memories.

Potential buyers don’t want to see how the homeowner lived but how they would live in the home.

Home Staging Tips

• Homes are viewed by prospective buyers most during the first three to four weeks after listing. Therefore, stage the home prior to its listing.
• Begin packing and complete most of it prior to listing the home. This includes removing excess furniture not used in staging.
• A vacant home will take 4 to 6 times longer to sell than a staged one.
• If an unstaged home is already on the market, it’s never too late to refresh its sales potential with staging.
• Having a wood-paneled wall in the home is a turn-off. Skim coat it and paint.
• Hiring your own “home inspector” to review the home will catch anything wrong with it.
• Potential home buyers are not lazy.

  They just don’t want to fix-up and replace.

  So remove wallpaper, repaint with a neutral color(s), replace worn carpet, put down new vinyl tile where existing tile should be replaced, fix anything broken or unsightly, etc.

• Your staging a home to sell business should emphasize that a home must smell good. That is, no lingering cigarette smoke, pet odors or left over cooking smells. Scented candles are good.

Home Staging Ideas for a Quick Sale

On everyone’s home staging checklist are the “A B Cs” of the home staging business.

1. “A” is for Clean and clean some more
2. ”B” is for Lighten every room
3. “C” is for Landscape the yard

So let’s take a look at the efforts, which will return top dollar for each investment dollar.

• ”A” is for Clean and clean some more
• Give away, donate, sell or just plain dump anything you have not used in the past year, ok, maybe 18 months. Plain and simple: get rid of “stuff.”
• Clean, scrub, polish and then do it again! Every corner of each room should be squeaky clean.
• The basement must be empty, the same for the garage. Power wash the garage floor (and paint) and the deck, all porches, the sidewalk, the driveway and even the vinyl siding, if any.
• Clean all windows and screens. Make them spotless everyday the home is on the market.
• Remove everything from counter tops throughout the home, the medicine chest in the bathroom(s) and remove everything above the kitchen cabinets.
• Clean all HVAC floor and wall vents. Lift up the floor vents and spray black paint on the ducts below.
• Make sure there is no dust or cobwebs on lampshades, picture frames and fixtures of any type.

• ”B” is for Lighten every room
• Paint, Paint, Paint neutral color(s) with white trim and baseboards
• Clean out closets. Take everything off any closet shelves and hang about one third of the clothes usually found there
• Built-in bookshelves should have 10% of the space used using a cluster format
• Have your carpets professionally cleaned and replace any worn or faded carpets with a new light colored (beige, etc.) one
• Stain or paint dated kitchen cabinets
• The largest return on investment you can make in making your home ready to sell is to purchase stainless appliances and put in granite counter tops
• Remove heavy drapes and replace with sheers or light colored fabric that puddles on the floor
• Remove all vinyl shades or blinds
• Stage patios, sun-rooms and decks to show relaxing life themes
• Make the dining room table as small as possible and stage it with formal dinnerware

• ”C” is for Landscape the yard
• Curb appeal is NOT under rated.

  Buyers make a judgment about the home in 8 seconds or less.

  The objective is to make the home stand out from the competition.

  This is a key message your staging a home to sell business must convey.

• Start with the mailbox as you begin your walk to the home from the street.

  Notice every detail of the front, side and rear yards. Simply ask what could be done to give them more appeal? Then do it.

• Trim any tree limbs hanging over the roof of the house
• Pay special attention to gutters and downspouts and repaint. Do the same for shutters, the front door, door trim and window trim
• Cut back or remove any over-grown bushes, pull weeds, plant colorful flowers and use large potted plants for accents
• Make sure all outside lighting has new bulbs and the lights are turned on each evening. Potential buyers often will drive by when it’s dark to see how the neighborhood looks

Section SEVEN: A Virtual Home Staging Resource for that Extra Sales Kick

Your staging a home to sell business must have a professional relationship with a virtual home staging business.

This will markedly improve your services to your clients.

What is Virtual Staging?

Most every home buyer first looks on the Internet for homes that catch their interest.

Technology today allows photos of rooms in a vacant house to be warmed up by putting almost any style of furniture in the photo so that it appears as if the furniture is actually in the home.

The proper style of furniture to match the style of the home is important because only 10% of home buyers can visualize the potential of a vacant home.

Your staging business will have clients that, for one reason or another, had to vacate their home.

Within each room of the vacant house, a fully staged photo may be placed showing the potential of the rooms. This avoids your having to rent furniture and physically place it within the rooms.

Plus these staged photos may be used on Craigslist and in all Internet advertising.

The best company on the planet is Virtual Staging Solutions .

For $197 they can beautifully stage 3 to 6 photos.

Their work is guaranteed…if you don’t like the finished product; just ask for your money back. You’ll promptly receive a 100% refund. No questions. No hassles.

Section EIGHT: A Furniture Rental Resource to Make Home Staging Easy

Every home needs furniture to match the style of the home to be staged.

The wrong style of furniture works against your staging a home to sell business reputation.

That’s why Furniture Rental Source has achieved a national reputation for delivering the right furniture at the right price to facilitate the sale of the staged home.

They have a huge collection from which to choose. A rental quote is a close as your computer. They can become your best friend! This is a national resource.

Section NINE: Boost Your Profitability with these Outstanding Helpful Resources

How quickly your staging a home to sell business achieves profitability and grows really depends on your own fortitude and willingness to use helpful resources others have had good experiences with.

Reducing your mistakes and wasted expenditures can go a long way to building self-confidence and achieving success.

Each Resource found below is highly recommended.

Each is considered the “best of the best.”

Investing a little money up front can produce a super return on your staging a home to sell business success.

Please strongly consider these resources for your staging a home to sell business.

Helpful Decorating/Design eBooks for Your Staging a Home to Sell Business

1. Home Decorating Made Easy
2. Transform Your Home Without Remodeling
3. De-Clutter A Home Fast
4. Home Strategies to End Clutter
5. Home Space Planning
6. Interior Design Made Easy
7. Inspect Your Home Like A Pro

Getting Your Staging a House to Sell Business Off on the Right Track

1. Business Plan Made Easy

Effective Low Cost Marketing. What Works Best

1. The Guide to Do It Yourself Marketing
2. Low Cost Local Marketing Secrets
3. Solid Ideas from the Home Marketing Institute

For Sharing and Support

1. Organization of Work at Home Women

Section TEN: Promote Your staging a Home to Sell Business with a Website...that WORKS

People use the Internet to search for everything. Your home staging business must be there.

But, unless you're on page one or two of the search engine you're wasting your time and money.

Why ?

There are two ways to have an effective "business" website that gets found.

1. SBI is an all-in-one website building and marketing company requiring no experience on the part of the user to build a fantastic online business.

   All the tools you will ever need are included for just $29.99 per month or $299 per year.

   There are never any extra charges and there is a 90-day no risk guarantee.

2. If you do not have the time or need your website immediately , choose the #1 Website builders on the planet to build a site for you at a cost far less than you may fine in your community...and it will get found!

You owe your staging a home to sell business this opportunity.

Using some of the above home staging techniques and business practices will go a long way in answering your home staging questions. Your staging a home to sell business will get off to a flying start.

Thank you for visiting “Starting A Staging A Home To Sell Business.”


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