real estate and home staging

As a homestager, I feel that it is very important to show case a home to its maximum potential. The joy and excitement one gets after staging a property is pretty amazing. You know the reaction I'm talking about when the home owner walks in and says "WOW" It's amazing!!! For us the hard work is done and we wait to see if our work has paid off.

This is where the real estate side comes into play. I always tell and remind my clients that no matter how much a stager changes a home and gets it ready to show, there's always the issue whether the home has been priced right. The reality is, not all homes are. Case in point, the home I recently staged was on the market for a year priced at $1.7 million and not one offer. The home owners finally agreed to have a stager come in after having their realtor convince them of the importance of homstaging. Since the staging, the price has dropped to $1.4 million. Great right?! Wrong!!!! The home is still OVERPRICED by $4oo thousand. I am not a realtor but I too knew that the asking price was way to high. Unfortunately, the home owners at this point do not want to lower the home because their is not a mortgage. Keep in mind the home was originally purchase back in the late 70's for around $190.000.000. Realisically, according to the realtor, he recommends that it be priced around $ 850,000.00.

Now you are wondering why I am writing this. Simple A home needs to fit the price of the neighborhood. When a home in the same neighborhood with the same size etc is priced in the high 500's (ok without a waterfront location) you can't expect to get this high of a value.

We as homestagers can only do what we can do to make a home more updated and welcoming, but home owners need to realize that we can't make magic happen. It is very important for homesellers to listen to their realtors, especially if they are very familiar with the area and the resells. Sure realtors want to make money and so does everyone else, but at the end of the day, the one who is responsible for the home selling is the home owners.

Please don't come back and say homestaging does not work ( which thankfully this hasn't happened to me yet) instead look at all the stats and make a realistic decision.

Hopefully future homesellers will look at all the information, and price their properties accordingly. I don't know if this property will sell. I hope it does for the home owners, but my gut is saying "Why spend that much on this property when I can find another beautifully staged home with an asking price which reflects the value of the neighborhood ( ok a couple of thousand here or there, is ok, but not a half a million over everyone else) I have had alot of realtors visit this beautiful home. They all were amazed at the transformation and were very pleased, but they all agreed it was still way over priced.

I know there are many of home stagers and realtors alike that feel the very same way. All I can say is, we can just do our best and hope these homes sell to whomever falls in love with them.

"Dress up your Home by Staging it"

JB Staging Concepts HSR, ASHSR