Offering Free Home Staging

"Offering free home staging". Magic words or at least attractive words to sellers. But those words aren't coming from professional stagers, they're coming from listing agents. Smart agents who know the real value of this unbelievably effective marketing tool. Here's advice to sellers who consider signing a listing contract for that reason or sellers who recognize what an important added service that is. Be sure you understand exactly what professional staging services your listing agent plans to provide. You might get a comprehensive consultation with a Professional Home Stager, a great benefit and a great Do-It-Yourself tool that will mean a (often much faster) successful sale for you. Or...your agent could be offering a limited consultation with a pro, even offering to pay part of a professional stagers fee if you agree to have the staging done. To some listing agents offering "Free Home Staging", however, that means placing towels in the bathrooms and a plant on the kitchen windowsill. I'm NOT implying that the listing agent is trying to mislead anyone, only that the level of education and skill in Home Staging that a Realtor has can range from very little to Realtors who are actually certified or accredited as Professional Stagers. You might notice I keep saying "Professional Stager", I just want to be clear. Just as a homeowner would hesitate to have their very skilled, very conscientious plumber install a new roof, or ask the landscape maintenance company to paint the house, hesitate long enough to find out if the staging you get is up to the same quality and standard as you'd expect from a Professional Stager. A good Real Estate Marketing Team is set up to let the members do what they each do best.