Melissa Marro ~ StagingAndRedesign.com MarketReadyRealEstate.com

I think it sounds crazy to most people when I say that we really don't want to grow our Charleston Home Staging business anymore. The fact of the matter is that I'm pretty serious when I say it. Some of you in the industry understand exactly what I'm talking about though. Most of you who get it probably own inventory.

Because this kind of statement is contrary to most people's opinion, let me elaborate. My company, First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDeisgn owns a lot - no I mean A LOT of inventory. We are right around the 3/4 of a million mark with around 50 vacant homes staged at a time on average. Think about all the little knick-knacks, paddy-wacks and chauch-kies (yeah, I know I spelled that wrong) that we own. It kind of blows my mind. We have 3 full time stagers, 2 part time stagers and 2 part time assistants (one staging, one admin).

Like most Home Staging businesses, we do both occupied homes and vacant homes. Our business is to some degree cyclicle. (Though I can't remember when we've had less than 35 vacant homes staged. I think it's been at least 2 years now.) When the Charleston Real Estate market is at its peak, we are constantly running out of furniture. It seems every busy season we grow our number of staged properties by at least 2-5.

Two to five properties growth twice a year doesn't sound like a lot, but think about it. How much stuff can be consumed in a property? You have sofas, chairs, rugs, artwork, throw pillows, towels, and the list goes on and on. Last year, making mid six figures in sales and having a steady stream of homes staging and unstaging, we still managed to spend about $80,000 in new inventory.

This brings me to my point.... If we had not expanded our business last year by the 2-5 homes a season then that $80,000 would have been PROFIT!! So this year, rather than working on expanding our business, we are trying to figure out how to streamline it. We are studying the numbers. We are figuring out what exactly we need to do to get our profit margins up while keeping our inventory needs down.

Getting too much work seems like a funny problem to have, but actually it just is the way it goes when you do everything right. So, next on our list is actually to dial in our business demographics a little more and cut the fat. As always, I'll keep you posted on how that goes....

I've got to be honest. For the last year I've been practically afraid to be in my yard. I would get in and out of my car in a hurry and dissppear out of view as soon as possible. When we bought an estate house a year ago in an attempt to downsize, we didn't plan on the things that happened over the past year. We really thought we could get more done in a shorter period of time. The inside of the home was such a nightmare that it took priority. Every single surface needed replacing or painting.... I'm really not kidding!

Still, when you live in an established neighborhood, on one of the primary corner lots next to homes that look like this:

Perfectly little trimmed bushes, green lawns, gorgeous oak trees that are uplighted at night (stunning really).... This particular house is right across the street from me. So, I'm pretty lucky. I love looking at their house. Unfortunately, until 3 weeks ago, this was their view.

Now can you see why I rushed to and from my car? It's been embarrassing!!! The home across the street from the front door had a slightly better view, but not much better.....

Finally, 3 weeks ago, it was time to start addressing the exterior of the home.... We ended up spending about $3500 on new sod and landscaping, but I think you'll be impressed with the difference. I know I am!!

GRASS!! GLORIOUS GRASS!!!

You can still see where it is growing in here. Can you also see that we replaced the lighting by the front door? I should have turned it on for the photo.... why didn't I think of that?

Finally I'm not embarrased to be out in the yard. When neighbors walk by I smile and wave instead of trying to hide my face like someone in witness protection.

Last weekend, we were talking to one of the neighbors, that's right TALKING TO THE NEIGHBORS, and he shared with us that he had been looking at that baren corner for 25 years. Apparently the neighbor who had lived here previously had a case of depression and no one wanted to confront them about the yard, afraid that it would make him even more depressed.

In the last few months, we've made the decision that despite our attempt to downsize was an error - a learning curve. Now we've got 7 more weeks to finish getting the house ready and put it on the market. We'll be moving back into our larger but fully complete new construction home. Living in a home that needs this kind of work just isn't in my to-do list anymore. I'm finally one of the rest of the buyers - I want move in ready..... I think I would like to just "live" in my house for a while.

From the point of view as an investment in the sale of our home, I think this was a HUGE improvement. If we had not replaced the lawn then buyers would likely expect that everything else in the home was neglected. No matter how good the inside may look, with this kind of curb appeal (or lack thereof) buyers will not believe that you have pride in ownership and you can expect much lower offers.

"Staging is only for High End Properties" is what one agent said to a home seller just before I walked in to do a vacant walkthrough on a charming 1945 Charleston bungalo. I'm sure this made the seller feel inspired considering he had already hired me for the job based on a ballpark number and a required time table of staging only 2 days after walkthrough. You see, I had worked with this seller about a year before when he was selling a downtown property. The market here is much like other markets. If you aren't actively doing everything you can from presentation to marketing then your house just isn't going to sell.

This client had done his research and based on all reports from many financial experts was advised that staging was perhaps the most important part of listing. I agree with this with one exception - the listing agent is probably actually THE most important part of the listing, but the right agent will know the home needs to be staged, so let's call it the same thing. The first home sold in about 45 days with a better than expected offer.

When the decision was made to sell a rental property they had, we were actually the first call. They wanted it staged within only a few days. We had to book the movers, team and so on, so I advised him that we would need a signed contract before I even did the walkthrough to guarantee the timeslot. I did, as I said earlier, give him a rough ball park figure based on estimated list price, rooms and neighborhood.

I did not ask about his agent. I mistakenly assumed that he would be using the same agent - an agent I had never worked with before or since. Apparently while the experience with our service and the final price was good, the experience with the agent was not. He was interviewing. After interviewing 3 agents, none of them thinking staging was worth the money - he was left shaking his head. When I arrived and he was embralled in a heated conversation about price (the agent thought the home should be priced higher than the client did - buy a lot more than the comps showed). I introduced myself and the agent smiled, asked for my card and advised that he was familiar with our newsletters. I thought to myself, "great!" Then he left and the seller advised that the agent was adamant that this home did not need to be staged and it should be priced much higher than any comps he could see the justification for. This made no sense and he knew it. It went against everything his financial experts had recommended.

I asked if he would mind me referring him to an agent that I worked with regularly in neighborhoods all around this one. Moments later he had an appointment with that agent. That evening he had signed the listing contract and all the work that needed to happen after he left town (maid, access for us, lawn maintanance scheduled, etc) was suddenly being handled by the professionals - something no other agent had offered.

Two days later we staged the home. Then it went on the market. I received this email from the client days later, "On the home selling front, Randall has been great (thanks so much for recommending him to me!). He, my wife, and I agreed to price Sothel for a quick sale ... and it worked! Less than a week after it was listed, we had not one, but three offers. We told all of the prospective buyers that we had received multiple offers and for each to come back with their best offers & with letters confirming they had preliminary financing approval. We ultimately accepted an offer of $785 more than our list price ... not bad in the current housing market!"

This client listed to every professional - from financial experts to us, the real estate experts. This house, while "priced to sell" actually closed for more than $30 per sqft than the average closing in this neighborhood since the beginning of the year. It beat the days on market average by 74 days!

The next time an agent trys to tell you that you don't need to stage, the right price will sell the home, RUN! Run and find a professional who will bring out a competant stager that will tell you exactly what you can and should do to have this kind of experience.

BTW, as an agent, what do you suppose their benefit has been for offering staging? (Let me say that this agent one of the top 5 agents in the largest real estate company in Charleston) Not only did they have next to zero marketing expenses (home sold in less than a week), they got a referred listing from the stager they use and this homeowner will definitely be using them when they sell their last rental unit - not to mention refer them to other sellers in the area. Oh yea, and of course they received their commission more quickly and it was bigger thanks to the higher than listed sales price.

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Just before sitting down to write this blog, I stumbled across one of Debra Gould's blogs, Why Real Estate Agents Discourage Home Stagers - the blog was well written and dead on. The fact is that education to both homeowners and agents is the only way to change the industry perception. For years we've been doing lunch and learns to train agents so they know how and why staging works. We have built collaborations with enough to keep a steady mid six figure staging income for our company for the last 5 years. Thanks for helping put it out there Debra! Education to both homeowners and agents is the secret to success in our industry!

About 18 months ago I did this blog: Deja vu?? What happens when two of us do the same house two years apart? then only 6 months ago this blog: Charleston Home Stager sets a record - staging the same property 3 times (for the same client)!

In these blogs I discussed the interesting proposition of having staged the exact same unit 3 times... (I staged the first unit and the last unit - team member David Moon staged the middle one)

Well, just after the holidays, we had the interesting occurrance of having to stage the same unit a second time - again! This property was used as a model and had been staged for over a year as they were selling 24 of the same floorplan on this small island community - nearly all with waterfront views. Just before the holidays, the final two, including the model went under contract. The owners decided to unstage with about 3 weeks left before the final closing. Unfortunately, times being what they are.... neither of the units actually closed and both were back on the market again.... knowing how successful the staging had been to the sale of these units, we were given a call to come back out and restage the model unit.... (well... OK, actually they switched which unit was the model to the other unit... )

Team member David Moon actually staged both of these units as well....

It is always fun and interesting to redo the same exact floorplan you once staged - do you try to duplicate it? Do you try something new? How has your inventory or style changed since you last staged it? In all of these cases, the clients were pleased - both with the original performance (enough to rehire us) and then in the restaging services.

I actually use this home staging analogy all year long. If I had a penny for everytime I have explained this basic familiar concept I would be a wealthy woman. Since I just put away most of my decorations today, this might be exactly when to remind everyone the importance of staging in a way that most can relate to... Now I will state first off that this really applies to the typical occupied home, not vacant....

Here is exactly how I typicallly present it to my clients.... (I really wish I had thought to take photos of my living room right now!) Feel free to use it as a script....

"Do you or someone you know decorate for Christmas?" (of course everyone at least knows someone who decorates for Christmas - clients nod now)

(Christmas 2009)

"Great! Isn't the home beautiful and magical with the tree all lit up, full of beautiful ornaments? There might be stockings and garland on the mantle. Many people even have kissing balls, snowmen, santas and garland strewn throughout their home. Can you picture it?" (clients nod as they think about it)

"I think most of us would agree that our homes are never more magical and lovely than the holidays... everything feels so warm and inviting." (clients usually smile and nod)

"Now... for a moment, think about the day you pack everything away. The tree has come down, the snowmen, santas, stockings and garland are all put away. Tell me, how does the house feel when it's all gone back into the attic/storage" - insert the most likely place it would go - ? (clients usually look at you waiting for you to fill in the blank)

"The house just feels bigger when it's all put away doesn't it? It's almost like it breathes a sigh of relief" (clients usually smile and nod) "We all agree that the house was beautiful and magical when it was decorated, but now that it is all put away, the house just feels bigger."

"This is what happens when we stage. We'll pack away some of your decorative items and remove pieces of furniture. It's not that they aren't great - or even that they don't make sense while you are living here, but our goal is to make the home look and feel as large and roomy as possible. Removing the (insert furniture piece) is just like putting away the Christmas tree." (clients usually understand exactly the point you are trying to convey now

Helping clients to relate to WHY we make recommendations often gets them on our side - helping us to help them!