How to Properly Interview a Home Stager
June 25, 2020
Find the perfect ally to help you prepare your listing for the market.
You’ve likely heard it before: Staging can help sell homes. But how do you find a stager to team up with on your listing?
What a stager does for you: Professional stagers can work within your budget and help you invest your dollars for the best return on investment. They can recommend everything from paint colors to replacing or updating items and offering decluttering tips. The stager can have those awkward conversations with your clients about the appearance of a home so you don’t have to.
Why you need a stager on your team: Staging can help draw foot traffic into your listing and get more money as a result. Eighty-five percent of staged homes sell for 5% to 23% over the list price, according to a 2020 survey reviewing 13,000 staged homes. The survey was conducted by the Real Estate Staging Association. Staged homes also tended to sell faster than non-staged homes, the RESA survey shows.
Here are some tips for finding the right stager in your market:
Research options. Search the web for home stagers in your area. For example, RESA, which offers professional education for stagers, provides a searchable database of home stagers.
Judge their portfolio. Is the stager’s work professionally photographed? Staging companies understand the power of professional photography, and their portfolio should reflect that. When reviewing a stager’s portfolio, consider whether the staging fits the architecture of the home. After all, ultra-modern furniture may look odd in an old Victorian home. Most established companies excel at staging to complement multiple home styles. You should know that newer companies often use stock photos on their websites instead of their own work. Make sure the stagers are showing you their original work.
Judge their portfolio to determine if you see a range of furniture in the homes they are staging or if everything looks the same. If you see the same living room setting in every photo, it may be an indication they are limited in their resources, or they may not be staging many homes.