Free Staging is Not Free
Have you ever driven across town to a Going Out of Business Sale, only to find that the retailer marked up prices 20% to recoup costs?
Have you ever rushed out to buy something on the last day of a sale, only to realize that the price went down even further the next day, in the next “sale”?
Have you ever gone to get the advertised free item or meal only to have to then sit and listen to a sales pitch for the next 1, 2, 3 hours?
Ironic.
I don’t know about you but these things are making me think of the Alanis Morissette Song Ironic.
Also, that old saying “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Free staging is almost always that something. When your mom/your friend/ your Realtor offer to help you out and stage your home as a favor, I am sure they mean well. They might “have a good eye for decorating” or “their house always looks so nice” or “they spend all day looking at houses, so they know what will sell.” Those are awesome characteristics to have, but they are different things than investing thousands of dollars in training, quitting another job, licensing and insuring a staging business, and spending all their working hours living, breathing and practicing staging. There are so many things that distinguish a professional stager from a hobbyist. To read more on that, read the article about 5 Things Your Professional Home Stager Thinks About Before They Ever Enter Your Property.
So you may be thinking, well she hasn’t proven that this is not the free I am looking for. Fair enough!
Is your home your most valuable asset? If you are like most homeowners, it is the most expensive thing that they ever spent money on, period. You might save some short term cash by using your mom/friend/Realtor, but are you maximizing what your home brings in the sale? Are you selling it quickly and thus reducing your time on the market? After all the longer you linger on the market the more you spend in carrying costs. Mortgage, electric bill, house cleaner, etc. $$$
Please don’t forget the overall stress level!! Owning a home that is on the market is super stressful, whether you live in it or not. Again, we go back to the fact that it is the most expensive thing you own! Plus, selling it impacts whatever your next DREAM is. Your future depends on selling this one thing!
Using free staging is like if a bride volunteers to go to a beauty school for a free new look the day before she is the center of attention and will have hundreds of photos taken of her. Most brides would not be willing to do that, so why would you be willing to put the presentation of your biggest assets in the hands of a free or bargain stager? Treat your most valuable asset with as much care as you would anything else.
Designing Impressions has been staging homes since 2004 and primarily serves the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Greenville, South Carolina metro markets. In 2019, Designing Impressions staged homes went under contract in less than a quarter of the average local days on market. Learn more at www.Designing-Impressions.com
To find a professional stager near you visit www.RealEstateStagingAssociation.com