Tag: Home Stager

Don’t be fooled by all the “easy does it” training for careers that are so frequent with advertisers on the Internet. They illustrate this perfect part-time real estate career you can learn at home and by practice on neighborhood homes. Sounds great doesn’t it?

What’s all this hype about?

Haven’t you heard? It’s the wonderful world of HOME STAGING!

Beware folks – I don’t think any of those claims are from people who are the real deal – sorry to burst your bubble.

Today, I wanted to address the part about working part-time and illustrate what’s really possible.

So, is it…really possible to work part-time as a Home Stager? Sure, but I think a more important distinction is not so much part-time or full-time, but what part-time means to you. Does it mean that you’ll be working half the day or part of the day while your kids are at school? Or does it mean that you work full-time at a regular job and you’ll be working on staging projects after your regular work hours?

So, defining for yourself what working part-time really means is very important. Another important distinction is whether you’re “working” as a Home Stager or if you’re “running a Home Staging Business”.

Now, when I first started my home staging business, I was working full-time and let me tell you…it was stressful for several reasons.

1) With promoting my staging business, I never told anyone nor did I want anyone to know that I was not staging full-time. The reason was for positioning. I knew that if they even thought I was not running a full-time business, I would not be taken seriously.

Now, this is me, not you, but I think this is very true, so hear me out. Put yourself in that position. If you were interviewing Realtors, would you hire one that was an expert and you knew that’s all they did all day long or would you hire the person who dabbled in it part-time? Do you see the difference?

2) With working a regular full-time job, I didn’t want them to know I was “moonlighting” as a home stager. I was ducking into conference rooms to take calls from prospects and when I scheduled projects, I would have to arrange for time off.

As my staging business started to get some traction, it got much harder to take the occasional day off. I eventually had to let the job go, which also meant a steady paycheck. Believe me when I say, my staging business was a rollercoaster ride in the beginning.

Before making that important career choice please consider the following points about working part-time v. full-time. They are very valuable aspects in your business decisions.

It would be difficult if you’re running the show, i.e. if this is your business and you’re building it from the ground up. Why? Because most networking activities with your target market take place during regular business hours and there is a lot more to the “business” than just the actual hands-on staging project.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, running your own business means you’re now wearing multiple hats – marketing, accounting, business development, administration, operations, etc. To squeeze all these in generally means working beyond your regular 8-hour day.

Now, can you systematize your business to be more efficient? Absolutely!

Can you outsource some of these tasks to other people? Totally!

Does it take time to get there…you better believe it!

If you join a staging team, that’s a different story. I have an associate who has stagers who work on her Staging team while their kids are at school, but they only work on a project basis. This is not their business, it’s not their company, it’s just their JOB. This is a huge distinction.

If you’re planning on working on staging projects after business hours, my opinion is that that would be extremely difficult unless you’re only working on vacant properties. If it’s an owner occupied property, they don’t want you in their houses after hours.

They want it done during the day while they’re at work. When they return from work, they have family obligations to tend to…kids to feed, bathe, and get to bed. It’s NOT convenient to have someone there moving things around and honestly, you don’t want to be there when they’re home.

I eventually added a clause to my agreement that the property had to be vacant during the time that we were scheduled to stage. If you’ve ever done it, you’ll understand. It’s a nightmare. They follow you around, asking you questions, kids are in the way, and it’s just not productive.

This also applies on the weekends. Either the homeowners are at home on the weekends and have their own things to deal with or that’s when open houses are scheduled. Honestly, despite sacrifices that need to be made initially ask yourself; do you really want to work on the weekends?

These basic facts will help clarify what’s possible working part-time v. full-time. When you are making that future career choice it is very important to research thoroughly so that your decision will be the best for your lifestyle and business needs.

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan

Home Staging can be broken down and analyzed into it’s component parts that should all come together to create the desired and needed final outcome.The first step is to see the home as a potential buyer will when they make their first visit. This will probably mean some minor conflicts with the owners of the house that are already emotionally attached and have the house “the way they want it”. Sometimes it will require a fair amount of tact and diplomacy to convince the home owner that the 217 pictures of their only Grandchild need to be boxed up for the move.

Step -1: Develop ability to see homes through “Buyer’s Eyes”

First impressions are just that and formed instantly when the home shopper arrives and enters the property. They actually get their first impression when they arrive at the property before ever getting out of the car (actually, before that- as they appraise the neighborhood but that is out of your control). Next, they will always form a very strong impression of how they feel about the house the moment they enter the front door. Think about it for a second; don’t you do the exact same thing when you first enter a strange house or even a place of business? Of course you do, we all do. The home shopper will then spend the rest of their time mentally validating and confirming that first impression.

Step 2: Develop Objectivity

You need to develop the ability to look at everything with a critical and even judgmental prospective while asking yourself what a stranger might think or feel when seeing for the first time. A good Home Staging Course will go over all of these types of evaluations.

Step 3: Identify the Home’s Faults

The sellers may not be especially eager to discuss these but if you truly want to do your job as a professional Home Stager that will in turn benefit the seller by getting their house sold quicker and for more money then you have to be brutally frank about identifying the problem areas. Are the interior walls dirty and in need of paint? Are counter tops chipped or broken? Is the lawn overgrown and poorly maintained? Too much clutter and junk laying around? (almost 100% on that one!!) Whatever, make a list and go over with the seller. Most Home Staging courses will have standard evaluation and checklist forms for you to use.

Step 4: Identify the Home’s Good Points

This is a lot more fun for all parties and can always be done. Every home, no matter how bad usually has some especially good features. Does it have a great fireplace or extra nice Bay window? A huge living room that would be perfect for entertaining? Perhaps an eat-in kitchen that can be made to look especially charming and cozy. Find the good points and then decorate or stage the home around them.

Step 5:Turn the Negatives in to Positives …. or at least Neutrals

Walls can be painted, old carpets replaced (and you might even find some great hardwood floors underneath). Lawns can be mowed, weeded and perhaps even some minor landscaping with some plants. Heavy, dark drapes removed and furniture rearranged. You don’t have to be an interior decorator to be a success at Home Staging but you do need a firm understanding of the basic skills that are learned in Home Staging classes.