Inconvenient Truths about Home Staging

Negativity about good things always seems to attract attention. So it is not surprise that in a recent report published by the National Association of Exclusive Buyers Agents (NAEBA) entitled: “How to not get tricked by staging and potentially save $5,645 when you buy your home” has attracted main stream media attention.

While some of the NAEBA report on staging was positive and accurate, most of it was a negative spin they were trying to put on staging in a sensationalized attempt to champion their position that buyer’s agents are better agents then traditional Realtors that work with both buyers and sellers. The basic premise of the NAEBA report claimed that buyer agents were more able to sniff out staging “tricks” used to disguise problems and deceitfully lure a potential buyer to emotionally be attracted to a problematic home. It’s as if the NAEBA actually believed that home stagers did not know that all homes are eventually professionally inspected and that hiding problems and issues works against the seller’s best interests.

In the report, the NAEBA warned buyers that “staging effects can make a home seem more appealing to the eye”. How scandalous! How conniving! How shady of the seller to put their home’s best face forward to make it as appealing as possible. I guess the same could be said for anyone applying for a job who decides to wear their best suit, get a haircut and shine their shoes in a shady attempt to emotionally lure a potential employer to hire them.

While the NAEBA report was inaccurate in much of what is said, that does not take the Home Staging industry off the hook for what I see as a rapidly growing problem in this industry. I am going to go out on a limb to say that the Home Staging Industry is a bit responsible for attracting the negative report the NAEBA has published.

Right now home sellers are desperate for a magical solution to help them sell a property languishing in an extremely slow market. Unfortunately, desperate times will bring out both dreamers and dubious characters. It is no surprise that with all the great PR home staging has been getting, more and more people (be they honest or dishonest) are attracted to making money as home stagers.

A multitude of foundation training programs in home staging have sprung up that will “certify,” “accredit” and graduate home staging “professionals” and “experts” in as little as ONE DAY.In fact, just last week I learned of a foundation training program that advertises that for only $249.95, a person interested in becoming a home stager need only buy a training CD that was designed to get budding stagers started in their own business. Two of the benefits they advertise is that their program has low start up costs and low overhead. No previous experience is required. They even include their Certificate of Achievement at no extra costs right with the CD to prove that you were professionally trained. WOW, how generous to send a Certificate of Achievement right with it!

This “overnight certification in a box” points to a Frankenstein that this industry created. The industry’s fixation on quick accredited certifications makes a hypocrisy out of education. This is NOT to say education and training are neither valuable nor helpful. In fact, some of the nation’s finest home stagers started their careers by first taking foundation training programs.

Unfortunately, home sellers looking to hire a stager in today’s market often do not realize that stagers that tout the fact that they are accredited, certified or professional experts may have just yesterday received their certificate in a box or just finished a 3 day workshop in Home Staging. While education is important, the home seller needs to know that in this market where a flood of baby stager’s are just entering it, EXPERIENCE trumps all else and in fact is quintessential. For with experience comes an education and wisdom about home staging that can not be burned on to a CD or taught in a 1, 2 or 3 day work shop.

Much like what the NAEBA report spoke of, some inexperienced stagers will resort to contrived tricks thinking that making a home look and feel staged is the right thing to do. But the experienced stager knows a home should never look or feel staged. If a buyer’s eye is attracted to look at the staging and not the home, then the stager has not done their work. An experienced home stager knows the home should always be the star… not the stuff in it.

The above picture is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Kate Hart of Hart & Associates, an experienced home stager in Philadelphia, just happened to send me this picture of really bad staging. Kate snapped the "staged treasure" in the bathroom of a vacant home she was recently called in to re-stage. The "props" placed in a box speaks volumes as to how much is not known about staging by the stager that initially had been hired to stage it. The rest of the property was as bad... and because it was staged so poorly, the owners actually stopped showing it. Kate was called in to save the day.

All this puts experienced stagers, who believe we can be a strong and respected industry within real estate and want it to succeed, in a precarious position. We have seen time and time again the joy in a seller’s eye when their property has been sold with the help of staging. We also know the passion and exuberance new stagers have for this profession and we know that for the industry to grow it will need more stagers. But most importantly we know we are now being watched and scrutinized. Nothing less than the finest understanding of staging and implementation of it will help us all grow, anything else will not only degrade the industry, but also what staging makes available to the home seller.

Stage It Forward...
Me

NOTE: At the request of the foundation training company that I originally referenced in this blog, I have removed their name and the link to their site.

I have also removed the foundation training company from the hugley popular informational reference list : "33 Home Staging Training Programs to Consider" on the right hand column of this blog.