5 Reasons to Start a Staging Business in 2014

What is it that you love to do and are passionate about?  Chances are if you love it, you are truly gifted at it.   Do you get goosebumps when you walk into a book store and head to the interior design section?  Do you anxiously wait for your design magazines to come in the mail or get “geeked up” over organizing your closet?  Do you notice every design detail when you walk into a friends house and then subconsciously rearrange the space in your mind? If you answered “yes” to any of these seemingly absurd questions then you definitely have what I call the “design sickness” and the good news is there’s never been a better time to explore the possibility of creating a business doing it.  There is nothing more exciting then doing what you love and getting paid for it!

Here are five reasons (with statistics) why starting a staging and redesign business is a practical and perfect idea for 2014:

• Home Values Are On The Rise – What a roller coaster it has been but now in almost every area of the country, home values are going up.  What does this mean for stagers?  It means there is value in the sale of the home, so staging becomes a “windfall” of sorts for sellers who really want to get all they can out of selling their most prized possession.  (The median price of a house in the United States is $197,100 which is up over 10% from last year’s median price of $176,800 according to the National Association of Realtors NAR) (According to the National Association of Realtors, almost 20% more home sold over 2012 numbers:  5,160,000 homes in 2013 vs. 4,660,000 in 2012)
• Remodeling Is On The Rise – What happens when people start to take an interest in their homes?  They look for critical expertise from a home stylist, color expert and designer! (In an HGTV Magazine reader poll over 25% of readers underwent a big renovation, like a new kitchen or bath in 2013)  (In a 2013 Houzz survey of over 100,000 people over 53% plan a renovation in the next couple years, think it’s a good time and plan to hire professional help)
• Home Staging Was Specifically Listed As A “Best Career for 2013 and Beyond” – In an article by career guru, Marty Nemko, staging was listed as a best job and fastest growing career for the future. (Link to Article)
• Sellers Are Now Staging Savvy – With the rise of HGTV, Pinterest and Houzz the average seller understands the value of professional, design advice for both living and selling!
• Agents Are Now Staging Savvy – It’s taken home stagers years to educate the real estate industry of the benefits of staging and now home stagers have become a de rigueur part of preparing a home for sale.

The most famous real estate agent of all time, Barbara Corcoran is speaking at our Staging Convention in a couple weeks, so it’s incredibly encouraging to see how our work over the years in educating the public on staging has Barbara as a huge supporter and advocate!

 

Timing is everything and building a business is a luxury but the biggest regret I hear our member stagers say is that they wish they started earlier.

Here are just a few quotes from our members I thought was worth posting to encourage others that a new year, can mean so much to you…or it can pass you by.

Home Staging Excellence

The nominees have been announced for the RESA Home Staging Industry Awards 2014 and I’m so proud and impressed with every one of those amazing staging and redesigners!  If you haven’t checked out each of their entry pages and viewed their transformations, make sure you do that at http://homestagingindustryawards.com.   Each one of these individuals works tirelessly to perfect their craft and in doing so elevate our industry.

I’m particularly proud of the fact that half of the US nominees in the Pro-USA category and the Rising Star category are HSR grads or HSR Staging Mentors!

I wanted to personally congratulate each one of them below because they each have inspired me through the years, are incredibly talented and generous to the industry and are wonderful people…you ladies rock!

Congratulations to…

• Name: Kristine Ginsberg
• Company: Elite Staging and Redesign, LLC
• City: Morris Plains
• State/Province: NJ
• Designations: Graduate of Home Staging Resource, ASHSR (American Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners), NCJAR (North Central Jersey Association of Realtors)
• Memberships: RESA (Real Estate Staging Association), ASHSR (American Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners), NCJAR (North Central Jersey Association of Realtors), Active Rain Network
• Website: http://www.elitestagingandredesignmorriscountynewjersey.com/

• Name: Donna Dazzo
• Company: Designed To Appeal
• City: New York
• State/Province: NY
• Designations: Graduate of Home Staging Resource program and Staging Diva program
• Memberships: RESA NY Chapter
• Website: www.DesignedToAppeal.com

• 
• 

  • Name: Michelle Minch
  • Company: Moving Mountains Design
  • City: Pasadena
  • State/Province: CA
  • Designations: RESA-PRO, HSR
  • Memberships: RESA National, RESA San Gabriel Valley Chapter
  • Website: http://MovingMountainsDesign.com

  

   

  • Name: Lori KimPolk
  • Company: Premiere Home Staging
  • City: Roseville
  • State/Province: CA
  • Designations: ASP. CSP, RESA-PRO, RESA Membership Chair, RESA Board Member 2012/2013
  • Memberships: RESA, PCAR, SACRESN
  • Website: http://www.premierehomestagingllc.com

  

  

  • Name: Maureen Bray
  • Company: Room Solutions Staging LLC
  • City: Portland
  • State/Province: OR
  • Designations: CSP, ASP
  • Memberships: RESA, Active Rain Real Estate Network
  • Website: http://www.RoomSolutions.com

  

  

  • Name: Valerie Monkarsh
  • Company: The Closing Stage
  • City: Los Angeles
  • State/Province: CA
  • Designations: Vacant Property Specialist, HSR
  • Memberships: RESA, HSR
  • Website: www.theclosingstage.com 

    

    • Name: Lori Murphy
    • Company: Element One Home Staging & Redesign
    • City: Dublin
    • State/Province: OH
    • Designations: Certified Professional Stager
    • Memberships: RESA, ASHSR, HSR
    • Website: www.ElementOneHomeStaging.com 

      

      • Name: Ululani Poepoe
      • Company: UP Staging & Design, LLC
      • City: Kea’au
      • State/Province: HI
      • Designations: Realtor
      • Memberships: RESA Member, ASHSR Member
      • Website: www.UPstagingDesign.com

    

    

    • Name: Luci Terhune
    • Company: Bungalow Home Staging & Redesign
    • City: Nutley
    • State/Province: NJ
    • Designations: HSR RESA PRO CPCNR CIR
    • Memberships: RESA HSR
    • Website: www.Bungalowhomestagers.com

    

    

    • Name: Natalya Price
    • Company: Nj Staged 2 Sell
    • City: Summit
    • State/Province: NJ
    • Designations: Home Stager & Property Stylist, Realtor
    • Memberships: ASHSR, RESA, HSR, NJAR, B.I.G.
    • Website: www.njstaged2sell.com

Canadian Home Stager’s Interesting Advice

Whenever anyone enrolls for our staging and redesign course, I interview them to find out “where” they are coming from, “why” they are doing this and “what” is their ultimate goal.  I get a kick out of all the varied backgrounds people have before they “reinvent” themselves into the home staging and design world which in fact is probably where they should have always been!

After someone has taken our course about nine months in, I interview them again and share their insights with others so that we can all benefit.  Chelsea Waldner of Aspen Interior Designs had some interesting things to say, so I thought I’d share…

1.  What was your background before starting a home staging business and how did it serve you well in this new endeavor?

I am involved in construction and real-estate through my husbands company and my in-laws.  I was also a certified interior decorator before becoming a certified staging professional.  For me, this staging course was more useful and more comprehensive than the interior decorating course I took a few years prior.  It has given me the credibility that I needed to enter the staging industry as a professional while adding (very valuably) to the decorating background I already had.

2.  How long did it take you to go through the training/business set-up?  How long before you had your first consultation/appointment?

I went through the training in about 3 months and I had my first staging job within weeks.  That house sold in 6 days!  It had been on the market for 60 days already, unstaged.  Then I was hired to do a partial stage in just the kitchen and bathrooms and wow!  it made all the difference.  The house was on the market for another 2 days when it got a full list offer and it was officially sold 4 days later.

3.  Any words of wisdom for those just entering into the field?

Don’t be afraid to buy good condition, used furniture.  You will save a lot of money and build a bigger inventory in a shorter time than buying all new things.  Also, purchase as many neutral pieces as you can to increase your flexibility in staging a wide variety of home styles.

Accent with uniqueness and build your foundation on neutrality.

4.  What (if anything) would you have done differently looking back?

I would never have paid the money for the interior decorating course I took had I known the vast amount of knowledge I would gain through the HSR course.  In my opinion, the HSR course is more complex, more in-depth and covers more, useful, applicable design information than interior decorating courses alone.  This course teaches you about the psychology of design and that is very, very useful knowledge to have.

Are you glad you decided to go into the home staging field?  Why or why not?

I’m glad I took the course.  Staging is hard work.  For me, I find that moving a whole house in and out in the short amount of time it is on the market after it is staged is a real pain in the butt.  However, it does say something about the effectiveness of staging as a tool for real estate sales.  The longest any one of my stages has been on the market is 6 weeks.  That’s a lot of moving furniture!

Thanks Chelsea for sharing!

Click Here to see what your story can be…

HSR Success Story – DMBM

Home Stager Success Story – Stager Turns Online, Trade Furnishing Company

I love this story because it represents so many stories I hear from HSR Members who get calls right away and have immediate success…

Can you imagine just starting the HSR Certification training and getting a call from a builder to stage a model home?  Here’s a quick video and encouraging story of how they handled it…

Our Story…

What makes the alliance with HSR and DesignMeBuyMe.com even more exciting to me is that my wife and I both got our start with HSR. The HSR program and lessons truly gave us a solid foundation and allowed us to apply what we have learned and in turn create a multi-million dollar business! 

Back in 2006 when we joined HSR and completed their program, our very first job was to stage two 5000+ sqf homes top to bottom for the parade of homes. Without thinking, we were so excited and we accepted the challenge just to find out shortly after that we only had 48 hours to get it all done.

We were in way over our heads, but we had to get creative to get it all done. So we decided to take all the furniture out of our personal home to get started on house number1  I do not recommend this!! Unfortunately all of our furniture only furnished the 1^st floor of the parade home, so we had to reach out and two of our best friends loaned us all of their furniture for a week just so we can get one house completed……good friends!

By the time we started house 2, we were out of furniture and good friends it seemed J so we contacted local furniture stores and asked if we could use some of their furniture. After getting multiple “No thank you” answers we finally found a store to lend us living room, bedroom and game room furniture. As relieved as we were, the furniture we used was all very high-end which made it very stressful for us to move and place.

All that being said, we won 1^st place in the Parade and both houses sold within a week. In addition, all of our furniture and some of our friends furniture sold as well.

The money we got paid for staging was certainly great but to also have additional income from furniture sales made the entire process even better.

Since all of the furniture that we sold was originally purchased at retail prices, our overall profit margins were relatively small.

Prior to starting DMBM my wife and I went to Furniture markets in an attempt to open up our own vendor accounts. We quickly realized that as an independent homestager/designer we were treated a little differently  – the first question we were always asked was “Do you have a store?” Our answer was no, which meant that we automatically got placed in the least favorable pricing category – Designer Pricing

Designer Pricing basically means – higher product cost, higher shipping costs and minimum order requirements. In addition, most vendors have opening orders that have to be met which can range from $1000 to $20,000.

Markus EngelkeDesignMeBuyMe.com

Now HSR Members can access the DesignMeBuyMe.com website and offer “To the Trade” pricing to their clients because of our special relationship with HSR!

Home Staging in Prague

Home Staging in Prague – Another Home Stager Success Story

I love this story because it shows that the principles of gorgeous home staging are universal! Pavlina Glacnerova of Prague Home Staging, has a wonderful talent of transforming rooms.  She also has an encouraging story to tell about how she got started, so read on and hear in her own words her story, while enjoying her photos…

I am a mother of two small kids (1 and 3 years) and I got very nervous about my future career last year. I realized that I don’t want to get back to my former profession – account manager. I yearned for a job without any time borders, without hundreds of pointless reports, without a boss which doesn’t listen but boasts of my success. I desired to be responsible for all my action and express myself.

One day I saw some realtor talking on a TV about real estate business in Czech Republic and suddenly he mentioned Home Staging. He said that it is something brand new in our area and it’s got a great potential to be very successful soon.  First I started searching on the internet for some details to find out what it takes to do it. I found a few awesome pages of Home Stagers in USA and Canada and realized I need some serious training.

I found HSR and immediately had no doubt that this is the right resource for my dream career. The was even more surprised when I had sent some questions and Audra’s emailed response arrived immediately. Because I am from Europe I’m a bit limited by a different time zone. But this fact turned out to be unimportant with HSR. I was also quite concerned about the time to finish the course but thanks to HSR I’ve been able to study by my own pace and successfully finish and achieve the certification in about six months.

 

I can’t even express how happy I am that I joined this training because HSR is not only about training but mainly a critical resource of information absolutely necessary for the right start. It is not only about home decorating, design and real estate business. It’s about a million other practical advises and instructions which you need if you want to start doing this business and be successful. It is about your presentation, how to naturally approach to a client or realtor, how to build a credible business and relationships…how to get respect.

 

I looks to me like Pavlina is doing everything right!  Her photos look spectacular and she’s branding herself beautifully on her website:  http://ukazkovydomov.cz/

Great job Pavlina!