“I met with the owners of a house in Dallas, TX who had a semi-vacant home on the market since December 2014. The home was listed un staged and not professionally photographed. It lingered for months and the sellers, who lived out of the area had enough. They researched staging companies locally in Dallas after having asked their agent to find one for them (2 months prior to my meeting with them) and he said that he “couldn’t find one” so they found one themselves, me.”
“I asked them how they found me and they said online. They had read the many reviews of not only my company but others as well and based their decision to call me and hire me on those reviews alone. So it pays to have a stellar social reputation online and even when we don’t meet the expectations of a client, it’s important to address their concerns and try to make things right if and when they may go wrong.”
“After meeting with them, I impressed upon them that before staging, there may be a need to address a flooring issue that I noted, should the budget be a concern for both the floors and staging. I’m always of the mindset to sell what stays in the home and removing objections is key! (I also do always charge for a vacant property preview in case the job doesn’t go to contract and I’ve written a blog on the subject if anyone is interested in knowing why I do so. http://activerain.com/
There was some dated and different flooring surfaces in several key rooms of the home and even if they didn’t stage, they needed to either replace them or get an estimate and be armed with the information to update the flooring if a buyer objected. They opted to stage and not replace the floors due to timing however they did adjust the price of the home accordingly.
Another area I spoke to them about was the marketing of their home with photos. The MLS photos I saw at the time were just down right poor quality and absolutely did not reflect the lovely home I saw with my own eyes. I was very honest about that as well and even great staging looks bad with poor quality photos. Photos are key to driving traffic and buyer interest. Buyers tend to fall in love (or not) online and re-marketing with staging and new photos was non-negotiable. I introduced them to my Dallas photographer of choice, Lance Selgo and of course he was the one who ultimately took the photos after it was staged.
In less than 10 days after meeting with the home owners and giving them some homework to complete before our installation, we had the home staged and photographed and ready for its new debut. The clients also hired a new agent who understood the power of staging, photography and pricing correctly.
A day after the home went live on the MLS they received multiple offers and are working out the details of a contract that is set to close by the end of the month they listed it. Needless to say the sellers are thrilled! I spoke with my client and she shared that not only are they thrilled that they got it sold but that they would be sharing the details of the success this time around with the former agent who had said that they “couldn’t find a stager”. Well their agent’s “not finding a stager” did cost them the listing and a hefty commission on a beautiful home that sold quickly with the right marketing strategy in a fraction of the time they had it on the market. Below are some before and after samples of the home, pre and post staging.
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