Jennie Norris is our guest, resident home stager, and owner of SensationalHome.com. This will be the most complete primer for those who are wondering what staging is exactly, all the way through to how you can become a professional stager. (Check out the slide-show for some before-and-afters and remember to come back for Part 2.)

Q.: Jennie, thanks for being here. Can you tell Home and Living Readers your assessment of the real estate market today?

A.: The market today is challenging in most areas of the country. I not only have my own Home Staging business in the Denver region, I also travel around the country teaching about Home Staging and so I have the opportunity to hear from homeowners and Realtors that live and work in those areas. Although the market is still declining in some areas of the country, houses are still being bought and sold. There are markets where the economy has not tumbled as much as in other areas—where there are still jobs—and in those areas the market is much stronger than the areas where foreclosures abound, unemployment is high, and it’s a struggle to sell a house when competing with distressed properties. 

However, on the flip side, it’s a great time to invest in some of the best areas of our country where inventory is high, and prices are low. The real estate market as a whole is alive and a necessary service no matter what is happening in the market. However, Realtors are working on ways to do more to get houses sold including using social media networking, technology, and excellent marketing strategies, such as Staging, to help get a house sold sooner than later.
 
Q.: How did you become involved in this industry? Any tips for someone who is interested in starting their own staging company?

A.: I became involved because I was looking for a way to earn income and provide for my family without having to go back into corporate. I wanted to use my creativity and do something part time that paid well. My husband supported my decision to launch my own business, and I decided on Home Staging because it is a valuable and needed part of selling a house, and once a homeowner benefits from Staging they will always want it when selling. It’s not just a fad or trend, once it gains ground in a region, it is there for good, and it is a necessity versus a luxury expenditure. 

For someone looking at starting a Staging company my best advice is get some education. Training and knowledge is important when entering this field. People that watch a lot of HGTV might decide to enter this field, but it’s not just about being able to move stuff around or having a flair for decorating. There are people skills involved, and working with Realtors—so we have to understand how we can help them and get sellers on board to Stage their houses. We also need to know how to price our services—and television for the most part does not do a good job of that with the “reality” shows that are not the reality of what goes on in 99.9% of Staging businesses. 

I am going to recommend the company that trained me, Stagedhomes.com (www.Stagedhomes.com) as they have been teaching the Accredited Staging Professional® (ASP®) Courses for 11 years and offer the only Accreditation for Home Staging—which is the highest form of learning for this industry. Founded by Barb Schwarz, The Creator of Home Staging®, the course provides a firm foundation for establishing, marketing, managing and maintaining a successful business.
 
Graduates of this class are also given a full year membership in The International Association of Home Staging Professionals® (IAHSP®) that has set the standards of excellence, ethics and education for the Home Staging industry for over 11 years. They are the only professional association serving solely the Home Staging industry and the only association that requires education first in order to join. I am the President of IAHSP for 2009-2010 and we have thousands of members from all over the world. There are regional chapters set up in most all cities, and this gives ongoing support and professional networking for all graduates—which is important as they go into business as they will have a resource for support. They also get a full year access to the Staging University that is an online resource just for graduates of the ASP Course—and has over 5,000 pages of marketing and business resources and is a great source for ongoing education.
 
Q.: Can anyone use a stager or is it just for high-end properties?

A.: Anyone can use a Stager—and that is a great question because many people think it is only for the high-end houses. When we watch a TV show that says Staging is $2,000—some viewers might think, “I don’t have that kind of money.” And yet, Staging is for ALL houses. I have staged modest houses to custom multi-million dollar properties. The SAME principles apply to each property—Staging is not price discriminatory and all houses can look better with Staging which means they will sell faster and allow the seller to keep more of their equity.
 
Q.: Why would staging be needed more-so today than a decade past for example?

A.: Back when the market was “hot” I heard Realtors and Sellers say, “We don’t need to Stage—our house is going to sell.” And they were right that people were buying anything—but to be honest, those Sellers left a lot of money on the table because when I did Stage houses in that market, they went into major bidding wars and the Seller got even MORE than they thought they’d get. In some cases, my Realtor® clients would say, “When you Stage® your house we’ll list it at $420,000. If you don’t’ Stage we’ll list it at $380,000. What do you want to do?” The “Staged List Price” is different than just the list price and Sellers need to understand that Staging will help their house sell and get them the most from their property whether it’s a hot market or a slow market.

“When you Stage® your house we’ll list it at $420,000. If you don’t’ Stage we’ll list it at $380,000.

In today’s market, the importance of presenting the house for a Buyer is critical. Buyers have lots of options—they are going to be selective and when the house is ready to buy or Staged—it is easier for the buyer to imagine themselves living in home. One of my sayings is, “When a Buyer cannot envision themselves in a home, instead of mentally moving in they move on.” In a competitive market, Staging will give a Seller the edge over their un-Staged competition. In most markets we have about 10-20% of the market being professionally Staged, with some areas at only 5%, and only the SF Bay Area has regions where 50% of the market is professionally Staged. That means a Staged property will have an edge over 80-90% of their competition (that is not Staged) . . . or 95% in some areas. Even in the Bay Area—50% of the houses are NOT Staged—so that gives an edge to the ones that are.
 
What this translates to is money. When houses don’t sit on the market longer than they need to, the Seller will be less likely to have to reduce their price to attract a buyer, and this means they will keep more equity. Sellers only control two things when selling their house—the price and presentation. They cannot control interest rates, the competition, economy, or the market. I have a saying, “When presentation is ignored, price becomes the only tool for leverage that a Seller has to attract a Buyer.” That is not a good strategy for selling.