The Staging Life: Sometimes It's The Singer, Not The Song
By Nan Johnston, Southern Staging and Redesign
As a professional home staging consultant a seller will often hear suggestions that they had hoped wouldn’t come up but suspected that it would.
Updating fixtures, changing countertops, changing out interior door hardware and cabinet hardware, painting, updating flooring, all the hard dirty work that requires time and a monitory investment. Of course, home stagers are prepared for the “push back” or objections, we’ve heard them all but eventually convince them to see the wisdom of why.
A buyer is going to be comparing this home to other homes and possibly new construction with all the updated features and if they want to purchase yours they will reduce the price of the offer 3 times more than it will cost you to go ahead and do the work. If you want full asking price and little negotiating you must show them the value of what they are purchasing.
Usually, they will go ahead and concede that they understand and will do the work or part of it.
Guess what happens next? The other spouse that has been quite during this discussion will say, “I’ve been telling them that for the last 4 years and they just ignored me! Now you come in and convince them to do the work! How can that happen?”
Guess what my answer is? “It’s the singer, not the song. I’m the expert that your agent has hired to come in and give you suggestions, information and benefits of why it’s important to listen to the information and then it’s up to you to decide if you want to do the work based on an educated consultation.”
Then there is one of those “light bulb” moments and you can see the upset spouse “gets it” and is glad they don’t have to harp on about this particular subject again. The expert has handled it and they can move on to the next thing.
What song do you need a home staging expert to sing?
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Nan Johnston is a professional home staging consultant from Newnan with over 30 years experience in the real estate industry. Check out her website for some interesting before and after photos at www.southern-staging.com. To contact her, email her at [email protected].
