Why Hire a Professional Home Stager?

There are lots of simple things a homeowner can do on their own to decorate their house to sell. They can get rid of clutter, re-paint, clean or put out fresh flowers. So why hire a Home Stager?

Many homeowners are unsure of what paint colors to choose or where to move the clutter. The process of selling a home can be completely overwhelming. They often lack real estate knowledge about their local market and what homes in their price range should look like.

A Home Stager has the ability to look at a home with a fresh pair of eyes. They view the home as a highly critical buyer would see it. A professional Home Stager . . .

1. Knows what’s needed to create the right environment quickly and at the lowest cost.

2. Knows what homes in different price ranges look like and what’s selling. They will give homeowners suggestions that their real estate agent may be afraid to offer because the agent does not want to risk losing the listing.

3. Is not emotionally attached to any of the home’s contents which means that they can see the home in a way that someone who has been living there for years simply cannot. Using their fresh vision, they recommend the optimal way to re-arrange existing furniture, art and accessories.

4. Can quickly choose new paint colors, flooring, tiles, counter tops or any number of finishes. They have a ready source of painters, cleaners, handymen, off-site storage and a myriad of other services that may be needed on short notice.

5. Brings in replacement furniture, accessories and art if what is there isn’t appropriate to the home’s target market or the home is empty.

Home staging is not just for multi-million dollar homes, it can have a dramatic effect on the selling price and days on market of even a modest home. One home I staged had been on the market for months with a best offer of $350,000. I spent 90 minutes with the owner rearranging the furniture, putting items in storage and telling him what needed to be cleaned. He sold the following week for $361,000! How many other legal ways can you think of to invest $600 and get an $11,000 return on your investment the following week?

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is President of Six Elements Inc. and the creator of The Staging Diva® Home Staging Business Training Program. Debra bought staged and sold 6 of her own homes in 4 cities prior to launching her staging company in the fall of 2002.

Debra Gould is the only person teaching the business of home staging who combines an MBA in marketing, 20 years experience as an entrepreneur and the proven track record of actually growing a successful home staging business herself from scratch— not as a sideline to a real estate practice, but as a stand alone and profitable home-based business. Debra knows from first-hand experience what it takes to get a home staging business off the ground with a shoe string budget, and she knows how to attract home staging clients as proven by the hundreds of satisfied clients she’s served.

Debra used her marketing talents to grow her staging company, Six Elements Inc., very quickly and within the first year had been featured in prominent publications like Woman’s Day and Reader’s Digest and has appeared on HGTV and Life Channel.

Because of all the requests Debra was getting from women all over the US and Canada who wanted to start similar businesses, Debra launched the Staging Diva® Home Staging Business Training program in January of 2005.

Since that time she has personally trained hundreds of women and men in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Italy, Spain and South Africa, to start and grow a successful home staging business.

Entrepreneur Magazine identified home staging as one of the hottest growth businesses in 2006. And, The Staging Diva® Home Staging Program is the only home staging business opportunity recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine in all their 2006, 2007 and 2008 Be Your Own Boss and Business Start Ups Guides.

The Staging Diva Debra Gould has also appeared on CityTV, GlobalTV, CBC Television and CBC Radio, CTV, The Wall Street Journal, CNNMoney, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, CBS NewsRadio, Radio Colorado Network, MoneySense, House and Home, Home & Decor, Style at Home, Centre of the City, USAA Magazine, FabJob Guide to Become a Home Stager, Home Style Magazine, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, and many others.
You can learn more about Debra at http://www.stagingdiva.com and http://www.sixelements.com