The builder of this home graciously agreed to open the home for our group of talented stagers to transform and the results speak for themselves:

Dining room before (above) Master Bedroom before (Below)

Staging class prior to the hands-on

Sandra Racz, staging intructor from the Decorating and Staging Academy talks with over 30 Showhomes franchise owners and stagers. Talk about some strong opinions in one room! I learned a ton myself listening to so much talent.

Dining Room after (Above) and Living Room after (below)

Master Bedroom above and below – Showhomes stagers Carla Chiefetz from Princeton, NJ and Sandra Wicks from LA

This is an actual home for sale and all training aside, we staged this home in an unbelivable 3 hours (having 30 expereinced people helps.) Just in time – a Realtor showed up for a surprise showing as we put the finishing touches on the home followed by the listing agent and the builder and his wife.

The buyer spent over an hour in the home and at least 30 minutes in the master – it was calm and serene. This was their second showing and it made a real impact; we bet it sells!

This event was both educational for our group and clearly beneficial for the builder and Realtor – we’re planning to make this an annual event in Nashville so stay tuned!

What do you think?

Thomas Scott

Showhomes

Think home staging is a career choice only for creative people who love to decorate?

Think again.

Careerbuilder.com listed Home Stager as the top emerging career in the down economy and the remarkable sales results home staging produces is creating potential for enormous growth throughout the coming decade.  Ironically, to grow, the industry needs fewer hands on designers and more traditional business operators, who can operate, manage and market scalable businesses.

Here are five reasons to start a home staging business in today’s market:

1. There are large numbers of houses for sale today and higher percentages of houses are vacant and need staging. Furthermore, research shows that staged homes sell 78% faster while vacant houses often sell for 15-20% lower prices than fully staged homes.
2. There are far fewer home staging companies than people who need staging. Part-time and hobbyist home stagers, who currently dominate the industry, barely put a dent in the need for the service. Full service home staging businesses and franchises are few and far between, which leaves a large niche of potential customers, most of whom prefer to work with a reputable, full-time company.

3. It’s only going to get better. Shell Brodnax, President of the Real Estate Staging Association had this to say about the future of staging: “Since home staging has had so much exposure over the last few years more and more people are aware of it, home stagers have an easier time starting their businesses.”

4. Think the home staging business is just for decorators? Wrong. Home staging is just like any other service business: it requires sales, systems, customer service and product quality. The industry needs more business-oriented operators who can run and manage a scalable business.
5. Using a home staging company to prepare a home for sale and even manage it while it is on the market for sale is becoming more and more common. Trade associations such as the Real Estate Staging Association are focused on educating both Realtors and home owners about the benefits of using a staging company so it becomes as normal as using a Realtor or title company to sell a home. This effort already has significant momentum and will continue to grow.

Nashville based Showhomes, a nationally franchised home staging company, has experienced positive growth for the past six years and is rapidly expanding in today’s real estate market.

“What we are looking for is someone with the drive and skills to manage a business,” said Showhomes CEO Bert Lyles. “To take advantage of the growth opportunity, staging businesses need much larger scale than most part time stagers have in today’s market. We’re expanding and recruiting business owners who might never have staged a home themselves but have the skills to hire and manage stagers. It’s an amazing opportunity for positive growth in a niche business.”

About Showhomes

Showhomes is a home staging business with a twist: the company uses live-in caretakers to manage vacant homes while they are on the market for sale and offset a home owner’s expense to stage a home. The innovative marketing strategy has been producing results since 1986 and the company has helped over 25,000 home owners sell vacant houses valued at over $8 billion. For franchise opportunities and more information, please visit www.showhomesfranchise.com.



The NAR (National Association of Realtors) Expo in San Diego this year was a far cry from the boom years in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Both the number of attendees and the number of exhibitors are down from previous years and the harsh market conditions have shocked most Realtors into a far more realistic view of our industry.

There was lots of hope for those still standing this year:

* Sales of lower end homes are inching upward
* The extension of the tax credit is fueling some growth
* Home Staging is having a really positive impact on sales

We surveyed over 500 Realtors and brokers at the show this year to get some insight into Realtor attitudes towards home staging. We’ll be releasing our survey results in the upcoming weeks and here are some early insights:

* Over 95% of Realtors prefer to show homes that are staged
* The majority of Realtors say whole-house home staging (when every room is staged) knocks the time to sell in HALF
* The Majority of Realtors say that homes staged sell for 15-20% higher price than when vacant

The NAR Expo is an international show and there were lots of Canadian Realtors present. Canadian Realtors told us they use home staging at a much higher frequency than American Realtors. The feedback from Canadian visitors is that homes either don’t sell without staging or if they do they sell for far less and take much longer. Interestingly enough, they see it as their professional duty to make sure they push owners to use Home Staging because if they don’t the owner will have to steeply reduce the price and selling homes for higher prices is better business.

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com