You might be wondering what skills home stagers need. And worrying about things like knowing how to place furniture and choose paint colors.

Those are of course important. Yet, they might even be secondary to some of these other skills or traits.

My top 5 must-have skills are based on personally staging over a hundred million dollars worth of real estate.

And teaching thousands of home stagers around the world how to start a home staging business.

I can often tell who will be the most successful of my Staging Diva Grads within their first 6 months of becoming home stagers.

That’s because I watch for these skills in our interactions and the questions they ask. I’m also very aware of the image they create for themselves.

Five Skills Home Stagers Need

1. A talent for decorating and working with color

You should be a creative individual with a sense of space. You don’t need to be a trained Interior Designer or trained Decorator to be a successful home stager!

If you have the eye of a home stager, it comes naturally. No amount of decorating training can substitute for raw talent. Wondering if you have it? Take this free home staging quiz.

2. An understanding of real estate

To be a good home stager, you have to be curious about the real estate market.

This doesn’t mean you have to analyze real estate statistics or anything as complicated as that.

You probably notice For Sale signs in your neighborhood. You may even know a few Realtors and enjoy talking to them about what’s happening in your market.

Most home stagers love looking at MLS listings online and going to real estate open houses.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about the real estate market from doing this and from chatting casually with agents.

Getting on the email list of some local Realtors is also a good strategy. Most send out monthly trends and stats about what’s going on locally.

One of the homework assignments I give in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program is to visit open houses and imagine you’re there to figure out how to make it look better for showings.

Test your powers of observation and ability to see how things can be improved. As you go room by room, think about what changes you’d recommend.

If you can find anything to improve, then you have the raw talent needed to be able to do a successful home staging consultation.

3. Ability to organize things and notice details

My home office is a mess especially when I’m in the middle of a bunch of projects. Yet, I’m pretty organized when it comes to getting stuff done.

As a home stager, you need organizational skills. Related to that is the ability to pay attention to detail.

When visiting clients’ homes, you’re going to walk into some chaotic environments. You will be surprised at how people live— and it has nothing to do with their income or the price of their house.

Home stagers innately like to create order out of chaos.

4. Remain calm when timelines are tight

Few clients call me 6 months before they need a home stager.

Most homeowners call a few weeks before they’re listing their home. Or, when it’s already on the real estate market and there’s little interest, or they’re getting “low ball” offers.

With fairly quick turn around times, there isn’t much time to complete the transformation. Being able to stay calm and make quick decisions is important.

When you have a proper process to follow for a home staging consultation, this is so much easier!

Plus, the benefit of quick turn around is you get to see the results of your efforts right away. I find that SO creatively satisfying.

5. Work well with others

I’m the first to admit that I’m a total introvert. That’s why I tend to avoid parties, team sports and group projects.

Yet I’m very successful as a home stager. Truth is, when you follow my business formula, you don’t have to get a team involved in what you’re doing.

It’s still important to be able to deal with people. Let’s face it, selling a house and moving are stressful times! Many of your home staging clients will be stressed when you arrive for a consultation.

Part of what makes a good home stager is being able to walk into any situation and calm the person down. It helps that they hired you because they WANT and NEED your help.

So it’s not like parenting a teenager. It’s more like when your kids still thought you knew all the answers (even when you had to make it up as you went along). 🤓

You were hired to help the homeowner expedite the selling process. They already appreciate you being there to support them in this stressful situation, and break it down for them into manageable chunks.

The ability to work well with others also comes into play for projects that require you to coordinate painters, handymen, furniture rental companies and cleaners. You don’t have to supervise everyone but you’ll need to organize who does what and when.

Do These Skills Home Stagers Need Surprise You?

Building your career around your innate skills dramatically increases your chances of success. Life is so much easier when we’re doing what comes naturally, isn’t it?

If you feel like you have some or all of the above-mentioned skills, use your natural talents to seize the opportunity to make a living— and a life— doing what you love.

There are so many really ugly homes on the real estate market and they need your help! Just because something comes naturally to you, doesn’t mean everyone can do it.

Thinking of becoming a home stager?

Find Out What Stagers Make Here