I’ve been hearing from a lot of aspiring and seasoned home stagers worrying that the slow real estate market makes it impossible to build a home staging business.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In a slow real estate market, also called a “buyer’s market,” prospective home buyers can afford to take their time deciding whether to purchase a particular house.
There’s little, to none, of that sense of urgency. Where buyer’s feel that if they don’t act immediately the house may be snapped up by others that very day.
It’s hard not to feel smug as a home buyer when you see the listing has been sitting on the market for 90 or 120 days.
There’s a rush of power that comes with feeling you’re in the driver’s seat when you’re considering making an offer.
And, it’s hard not to feel desperate as a home seller when you spend day after day with your life on hold and your real estate agent urging you to take yet another price reduction.
Price reductions cost home owners big money. They don’t change the real estate agent’s take home commission by all that much.
So, why wouldn’t they recommend one?
After all, if they price something low enough, someone will buy it!
(If you’re a real estate agent – Read more about why it’s in your interest to recommend home staging here.)
Why Home Stagers Needed in Slow Real Estate Market
Home stagers offer home sellers an attractive alternative to endless price reductions.
Price reductions are big sums of money taken right out of the home sellers’ pocket!
Even at the low end, dropping an asking price $10,000 costs the home seller $10,000. It only costs the real estate agent about $150 in lost commission.
While home staging will make a property way more attractive, it doesn’t mean we can dress up an overpriced home to sell immediately in a down market.
But, if a home is priced right, and it looks better than all the comparable homes for sale, why wouldn’t it sell faster, or for more, than the others?
It’s only common sense.
Home stagers offer a way to attract Internet-savvy home buyers.
With 70 to 90% of home buyers looking on the Internet for their next home, the photos have to be stellar.
And, let’s face it, the un-staged home just isn’t photo-perfect.
Most are downright ugly at worst. At best, they have nothing to make them stand out from the hundreds of other alternatives in that price range.
Home buyers shop with logic and buy on emotion.
Home stagers (if they’re good) create an environment that prospective buyers will fall in love with.
Remember those smug, “I-can-afford-to-take-my-time” home buyers I mentioned earlier? They won’t be so smug when they’re in love and worried that their DREAM HOME might disappear to another buyer.
I was interviewed by Les Christie, CNNMoney on why home staging is an essential strategy in selling a home in a slow real estate market, you can read it here.
