It’s amazing how many home stagers think they should be real estate agents too. They think that’s a fast road to easy money, not realizing that home stagers often make more money than real estate agents.
I read a recent blog post written by a real estate agent fed up with people trying to work out his paycheck by multiplying the price of a house he was selling by 6%.
Everyone assumes he must be filthy rich and he said in his post that many agents do the same type of math, lulling themselves into a world of delusion where they believe they’re actually doing okay.
He stated (and I agree) that this is a dangerous perception that will lead to bankruptcy.
The real estate agent in the article worked out his hourly wage. He calculated all of the fees that he has to pay his broker and added that in with his other bills including:
- Car payment/maintenance/fuel, etc.
- Cell phone bill and other utilities
- Desk fees
- Signage
- Office supplies
- Assistant’s salary
- Referral fees
- Gifts
- Registration fees
- Business meals
- Apparel
- Health insurance
- Taxes
- Promotional items
- Marketing
- And the list goes on and on and on
When he got that big number and figured it all out— including the fact that most often two agents share the 6% commission (which is now more often 5%)— and he wrote down the number of hours he works (roughly 14 or so a day), discovered that he was actually only earning $17/hour.
This real estate agent was one of the top producing agents in his office. I suspect that most agents are actually earning closer to half of that number, especially those who are new to the business.
In fact a 2017 National Association of Realtors study found that 56% of Realtors with two years or less experience made less than $10,000 per year!
Home stagers have a much higher earning potential than this.
In my second year as a home stager I was earning up to $10,000 a month (not per year like agents). Plus, unlike real estate agents, home stagers don’t have to worry about starving to death in a “slow real estate market” because no matter what the market is doing, home staging still works.
If you’re a real estate agent giving your clients free home staging advice, did you ever consider that your passion for decorating and talent for home staging could make you a lot more money than collecting real estate commissions?
Depending on where you live, you can earn anywhere from $300 to $600 for a single home staging consultation.
And your only real expenses are your fuel because everything else is billed to the client. Remember, that’s only the money you’re making from home staging consultations, that’s not even counting what you can earn if you actually turn some of those consultations into full-blown home staging projects.
Real estate agents, are you giving away your valuable home staging knowledge for free when it could be earning you tens of thousands of dollars per year? I urge you to read an article I wrote on this topic called “Recession Proof Your Real Estate Career” because it will really help put things into perspective for you.
You may also benefit from a FREE Tip Sheet I prepared, called How Much Do Home Stagers Make?
In it you’ll learn about the 4 phases of a home staging project. You’ll be surprised to discover how much money you can make for each phase! And it’s on the spot. Not like real estate where you can wait months if not years to get paid for your efforts!
Home stagers, did you start out as a real estate agent sick of living from commission check to commission check? Please share your story by leaving a comment below!
I love home staging. When it came to a choice between spending money on real estate courses and home staging, I thought real estate was the safer way to go. I am almost a year into the business and believe I may have made an error in judgment. Unfortunately, the money it has cost me, for the path I chose, may not enable me to change it.
Dianne, thanks for your comments. Now that you’ve done the real estate course, you can still decide whether you want to be a home stager who happens to have a real estate license or a real estate agent who happens to stage homes. There’s a big difference in mindset. If you’re a home stager who happens to have a real estate license, then your focus shifts to building your business as a home stager and earning the bulk of your revenue from that. Since many clients will contact a home stager BEFORE ever listing with an agent, you can actually get new clients as a home stager. After you build up the right rapport with them (through staging, which you’re getting paid for), you’ll find them asking you who they should list with. So then it becomes an easier listing for you to get then if you were approaching them as a real estate agent first.
I never encourage real estate agents to do home staging if they want to really be real estate agents. Their time is better spent on getting and selling listings and leaving the staging to those who are only focused on that. Otherwise they are wasting their valuable time doing free staging and not selling real estate.
Hope that helps!
Debra
Hope that helps!
The ‘depending on where you live part’ must be noted. If you are in a rural area such a myself (53,000 people in the county – 24,500 homes – average income per household $43,000) you are looking at earning $75 to $125 for a single home staging consultation. In my market Stagers earn less than an agent.
Debra I’m curious what were the demographics for your market when you made $10,000 a month – knowing will help me gauge my business better.
Hi Lisa,
I was earning up to $10,000 a month staging homes in Toronto which is Canada’s largest city (population approx. 2.5 million), where an “average” home was selling at the time for about $350,000 to $450,000 depending on the neighborhood. The majority of my clients were dual income households with kids, middle to upper middle income level, college educated. Hope that helps!
Debra
Debra,
As a home stager competing with several established real estate agents who currently advertise their “certified” home staging services, I feel a little taken aback by your post. Explain how your recruitment of real estate agents might not feel threatening to home stagers who have invested time, emotions and money into trying to build their specialized home staging services in their communities? What are the long term effects of your marketing to real estate agents to cash in on home staging? For one, I feel I have a huge hurdle to get over here in Alaska, where attitudes tend to be conservative and a little behind the rest of the U.S. Relatively on my own as a home stager, I have to say I feel your marketing is not supportive of my efforts or my hopes.
Hi Stacy, Thanks for sharing your comments and I can see that I hit a nerve here. I’m glad for your feedback so I can clarify my position.
I don’t, and have never encouraged real estate agents to stage their clients listings for free. I have always said that if their focus is on being real estate agents they should spend their time on that and leave staging to the professionals. If you look back at your course 4 notes and recordings you’ll find a lot of information for agents on why they should use stagers for their listings rather than doing the work themselves.
In my previous comment to Dianne I made the distinction between a home stager who happens to have a real estate license versus a real estate agent who happens to stage homes. There’s a big difference in mindset. If you’re a home stager who happens to have a real estate license, then your focus shifts to building your business as a home stager and earning the bulk of your revenue from that.
I don’t see pointing out to real estate agents that they could be home stagers instead and make more money per hour as stagers as hurting others like yourself who just want to be stagers. That would be like saying I should stop any further home staging training so none of my current graduates will have any more competition!
I do a ton to support home stagers in their marketing efforts. For example I have a FREE monthly newsletter filled with business building tips for home stagers, Staging Diva Dispatch, that is in it’s 50th edition. I write three articles a week to help home stagers specifically or to increase the general awareness of home staging and the benefits. You’ll find my articles all over the Internet educating both home sellers and real estate agents on the benefits of using home staging, how to hire a home stager, etc. I’ve been writing about that since 2002 and have done quite a bit to raise awareness of this industry and what should be ethical practices within it!
You can find them by doing a Google search on “Debra Gould” or “Staging Diva”.
So, please don’t try and tell me my marketing is not supportive of your efforts, that really hurts!
Hi Stacy
I read your post and felt the need to encourage you to press on. I understand many Realtors throughout the United States are positioning themselves as Realtor/Stagers. I’ve even come across those who do so for free – right down to the art and accessories.
You keep giving a 110% and you will set yourself apart. There is so much confusion as to what staging is. Some have the right skills – others don’t.
I would actively seek out the listings of Realtor/Stagers and see how they compare. Then I would make sure my clients had the best of the best.
I see lots of people who call themselves Stagers, but the absolute proof is when a home sells quickly for a reasonable asking price. There are not enough dollars to pay for the word of mouth advertising you will get from a successfully staged and sold home.
Hang in there and never give up – you must have a passion for this or you would not have pursued the SD training.
I have a private group on facebook called ‘Home Staging Business Friends’. We are constantly encouraging one other with this very issue and many others. We’d love to have you join us!
Thanks Lisa for jumping in and your supportive suggestion. I also agree that if you “keep giving a 110% and you will set yourself apart.” We all deal with competition no matter what market we are in. Whether it’s competition from other stagers, or from agents who stage their own listings, or from all the general “noise” that’s out there trying to get our potential client’s attention. That’s why marketing is so key and being very focused and consistent. I wanted to give up many times in my first year but I’m really glad I didn’t. I know many of my students who are now in their 3rd, 4th or even 5th years in staging would say the same!
Debra
I just felt that I had to jump in here too! I WISH I could charge $300+ for home staging consultations! Right now,the going price in Denver is $150. Some will charge a little more for a million dollar house but too many sellers are opting NOT to stage and save the money.
I’ve just lost 2 jobs because they felt they could sell their house w/o staging. People are careful about spending right now.
I know about “educating” them and all but if they won’t spend it, I can’t get it. Many of the home stagers here are feeling this as well – not just me. When so many of the homes are short sales, they are already in the hole!
Thanks for letting me spout off!
Naturally you have to keep local market conditions in mind but it still doesn’t mean you have to be the same as everyone else.
Yes people are carefully about spending money, but they DO spend money on things they really want or feel they really need. For example, by September, Apple had already sold over 3.27 million iPads. Remember it only launched in April! Consider this is a brand new device, launched in the middle of a recession, that no one ever had/used before, that no one REALLY needs and (starting at $499 and going right up to $829 before adding any required accessories) it costs more than any home staging consultation! Yes, some people will buy an iPad before they’ll invest in trying to sell their single most important financial asset. It’s up to us to continually show them how what we do is so important to their bottom line.
Debbie, I hear your frustration and I’ve experienced it many times myself. But we all need to focus on the positive things we can do to build our business, recognize that not everyone will “get it” (but enough of them will), and not focus on the negativity. Otherwise it’s just a downward spiral until you give up.
Thanks to everyone for their feedback and to Debra for providing clarification. This was a great post…very realistic & heartfelt. I too have juggled the idea of becoming a real estate agent even before starting my home staging business. While I do have a genuine interest in it, there are a lot of cons as noted in this post. I wish everyone the best as we keep working hard at build successful home staging businesses. I once heard the only way to fail was to quit, so let’s stick in there and keep motivating each other.
Natasha, Great comments, thanks. I love that quote, “the only way to fail is to quit.”
Thanks Debra – looks like I’m right where I need to be for my market.
Wow, this is all so rivetting and inspiring to say the least. I haven’t started my home staging business yet as I am finishing a Residential Planning course. When I graduate in December, staging will be my focus. I would think that starting any career transition will be a little inconsistent at first and focusing on the inconsistencies and not focusing on the passions and ways to enhance those passions will have someone in a “downward spiral” as Debra mentioned. It is comforting to know that there will be bumps in the road to overcome and peaks and valleys, and light at the end of the tunnel!!!
Thank u all for the positive feedback, and I aspire to work as diligently as all of you to enhance my business.
Thank u very much Debra for opening the line of communication.
Wynette
And I am with u Debra on people spending money on things they want or THINK they need and would opt to skimp on their most prized possession, their house. Educating them on Home Staging is key and not selling your business services cheap will be rewarded in the end.
Wynette
Lisa, thanks for the invitation to join your Face book group. I responded to your invitation and look forward to engaging with your group for support, ideas, and encouragement.
Debra, you HAVE and CONTINUE to do so much for your graduates. I regret not having really thought my response all the way through. In fact, I knew my post might send ripples and as a result I wasn’t sure I had it in me to see responses from you or from others. Although I did, my intent was not to hurt your feelings. You are very generous, professional and caring about your business and the success of others; be they aspiring home stagers or clients. You are a leader and you work to inspire many. I’m sure your work has it exhausting side and a post like mine must have felt ungrateful and harsh. Because you are outstanding at marketing and I was in a fear based state of mind when I pulled up your post and read it, I reacted to what I felt was an invitation from you to realtor estate associates or brokers who could do better if they considered becoming home stagers. At the time I posted a response, I was feeling overwhelmed by the number of real estate folks in Anchorage, Alaska who suddenly have begun to add home staging to their list of real estate services. As a new and struggling home stager I’m afraid I let my state of mind affect my response to your post. If there is an upside to it though, my comments generated some good dialogue and it was a chance for you to remind us of all that you have made available to us in terms of information and support. Most importantly, the comments from you and others validate that that home staging has its high points and low points, but overall home staging is a valuable service and a business we can each be proud of offering. We all have you to thank for our steps to success and for encouraging us as we trip or skip down our paths.
Glad to have you onboard Stacy!