San Francisco Bay Area Home Staging Blog

In my experience staging homes in the San Francisco Bay Area - Sausalito, San Francisco, Daly City, San Bruno, Burlingame, San Mateo, Foster City, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, Redwood Shores, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Milpitas, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Campbell, Fremont, Santa Clara, San Jose., this is one of the most frequently asked questions by both realtors and home owners. So hope this article helps to put together your top criteria to hire a stager.

The number one rule & the most important rule to remember when you hire a stager – WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Look for all the work that the stager has done –the website, business cards, portfolios, proposals, etc. The stager walks into your home and tells you what to do with your house to make it more marketable for a quick sale. It is in this same way that the stager is selling their services. How do the stagers marketing materials look? This will definitely give you an idea of what the stager is going to do with your house. Don’t make any compromises here based on price. If the stager offers a really low price make sure you are satisfied with the stagers work. A good stager will practice what they preach. If a stager is not good at selling themselves with attractive presentation materials and samples how are they going to help you sell your home?

The next key factor is certification, staging is a new industry and there are no clear rules around pricing, quality of work, skill sets, the right ways to stage a house. So a certified stager at least means someone who is committed to their work, takes the time to get trained and validate that they are dong the best for their clients.

Pricing – there is always a new stager on the block awaiting to outbid the others to get the contract, this is good news for home owners and realtors who are on a budget, you can shop around for a good deal. But also remember, if u pay peanuts you get monkeys J make sure you use the first rule & check out samples of the stagers work before you pick the cheapest.

Get a detailed written proposal of what will be done so when you compare proposals you compare apples to apples. Not only that, it will also help you understand what you are going to get for the money you pay. If the stagers proposal is not detailed enough request for more details. Feel free to ask questions – how many rooms will you stage? How many pieces of furniture will you place in this room? etc

Your comfort level with the stager is also very important. Trust your instincts and go with the one who is flexible to your requests, someone who takes the time to work with you and listens to and understands your needs. The bottom line is you know your home the best; you know the flaws and the key features discuss these with the stager and see what they have to offer to highlight or underplay features as needed.

Good luck!

Jaya

www.increasehomeappeal.com

Tags: Atherton, bayarea, Belmont, Burlingame, Campbell, Cupertino, Daly City, Foster City, Fremont, Gilroy, Hillsborough, Home Stager, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Redwood Shores, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area Home Staging Services, San Jose, San Jose Home Staging, San Mateo, sanfrancisco, sanjose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sausalito, Sunnyvale, Union City