What Not to Expect When Expecting a Home Staging Consultation

If your trusted realtor suggests inviting a home staging professional into the house, will you be ready to welcome her inside? Or, will you instantly tell your realtor to go to a not-so-nice place?

The process and preparation of selling a house is stressful enough. Why in the world would you want another person entering your house to “judge” what’s wrong with it?

If you feel ‘some-kind-of-way’ about home staging, you may be nervous about what’s involved with an initial consultation. Your wild imagination or friends passing on myths about home staging could cause you to lose a good night’s sleep. And that’s totally understandable. It’s not like an oil change service where you need it every 3 to 6 months. If you rarely move from your home, you may only consider staging your pre-listed house only a few times in your life. No wonder you’re unsure about how this affects you. Don’t worry. In a moment, I’ll explain what not to expect from a consultation.

A professional home staging consultation is a straight forward process that involves a team effort to market your house to as many potential home buyers for your property. Typically, the home seller(s) and the home staging professional examine the home together. The home staging pro determines the ideal presentation for the home’s unique and sellable features. And she recommends decorative arrangements and cost-effective updates to keep the home buyer engaged with the house. The home staging pro’s goal is to help you, the home seller, achieve the best possible price for the house.

Although selling the house can be an emotional process, a professional home staging consultation should be something you look forward to. It’s an opportunity to learn how your house can maximize its profit potential so you can go back to a “normal” life as soon as possible.

Before you choose a professional home staging, you may want to know a few points about what not to expect from a consultation. Hopefully, this will ease your worst fears about working with a home staging professional.

Here’s what not to expect from the initial home staging consultation…

1.     A judgmental attitude. A professional home stager understands that every homeowner’s décor taste varies according to their personality and lifestyle. If you like sea green walls in your kitchen with portraits of Elvis hanging in every room, that’s your prerogative. Your style is what makes you unique. Unfortunately, the majority of buyers may not appreciate your style, and ignore the house altogether. A trained home stager’s goal is to help buyers appreciate all the best features of the house. From that place, she provides advice and solutions focused on getting the most money from the sale of your house, not to scold you for choosing hot pink paint for your kitchen. If your ideal buyers prefer a kitchen with neutral colors, a home stager shows that she is on your side when recommending to paint the walls.

2.     An interior decorating session. It’s not a surprise that home staging involves a mix of interior decorating and home staging techniques. However, both systems are different. Interior decorating is based on the homeowner’s personal choice and style. When a house is considered for sale, it’s key to apply techniques that attract and engage a larger pool of home buyers. Your personal decorating style could be the envy of the neighborhood. But, the home stager takes the approach of marketing the house to a broad range of potential buyers. The prize is selling the best price possible, right?

3.     A speedy review. Potential home buyers spend an average of ten minutes in a house when first visiting the property. However, it doesn’t mean the home stager can provide a valuable consultation in the same amount of time. In Southern California, a standard, single family house with furnishings would require up to two hours to evaluate the home and address the home seller’s questions or concerns. Conversely, if the staging consultant lingers around the home for longer than four hours, it’s not a consultation, it’s a hands-on staging session.

If you’re considering a consultation for your house, it doesn’t need to be a scary ordeal. Now that you know what not to expect, you can choose a home staging service that will turn your consultation into the best investment you could make for your home’s sale.