Home stagers are actually an estate agent's best friend. We're not the competition. We want the same thing agents do: to sell houses. Here are a few reasons to call us in:
List with attractive photos
An empty house never makes for good online viewing. It’s like looking at an empty dinner plate – boring. Equally off-putting is a chaotic home with toys all over the place, fridge magnets covering the fridge and papers piled up on the desk. A home stager starts her work by thinking how to make the listing photos ‘wow’, so that when the property is released the agent will get the maximum clicks and enquiries in those first weeks when the property is hot.
A good home stager working with an empty home brings in attractive furniture, art, plants and other accessories to showcase its potential, highlight its strengths, address any weaknesses and make the home cohesive. With occupied homes, they restyle each area to highlight its strengths, give it purpose and good traffic flow, and be welcoming and inviting.
Agents can focus on selling while stagers take on the sensitive issues
Selling a home is a very emotional time for sellers, who may be getting divorced, moving city or having a baby … The last thing a seller wants to hear from an agent is what needs to be done to present the property for the market. Home stagers can take away the pain of agents dealing with this aspect, which allows the agent to focus on the job of selling.
Home staging is a value add to clinch a mandate
A sole mandate is what all agents want. Offering a consultation with a home stager or recommending a home staging service is something the agent can extend to the seller that other agents don’t. It’s a huge value add that sellers really appreciate.
Home stagers offer all kinds of services, from walk and talk consultations, to hands on restyling to full scale staging of empty properties. Some agents offer to pay or share the cost of these services on transfer in exchange for a sole mandate or an increased commission.
Empty for three months with no offers; two offers and sold within weeks of staging.
How does it work?
There are two kinds of staging: when the property is empty, and when the property is occupied by the owner or tenant. When the property is empty, the home stager brings in everything needed to make the place look like a place a buyer would want to live in. This can include everything from sofas, chairs and side-tables to rugs, art and plants. Some stagers own some inventory, some rent or buy for the specific house.
Calculating the cost
Walk and talk consultations are charged by the hour. Staging the main areas of a standard home is around R40 000 for 60 days.
These may seem like large investments, but their return on investment is huge. Who doesn't want to sell on the first show day! This frequently happens with staged home.
Cape Town homes are averaging 17 weeks on the market right now. We've sold two houses this month, one with two offers in six weeks after three months empty, and the other on the first show day.