Staging Under Fire

Posted at 8:51 AM, Aug. 21, 2007

Currently under circulation in the real estate media is the alleged deception of staging.  Exculsive Buyer's Agents are attacking the ethics of staging a home and are warning Buyers the dangers of it.  Yeah, okay.  Apparently, there is a need to use scare tactics in order to plug their services.

Let's begin by pointing out the obvious.  If a seller, with or without the aid of their agent, wishes to deceive a buyer by hiding defects in the home, that can be done without staging.  In fact, I would venture to say that if a seller is cheap and lazy enough to not want to fix up their home before putting it on the market, they sure in heck's are not going to spend the money to stage it.   Seriously enough, you cannot blame the art of staging behind the failure to mention the hole in the floor that has been there for years, hidden by the large dresser.  Staging has never been or will ever be the excuse to disguise latent or material defects.  In fact, I think that action could be in some cases, ground for a lawsuit!  I won't even point out that there is the inspection period where a buyer can do a thourghout examination of the house, or even the fact that if we are going to attack staging, well, Developers will just have to ban using Model homes because that IS staging!  Oops, I guess I just did.

In addition,  I am an Accredited Buyer's Representative who has for years serviced and advised buyers (many of them first-timers) with purchasing a home.  I have dedicated myself to my clients and offered many of my insights to the surface marketing of homes from a seller's and seller's agent's perspective.  I am also, for the record, an Accredited Staging Professional. 

Now as I stated, I work extensively with Buyers, but I also list and stage properties.  I have yet to meet a buyer or a seller who is made "dumb" because of staging.  In fact, quite the opposite happens.  For the sellers whom I have staged and sold their home find it fun shopping for the new one and notice how others have been staged.  It's almost a game if you will.  Their appreciation for presentation is solidified.  The messy homes we enter, the first thing my client will say is, "That needs staging!". 

As for buyers new to the market, well, having a background in staging helps me discuss possibilities with them.  Concerns about their furniture, etc. are always part of our dialogue when we view homes.  If an agent is not helping their clients to visualize and even at times, play the devil's advocate, then I feel they are doing a dis-service.  Ultimately, the buyers decide, good or bad, which home they want. 

Lastly, to say that staging blinds a buyer is a crock!  Anyone who has a working knowledge of staging knows that it is never to replace condition.  If the property needs repair, it needs repair.  We are ethically upheld to advise clients to the limitations of staging; just check out www.StagedHomes.com and see the checklists given to sellers discussing repairs. 

In conclusion, I would imagine there are plenty of other agents like myself whose biggest challenge does not lie in Buyers making offers with rose colored glasses on, but getting them past the small, insignificant items that they manage to turn into mountains out of fear.  Which by the way, is a much larger emotion behind buying decisions (or the lack of) than bliss.  I think these agents should be supportive of staging given their buyers will perceive value in the purchase than of a home that looks like a dump with a lofty price tag.