Staging | SAR Home Staging And Redesign Training

Synergy Staging - Portland Living Room 3

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David Peterson & Nik Murrow have found Synergy in their Home Staging

Portland, OR home stagers David Peterson & Nik Murrow have been two of my top home staging professionals for years. Their work is clean, sleek, and stunning. They have the kind of aesthetic that you immediately know it’s them when you see the photos. I’m excited to have the opportunity to tell their home stager story.

How long have you been a home stager? 5 ½ years

Why did you decide to become a home stager? My partner and I moved from LA to Oregon. He was working as a Costume Designer in LA and we were looking for a new opportunity. After speaking with our Real Estate agent we learned of Home Staging which was a great way to incorporate Nik’s design skills and my experience in Real Estate.

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Progress on our Jacksonville Home Staging Company Opening

The launch for our Jacksonville Home Staging Company, Rave ReViews, is in full force. Since my last update, just about two weeks ago, I’ve set up an agent meeting and lunch & learn at Watson Realty, the largest real estate company in our area. I have also registered for Real Estate School, which begins on Monday.

Why real estate school when I’m a home stager?

Just Perfect! Home Staging Turns Seller into a Believer.

Angela Batchelor, one of Wilmington’s best Realtors, shared this fantastic video of one of her most recent home seller clients. Angela, a proponent of home staging, (You may remember her from our impromptu dinner conversation at the RESA convention where she discussed how to have the home staging discussion with home sellers.) requires as part of her sales package, that the homeowner consult with a home stager and follow their advice. Just Perfect! Home Staging & more is Angela’s preferred Wilmington Home Staging company.

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Home Staging: An Investment in Equity Preservation

There have been quite a few posts on Active Rain and individual blogs about the cost of home staging vs ROI (return on investment). I built my business and reputation on home staging statistics in my local market, so I’ve personally been all over this issue for years. When you know your market and your numbers, it’s been easy to convey this information to home sellers and real estate professionals.

Still, surveys like the most recent HomeGain Top 10 DIY Home Improvements for Selling, released last week, make it difficult for those who are struggling in their markets. It seems that what we do is still characterized arbitrarily by things like, “Add fresh flowers; removing personal items; reduce clutter; [and] play soft music”

Contrast this survey to the once conducted by RIS Media where, of the 600 Coldwell Banker agents polled, “45 percent said that their clients were more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers this year over last. 94% of their clients said they would be willing de-clutter, paint and fix minor repairs, 78% were willing to depersonalize and 59% were willing to bring in new furnishings, artwork or decorations to help sell the home.”Pin It

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Looking for a little mentoring for your home staging business?

I regularly hear the struggle from home stagers who haven’t quite figured out their markets yet. I often hear that they simply didn’t get enough of the “business” part of the industry in their home staging training, or they just don’t know how to get agents “on-board” with what they are offering.

It’s been years since I’ve really had to earnestly market my home staging company. Having done it so well in the beginning the last time I started one, all I needed to do was continue maintaining what I built. For the last year or so, our goal was actually slowing growth because of the heavy investments in inventory (as our market was primarily vacant homes).

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Starting a New Jacksonville Home Staging Company – My Journey

Despite the rational knowledge that I’ve got a lot on my plate between Market Ready Real Estate, Staging & Redesign Home Staging Training, and The Hive arts & crafts community, I find myself longing for my home staging days. Shopping, I find myself far too often uttering the words, “but we don’t do that anymore” when finding the perfect lamp, piece of art or other potentially phenomenal staging prop. The words are said with complete and utter sadness, mixed with the heartbreaking reality that selling my company in South Carolina, which was the right decision to make on many levels, might be the biggest regret of my career. Read more….

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Home Staging & HomeGain Survey: 2012 Top 10 DIY Home Improvements

Yesterday we got a sneak peek at the HomeGain Top 10 DIY Home Improvement list for 2012. What followed behind the scenes was a rather heated discussion among many of the nation’s top professional home stagers. As noted in the article, “In past surveys, Home Staging and Lightening and Brightening were battling it out for the number two spot on the top 10 list. In the 2011 survey, Lightening and Brightening reclaimed the number two position and held on to it in 2012. Home Staging, however, fell to the number five position.”

Home staging, for the purposes of this survey was presented to Real Estate Professionals as, “Home staging: Add fresh flowers; removing personal items; reduce clutter; rearrange furniture; add new props or furniture to enhance room/s; play soft music; hang artwork in walls. See complete staging checklist.” To get a really good appreciation of what is characterized as home staging, check out the staging checklist linked above.

It’s no wonder that Professional Home Stagers are in an uproar over this survey. HomeGain, while we love you – I keep your little orange monkey, received after writing a really great article about you, visible in my office for anyone who comes here – can you please jump into the year 2012 and catch a reality as to what home staging really is?! Let me sum it up two sentences, just to be clear:

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Why is an antique artichoke Lisa McIntee’s favorite home staging prop? Her home stager story….

If you are a home stager on Facebook, you probably know Lisa McIntee, owner of The Staging Professionals in Niagara Falls, ON. Of course, it’s only recently that we’ve actually been able to put a face to her. An amazing business powerhouse, Lisa has flown under the radar, until recently when her massive growth became a remarkable story. Now, only days away from her start in reality TV, the perfect circular moment in her career, Lisa shares her home stager story with us…

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Where can I get my SAR hands-on home staging training?

Online home staging training has been the biggest request to SAR over the past year. It seems that there are a lot of stagers who want to take our staging classes, but for reasons usually related to time or travel, simply can’t attend. While we have listened to our students and moved online, we still feel that hands-on training is an important component in a successful career. After all, knowing something is not the same thing as doing it.

Now, all of our home staging training packages include both hands-on training and 4 hours of coaching. So, where is the closest location to you?

US

California – Annie Pinsker Brown (Los Angeles area) or Lori Kim Polk (Sacramento)

Indiana – Linda Barnett

Louisiana – Michelle Molinari

North Carolina – Jessica Pirone (Wilmington) or Janine Varney (Raleigh/Durham)

New Jersey – Bernadette Flaim

Ohio – Teresa Meyer

Oregon – David Peterson

Tennessee – Anthea Click

Texas – Karen Otto

Canada

Kelowna/BC – Kym Tarr

Niagara – Lisa McIntee

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Get your Free Package

Become a home stager by learning, at your own pace, from the best home staging professionals in the industry. Our online classes start at only $695 or you can choose one of our home staging training packages, giving you all the tools you’ll need to make a successful business.

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Choose a Home Staging Training Package for more savings

If you are serious about your home staging career, then consider purchasing one of our training class bundles for more value. We’ve carefully thought out what it takes to make a serious business and included virtually everything you’ll need in our packages. Choose the one that is right for you.Pin It

The Intensive 2 day Advanced Design and Marketing course for Home Stagers consists of classroom training, which will increase existing Home Stagers skills and knowledge in areas such as operating a Home Staging business, creating intense relationships with clients, advanced design and creativity, future trends, and secrets to designing stunning installations to attract the luxury markets, just to name a few. Best of all, it is instructed by one of the premier experts in the real estate design and home staging industry - Matthew Finlason himself.

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RESA Pro Approved Home Stagers Continuing Education (CEU) Available

Staging & Redesign is one of the largest providers of home stagers continuing education (CEU) courses available through RESA, the leading home staging trade organization in the world. This makes us the right choice for not only for your primary staging education, but your ongoing education as well.

Read blog to view courses we offer through RESA Pro:

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RESA Staging Excellence Alliance Now with Hirease Background Screening Process

The RESA® Staging Excellence Alliance® (SEA®) is a better business bureau type program for the professional stager or re-designer accompanies with a background screening process.

RESA® SEA® Member Package Includes:

Business Profile. SEA Profile Report Example
Background Screening. Background Check Report Example
Online Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Use of the SEA Dedicated Member Logo.