You get what you pay for. If the price tag is low, it’s probable that the quality of service offered will match that price. If your stager is a well- known expert in the field, your price tag will definitely be considerably higher than someone running a summer gig. Can your potential stager provide references and photos of successful past projects? If so, take a good look and make sure beforehand that you actually like how they set things up—and see if you can get any information about how well those houses sold! They will ask you many questions. Just like a doctor, a staging pro wants as much information from you about your needs as possible. For your part, you also need to ask any questions you can think of during the initial consultation to make sure that this is the stager for you. Ask questions about how they work out their rates, how long they will take, and what you can do on your end to keep the costs down. Ask howmany homes they’ve staged, and whether or not they’ll expect anything from you during the process. They are staging pros. Not agents. Not bankers. However, they do need to know enough about real estate to ensure that they know what they’re aiming for in increasing a home’s saleability. Their job is to make your home as appealing as possible to potential buyers, so they will not (and should not) talk to you about negotiating pricing with those buyers. Be prepared to change your ways. The stager will want you to follow certain guidelines if you will be living in the staged house. This will help keep the rooms in order and ready for viewing. If you won’t be living in the house, it’s going to be much easier to keep the home clean and ready to show. However, make sure to get in and dust regularly. Real staging pros should make you feel confident about the quality of their work. If you have any negative internal reaction during your initial consultation, run in the other direction and find someone you can trust. If you want to sell your home, it’s ultimately your responsibility to make it happen. • • •
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