Mark Slade - MoreMoney

WHAT TO EXPECT WITH A PRO

True staging pros run a very smooth operation. Of course, anyone can make mistakes. Here are a few things to keep in mind: • Ask around. Don’t just select a random name from online and hire the stager. Ask your agent, other Realtors®, and friends about their experiences and ask for a referral. Then, interview several pros and select the one who could provide the best value to you. • You get what you pay for. If the price tag is low, it’s likely 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? • They ask you many questions. Just like a doctor, the staging pro wants as much information from you about your needs as possible. On your part, you also need to ask many questions during the initial consultation to make sure this is the stager for you. Ask about how they work out their rates, how long they will take, what you could do on your end to keep the costs down, whether they’ve staged homes in the past (and how many), and whether they’ll expect anything from you during the process. They are staging pros. Not Realtors®. Not bankers. However, they do need to know enough about real estate to increase a home’s salability. 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.

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