• Equipment
  

• Lighting
  

• Staging the Shot
  

• Technique
  

What to do before the open house: 

Go online:

 Create a property website and virtual tour for your open house. Use at least 10-15 HD photos, and tell a story with text and images. 

Get it in print: Order water bottle labels, Open House Postcards, and Biz-Prop cards. Once they arrive, give your seller a stack of Biz-Prop cards and postcards and pass some out to neighbors. 

Blog it: 

Write an open house property blog. Add “Open House” to the title of the post to attract visitors who found the blog post online. 

Advertise: 

Order a print ad in your local classifieds, and use the Craigslist poster to announce your open house (makes sure your property website has an active Open House Calendar). Post additional announcements to your social networks. 

What to do during and after the open house 

Showcase in HD: 

Bring a laptop or iPad to display your property website or HD virtual tour during the open house. If possible, connect your laptop to a flat screen 

Stay Secure:

For security purposes, always have visitors sign in. You can then use their contact information to send a follow-up email. 

Have Giveaways: 

Make sure visitors leave with your customized bottle of water. You can also offer them an Open House Postcard or Biz-Prop card. Text it: Give visitors the property text code and encourage them to text for info. Visitors will leave with a handy way to access property info on their mobile device, and you will be able to contact them if the property info changes. 

Follow Up: 

Send all visitors a Showing Feedback form. Sellers will receive honest, comprehensive feedback about their listing, and you can keep in touch with prospective buyers. and get them in a lead follow up drip campaign in your CRM

 Reach out to your Broker/Manager for additional info.

Home staging is defined as a process of preparing a property for sale in order to appeal to the greatest amount of potential buyers. It may be as simple as rearranging what you already have or setting up new furniture and accessories for the empty rooms.

When it comes to sell home, most realtors will advise to stage the home to show it best. However, being a home owner, you should have a clear understand about home staging in order to make the best decision. And this article will help you understand more about pros and cons of home staging.

Pros of home staging

• Creating emotional connection: Home staging makes the property become warmth and coziness with well-arranged and comfortable furniture. Buyers walk in and see the comfortable furniture, pretty decorations, and general hominess, and feel like they could sit down and relax in the home. The more they can see themselves in the house, the more likely they are to buy it.

• Offering attractives photos for the listing: Home staging not oly offers clients a real experience about a nicely decorated home on site, but it also offers beautiful photos of the property for marketing online.

• Home staging helps clients visualize the home better. If the home is empty, obviously, home staging will help buyers imagine easily how the property look like with furniture. And if the house is occupied, home staging will help buyers see how spacious it is when it contains furniture.

Cons of home staging

• Expensive cost: Some staging companies ask for $500-$1000 from your personal finances just to stage your home. Besides that, you may have to pay for staging consultation, extra fee for storage if your property lasts a bit longer than you expected. Consider your budget before deciding to stage your house.

• Time – consuming: home staging is quite time-consuming. If your house is full of stuffs, then you will have to spend more time on re-arrange everything, declutter ins and outs of the house. It takes much of time. If your house is vacant, then you will have to spend time to set up new furniture.

• Not all buyers like your style: there is a fact that, not all buyers have the same tastw with you. For example, if you have a statement color throughout the house that a potential buyer hates, it will be hard for them to envision themselves living in that space.

Traditional Staging and Virtual Staging

Virtual staging is another version of traditional staging. The purpose of virtual staging is the same traditional staging. But the method to do it is different. It is created with the view to help home sellers who have low budget.

What are the differences between virtual staging and traditional staging?

Here are few key things making virtual staging different from traditional staging:

- All is done on photoshop. No actual action is done like traditional staging

- It saves time and cost. You don’t need to pay for furniture renting or hire someone to arrange the furniture. Only need a virtual stager who can add virtual furniture to your rooms

- It is more flexible than traditional staging. You can change the style of the room easily and cost-effective. The editors are able to show you as many style as you want while it is quite complicated when you use traditional staging.

Should we use traditional staging or virtual staging?

Both methods have its own benefits. You should base on your need to decide. If you have low budget and less time, virtual staging is the best solution. However, if you want everything is real, and home viewers can actually see it, traditional staging should be your choice.

It is undeniable that home staging brings a fortune for home sellers. However, it is also important to consider before deciding to put all your money on it.

If a seller goes on the internet and asks "why is my property not selling?" the most common answer is it is priced too high, most articles allude to them hiring the wrong Real Estate Agent. The best way to make sure your client does not buy into the idea that you are not right for the job, is to manage expectations from day 1 and communicate, communicate, communicate! 

If 30 days have gone by and you have not received enough showings or have not received any offers, it is most likely price related, but there are a few strategies to employ that might soften the blow for your seller. 

Back to the Basics:

• Be sure to update your Price Analysis report at least every two weeks, this will show any market fluctuation, as well as reinforce the average list and selling prices of nearby comps. Make sure your client understands the numbers even if they are not what they want to see.

Does the property show well?

• Have you received any feedback? It might be a good idea to take another walk through with your client and note anything that may reflect negatively, (overgrown landscape, declutter, are there any odors? etc.) Give them some suggestions to work on or refer a professional.

Is it time to reduce price?

• Your updated report will show if the home is priced too high, if so, present the case for the need to reduce the price to be more in line with comps.

If the seller is reluctant to reduce price: 

• If the property is priced correctly or if the seller is reluctant to reduce the price, another strategy is to increase the buyers agent commission. A commission increase is an inexpensive way to create attention than a price reduction. A 1% increase in commission is equal to a 1% reduction in price, this increases the agents income by 20-30%, whereas if you were to reduce the price by 1% the buying public will see this as little to no difference. A price reduction will need to be at least 3% to even be noticeable, and should really be between 5%-10% to make a real impact on the buying public.

Remember, managing your clients expectations is the best way to get your listing into escrow. When dealing with your client stay objective and NEVER get defensive or take the blame for a property that is not well priced, or well presented. Systematic communication is your best tool in managing your listing.

Reach out to your Broker/Manager for support with any specific challenges that may arise.