How To Choose A Qualified Home Stager

Are you planning to put your home on the market and interested in hiring a home stager? There are a few things you should keep in mind. Here are our tips for choosing a qualified home stager. 

First, you should contact about three different home stagers and ask them to view your property. Getting a price over the phone doesn’t give you any important information. You should NOT compare prices with prices only. Have you heard that old saying that you get what you paid for? Well it is true. Make sure to compare value with value.  Warren Buffet said it perfectly, “Price is what you pay and value is what you get.”  A cheaper price tag doesn’t mean that you are getting more value for your money and a higher price tag doesn’t mean you will get the best finished product either. Compare quality and detail of the work. Some home stagers provide a detail proposal, while others don’t. Do your homework.

When interviewing home stagers, you should be asking the right questions and comparing the quality of work?

Here are some helpful questions and hints that will help you to choose the a qualified home stager:

• Are they knowledgeable of the real estate market? Knowing the right audience and staging for this group is super essential.
• What is their experience in working with agents?
• Is the stagers organized and relaxed?
• Does this person seem knowledgeable and confident in providing information and in answering your questions?
• Do they listen to you, and I mean REALLY listen to you?
• Not all home sales are for happy reasons, does this person seems sensitive in delicate situations. 
• Does this person understands your needs and what is important to YOU?
• Ask to see their portfolio or check out their gallery page on their website. Look at the work they have done. Does it look appealing and professional? Does their work includes a variety of styles. The pictures should be of the work that they have personally done – not stock photos.
• Ask questions such as why they chose the furniture and wall art that they did. Can they explain to you why they choose the items that they picked? This matters, because thoughtful design are harder to carryout and they produce the best results. 
• Does this person have any testimonials from reliable sources? You can just type their name or company name with the word reviews into your search engine for an Internet search. You can also ask them for references but that may not be as reliable as the reviews on the Internet.
• Perform a Google search on the stager and the company. Finding published articles, blogs, reviews by realtors , negative comments, may help you decide if this is a qualified home stager  you want to hire or should work with.
• Ask to see a list of homes in a similar price range as yours that they have staged. If your home has a much higher value than what they have experience working with, this might not be the right company for you to work with.
• What kind of insurance this home staging company carries and does it cover any damages that might occur during the installation, such as wood floor damages.