Home staging training - Any interest?

Greetings, all! I'm writing you from the sunny and still hot Sacramento area of California! Many greetings to you and I hope to send you some sunshine!!

The reason for my post - I have heard from a few wives (of military personnel) that they were interested in taking the StagedHomes.com ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) certification course. As you may know, Staging homes that are for sale is the rage here in the States & Canada. But if there is an interest in the Munich area, we can bring the training there.

So I am just wondering if there would be a desire with enough people to form a seminar. I, of course, would come there - staying as long as necessary to offer as many seminars as needed.

Anyway, just wondering. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!
Regards,
Jeannie Berger

um ... at the risk of appearing completely stupid ... what on earth is "staging homes" ?

@ mik - you'd have to be a real estate agent to care.

Look here: Staged Homes Program

...or here: What is Home Staging and how does it help me sell my house?

Sorry to have assumed you knew!!! In the U.S., realtors and sellers are now very savvy as to how best sell a home. "Staging" the home prepares it for sale, kind of like "merchandising" it. We go in and do whatever is necessary to really show off the home, from de-cluttering to adding accessories - making the home look as model-like as possible. This helps "capture" a potential buyer emotionally, AND helps the home sell faster and often for more money. So often, a seller just assumes that a potential buyer will see past their clutter or imagine a room/house the way it should be, but in that initial walk-thru, if a seller can grab that buyer's attention by really displaying the home in its best fashion, it might make the difference of getting an offer or not. StagedHomes.com has a ton of information on their website. I hope I've given you a better idea of what Staging is. In the States and Canada, Staging is almost expected now and smart realtors use this as a marketing differentiator, saying, "Look - go with me as your realtor because I use a Stager who will come in and make your home look great!"
Thanks for the question!

It isn't just the realtors who care - it's the home seller, too. They are the ones that ultimately profit by getting their home sold faster.

Oh, and I forgot to mention... the reason I'm asking if there is any interest is because we have gotten some people from Germany wanting the training, and just as it has begun to spread to a few countries in Europe, it will be coming there. Once we get enough interest, a trainer can be sent - and I want to be that trainer! I love Germany, visit as often as I can, and would love to be working there, so if I can get this up and running with enough interest, I'm THERE!! So help me out, ok? Pass this on to women (or men...?) that might possibly be interested! You know that woman who always wanted to go into interior decorating or interior design? This could be her answer! And you'll make a California girl's (me!) dream come true! And I promise to bring some sunshine!!!

mik, ever watched "the House Doctor" on five?

Interesting idea. Never heard of it before, but makes sense.

However, I would think that a large part of the English-speaking community in Germany is "passing through", i.e. does not intend to stay here for more than a few years. Therefore, I assume that the percentage of homeowners is quite low in this target group. (And if I understand correctly, the concept is about homeowners "polishing up" their property before selling it, right?)

"Polishing Up" is kind of the idea. We have a lot of tricks in our bag to help homes look great. "Passing-thru" Americans are fine! Often, wives of businessmen are looking for something they can do/learn and this would be a great skill to take home and use as a new career.

Oh, and it isn't homeowners we're looking to train, but someone who wants to find the homeowners who will be selling their homes. The seller is the client of the Stager, so-to-speak. Stagers often work with Realtors and the Realtors love us because we really make their listings look great and sell fast! Very often, the realtor tells the homeowner, "Look - I'm bringing in a Stager who is going to work with you on making your home look fabulous!" And then we go in and work our magic! Does this explain it better and make more sense?

No, Owain Glyndwr, I haven't lived in the UK for a long time .. (actually there was no Channel 5 last time I lived there) but I have a feeling property-obsessed Brits have told me about the rage for home and garden improvement programmes - I suppose it's one of those.

i agree the idea sounds interesting BUT i'm skeptical in this market. most people remove their furnishing: kitchen, sink, bathtub and all when they move out! and the new owner put in their new gear when they move in. so i wonder who would want to spend time & money in "souping" up their houses/apt here for the "interim" period they are passing through or otherwise, as what i understood from your program. just thinking out loud... anyways, good luck!

Well, we all know the House doctors rules by now...alltogether,

Declutter
Depersonalise
De-animal
Paint everythink a neutral colour
Accent with coloured accessories

Sorted !

Blimey...I've missed my vocation

The book is by Anne Maurice, I'm sure you can get it on Amazon

Oh, if it were only that simple!! Many, (too many!) of my clients can't even fathom where it is to begin and that is why they (or their realtor) call ME! It sounds simple, but putting it into practice can be difficult for some. I've worked with some men who get a glazed look in their eye when I start talking about room decor and couldn't declutter their way out of a paper sack! I've met women who think that their little porcelaine collections (all 5 million of them) truly do belong on every horizontal surface they can find in their house! I've gone into homes that have pathways through the clutter - a path to the kitchen, a path to the bathroom, etc! And they think that because the pathway is clear, all is ok! Crazy? Yes! Believe me - what sounds like common sense can truly be a foreign language to others! I've seen it all and I could tell you some horror stories! So that is why we train Stagers to be able to go in to ANY home and make a difference - whether it's a huge one or a subtle one.

It's a great business to be in - especially if you have the entrepreneurial spirit!

Who are you, California woman? Go away. The Germans will shoo you out of their houses with pitchforks. The streets are already littered with the twitching corpses of Amway and Herbalife swindlers.

If you want a scam the locals believe in, then go for Feng Shui

P.S.: The House Doctor is on UKStyle now... apparently she is on BBC America and therefore the hysteria. Here is the website of the cross-eyed antagonist...

Bit random, innit - picking Munich and offering to provide a service that's supposedly going well in the US, without even imagining that the "scene" here might be a bit different.

Actually, there are some very interesting stats on this kind of stuff.

Did you know that having a garden gnome in your yard in the states brings in offers to purchase of around $7,000 less?
It is also advisable to landscape and make the first appearance a positive one. My father will soon sell his house and the first thing he is going to do is have flowers in bloom planted and the house washed. Once inside, the people start thinking how they could make the inside better to suit them. Kind of like selling an old car. The one that shines is the one that will sell first. A friend of mine would always have his car detailed and get a motor wash before selling. Only once did he get less for a car than he paid for it or put into it.

@ PH yep, I think the Uk is a far more appropriate market, where people buy and sell houses far more frequently and tend to stamp a lot more personal character onto their property. here, a house is for life and decor tends to be very simple (splash on the white white, polish your parkett and Bob's your uncle).

I would be interested for shits & giggles, but I guess I won't be here by the time it happens. And I suspect there are already many courses like this in England, it is all the rage there (as OG said)

My wife and I would be interested, but only if it is free to cheap cheap!
Hell, it might be fun and interesting. How much does it cost?

@Eurovol - didn't they used to call this 'curb appeal'? When the house looks great from the outside, it entices people to go inside?

there's a crapload of shows like that in the u.s. as well. my parents are moving next year & are glued to them.

I think the House Doctor is John Malkovich.
in one of his roles.

Maybe it is the husband who is looking for something to do. I find all your posts to be sort sexist and sort of Sally-homemaker. You are assuming that the wife isn't working at all. I can assure you that anyone who owns a house here probably has a double income because the price of houses is ridiculous.

I also think your idea probably won't work here because people don't have a ton of extra money to spend to have someone spruce up their house just to sell it. Just my opinion.

me neither. over 12 years now, in fact. I watch it on satellite, though. It's a programme about a californian real estate agent who comes into peoples' homes in the UK and sort them out for sale. Quite funny sometimes.

Think you're wasting your time here. Even most Germans rent till the end of their lives, the ones who buy keep the property, they don't move around, and a lot of families have large properties which they then convert into flats for their children. True, some expats buy property but either as an investment for renting out to save taxes or because they have decided to stay here. Property could be divided into three groups, old buildings which were, or are being, or will be renovated to be very valuable, rubbish thrown up in the post-war period and recent modern architecture which is attractive in itself and doesn't need much sprucing up. Also there are more flat than houses and one spruced-up flat in the middle of a miserable block is not particularly attractive. Just my opinion.

Reminds me of something a London Housing Officer told me about people trying to spruce up ex-council flats and sell them to London executives: "it may be a diamond, but it's still in a cowpat"

Ok, ok... where to start... from being told "go away, California woman!" to "hmmm, I might be interested..." Boy, something interesting to wake up to, for sure! Wait, let me sip more of my coffee...

I am a California girl, true enough. But I am 3/4 German and the rest kind of Irish/English mutt. (Don't know which parts of my body represent the mutt or the German... ) I have spent some quality time in that area which is my primary reason for wanting to come back! As soon as all four of my children were old enough to travel, we began spending our summers all over Germany. I feel a deep connection to that land and would love to have a reason to travel there more often.

That being said, this is not anything like Amway or Herbalife! Oh my God! This has no pyrimid structure at all. You earn a certification, then you are on your own to work with realtors. The company offers support in terms of continuing education if one would choose, but you answer to no one but your client.

I do know that the Germans tend to stick to one place for long periods of time - especially compared to Americans who more easily pick up and move. However, everytime I've walked by a real estate office, I've seen plenty of properties for sale. Some of these homes are vacant, some are still being lived in. Either way, Home Stagers can make a difference in how the home is perceived to the potential buyer.

Yes, just like selling a car - you detail that in order to have it look its best. Why would a home be any different? And there is certainly a lot more money at stake. Staging helps squeeze out those extra potential dollars. At the very least, it helps the home show itself in a better light. Just like merchandising a product, we find ways to merchandise the home.

I am aware that rages in the States may not catch on there. And if that remains so with regard to Staging, fine. I will still come and visit all my friends and I will continue to love Germany with all my heart. But - if there is even a chance that I could be on the forefront of making this work, I will give it my best. If it can work in Hungary, (and there are trainings going on there now as well,) surely it can work in Germany!

When Home Staging wasn't popular here and no real estate agent had even heard of it, many doors were slammed in our faces. "Crazy!" we were told. But with a good idea and enough persistence, little by little, realtor by realtor, (and with a little bit of good P.R.) we gained acceptance and sure enough, many ASP's now have booming businesses (and I have competition, but that only makes me work harder.) MEN as well as women. Understandably, this field is dominated by women, but men have as fair a chance as women in making it work. I, by no means, would ever suggest that only women could do this. The feedback that I HAVE gotten so far though, has been from women - wives who wanted something more to do than sit home and play Suzie Homemaker. (Which, in my book, is not a bad thing either!)

Ok, I think I've addressed everything... but if you have more questions (or taunts, even) have at it! Want to see me? You can look at me on my team website at www.WeStageSacramento.com There you will see me and my team. I, of course, am Jeannie Berger. Please click on my info, my Staged Properties, etc. (God, this kind of sounds like a porn site offer!!) There are also links to our parent company, StagedHomes.com Check it out...

Ok, I need more coffee...

Yep, don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea and certainly a fun course to do, if nothing else.

I (and I think everyone here) was just trying to warn you that it isn't a guaranteed earner here, as we didn't know how much you know this market. So if you meant it to be a business to live from it is worth warning you!

just one point, Jeannie, certificates aren't really worth the paper they are written on here in Germany, unless they are certified or recognised by an official German body or authority. People have enough problems getting degrees recognised here, let alone some obscure house-dressing "profession".

OG, I think that a certificate for something you can't get in Germany probably would be a better start than no certificate at all.

Jeannie, I'm with the others who think that this wouldn't probably work so well here. At least not unless you get people who can also speak German taking the course, because they are the people who own homes. But I wish you luck none the less.

I wish you luck with this too. I know exactly what state some germans sell their houses in, they need all the help they can get, beleive me.

I agree it will be tough but someone has to start somewhere.

It no wonder houses take so long to sell.

Having said all that, do you realise that traditionally the housing market is very different in Germany than in the UK or US?

Pete

Speaking as one who has bought a house, the price range we were looking at was such that we were always on a list of interested buyers. The two houses that we were really serious about, we were third and second on the lists. The one that we really wanted and eventually bought came about only because the persons above us on the list couldn't manage the financing. We did see several houses within the price range that were less than satisfying to the eye and therefore seemed overpriced. One particular house that is in the same neighborhood that we are now in may actually have benefitted from some sage advice on how to make it look like a show home and not an overpriced dump. However, at the lower price ranges, that is rare because they are already "snapchen priced" houses.
I am still interested in what a certification course would entail and cost?

I know the German market is VERY different than the UK or US, but still... people DO sell homes and the homes SHOULD look as good as they can, right? And that's what we do!

Why don't you look at some houses that are up for sale next time you are in Germany? Then you could get an idea of what's out there. In my experience people don't buy and sell property as often as Americans. And when they do, it is usually older people who need to move to a one-floor place with an elevator or a retirement community, in which case the houses have such old-fashioned fixtures and furniture that the places need a heck of a lot more than a couple of extra vases and a carpet shampooing. Come to think of it, that might be your target market, though they tend also to be very careful with their money. Good luck, in any case.

Thank you, Nadia. That is exactly what I plan to do. I have already noted many of the homes for sale (from Munich to Stuttgart) during my last stay, and I was pleased to see that many were average, family-sized homes. I have Staged homes as small as 1 bedroom apartments, all the way to multi-million dollar homes that were already well-decorated. There is usually something that can be done to improve anything, any size, at any price.

One of the biggest mistakes a seller can make when listing their home for sale is to leave family photos around and clutter. remove anything personal which makes the house look like "your" house they need to see it as "their" new home.

Clean the house from top to bottom and by all means, landcape the yard!

Go ahead and spring for an inspection report and open title with an escrow company. Allow the potential buyer to review inspection and title report.