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Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio, right here on AM nine 20 The Answer on Cleve Gaddis. And I really appreciate you sticking with us through the break in this segment. Is home staging worth it? Does it really. Really help sell a home. Don't forget, we want to connect with you. Go to go gaddis radio.com.
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We're available on every major podcasting platform. We're so fortunate today to have a home staging expert with us, Jan Smith, who is the owner of Design to Sell Staging. How are you, Jan? I'm great, Cleef, how are you tonight? Hey, welcome. It's so good to see you. So, just a quick question, how did you get into staging?
What did you do before? 'cause there's probably people out there listening going, heck, I could stage a home, and, uh, they might wanna know what your story is a little bit. So, um, my background, I actually, um, got started in staging in 2005. Okay. Um, I have a, um, a, a business degree. Wonderful. But I, I started staging in oh five and.
Um, went to, um, through staged homes.com, which is a company that is based in California where the concept started. Yes. And, um, course through them, and I am an accredited staging professional, and I have, um, hands-on staging. And, um, you know, classroom and continuing education experience, but that's when I got started, was in oh five.
Wonderful. Wonderful. And what attracted you to it? Do you just love to make homes pretty? Where'd that, where did it come from? Where'd the desire come from? So it, it started organically more so, um, friends and family enlisting me to help them hang artwork or pick out pink colors or. Hang the curtains or arrange the furniture.
And so I realized that I had a skillset and that it really was something that I was interested in and that just transformed, um, into a business. And here I am, 18 years later, still 18. Yes. I love that. 18 years later in your own business, woman owned business, I love it. I think that it's absolutely fantastic.
So most people who are listening probably know. What home staging is, or what it means to stage a home. But if you don't mind, let's just give sort of the basics. What does it mean when you stage a home? So home staging is preparing your house so that, um, when it goes on the market, it appeals to. The unknown buyer.
Okay. Um, it's, it's different than decorating or design, right in that you are, um, depersonalizing and neutralizing your home, or it takes your personality and style out of it, but makes it appealing to a buyer. So it's more so, um, putting your home out there on the market is, is. A way, you know, it's a way to distinguish you from the competition.
Right? So interesting. You can either stage a home that already is furnished and that's just going through every single room, it sounds like, and, and depersonalizing, and I know many of you listening, were probably thinking, oh man, I, I, I want, I want all the personal things that are so important to me. Uh, to be out and exposed during a listing.
Probably not the best way to make it appeal to other buyers, but there's also staging where the entire home is empty and you can actually create the rooms from scratch. Am I right? Correct. So that's a, a big part of, of my business. It's vacant property or vacant home staging. Um, so essentially it's the concept of a model home for resale.
Yeah. So you. You stage, maybe not the whole house, but the key rooms. Mm-hmm. And you set up, up with rental furniture so that the buyer knows exactly what will fit, how it will be. Um, how it can be arranged and they'll, you know, be able to mentally move in their furniture. So it's really helpful, um, to get the house sold, but it's also an added benefit for the buyer, so they know how to arrange their furniture when they move into the property and they know the use of a particular room, meaning this one is designed to be a bedroom and this is a game room and this is a den.
And, and, you know, you would. Think that your average home buyer would be able to kind of picture things, um, and, and kind of describe for themselves how they were going to use something. But there's a big segment of the population, they're not able to do that. Um, I think I have a, a little bit of a natural tendency to do that, but I've also been looking at houses.
Every day for 22 years. So I have a good idea of how things are supposed to work. So if someone wanted to hire you to, uh, come out and take their existing home and, you know, add a little, you know, classy here and there, and take away some of their personal property, how, how would they make arrangements to do that?
How would they reach you? So the easiest way to reach me is through my website. Okay. And, um, there's a, a form there that they can fill out with just basic information. Okay. Of what, of what they're needing, if their home is occupied or vacant, what their timeframe is. Um, just, you know, basic information that I follow up.
Um, usually with a phone call or an email. Depending on, you know, vacant or occupied, we go a little different way. But the easiest way is my website, but I can also be emailed directly or, and what is unavailable? What is your website? Yeah. Where, where, where do they go? It's www dot designed. To sell staging and redesign.com.
Okay, so design to design to sell staging and redesign.com. Correct. Perfect. Mm-hmm. And if they can't remember that, they can go to Google and type in Jan Smith Design to sell Staging. Easy for me to say. Jan Smith designed to sell staging and. If you can't find her, just go to go gettis radio, click on contact us, say, Hey, let me talk to the staging lady and we will make sure and get you connected with her.
So any idea about what the average, let's say we're talking about a vacant home now. Uh, any idea? Oh, and you mentioned before we, we get into the next, uh, discussion point. You mentioned the sort of the key rooms that you would stage. Now, I'm assuming that would be the. Kitchen, breakfast room would be one place you would stage maybe family room, correct?
Mm-hmm. And then master or primary bedroom, that's those, those are the three key areas are the living, dining, and then the primary bedroom. Got it. And yes, and that usually includes the kitchen and, you know, uh, the bathroom, um, or the, the primary bathroom. Okay. Those are the, yeah. You, you hit on all three.
So those are kind of where we start. Yep. And then we kind of from, go out from there depending on if, like you said, each room needs a function, so if there's a space that needs to be staged to be defined mm-hmm. We, we do that. Well, I, I saw there was a, like a third floor in a property and it had this kind of weird.
I, I don't even know what to call it. It was just a weird little room that connected to a, a, a hallway that went to a dormer on the front of the house, and it was like, what in the world do you use this for? And they had a foosball table there. And I'll bet you that foosball table was not there before they listed the house.
And it helped me and my clients see exactly what they could use that for, where I think if we had gone up to that third floor and nothing had been there. We would've just thought, that's just wasted space. You can't do anything with that. So it can be really important about what would be the approximate cost of having a vacant home stage during a listing.
I. So, um, if we're talking for vacant property Yep. Um, for, in including a, the initial setup. Yep. A 30 day rental of the furniture and the D stage, um, you know, pickup. Okay. It's usually around $1,500 Okay. For those basic rooms. Yep. Um, and that's just your basic three bedroom, two bath house. Nothing more, you know?
Yep. Pretty basic. Yep. But I do provide quotes free of charge. Perfect. So if you have any property and it, you know, just like, you know, you can't really, um, give a quote. No sight. Of course, of course. I just, and thank you for sharing what you have shared because I think it's important for people to understand.
I will say yes, that we've staged some bigger houses and spent 2200, 2300, 2400, and, and I will say in, in all cases when we've staged a home, it has been a very worthwhile investment because we've either sold it much faster, uh, or we've sold it for a little bit more money. Do you have any research on. How much more homes that are staged sell for and how much faster they sell.
I mean, on average, I mean, you know, we're, we're talking Atlanta market because that's where, you know, I'm, I Yes. Have been. So we're talking the Atlanta market. Um, typically, you know, I don't, I don't know right now like what your, your average days on the market, but it, on average, it cuts it in half. Yeah. So let's just say if it's.
A million dollar property and it's gonna be on the market for maybe six months. Yep. Maybe it, it's three. Cuts it down, right? Or less, you know, so it, it, depending on the price point, but if you're talking your average, you know, $500,000 home, four bedroom, three and a half bath in the suburbs, um, where it's that sweet price point where you have a lot of buyers, Um, it really helps, um, justify the higher list price.
Yeah, more so, I mean, it gets, it sold quicker, but you can really, um, price it at the higher end of your, of your range. And I'm, I'm running into that a lot now, so it does help to get it sold quick, you know, faster and for more money. But I would say, It cuts your time in half and maybe increase, you know, gets you maybe one to 3% over over asking.
Staging is always less than your first price reduction. Yep. I have So never consider a price reduction unless you've considered staging first, because it's always. Gonna, you know, justify itself. That is such good advice. And I would say that I've seen home sell for five or even 7% more, uh, because they were staged, right?
It can be a, certainly a big deal. If you wanna reach Jan, it's easy. Go to, to, uh, log online, go to design two, sell staging and redesign.com, or just go to Google, type in Jan Smith. Uh, designed to sell staging. She's right here in Atlanta, Georgia, and I know she would love to help you. Jan, I hope you'll come back sometime soon.
We've got so much more we can discuss. We've gotta take a quick break when we come back. Did the Barbie movie actually cause a worldwide shortage in pink paint? And believe it or not, there could be a real life Barbie Dream home for sale right now in the United States. Stick with us. We'll be back.