We Warn Our Buyer Clients About "Staged Homes"

We warn our buyer clients about staged homes. It is easy to tell when a home is staged....and when I see one - I point it out to my client - and try to have them picture the home stripped bare of the decorations.

Here is an article talking about the member survey taken by NAEBA - The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents - the association that Relocation Advisors Group Inc. - the Exclusive Buyer Brokerage for Chicago - and Chicago's Northwest Suburbs belongs to.

Before I became an Exclusive Buyer Broker - I was personally trained by Barb Schwarz in California - in her most advanced home staging course, after her the initial designation. So I know what home staging is - and what Barb teaches - and what the drawbacks are to a buyer. We know how to warn our buyer clients what to look for.

In reference to her comment in that article - it is not true that homes are never staged to cover things up. I've seen it happen any number of times - from rugs put over discolored floors to things covering up holes in walls.

Barb was even noted on a national TV show during the past year - talking about spray painting dead grass in the yard with green paint. Now - if that isn't a cover up - what is?

We insure that our buyer client pay the "unstaged price" - not the "staged price." Typically staged homes can be overpriced. The seller is trying to get more than the home is really worth. That is their whole rational behind staging it in the first place...