Home Staging NJ Luxury Real Estate

House sitting might appear to be free staging... live staging, even! But can it really work?

Sure the seller/builder gets free furniture and a free, LIVE demo of lifestyle for his (her) potential buyers, but does it work?  It can't work for all vacants can it?

Surely, if the home's biggest asset or at least, it's biggest justification for the price, is that it's new construction (i.e. unlived in) - you can't have people living in there, even if they are only "sitting" in the place?  What happens about the now-used appliances?  The now scratched stainless steel sink?  Do you have to build a temporary kitchen for the sitters?

Maybe it works for homes that are not new construction. Vacant pre-owned homes, for example, where the family has had to move on, usually thru relo. Those homes wear badly when left vacant. For some reason, they give off an unusual odor and the rate of deterioration seems faster when unoccupied somehow.

Anyone any advice or experience here?

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I had actually read Thomas Scott blog on this... and did ask him a question or two.  Those went unanwered, so I'm assuming he's away or busy.  Here's how he says it works -

"The house sitter pays the staging company low monthly fee, usually about 25% of what a mortage would cost. This allows the staging company to charge the homeowner less for the staging. A reputable company screens its sitters carefully, checking criminal history. Smokers and pet owners are out. Actually, the staging company pays for the move. In return the company gets a percentage of the sale once the buyer closes on the home."

I wouldn't do it this way.  Because I'd be sending in the "sitter" with the sitter's own furniture.  That's how it would be FREE staging... because I don't run my business with my own furniture any more.  (My own stuff is all antiques, not by preference, it just is, and didn't stand up to moving often.)

I wouldn't have the sitter pay anything - their "cost" is that they have to live clean and in "show condition" at all times.  (This means being prepared to leave whenever the house was to be shown, etc.) I would have the seller pay for the moves in and out.  Further, I'd have them pay for the utilities, except cable and gas - the rest they'd have to pay for anyway.  Phones would have to be all wireless.  No reason for even more holes in the floors and walls, unless the property was pre-wired I suppose.  Would the sitters be entitled to a piece of the final sale?  No, surely they just get to live for free.

I dunno, does it really work?

Thanks to Joe Ferrara for his constantly amusing, insightful and useful information on Sellsius.  Here's a fav photo of his

http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/marketing-tips/green-photo-of-the-day/2008/08/05/7655/

Isn't this the ulitmate stagers' spin on "bringing a back yard "in""?  now you can take it with you everywhere you go!!  And I had thought the best use of grass was as the base of an Easter centerpiece!! (or Spring thing somewhere)

Enjoy, my friends!!