Design expert Hobbs shares top tips for home staging at Keller Williams NYC Lunch And Learn Session

Cathy Hobbs, founder of the Design Recipes home staging company and five-time Emmy award winning television personality, was recently the featured guest speaker at Keller Williams NYC's (KWNYC) weekly “Lunch and Learn” session. Hobbs discussed the importance and impact of home staging for listings. The presentation was attended by more than 25 KWNYC agents and was followed by a brief question and answer session. The KWNYC “Lunch and Learn” is one of the many training and development programs offered to the agents, in order to provide them with tools that can be used to help improve their business. Each session covers a different topic and features an expert guest speaker from the field. The program is held in the training room at the KWNYC office in Midtown and is open to the entire New York City real estate community. "We appreciate Ms. Hobbs taking the time to come to our office and share her insight. I plan on taking her tips and incorporating them into my current listings and any future listings to come," said Leisa Aras, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson at KWNYC. “Keller Williams NYC values its agents above all else and is always finding ways to help us improve. Taking advantage of the training sessions offered has helped me increase my business and strengthen my successes.” Below are the top five takeaways from Hobbs's presentation: 1. What is staging? – Staging is the packing, decluttering, rearranging, neutralizing and depersonalizing of a space. It is using the buyer’s eye to create broad appeal and enforcing the notion that what is being sold is the space, not the stuff. 2. Why stage a property? – First impressions are made at the door, so staging the property sets you up for success. Real estate professionals should think of staging as an additional marketing tool. Making the property’s appearance appealing not only makes it look better in photos, but will also help the home sell faster and allows potential buyers to envision their future home. 3. What are the costs involved in staging? – The expense of staging a home falls on the seller; it is not an agent expense. It is up to the seller and the agent to determine a budget in which they can work. The price of staging depends on the scope of the work that needs to be done – do the floors need to be refinished? Does furniture need to be rented? Or does the seller’s existing belongings just need to be organized and rearranged? It is worth noting that staging a home generally costs less than the loss from a first price reduction. 4. What determines how you stage? – How you stage a home is based on a number of factors including the current state of the property and budget constraints. The demographic of the target consumer is another key factor. A walk-up apartment in an up-and-coming neighborhood is going to attract a different set of buyers than a loft apartment in a trendy neighborhood. Homes should be staged to appeal to the potential buyers of the property. 5. How can the seller help? – Sellers need to understand that the moment they put their property up for sale, it is no longer their home. If a seller is still living in the property throughout the selling process, the best thing they can do is make sure that they keep the staging in place for showings. Previous KWNYC Lunch and Learn sessions have covered legal topics, mortgage products and vendor information. For more information, please visit: www.kwnyc.com