It’s easy for someone to have it as an instinct, that ability to make the right combinations and to know how to renew an environment with a few touches. But doing it with competence, knowing how to really make the most of the spaces and enhance the home cannot be just instinct, it takes strategy, it takes profession.
And that’s why he started the HOME|Philosophy Academy, which offers educational courses and workshops in the field ofhome staging (that marketing technique that allows you to enhance a property before selling it).
Francesca Greco (in the picture), an expert in real estate marketing and applied emotional marketing, is the founder. And it is she who we asked for all the information.
Who is your academy for? How long does it last? How much?
«Our courses are created to respond to a specific need: to prepare professionals in real estate presentation. Through the experience gained in over 15 years of real estate brokerage, we know what are the skills necessary to establish itself as a home stager. Our home staging course is designed and developed around the teachings of Barb Schwarz, the creator of home staging. We followed his guidelines exactly. Currently it is the only course in Italy recognized and accredited by IAHSP (International Association of Home Staging Professional) and IAHSP EUROPE. The lessons include an initial 4-day training and then various preparatory and complementary courses, necessary to deepen all aspects related to this profession. The value of our courses varies according to the modules chosen. To get an idea: the basic online home staging course, lasting 16 hours, has a value of 500 euros. The further completion modules cost from 90 euros upwards ».
Who then really wants this job, how will he have to move?
“As in all professional and entrepreneurial activities, you can move after having received adequate preparation and acquired specific skills, and to start is
it is necessary to be able to present to its potential customers with suitable material, from the website to a regular tax position. Then you can create a strategy and start making yourself known on the market, introducing yourself to real estate agencies, builders or investors as well as individuals, to offer your image consultant service. It will be a demanding journey full of challenges, but perseverance is one of the best ways to reach any goal ».
What is the Starter Kit?
«You don’t improvise. The professional home stager sets up his warehouse according to the interventions he has to perform, or he can use furniture and rental material made available by companies created to offer this kind of services for our category ».
There is no register or order for home stagers: how do you recognize a good home stager?
«Home staging is a“ new ”job. To do so, it is not mandatory to attend courses or be enrolled in registers, roles, colleges or associations. Theoretically, everyone can call themselves a home stager. In practice, as in all liberal professions, there is a market law that immediately regulates the value proposition: preparation. To safeguard and protect the development of the home stager profession, each of us should have as a minimum objective the need to be prepared, collaborative and useful. Which are the foundations for any successful career ».
What is the mistake everyone makes when starting this job?
«I would not like to talk about a real error, it is certain that we often believe that this work is simple, but it is not so, especially at the beginning, because we clash with a reality that is in fact nascent. And it is precisely for this reason that in HOME | Philosophy Academy we have decided to maintain constant support to our students with various initiatives and continuous training thanks to our community where both our teachers and professionals already with experience are ready to support new recruits. so that they find constant support and help “.
Can you tell us a story about it? A house evaluated in one way and then re-evaluated after the intervention of a home stager?
“Over the past 5 years our team of image consultants has prepared over 500 homes for sale or rental (traditional or micro-receptive). The average sales times of a property, obviously if placed on the market at the correct price, also thanks to home staging as one of the real estate marketing tools, are reduced
considerably, reducing or even eliminating the negotiation margins and price discounts. There are many successful cases but in these days the sale of an apartment in Milan, on the market for many months without success, has ended. After our home staging intervention, the house was sold in just 35 days, with a minimum discount on the price ».
But how much does the personal taste factor affect?
«The home stager’s task is to prepare a house for sale or lease, bringing it back to a neutral stage: the traces of the previous tenant’s experience are lightened as much as possible. All without reducing the house to an aseptic or cold place. The home stager in fact respects the structure and makes it more welcoming allowing those who visit it to customize it to their own taste. In fact, that of the home stager is a profession that rediscovers essentiality, and aims to reach the heart of things. Arouse emotions and bring beauty. Getting to lightness, analyzing the location well and respecting the rules that derive from an intense and in-depth study of the subject. In short, a job that is anything but simple and approximate. When you create an installation, you are not doing a stylistic exercise in interior design. The image is being created of a place ready to welcome new stories and new memories. The work of the home stager is wonderful, because it allows you to help people
realize their desires, in a shorter time than what the market and the media tell. It does this by bringing beauty into homes. And then everything comes as a consequence, because beauty calls for beauty ».
What is the percentage of earnings on a home staging job?
«The cost of home staging is an item that can be classified as an“ investment ”. Among other things, the latest investment by the owner on the property he has decided to sell.
Probably, however, the one with the greatest ROI, return on investment. This cost may vary depending on the type of intervention to be performed.
Each job will have its specific characteristics and therefore its cost, which will have to take into account the stager’s fee, the concession to use the material and the service.
photographic and will take into account the experience of the stager, the quantity and type / quality of the material and the number of photographic shots. Home staging takes care of people, homes are just an excuse to do it ».
In the gallery, some examples of the interventions carried out by a home stager.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
