What Millennials Want Plus Home Staging Community Building
We’re excited to share that Krisztina Bell, who was recently named a Top 75 Most Influential People in Real Estate Staging was featured on the Home Staging Show Podcast with host Cindy Lin!
The Home Staging Show Podcast is hosted by STAGED4HOME, an online school founded by Cindy Lin who is a professional home stager and stylist. Her mission in starting this school was to empower anyone who wants to create a beautiful home environment, whether they are selling or living in a home or for those who want to simply start a home staging business. Her popular podcast show is in its 9th season and continues this year with shows discussing all things related to home selling, including how to stage, using social media to generate demand for listings, interior design tips, landscaping do’s and don’ts and so many interesting topics that consistently attracts a large listening audience.
On Krisztina’s episode (season 9, episode 7), she discusses how the home staging industry has evolved over the last 15 years, how more home sellers, flippers, investors, and the like are seeing the value of home staging in marketing their vacant flips and reno properties to sell faster and for top dollar in Atlanta. She also chats with Cindy about how to stage homes to attract the attention of the ever so demanding Millennial buyers that are challenging agents and sellers when it comes to what they want when purchasing a new home.
Changes in the Home Staging Industry
On the podcast, Krisztina shares how the home staging industry has changed over the last 15 years and becoming more popular now more than ever in Atlanta – finally, sellers are getting it!
“It’s very exciting because staging has finally hit Atlanta, as crazy as that sounds. It’s been popular with agents, of course, out in California and in Canada especially with the popularity of HGTV shows, but it’s like it never really gained the momentum until this year in Atlanta. Sellers are now starting to realize that home staging is a vital marketing tool to sell a home.”
Jay and Krisztina Bell purchase 2nd moving truck in 2018 for the team at No Vacancy Home Staging.
Several Atlanta home staging companies are seeing this increase in demand and their businesses are growing fast in which some are moving into larger warehouse spaces, purchasing 2nd or 3rd trucks, and buying more furnishings just to keep up with the demand as more listings come on the market. Atlanta’s season for selling is Spring and it was a very busy one this year!
She also discusses how HGTV shows, like Flip or Flop and Property Brothers, have helped home sellers see the value in home staging while raising expectations on the actual selling process as these shows bring in home stagers to transform the remodeled properties into beautifully staged homes.
How to Stage Homes for Millennials
Krisztina talks about how Millennials are changing the home buying/selling process too.
“I think more Millennials prefer to shop online first before they call an agent and want to go view a home… And these buyers are picky and want move-in ready to go as they are not interested in doing any work or remodeling.”
Not only is the way they’re buying homes that is evolving, but what they’re looking for in homes is changing too.
“Millennials are not interested in [formal living rooms and dining rooms]. They want an office, they want casual living spaces to be more creative. So the dining room is now the kitchen island – there’s no formal dining room anymore.”
This change affects investors, home sellers, real estate agents, and stagers too.
Krisztina’s Personal Marketing Tips for Agents, Sellers, and Home Stagers…
Krisztina Bell presenting to other home stagers how she started teaching her first CE class.
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Build Relationships
Krisztina is very active in the Atlanta home staging community, teaching a 3-Hour Home Staging continuing education (CE) class at various brokerages to help real estate agents sell more homes especially when it comes to the challenges of listing vacant properties. Agents want to be more staging knowledge savvy and my class helps with that as it is chock full of handouts and what one agent called “golden nuggets of info” that agents can use in their listing presentations that explains what paint colors to use, how to prepare a home to sell, benefits of staging and even down to what light bulbs to use and so much more!
She is all about building relationships with various vendors and creating a sense of community within the local real estate, interior design, and staging industry.
Krisztina Bell & fellow HSRA Members and Professional Home Stagers, Jonathan Miller & Bergit Anich
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Use Social Media
Krisztina loves marketing and PR and suggests that you use video to your advantage to talk about anything from an open house coming up or a new listing. Share any staging and design tips and what’s happening in the real estate and staging industry locally in your city and post tips, pics and videos on Instagram or Facebook – keep your followers in the KNOW!
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Join a Staging Organization
Krisztina says one of the things that made a difference in her staging business is joining some of the national home staging organizations like RESA (Real Estate Staging Association), IAHSP or HSRA (Home Staging and Re-Design Association) as these organizations have yearly conventions where you can meet and learn about what’s trending or just talk shop and see what other stagers are doing in their business nationwide.
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Visit online Real Estate and Staging Communities on Facebook
There are several Home Staging Groups, Agent and Real Estate related Communities some nationwide and some local that are on Facebook that you can join and chat with other stagers, designers or agents and get tips, tricks and just ask questions as people love to tell a story of their experience or share what not to do or how to do it in a way that worked for them.
