SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2018
We had the opportunity to speak with Stacie Chamberlin, home stager, E-design Expert and owner of Access Home Staging, which is an award- winning home staging and re-design business serving the greater Ottawa area. We spotlight how they develop specialized solutions that will help your property not only sell quickly, but for the most money possible, maximizing your return on most likely your largest investment, your home. Their strength lies in their ability to see a property as it is today and what it could be, then work with their clients to eliminate distractions, create balance and flow within the property and merchandise each space so that it will appeal to target buyers.
By Jordan Parker S tacie Chamberlin has always taken a customer-first approach to Access Home Staging, the business she owns. When speaking with Stacie, she was very quick to point out that, “Customer service is the backbone of any service business.” Stacie then followed that up with something that every entrepreneur needs to understand very quick about their customers and that is, “Happy clients tell their friends, family and co-workers about their experience.” This word of mouth or post on social media can bring you business if you do it right or kill it if you are not paying attention to your customer’s experience when they work with you.
In the real estate industry, home staging is what a home inspection was 25 years ago, something that people were hearing about when you were selling or buying a home. Now a home inspection is an industry standard in any real estate transition.
As Stacie puts it, “As an industry, staging is still in its infancy” she continued, “Our reputation as an individual stager as well as the reputation of the entire industry depends upon how we treat our clients …” The success of the industry will also come from results. As more and more real estate agents, developers and individual homeowners see the results of home staging with increased offers and sales with shorter sales cycles and higher property purchase amounts, the more we see the benefits of partnering with a professional home stager.
The same holds true for a property.
Chamberlin was drawn to a career in home staging because she liked the challenges inherent to industry. She took her first staging course in 2008 from Certified Staging Profes- sionals® (CSP) and has been helping her clients get the maximum amount from their property investment in the minimum amount of time ever since.
When buying a car or property most buyers do not want to have to do a lot of work getting it ready to drive or live in. Most people get that when they are selling a car however, when selling their home or property they do not see it to be as important to the process. As Chamberlin says, “They
“Customer service is the backbone of any service business.”
I asked Chamberlin what home staging offers a client to get a better understanding of the benefits and the process.
Home staging helps prepare a property for sale with the goal being to help clients sell their property quickly and for the most money possible. “For most of us, our home represents our largest single investment yet, traditionally, home sellers put their property on the market in as in con- dition.” Chamberlin compares selling your property to selling your car. That being that you want to get the most possible money for that car when you sell it. Yes, there are going to be others like it for sale, so you’re going to have to invest some time and money getting the car detailed to make it stand out amongst similar ones for sale.
(home-sellers) hadn’t needed to stage their listings before, so they thought, so why do it now?” The reason is very simple a better return on your investment. “People still have a hard time investing in a property they plan on leaving believing that the new homeowners want to buy the home and the to-do list that comes with it” she says. But that is not the case for most new home buyers as they are looking for something that is ready to live in. Chamberlin goes on to say, “I chose to specialize in occupied staging, because I love the challenge of creating inviting, open spaces using what the client already owns.” She believes that it gives the property greater character and helps reduce the cost of stages, again maximizing her clients return. Currently, her most popular service is something she refers to as “blended staging” which is a staging project where I use the client’s available items plus items from my personal inventory to create spaces that will appeal to the target buyer. I bring in accessories and art and, if needed, a small number of rental furnishing. Home staging is a self-regulated industry and member- ship to the oldest and largest trade association, the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA®) is completely volun- tary. Chamberlin believes specialized training is incredibly important in order to understand the industry and provide the best service possible to clients. “It is only through staging training that new stagers grasp the fact that staging is not interior decorating. Yes, staging does follow basic design practices such as scale, repetition, and colour, but unlike interior decorating, staging is about creating spaces that will appeal to the property’s future owner, which is why understanding both the market and target buyer is so important.
“I once heard someone say that ‘almost anyone can make a space look nice, but it takes a stager to create a space that sells.’ And that has always stuck with me.” I asked why Chamberlin thought it was important to use a professional for staging and without missing a beat she responded with, “A professional stager needs to stay on top of design trends so that we can bring in elements of a trend to update and modernize the look of a space. Stagers must also stay on top of real estate trends and what buyers of a particular demographic will most likely want in a space, so that our staging always appeals to the seller’s target buyer.” “As an industry, staging is still in its infancy.” Chamberlin is happy with her career choice as it allows her to work mostly from home and she said she loves what she does, and knows it helps people realize their goals. “I don’t think anyone is 100 per cent happy all the time,” she says and admits to having days when things just don’t go as planned. “People have a misconception that being your own boss is working your own hours, but you work for clients with time schedules you fit yourself into. “Staging to sell is part science and part creativity. There’s a science to design principles, but you also need to look at a room and know what needs to go and what needs to be added,” Chamberlin explains. This talent comes naturally to some people and training along with experience help hone this skill. Clients are often surprised by how their property looks when it has been staged. “When a client sees what a differ- ence you can make to the appeal and function of a space they will often ask you to assist them with the setup of their new home.” In 2010, Chamberlin added the “picture perfect” staging service to help those clients not within the Ottawa area and tells me that Access Home Staging has just started to offer online design services to clients outside our normal service area. This is truly an exciting time for me as a business owner, I’m able to offer clients the expertise and services of a tra- ditional designer by using today’s technology to provide services at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-site design services. This new service is ideal for those on a limited budget who want to phase in their new design over time and for those that perfect and are more than comfortable with online shopping Chamberlin is currently looking to the future, which will see her online service expand.
Access Home Staging
1554-213 Carling Ave. Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 7M4
stacie.accessstaging@gmail.com
www.accesshomestaging.com
as spotlighted in the OCTOBER 2018 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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