Leadership in The Home Staging Industry

The Home Staging Industry Institute was founded to support and advance the home staging industry through leadership by way of (1) awareness building on the public level and within the real estate industry; (2) advocacy for the home staging profession and industry; (3) provision of education and resources on the public level and broader real estate industry level; (4) our own unique approach to the provision of ongoing professional development opportunities and business support for professional home stagers; and (5) our commitment to helping home stagers expand their expertise and grow their businesses.

There are other professional organizations or groups that exist in the home staging industry, and we have no desire to be redundant or simply provide more of the same. We are not here to be an “also ran” organization. We established The Home Staging Industry Institute because we recognized that there was a role for us to play in working to advance the home staging industry as a whole, for the benefit of all, and we’re willing to do the work involved.

While we are one of the newer organizations in the home staging industry, we have a long history and qualifications / credentials when it comes to leadership within a profession or industry – we operated and administered an internationally recognized professional organization in a similar field for over a decade, between 1999 and 2010, before becoming involved in the home staging industry in 2011.

We are passionate about the benefit that professional home staging brings to almost any residential real estate transaction for the home owner, the Realtor, and the home buyer as well.

Yet we recognize that home staging is still grossly underutilized as an essential marketing strategy and has yet to reach its full potential. It is here that we see our most important role and our potential to benefit professional home stagers, Realtors, home sellers and home buyers in every community.

Far too often there is inadequate understanding within the real estate industry and among home sellers of the direct benefit and impact properly executed home staging will have on the selling outcome in almost any residential real estate transaction.

In our many years in the home staging industry, we have developed an intimate understanding of how the real estate industry could be further benefited if there were to be a closer alignment of the two industries working together in closer partnership – and this is what we seek to foster.

Through our many years in the industry, through tireless hard work, significant financial investment, and a good amount of trial and error,  we have also developed many of our own unique systems, approaches, strategies, methods and techniques which have the potential to benefit the real estate industry, the home staging industry, home sellers, home buyers and, last, but absolutely not least – the professional home stager.

We are passionate about making our mark on an industry we have deep insights into, unique perspectives on, extensive experience in, and so much we are willing to contribute to.

Home staging has been referred to by real estate industry experts as the #1 marketing method in the real estate industry. It is strategically being utilized by rapidly increasing numbers of sellers and Realtors world-wide to achieve the best possible selling results. Yet, due to lack of understanding, it still remains grossly underutilized by a considerable percentage of Real Estate Professionals whose sellers would benefit from better selling outcomes if professional home staging were to used to its full advantage.

Part of our role is to ensure widespread understanding among home sellers and real estate professionals – through raised awareness – of the power, value and necessity of home staging in deriving the maximum return on the seller’s real estate investment.

Industry statistics consistently demonstrate that professionally staged homes perform significantly better in their sales outcomes than their un-staged comparables. Staging isn’t a cost, its an investment – what a seller invests into staging their home delivers an average ROI of over 500%. The fact is, home owners can’t afford not to stage their properties, regardless of what the present market conditions are. To sell a home un-staged (“staging” here refers to professional staging) is to unnecessarily leave money behind on the table.

In our commitment to furthering this understanding among Real Estate Professionals and the public, through awareness building, everyone benefits – the home seller and the Realtor in terms of faster sales, better offers, smoother negotiating and reduced probability of sales falling through due to conditions. The home seller specifically is benefited by the ability to pull the maximum equity out of the sale of their property.

And faster, more successful sales very obviously benefit the Realtor’s career and brand in a myriad of ways.

But the home buyer benefits as well, from the ability to see the full potential of a home that they might have otherwise overlooked if the home hadn’t been professionally staged. Staged homes are more effective at getting a prospective buyer’s attention, generating viewings, and demonstrating the home’s full and highest potential, making it easier for a buyer to envision whether or not the home is a fit for them. It is not uncommon for home owners to say that they never would have made the connection with the house they now love and call home, if they’re attention hadn’t been peaked by the staging, which helped them to see everything the home could offer them.

The Home Staging Industry Institute provides much needed advocacy for the home staging industry, helping to ensure that everyone involved in a residential real estate transaction is fully aware of the value and benefit that professional home staging will provide to them. We are committed to 1) helping real estate professionals and home sellers achieve better sales outcomes through the #1 marketing real estate method – professional home staging; 2) providing a new level of, and unique approach to, training and support to home staging professionals to ensure that they have the necessary level of knowledge and skill necessary to help sellers derive the maximum amount of equity from the sale of their real estate transaction through competent, skilled professional home staging strategies.

In addition, we provide support and assistance for real estate professionals, and other professionals that work closely with the real estate and home staging industries, helping to address common issues, concerns and challenges.