Who's the boss? Your relationship with real estate agents and homeowners when staging a home for sale

By Kerry Derwent-Robb

One way to determine who the boss is would be to ask who's paying you? The real estate agent might pay for all or part of the real estate staging services and then present this service as free to the homeowners. The agent may simply pay for the initial consultation or not pay for anything, but simply recommend the home stager's services to her client, in which case it's up to the homeowner to decide whether or not to hire you.

This reveals the importance of presentations to agents to demonstrate the importance of your role in the home sale. show the Agents who you are. If the agent's convinced, she might be willing to absorb the cost. Many real estate agents work with a single home stager on a regular basis once they've built up a successful relationship.

But even if you're not at that stage and the agent's not ready to pay the bill, at the very least, she'll be quick to recommend you to the homeowner.

No matter who's paying, it would be normal to meet the estate agent and the homeowner during your staging job. It's important to work in conjuction with both to determine your goals.

Some clients will be happy with de-cluttering and simple touch ups. Others may look to rental furniture – anything from real home staging rental furniture for homes that are still occupied and in use to the lower-cost alternative of NextStage home staging furniture.

There is no right or wrong way to approach staging services, just a personalized way.

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