Curious to how a verbal home staging consultation works?

Earlier this year I received an email from a Realtor. He asked some great questions about how I work for home staging consultations to which I provided him the answers and I’d like to share those with you. Whether you are a Realtor or a home seller reading this, the information may be helpful to you if you are curious to how a home staging consultation works.

Whether occupied or vacant almost every home will start with home staging consultation .  In my Dallas, Texas home selling market the most affordable service Home Star Staging provides is a “walk and talk” or verbal home staging consultation.  For vacant properties the initial walk through fee/consultation (which is usually complete in less than an hour) will be credited back to any job that goes through contract with my company and completion.

Here are the questions the Realtor asked and the answers below.

Can you describe to me what your fees are for a listing [staging] consultation and the process involved? In other words; how long are the consultations, how much lead time do you need on appointments, etc? 

• A “walk and talk” verbal home staging consultation is $150 for up to 2 hours with each additional hour billed at $75/hr.  A lot can be accomplished in 2 hours depending on each client.
• Most homes under 2,500 sq. ft can be complete in this time frame (2 hours) – if more time will be needed we will either schedule it for the same appointment or later depending on the schedule that day. We can generally get that information after speaking to the Realtor or the client as to how much time will be needed in addition to the initial 2 hours.
• A verbal home staging consultation is a room by room assessment of how the property shows with specific recommendations made to enhance, improve, update, highlight and best showcase the property. Exterior recommendations are also made.
• The home seller takes the notes (although we do offer a written consultation report at .12 cents a sq. ft), A  folder of  is also provided which includes additional information to reinforce what the staging consultation covered.
• Who pays? While we do work with Realtors who provide the initial consultation to their clients (2 hours) many just refer us to their clients and the home seller will pay.  This will be explained at the beginning of the appointment .  Realtors who opt to pay for this service may also let their clients know it is part of the service they provide to include a Home Staging Consultation with Home Star Staging.
• LEAD TIME: the sooner the better of course!  Schedule depending we can often work someone in the same week. Weekend and evening consultations are by appointment only however we  fully realize many work and can only meet in those hours.  We try to be flexible!