Kevin+Jonathan In and On the Media
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Q+A
The San Francisco Chronicle asks expert area realtors questions every week for their Sound-Off segment found in its Sunday Real Estate Section. The online counterpart appears on SF Gate. We’ve been asked to contribute and do so fairly often, which is what you're seeing here.
Q: When do you recommend staging and when is it unnecessary?
A: A good stager’s art will capture and appeal to the best possible buyers on a visual, visceral, and emotional level. Virtual staging isn’t enough, and you don’t want to be there for the letdown that a buyer would certainly have when discovering the home they’ve seen online is nowhere like what they imagined.
Sure, hiring a gifted designer and stager to transform your vacant property may seem expensive — why can’t I just buy a couch myself you may ask — but it is an essential ingredient in achieving a successful sale. Besides, staging is usually all-compassing because you’ll get the couch, the rug, the bedding, the art, and all that moving.
Staging will show people how they can change their lives by living differently and better than they do now. We cannot underscore how important this really is; forgoing staging runs the risk of costing far more than a staging fee with a reduced sale price.
We work many of San Francisco’s best stagers and designers as we collaborate with each of them on paint colors, art, furniture pieces but will also add our own personal touches like fresh flowers, scented candles, and high-end accessories to make a property that much more appealing.
The online and print versions of this was published on May 23, 2021. Find the online version here.
For More Sound-Off Snippets...
While acute market forces are curtailing new construction starts now, development here was already an uphill battle. Development timelines take years, so any non-NIMBY-related delays in adding new homes will keep housing prices high that much longer. But even for people who can afford to buy in the Bay Area, there’s a shortage of accessible destination homes for folks who are downsizing or ones who can no longer do the stairs in their 3-story Victorian.
Conflicting news reports about the real estate ‘market’ are concerning because they gloss over the fact that the housing market is very nuanced as each property is unique. Folks can lose sight that buying a home not only serves the very basic purpose of shelter but is also the main way folks can build wealth.