Home Staging - A Danger to Buyers?

 Today I had the opportunity to read “The Dark Side of Good Home Staging” an article featured in the September 21, 2007 issue of Realtor Magazine Online. In the article the writer discusses a report by the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) which attempts to analyze home staging from a buyer’s perspective. Although the Realtor Magazine article was well written and objective I was interested in reading the source document to better understand the point NAEBA was trying to make.

NAEBA’s report entitled “How to not get tricked by staging, and potentially save $5,645 when you buy a home” explains home staging as a two headed dragon made up of two distinct entities; basic staging and emotional staging. NAEBA goes on to explain basic staging as de-cluttering, cleaning, and maintaining. Emotional staging is described as staging a home to purposely create a picture in the mind of the buyer. One example the NAEBA uses to explain this concept is when a stager sets the dining room table to create the idea of family dinners within the mind of a buyer. 

Once staging has been defined and both elements explained the NAEBA’s article immediately labels the following paragraph, “the dangers of staging from your position as a home buyer.” It is at this point that the article shifts its attention from what home staging is about to the ills it can inflict on buyers. It explains that home staging will often conceal structural and construction defects, deferred maintenance issues, and other problems buyers may have noticed if the rooms were never staged. The article also warns buyers to be aware that staging may make rooms seem larger and homes seem more valuable then had the home not been staged. NAEBA continues the next paragraph by proclaiming that “in real estate there are an abundance of stories of buyers seeing a staged home, becoming emotionally attached, and paying over the market value for these homes”. 

In order to support this paragraph of warnings the NAEBA allocates the next section to the staging horror stories NAEBA real estate agents reported to the NAEBA during a recent survey. The first example offered by NAEBA is from a member who explained that his/her, “Buyer fell in love with the house, but the house had serious foundation issues and a water seepage issue that were not disclosed. Buyer found out when she went back to the property and talked to a neighbor. We then had the property evaluated by a structural expert who confirmed the defects existed. Buyer still wanted the house and made a low offer to compensate for the work that would have to be done, but the offer was refused.” After about seven examples the NAEBA shifts focus from the problem to the solution for buyers.

The solution offered to buyers, as a way to remain safe from staging, is to work with a NAEBA real estate agent who is trained to see past staging. The described advantages of NAEBA agents are that they never work with sellers so they never stage and are able to strictly focus on buyers needs. Finally the NAEBA concludes the article, yet not to be finished they end by listing a number of home staging sites. They address this list by saying “Additional Know Your Enemy Resources”.

Okay now that I was fair enough to give NAEBA’s article a thorough recap for any of my readers who prefer not to read it in its entirety I feel obligated to respond. I will acknowledge that I am an Accredited Staging Professional, yet my affiliation with staging is not my driving force behind my complete disagreement with many of the statements made by NAEBA. In fact it is my knowledge as a Realtor and salesperson that causes me to find controversy within NAEBA’s article.

Part 2 of this response can be found here

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