Working with a home staging professional might seem foreign or frivolous, especially if you’re a DIY-er at heart.  But good news, no-strings-attached, pre-listing consults has been a business model that’s been quietly flourishing for some time.

Consults assess, prioritize, and deliver independent, professional advice tailored to the client’s situation, and goals. Precise recommendations to help you move forward.  Products or other services might factor in after, but it’s not the initial focus.

So, forgive my directness, but the first thing you should expect from a pre-listing consult is to pay for it. “Free consults” is a misnomer. If you’re meeting to choose products or other services, that’s an “estimate”.

TRH’s pre-listing consults are fluid events. The path for each seller is different, but here’s what you can expect from the process: 

• It’s a personal experience. Hopes, fears, expectations, and relationships are just as much in the mix as costs, processes and results.
• Expect your questions and concerns to be addressed directly and clearly. You should feel reasonably comfortable, and respected.  And you should trust your interactions remain confidential. A preliminary phone call should give you a good feel for all of this before committing to meet.           
• Each side will have questions.  And IMO there are no ‘dumb’ questions or ‘wrong’ answers. I tell clients they have full access to my brain and resources, and can ask me anything.                                                
• Expect some ideas will take time to digest and evolve. Things like best place for the sofa? how big should the rug be? can be resolved on the spot. More complex questions (Who’ll buy my piano? Whole house paint schedule? ROI from landscaping upgrade?) usually require further research, some more thought, or another visit.

TRH is not like any other staging company in Westchester. We sell nothing, and have no financial connection with any other entity. Simply, we operate solely to help clients move forward confidently, bringing their property to its best.

Our pre-listing consults are collaborative, interactive, practical, and effective. Yes we can help with implementation, but maybe 80% of our clients are good to go on their own at that point.

• Sellers do what they need to do, and everyone lives happily ever after (YAAAY!)
• Sellers table any actions for the moment. Sometimes we all have to do things in our own time. But sellers need to hear difficult things from their team first, not from buyers and other agents. The door is left open, anything can be revisited at any time. 
• But whoa…! Sellers aren’t ready, willing, or able to do these things. Or, maybe only some of them. So they speak with their agent about adjusting their expectations re: price.