From the latest fixtures to the trendiest hues, the art of staging a home to highlight its best features and showcase its potential has long been a valuable tool for agents. Even more so now, as coronavirus concerns mean agents need to deliver a compelling visual story that buyers can engage with from the safety of their homes. 

These days, the work goes way beyond traditional staging, however. Homebuyers are often looking for properties that are move-in ready, with the hard work of renovating and updating already completed. 

But sellers don’t always want to put in the effort or go to the expense of redesigning a home they’re about to leave. Some are already envisioning themselves in a new space, having mentally moved on from the tired and dated look of the home they’re selling. Others are overwhelmed by the idea of managing major projects like replacing windows, fixing persistent plumbing problems, or installing a new roof on top of orchestrating a move.

Irene Bremis, founder and designated broker of iBremis Realty, said buyers and sellers alike have heightened expectations for how properties are prepared before they hit the market. 

“People grew up with HGTV,” Bremis noted. “I think it helps us if that’s the expectation, in the sense that when we go in, if they want to sell their home and they want to get a higher price or top dollar, they already have been prepared for the fact that they’re going to have to have it look a certain way.”

Bremis uses LAER Realty Partners as a concierge service. Working with a company that specializes in pre-sale remodeling and renovation services relieves her of some of the burden of preparing homes for her sellers. 

“We are able to take a more holistic approach to handle the client’s needs,” Bremis said. “We can’t all be experts at everything, but we can provide them with partners that offer the best service in the industry.”

The national firm Curbio, along with similar remodeling and renovation services offered by major brokerages such as Compass, is also stepping in to assist with the pre-sale renovation process. 

The concierge treatment

Curbio’s services cover a wide variety of pre-sale improvements carried out by the company’s own professionals, rather than outside contractors, and works with agents from all brokerages. Sellers who use Curbio don’t have to pay any of the costs associated with the renovations until after their property sells, and the agents don’t have to manage the work.

“When an agent works with Curbio, we’re not only deferring payment, but we’re also handling the renovation itself,” said Rikki Rogers, Curbio’s vice president of marketing. “In order to maintain ownership of that really valuable relationship with homeowners, agents just take on more and more and more responsibility.”

Rogers noted that Curbio is different from other concierge services in that it does not require the agent to serve as the project manager. Curbio takes on responsibilities such as acquiring the right materials and managing subcontractors. 

Curbio surveys buyer’s agents in order to keep up with what homebuyers in a given area are looking for in terms of fixtures and features. The company uses real-time sales data and provides clients with virtual estimates so that there aren’t any surprises after the home is sold. Automated communications and frequent updates keep clients informed of the progress of the improvements as they happen.

Curbio’s presence in Boston is relatively new. The company announced its expansion into the market early last December and has not formally partnered with specific brokerages in the area as of April 2020. However, agents can form their own individual relationships with Curbio. Agents who sought concierge services for their clients handled it themselves, turned to the in-house offerings of their respective brokerage companies or found a local specialist.

Bremis works with LAER, which is active in several communities across Massachusetts and New Hampshire. LAER’s services include staging and interior design, junk removal, pest control, mold remediation and emergency repairs. 

In the past, Bremis likely would have helped her clients with the staging process, either by using her own furniture and decor pieces or making the most of what was already in the home. In some cases, the home is already immaculate and she doesn’t have to do much. In others, she has to speak frankly with her clients about what they should do to make their properties as attractive as possible.

“I tell them the way you live in a house and the way you sell a house are two different things,” she said. “Minimalist is often best, because people want to be able to picture their things in your house. I do a punch list, depending on what they have a budget for. Some people want to sell an investment property as-is and it needs work and everybody knows it. But if you want to get top dollar, you want it to look its best. Ideally you want the walls all clean or you want it even repainted.”

The level of involvement for LAER depends on what each client needs, whether it is staging and decluttering or working with contractors.

“I think selling a home or moving is very stressful,” Bremis said. “Anything that we can do to help take something off of our sellers’ plate is going to be greatly appreciated. We are in a service industry. People appreciate agents that are willing to help navigate them through this process. This is just another part of that.” 

A growing field

Other companies offer varying levels of concierge service. Compass Concierge takes an approach that’s similar to Curbio’s. Aimed at helping clients sell at a higher price, Compass Concierge offers services such as staging, painting, roof repair, landscaping and electrical work.

Several companies under the Realogy umbrella provide clients with concierge-type services as well. Coldwell Banker’s RealVitalize home improvement service helps connect homeowners with service providers capable of carrying out a variety of work. The program provides these resources without up-front costs or interest charges. 

The BHGRE Moves program from Realogy subsidiary Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate comes at the problem from the other side of the transaction. This tool is provided to buyer’s agents and puts a slightly different spin on the concierge concept by connecting new owners with movers and utility companies to make it easier to settle in.

Last fall, Keller Williams began offering a concierge service under the company’s iBuying division, Keller Offers. Initially offered in California, Georgia and Texas, the program gives clients access to assistance with minor repairs and renovations at no cost upfront.

Curbio represents one option for agents who don’t have access to such in-brokerage tools. “The value to agents is both in the ability to compete for the listing and then also to secure the lifetime value of the seller,” Rogers said. “For independent brokerages or brokerages that don’t have an in-house concierge service, Curbio is a great solution because they can essentially offer the competitive service without the risk and the operational efforts of launching it on their own. For agents that are not from the really large brokerages that are rolling out these services, Curbio can be a way to level the playing field.”

Competing independently

Some brokers prefer to take this work on themselves. Irene Kerzner, a senior sales associate at Hammond Residential Real Estate, has been providing concierge-type services to her clients since around 2012, when she founded Concierge Home Sales. She partners with the staging company Silk Purse Design to prepare homes for her clients.

“To me, selling a home has always been more than just about putting out listing brochures and the sign on the front lawn,” Kerzner said. “It’s also more than just telling our clients to make their beds and clean off the kitchen counters. Even before this collaboration, that was always what I felt my job was, which was obviously to help my clients sell their homes for the highest possible price.”

Kerzner and Silk Purse Design owner Heidi Wells don’t charge a higher commission fee for their concierge services, which include staging, minor repairs, furniture placement and improving the home’s curb appeal. Kerzner does a walk-through of every property and gives her clients a list of what they need to do to get it ready, as well as access to her network of contractors.

“We assess your whole house and we put together a plan for you,” Kerzner said. “We oversee the whole process from the beginning to the end, from assessing each client’s home with an eye for function and detail and design.”

Kerzner underwrites most of the cost for staging and any work that needs to be done because she wants her clients to get the best price possible. “If we can bring something to the table that’s really going to change the bottom line and we don’t do it, then we’re not doing our job,” she said. 

Staging for success

Regardless of the scope of a renovation project, staging is a key component of ensuring that everything looks right. This is particularly true at a time when a global pandemic threatens to disrupt real estate markets. Making homes camera-ready for online photos, videos and virtual tours becomes even more important when social distancing is the norm and local and state governments issue stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The National Association of Realtors’ 2019 Profile of Home Staging survey indicated that 40% of buyer’s agents said staging had an effect on how buyers see a home. Eighty-three percent of buyer’s agents said that staging makes it easier for buyers to see themselves living in the home. For some seller’s agents, staging is routine. The survey showed that 28% stage every home prior to selling, while 13% only stage the homes that are difficult to move. 

The Silk Purse Design Group handles staging for all of Kerzner’s clients. “They strive to blur the line between a beautifully appointed home and a home that’s been staged,” Kerzner said. “It really gives somebody a real sense of home and space and introduces them to what I call like the Gestalt of home buying, where you walk into a house and you feel like that’s what you want it to be as opposed to the list that everybody writes up that says, ‘I only want this or I only want that.’” 

The HGTV effect is real, too. Of the agents who responded to NAR’s home staging survey, 38% said that programs depicting the buying process have an impact on their business, and 10% said that staged homes should look the way they appear on television.