What is the Glen Street Integrated Staging System?

The Integrated Staging System is our signature services designed to ensure success for our clients. Home staging is like baking a cake - and our Integrated Staging System is designed to help you at every step along the way:

• Phase 1: The Consultation. Every Glen Street staging client starts here. We create the framework for staging your home and outline everything that needs to be done. Think of this as the recipe for the cake.

• Phase 2: Project Management and Coaching. We’ll act as your staging project manager and coach, ensuring all staging prep (think: repairs, upgrades, packing, cleaning, etc.) is done quickly and efficiently - and always with ROI in mind. Think of this as making the cake with a winner from Top Chef guiding your every move.

• Phase 3: Staging + Styling. We’ll make your home (and your listing photos) look AMAZING and attract high quality offers. Depending on your budget and selling goals, this could include supplementing your existing pieces with items from our curated staging inventory to create a liveable model home look that will bring buyers to the table. Think of this as the frosting the cake.

• Phase 4: Maintenance + Ongoing Support. We’ll create a mangeable maintenance plant to help you keep your home looking amazing until all contingencies are removed and the staging can be taken down. Our support doesn’t end when the home is staged - we’re with you all the way until your home is sold. Think of this as lighting sparklers on top of your cake and parading it around the room - because it’s not complete until everyone sings.

Do I have to purchase every part of the Integrated Staging System?

Our Integrated Staging services are packaged together for good reason - because we know how critical each element is to successfully staging your home. That being said, we are realists and we know you may be working with time or budgetary constraints. Therefore, we break all Integrated Staging quotes into three parts: Staging, Inventory Rental, and Project Management. While we believe in these three components working together, you are welcome to use only select parts if that’s what works best for you.

Additionally, Consultations are separate services from our Integrated Staging package. They are a required prerequisite to purchasing an Integrated Staging package, but they can also stand alone to provide you with guidance if you are more DIY-minded.

Do you offer “walk and talk” assessments or consultations?

No - because we don’t believe they are in your best interest. There are boatloads of information to be gathered from a staging assessment or consultation and you’re bound to miss something if you’re responsible for writing it all down. Written assessments are a far better value for you as they provide a complete blueprint for staging your home - either on your own or for use as the foundation on which we will professionally stage your home, if you so choose.

Why do I need a stager and a realtor? Can’t one person do both?

Stagers and realtors work in tandem to sell your home, but each are specialists in what they do. Realtors are your advocate throughout the selling (and buying) process, guiding you through the details and looking out for your best interest along the way. They are master negotiators and fierce advocates for their clients, but most are not professionally trained home stagers. Stagers, on the other hand, focus purely on the visual marketing aspect of the sales process. A good stager will work hand-in-hand with your realtor toward the common goal of selling your home quickly and for the highest price possible. At Glen Street Staging + Design, we love the agents we work with and value not only our relationship with them, but also their relationship with their sellers. Together, we make a great team that brings all the tools to the table for maximizing a seller’s return on their home!

Staging seems expensive - is it really worth it?

Staging is an investment in your home that almost always yields positive returns. When you’re paying for professional staging, you’re paying not only for any items you may be renting, but for the stager’s expertise in knowing exactly how to market your home most effectively to you target buyers - and, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. That being said, if your budget is tight, you have options. A Consultation is the most economical way to engage us to help you stage your home - we’ll give you the roadmap to staging and you’ll implement it yourself. If you know you need more support than that, we’re here for you, friend! We promise to make your staging investment more than worth it!

What if my furniture is super outdated and you need to bring in lots of items from your inventory for staging? Does this mean I have to move out before it can be staged?

No - it just means you just need to limit your use of your home while it is staged. In an ideal world, every homeowner would move out of their home while it’s on the market to keep it in a perfectly staged state - but that’s just not practical. If you’re willing to limit your use of your home to just a handful of rooms, we can bring the benefits of vacant staging to you without the need for you to vacate the premises.

Talk to me about your Project Management and Coaching. What is it and why do I need it?

Today’s buyers are looking for (and are willing to pay more for) move-in ready spaces. Therefore, most homes need some level of updating to bring them up to snuff. Add this to the general packing and cleaning that comes with a move and it can all get very overwhelming very quickly!

Most stagers drop a list of staging prep tasks in your hand and get out of Dodge until it’s time to come back to perform their staging and styling services. Call us crazy, but we think that’s not cool. Therefore, we’ll be with you every step along the way and take as much of the load off of your shoulders as possible. We’ll create your staging strategy and project plan and then manage to it on a daily basis. We’ll manage any contractors necessary for repairs/upgrades. We’ll source any paints, finishes, and fixtures to ensure they meet our staging standards. We can’t pack your unmentionables for you (although we can hire someone to do that, if you want) but we’ll pretty much do the rest!

We realize it may feel frustrating to spend money upgrading a home you’re trying to sell, but take heart - we will not recommend any upgrades, repairs, or changes we do not truly believe will have a positive ROI. Staging should always pay for itself.

But how do you determine what changes will result in a positive return for my home?

We will always perform a market analysis for your home before making any specific recommendations. This includes gaining an understanding of you home’s current selling potential, what comparable homes have recently sold for in your area, what you and your agent want to list your home for, and what your overall staging budget is. From there, we will make specific recommendations for attracting buyers who are willing to pay top dollar for your home (AKA: your target buyers) while staying within your staging budget. Our goal is ALWAYS to help you increase the selling point of your home far above the cost of staging.

What makes you different from other stagers?

Most stagers offer consultations and staging services, but leave the work between those two events solely up to the homeowner. We think of this break in support as the “Danger Zone” - the point at which it’s easy for a staging project to go off the rails. We don’t want you to go off of the rails!!! We avoid this by fully supporting the seller and realtor from start to finish. We take as much as we can off our clients’ plates to make staging as low stress as possible, helping them get from consultation to closed as quickly as possible.

I want to work with Glen Street for staging but I don’t live in your service area. What are my options?

At the moment, we only work with clients in Eastern Massachusetts (Greater Boston, MetroWest, Cape Cod, etc.). However, we are in the planning phases of a virtual version of our Integrated Staging System, which is estimated to be open for enrollment by Spring 2022. If you’d like to stay in the know about this, please click HERE to get on the list for notifications as soon as it’s available!

When is the right time in the selling process to hire a stager?

As early as possible! Staging creates the roadmap for selling the home quickly and at the highest possible price. While it is never too late to bring in a stager, employing a stager early in the process yields the greatest benefits and prevents costly mistakes (because you truly do not need to do all the things - just those that will have the greatest ROI).

How in the world am I supposed to keep my home looking staged if I’m still living in it?

We won’t lie - living in a staged home is not easy. It takes a serious commitment to doing everything you can to clean up after yourself on a minute-by-minute basis and dedicated time each morning to bring it back to it’s fully staged state. Also, your kids will hate it. But, don’t worry - we’ve got your back. We’ll provide you with all the tips, tricks, and tools you need to keep it in tip top shape. And, take heart - professionally staged homes sell significantly faster than unstaged homes, which means you’ll only have to keep up with your cleaning regime for a short time.

My home is under contract - when can I have it de-staged?

Real estate transactions can be tenuous in the early stages. Therefore, we recommend maintaining your home as staged until all contingencies are removed. Once that happens, we require 7 working days’ written notice for de-staging (if you have rented any furniture or accessories from us).

What happens if my home is not ready to be de-staged at the end of my initial rental period?

Every quote for staging that includes renting from our inventory contains a weekly rental charge for retaining items beyond the initial 30-day rental period. Once you pass the 30-day mark, all items will collectively be charged on a weekly basis. This is why it is so important to let us know as soon as possible that your home is ready to be de-staged - we will follow up with you and your agent if we notice the home has gone under contract, but it is your responsibility to provide us with written notice of de-staging.

What if I don’t like how my home is staged?

It’s important to remember staging is not interior design - it is a visual marketing technique designed to help sell your home quickly and for top dollar. While we will make every effort to ensure your satisfaction with the end product, it is our responsibility to ensure your home is properly staged to attract your target buyer. Therefore, the design may or may not align with your personal tastes (however, if you have little ones at home, we can assure you it will be kid-safe - that’s a non-negotiable for us). As such, all design decisions are at the sole discretion of Glen Street Staging + Design. We will select each and every item used to stage your home with care and intention to get you the highest return possible on your investment.

So you’re saying you’ll manage the entire staging process for me?

Absolutely! When you hire us you’re getting phenomenal staging expertise, access to our curated staging inventory, and full staging project management and coaching. You’ll still have work to do (we can’t do it ALL for you) but we’ll take much of the mental load off of your shoulders. Coordinating local contractors and vendors? Done. Prioritizing based on ROI and budget? Done. Selecting finishes, fixtures, etc? Done. Purchasing and delivery of agreed-upon staging accessories? Done. See? Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

What happens if your inventory gets damaged while it’s in my home?

Accidents happen - we get it. Your contract will clearly spell out cleaning fees for any items damaged while in your care. While your homeowners insurance should cover our items while they are in your home, we will provide you with a full list of our staging inventory placed in your home and the full replacement cost by item that will be charged to you in the event it is damaged beyond repair or manages to go missing.

I love everything about my staging! Can I purchase the items you’ve placed in my home?

We’re thrilled when our clients love their staging so much that they want to take it with them to their next home! In most cases, you can purchase either the exact items we have placed in your home or we can arrange for you to purchase a new version of those items (depending on their condition and our staging inventory needs). Additionally, if you love the look but want a larger variety of items to choose from, check our out Glen Street Shop, where you can find lots of trade-only options that can be shipped right to your door!