Does Staging Matter? 600 N. Fairbanks
I’ve chattered about staging before but someone also recently commented how it was common to do in San Francisco but not so common here in Chicago.
Does staging matter?
Here is the same unit in 600 N. Fairbanks. Both are 1746 square foot 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath southwest corner units.
Unit #1501 is minimally staged. Unit #1901 is not.
Livingroom:
Livingroom #2:
Bedroom:
Unit #1501 is currently listed for $1.1 million plus $70k for parking. Jameson Realty has the listing.
Unit #1901 is currently listed for $1.14 million plus $70k for parking. Prudential Preferred has the listing.
Staging can definitely help, it depends on the buyer. Some can visualize furnishings better than others.
That being said, in the case of these apartments. I would have put some kind of window treatments, even if cheap, in the bedrooms. Looking into a brick wall is a definite deterrent, which can be avoided with some simple shades.
I think it certainly helps in this case. My first reaction at seeing the empty bedroom was “how would a King/Queen fit in there?”, but seeing it staged you see how the room is actually quite large.
Deacon / Sally:
When are your foreclosure / short sales?
I had originally brought this up in a previous article because you cannot imagine the effort that goes into real estate presentations in San Francisco now. It is not uncommon for condos that have asking prices of over 1million to have incredible websites, and why not at this point? Agents almost demand sellers in S.F. to let their units be staged, and I have no problem with that after viewing so many expensive Chicago condos where the seller does not even care to have the carpet cleaned.
I am working with an agent, but find that I prefer to browse units myself online first. In a market such as the one we are currently in, where there are what seem like thousands of 2bd/2ba units in the 500,000 to 800,000 dollar price range, what is going to stand out to me? Not the loft building that has not sold any of their 800,000 dollar units in a couple of months, that still has yet to email me a pdf. file floorplan or pictures of the unit I was interested in. In California this would be unthinkable. . Is this too much to ask for paying 5% on a 760k dollar purchase? I used to see high rise units for sale in San Francisco where the agent would show views as a video file from sunrise till nightime on their listing page. Why not? With realtors making a percentage of a sale on a million dollar unit equal to what an architect would spend designing and managing the construction of the structure, it is the least we can expect from “the industry”.
Anoncondoshopper:
The developers aren’t even e-mailing you back after you express interest? Wow. I’m surprised by that. You’d think they’d be jumping on any possible new buyer.
Maybe Chicago agents have gotten too used to the boom. In the last few years, condos would sell within days of appearing on the market with few pictures taken for the MLS, no staging, bad furniture and carpets and nasty paint.
I think all of that is about to change in a big way.
Anoncondoshopper,
I agree with you on many of these issues but some times clients are not willing to pay for staging these units, painting walls(touch up) and or cleaning carpets before they list their homes for sale.
Just so you know how the industry works. The 5% is not payed to any single broker let alone broker. 2.5% is split among both listing broker/ buyers broker. Then the agents both listing/buyer makes there own splits of the 2.5% depending on past performance.
Some agents even charge 6%-7% in the suburbs and they don’t even show the property.
If your buyer’s agent was more agressive you would have that pdf file floorplan within 48hours…
Anoncondoshopper,
After searching on Google here is the floor plans you need. I didn’t mean to sound that your Agent isn’t working hard for you but sometimes it takes more than 1 or 2 phone call to get things done in any industry.
Go to the following link:
http://www.jameson.com/data/DevelopmentFloorplans/7DC1A72A-BB0D-6DAA-B99DFA87F3E89B6A.pdf
I would recommend going directly to listing agents if you have a specific property in mind. They have more motivation to sell it to you rather than someone who works with a buyer’s agent since their payout will be twice as much.
ja: Sometimes you can go in there without a buyers agent (a new project etc.) Or if you’re really, really knowledgable about the overall market.
But I really recommend using one if you’re just looking around in the market.
The seller’s agent isn’t under any duty to disclose some info that a good buyer’s agent might know. For instance, I’ve seen cases where people have bought in a building without asking whether or not something will be built on an empty parking lot nearby. And lo and behold six months later a new building is going in there.
Or some buyers agents know info about the actual building (whether or not the condo association is well-managed, if there are noise issues in the building etc.)
If you have a good buyer’s agent- they can really pay off. They can keep you from overpaying for a property, in fact.
It’s not any money out of the buyer’s pockets. I don’t know why more buyers don’t use one.
Sabrina,
Generally I agree, which is why I said if you have a specific property in mind. All you have to do is some groundwork/research on your own – speak to other owners, even call other brokers to get their opinion on the buiding, etc.
But it’s true that if you lack knowledge of the market that a buyer’s agent can be an invaluable resource, given they themselves are on top of things.
That being said, if you aren’t working with a buyer’s agent and go straight to the listing agent, you have much better odds of a lowball offer going through – the listing agent will make an attempt to convince the seller this is the best they can do.
ja, your posts seem to contradict themselves often… I’m sorry if you’ve had a bad experience with a Realtor/Agent/Broker before but you must not know “how this real estate business really works.” It really works like most industries. Good people/agents willing to work extremely hard and always working to protect the best possible interests of their customers/clients will usually always be rewarded…
Good Buyer Agents are necessary because they understand the industry they specialize. We actually only have a few “Exclusive Buyer Agent” firms in Chicago(none that you would recognize) but have more and more agents starting to get the “designated buyer” accreditation through their professional membership organization. Within 10 years you will see more and more of these firms pop up around the country especially in a vibrant/global city like Chicago…
Actually when an “Exclusive Listing Agent” attempts to work with both seller client and a buyer client its entering “dual agency” Dual agency occurs when a real estate agent is representing both buyer and seller in the same transaction. Dual Agency occurs when you step into any Sales Center without any representation. Since the agent has promised a duty of confidentiality, loyalty and full disclosure to both parties simultaneously, it is necessary to limit these duties in this situation, if both parties consent. This is a bad situation for most agents and because of Liability reasons most agents would rather refer you to another agent which (if you bought “that listing” they would receive a referral fee..)
“Some clients don’t believe me when I tell them that non-exclusive “buyer agents” at traditional firms tend to push their own listings over others…due to perhaps getting in-house spiffs…. Remember – as a home buyer, when you hire an “Exclusive Buyer Agent” to represent you – that agent and their company never list any property for sale – and so there is no biased home showing or dual agency conflicts of interest situations.
To give an example. Besides camaraderie, @ Properties uses other techniques to encourage sales, including rewarding the two brokers who sell the most properties listed in-house with overseas trips. One quarter last year, the winners went on a trip to Italy. And any broker/agent who sells $10 million worth of real estate, in any type of transaction, is offered the choice of a Rolex or a Cartier watch.
Obviously – when an agent pushes their in-house listings or worse yet – their own listings – the buyer experiences biased home showings – and can experience dual agency conflicts of interest with the buyer being equally represented with the seller. The buyer doesn’t have someone fully on their side in that case – and doesn’t have all the information available to get a good buy on a property that they would have had – had their agent not declared “dual agency” on them.”
That being said, No “Exclusive Listing Agent” would ever “make an attempt to convince there seller this is the best they can do” especially if I know your not working with an agent. Great “Exclusive Listing Agents “always represent their sellers best interest and would never be so successful and receive repeat business(referrals) if they didn’t…”
9 times out of 10 working with a “Good Buyers Agent” or better yet an “Exclusive Buyers Agent” will get you the best possible deal on any property and you will always know exactly what your getting involved with, than working directly with any sales office, developers agent, listing agent, etc…
Used homes salespeople are a dying breed. This profession will eventually go the way of the cobbler.
City Agent,
Please tell me how I have contradicted myself. I understand you are defending your profession, but I don’t believe I came across as negative on brokers – just neutral. Good for some purposes, not needed for others.
I know how the broker process works. The fact remains, and as I said twice, IF YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC PROPERTY IN MIND (and have done the research on your own, and know the market well enough) then going straight to the listing agent will be to your advantage. Why? They will be getting double the commission vs if you had come in with your own buyer’s agent. Say what you want, the RE profession is like every other profession nowadays – motivated largely by profits. That’t not a knock on your profession but a claim about most generally.
Honestly ask yourself, if two buyers came in one with an agent and one without, and both had similar financial credentials, gave the same offer price, and so forth, who would you recommend your client go with? Of course the one who would profit you double. Favorability is already present towards the one without an agent in such a circumstance.
Lastly, I have learned this the hard way through experience. Someone turned down an offer I made (years ago) for a place that I outbid the other person by 5% (as I later found out). I was buying all cash, they were not (rather they took a large mortgage). I offered to remove the mortage contingency. I negotiated a cap on the amount that could be deducted after inspection (the other person did not, but ended up in fact negotiating the price down much more than my cap as I found out).
Please save your comments for someone who does not know your industry, and please stop the random accusations of inconsistency.