Meet Jason Saft, owner of Staged to Sell Home, and a f*cking real estate treasure.

I’m legitimately having trouble writing today because I decided having long, pretty nails was a good idea, and it isn’t. So I’m going to keep this short (for me) and illustrate with photos instead. Which is great, because today we are talking about staging! And in the world of staging, Jason Saft is king. Not only does he stage his own properties, but he partners with agents to help them sell theirs. Joe and Kelly have brought him in on multiple listings and although I haven’t needed his services yet, I’ve definitely gone to him for advice and learned a ton just from listening to his talks and panel discussions. Also his Instagram is upsettingly inspirational/funny/good/sweet, all things we need more of in 2020.

So what is staging? Staging is furnishing and decorating an apartment to highlight its positives and downplay its negatives. The goal is to show a potential buyer how their belongings can work in the space, maybe feel aspirational, and help them imagine living there. Since buying is such an emotional process, making the buyer connect in this way helps you sell faster and at a higher price, without actually changing the apartment itself (aside from minor cosmetic tweaks like peel-and-stick wallpaper).

I’ve lost a listing before because I insisted on staging, and the sellers didn’t want to pay for it, even using Compass Concierge up front. It’s completely my fault because it means I didn’t effectively illustrate the difference that staging can make in a home. So I figured showing actual before and after pictures and running through real world examples of how it helped properties sell would be the most effective way to explain.

As an aside, I have been advising buyers that the real VALUE they can find right now is poorly marketed, unstaged properties with low-quality photos. Because I think we are in the last year or two of this being a thing. I’ve seen firsthand how some minor changes and better photography helped a seller of mine earn significantly more than she expected, because when she bought the apartment the paint was old, the photos were just ok, and the furniture wasn’t thought out. We staged, painted, and got it press, and within 8 days of showing had multiple offers over ask (even after pricing it HIGHER than the seller thought we could get). It makes a difference.

If you are ever tempted to think that staging doesn’t matter, just take a look below at some of Jason’s work and how he was able to sell properties that had been sitting for AGES pre-staging. It’s hard to argue with the facts. (Oh, and this should also show you why working with a PROFESSIONAL is key. I could not make your home look like he can, and you can’t either.)

208 West 11th Street - Townhouse

Before: 3.5 years on and off the market. No offers.

After: Multiple offers. Officially sold & closed.

Exclusively listed: Jason Saft

23 East 10th - Apt 418

Before: 5 months on market.

After: 5 weeks on market.
Officially sold & closed - All cash.

Exclusively listed: The Spiegelman Rothman Team

102 East 22nd Street - Apt 1EF

Before: 3.5 years on and off the market with other agents/firms.

After: Relisted with Compass. In contract within 6 weeks.

Exclusively listed: Laurie Gilmore

34 Gramercy Park East - Apt 3BR

Before: 6 months on market. Previously listed with another agent & firm.

After: Relisted with Compass. Less than 30 days on market. Officially sold & closed at full ask.

Exclusively listed: Lynne Lerner & Dogan Baruh

125 West 12th Street - Apt 1F

Before: On & off the market for 1.5 years.

After: Refreshed & Relisted. In contract within 2 weeks of being relaunched.

Exclusively listed: Shari Matluck & Susan Greene

Want more of Jason’s before and after photos? Check them out here. Also let’s take a moment of appreciation for his assistant, Tanner (pictured below), who is a wizard with a sewing machine and is responsible for making pretty much all the pillows. Also just look at him. He is perfect. They both are. Now hit me up about listing your place and LET’S GET STAGING!

Anna

FSBO, or “for sale by owner,” is the term for someone selling his/her home without an agent. Obviously I’m biased here, but I think it’s a terrible idea, both from real life circumstances and my choice of career. And I do feel like this is a good universal rule, not just in NYC, but here in the city it is NON-NEGOTIABLE! Selling by yourself is silly and I won’t give you advice. It’s literally the only time I won’t help you.

Here are some reasons self-listing is a foolish choice, besides the fact that you hopefully value your time enough to not want to waste it:

1. Your apartment isn’t worth as much.

It just isn’t. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get someone who isn’t working with a broker (even though 80% of successful NYC transactions are co-broked) who wants to pay you your asking price. Congratulations! Maybe you beat the system and netted more $$! But that is so highly unlikely. It would be the blind leading the blind and somehow it just happening to work out, which isn’t a strategy.

If you get your ask, it’s likely you could have gotten MORE if you’d worked with a good agent. We have the staging/prep-work/photos/marketing down to a T. It’s what we do. And we wouldn’t be doing it professionally if these things didn’t make a difference. There wouldn’t be data to support that staging has an insane ROI. We wouldn’t have Compass Concierge as an initiative.

And if you have someone represented by an agent coming to your listing, they are only going to go through the deal if . They also know they probably have to do a lot of extra work because . So if someone with a client is coming to you, they probably think you priced your home too low, which would make sense since you do not have the same valuation tools or knowledge that we have. Again, not a strategy, just a guess.

2. You’re more likely to lose the deal, even if you accept an offer.

Getting an accepted offer is great, but it’s the first in a loooooooooooonnggggg series of steps before closing. There are attorneys and mortgage brokers to wrangle, another side with issues/personalities to manage, NY taxes to pay, etc. It’s a brutal industry (which is why I love it), and not realizing that will cost you. It’s not straightforward. It’s important. Use an expert.

3. You could be sued in the future.

You are responsible for all the information you provide during the sale process, and if you say something that turns out to be untrue, you can be liable. One of the reasons I pay Compass such a sizable chunk of my commissions is that they handle my insurance for errors and omissions (although I also pay an annual fee for that, soooo….). Even if you go through the process somewhat smoothly, that’s not the end of the line. Again, protect yourself by working with an expert.

4. You will likely have to hire an agent in the end, but your listing won’t be brand new anymore and you will have wasted a lot of time.

This happened to my parents when we left Cleveland. My graduate-degree-holding, brilliant, organized, way more responsible at my age parents tried to list their home without an agent. They fully acknowledge that it was the wrong move and they ended up having to use an agent anyway, but a ton of time had been wasted. Even in a less complicated market than NYC, a Harvard-educated (drop) attorney was unable to correctly price and sell his house. Do not try it.

Anna

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