Exploring Life & Business with Kim Pearse of The Staging & Design Consultant

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Pearse.

Hi Kim, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I actually started staging before we even knew what staging was. I was a financial advisor for 30 years, when working with my clients they always told me they were getting ready to sell their home. I would actually say “let me come over and spruce up your home.” Again, this is before staging was anything except for model homes. So even in the hard selling markets over 20 years, the client’s homes looked much more open and inviting and the homes sold quickly.

I have always been the girl who rearranged her bedroom at least once a month, much to my sister, who shared the bedroom, dismay. It has been a passion that I have always had that allowed me to keep the creative side of my brain working as I was working in the financial industry.

My daughters and husband actually were all working in Tennessee while I was in Ohio and the final straw was when my son decided to attend Belmont. So that made three out of our four kids in this area. I choose to sell my business in finance and get certified, license, and bonded to become an official home stager seven years ago and start this business in Tennessee. I have never looked back. I get to be creative all day!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Starting a business in a city where you do not know a single sole is never easy. However, I am a people person and this is a people/relationship business. We are going into people’s homes and telling them things that sometimes are hard to hear about their very personal space. You need to build a relationship with the sellers and a trust factor so they listen to what you have to say.

A few other challenges are, this is a high cost to entry business. To be a successful stager, you must have a wide range of furniture, art, accessories, ect. Every home is different so having to purchase furniture, in the beginning, was a big financial commitment. Then once you have the furniture, you need a place to store it and someone to move it in and out of the home. My husband and I did the first three stages with a Uhaul and strong arms. It didn’t take long to realize this was not going to work, I am not sure our marriage would have survived, ha.

I was still trying to meet real estate agents who trusted me to walk into their client’s home. Again not knowing anyone local, I needed to call, email, and meet with anyone who would listen. After two years in the business, which of course were much slower than I had wanted. I was certified to teach a three-hour CE class “Staging to Sell, what every agent should know” This is where I was able to really build relationships with realtors and my business suddenly expanded.

Currently, in this seller’s market, the struggle we face is explaining and teaching realtors and homeowners that staging their homes is still very critical. It is all about having a great real estate agent, great pricing, and amazing presentation photos. PRICE AND PRESENTATION IS STILL KEY TO GET THESE MULTIPLE OFFERS.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started the company in 2016 after moving from Ohio to Tennessee. I am the sole owner with two assistants and a moving team. We specialize in preparing homes for sale but focusing on the “money in each room” A lot of people think staging is just bringing in furniture. Of course, we most often bring in furniture as well as art, greenery, textured soft goods, and accessories. We actually study the demographics of the most likely buyer as well as that most likely buyer’s psychographics. This means we stage a home for how that buyer will want to live in the home. Each home is designed specifically for the buyer. For example, if the neighborhood has swing sets all around and is close to an elementary school, we will not stage the home with white or off-white sofa’s. What mother wants a white sofa with small children!

We have over a 5000 square foot warehouse with all different styles of furnishings to complement the style of a home. Yes, the home will dictate to us what our design will be. It is very difficult for buyers to see a very traditional home decorated very contemporary. Now we do want to give an on-trend look to every home, even if the home has not been updated, but we will keep with the style of the home.

I am so proud of our brand because we truly are consultants working with real estate agents and homeowners. Oftentimes, we can go into a home and do an in-depth consultation educating the seller on what all should be done to get the home market-ready. It could be pre-packing away a lot of their personal treasures, editing out items that distract buyers from seeing the “money of the room” which is the fixed assets, things that the buyers are actually buying. That could be the crown molding, the fireplace, the few out the windows, built-ins, etc. My job as a home stager is to show off every square foot of each room, not to show off the furniture. The furniture tells the buyer the scale of furniture that could fit in a room. If a buyer walks out of a home that is on the market and their first comment is, “the sofa was beautiful”, we have not done our job. We want them to say, “did you see how open the room was and that fireplace was awesome.”

My services range from an in-depth consultation, where we walk room by room making all the recommendations needed to get the great photos to designing and staging to a full vacant home staging. What we know for sure, is buying a home is an emotional purchase, the buyer needs to feel emotionally connected to the home before they will make full price (or even more) offers. We meet buyers where they are in the time frame, ability and price. Yes, it is an investment to stage a home, but there are many options available to meet the most reasonable budgets.

I take pride in every home I walk into and treat it as if it was mine. Sellers get very comfortable after only a few minutes of me being in their home, they are usually a bit anxious when I first arrive thinking I am going to tell them all these bad things about their home. We usually end up laughing a lot during these consultations. I make myself available after the consultation if they are going to DIY the staging. My clients can send me pictures of what they have done to make sure it was what I recommended.

Also, real estate agents who work with me love it when I go into the home because I am the one who gets to tell them some not-so-fun things. I oftentimes have to have the “small talk” “the clean talk” “the pet talk” among a few. Some agents call me the Bad Cop, but a really nice Bad Cop.

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I love this question, the most surprising thing people eventually find out about me after we have spoken for a while, especially when they ask this question is, I am a unicyclist. I have ridden a unicycle since I was a little girl and still can! It’s like a bike to me. Our family was very involved in the local unicycle club, yes that was a thing many years ago, we rode in parades in many different states and competitions. Recently, a lot of us got together to ride in the Marion Ohio largest parade of the year in September to honor our unicycle leader who passed away. Some of them were very rusty, but we made it through the whole parade route.

Pricing:

• In-depth staging consultations start at $250
• Occupied stagings (where people are living in the home and have some furnishing we can use) start at $2000
• Vacant stagings (where we bring in everything) start at $3000

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: thestagingconsulant.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestagingconsultant/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestagingconsultant

Image Credits
J Totten Photography