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ESTATE OF MIND PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS: LUXURY STAGING WITH LORI PEDERSEN AND KOFI NARTEY

June 26, 2020

Join­ing us in our lat­est episode of Estate of Mind are two bril­liant minds in lux­u­ry real estate, Lori Ped­er­sen, and Kofi Nartey. Lori is a high­ly sought after stager in the greater Toron­to area, while Kofi is a lux­u­ry real estate pro­fes­sion­al based in Los Ange­les, spe­cial­iz­ing in find­ing the right lux­u­ry home for high-pro­file ath­letes and celebri­ties. They bring their unique points of view and real estate exper­tise to dis­cuss lux­u­ry real estate mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy and steps to bring­ing a home to mar­ket.

This episode was record­ed just before our cur­rent sit­u­a­tion changed the way we prac­tice real estate for the time being, but every­thing you’ll dis­cov­er in this episode will help get your next lux­u­ry home list­ing buy­er-ready before its big debut on the mar­ket. 

In this episode, Kofi address­es how lux­u­ry buy­er expec­ta­tions have changed, mak­ing stag­ing more impor­tant than ever. Today’s lux­u­ry buy­er expects a lux­u­ry home to offer a turnkey expe­ri­ence, mak­ing move-in as easy as show­ing up with their lug­gage and feel­ing right at home. They’re less will­ing to take on a fix­er-upper, or a place with “poten­tial” like they used to. And with com­pe­ti­tion on the mar­ket grow­ing rapid­ly, it’s hard­er to cap­ture their atten­tion at first sight.

At the core of this shift towards a turnkey expe­ri­ence is an even greater unig­nor­able appre­ci­a­tion for time and expe­ri­ences over mate­r­i­al assets. If a home presents a huge time invest­ment and takes away from time avail­able to spend on things like trav­el, cul­ture, and enter­tain­ment, today’s buy­er sim­ply isn’t quite as inter­est­ed.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL DISCOVER…

  • Why rap­port is not enough to con­vince sell­ers to price their lux­u­ry home effec­tive­ly 

  • The impor­tance of includ­ing your stager ear­ly on in the mar­ket­ing process

  • How to “reverse engi­neer” the stag­ing process so that the right buy­er can walk in and actu­al­ly pic­ture them­selves liv­ing in that lux­u­ry home

  • The secret to help­ing sell­ers see stag­ing as a smart invest­ment 

  • Strate­gies for cre­at­ing urgency around new lux­u­ry home list­ings 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

1. THE MAGIC IS IN THE DELIVERY

How do you tell a sell­er their lux­u­ry home isn’t as appeal­ing as they believe it is? How do you let them know there are improve­ments need­ed before the home is ready for mar­ket?

Kofi explains the best way to deliv­er any chal­leng­ing infor­ma­tion is to set the stage first. Ask per­mis­sion to share the truth with your sell­er. Remind them you’re on their team and work towards get­ting on the same page above all else. 

Hav­ing a few ways to deliv­er the same guid­ance is key, he says, since some peo­ple will hear it the first time…but oth­ers may not hear it until it’s said again, or said with a sto­ry, or said with a visu­al exam­ple. 

2. CREATE AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IN POTENTIAL BUYERS

Does any­one tru­ly respond to a blank, white box? Lori says even homes fea­tur­ing incred­i­ble views and oth­er cov­et­ed lux­u­ry fea­tures sim­ply don’t res­onate with buy­ers as well as a home with stag­ing. 

It could have the right amount of space, park­ing spaces, a gor­geous yard, and more… 

But if the buy­er doesn’t feel right in the home, there’s no offer. 

Stag­ing helps set the tone of a home and gives prospects an eas­i­er time pic­tur­ing them­selves liv­ing in it. 

It’s also impor­tant to note, stag­ing isn’t just lim­it­ed to fur­ni­ture and decor. It also incor­po­rates scents, sounds, and tem­per­a­ture. To go one step fur­ther, stag­ing starts the sec­ond the poten­tial buy­er arrives at the home, which is why it’s so impor­tant to let the prospect park their own car in the dri­ve­way.

Let them expe­ri­ence the entire prop­er­ty as if they already live there, or as if they’re a guest com­ing to vis­it them in their new home. What will that expe­ri­ence be like? The right stag­ing cre­ates a seam­less expe­ri­ence, invok­ing an emo­tion­al response before a log­i­cal one, which is exact­ly what sells lux­u­ry homes.

So when you walk through a home with your sell­er, decide on the feel­ing you want to con­vey. Is it warm? Edgy? Relax­ing? Bright? The right stager will know how to com­mu­ni­cate these through the space they’re giv­en.

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE!

Estate of Mind can be found on every major pod­cast plat­form, includ­ing Spo­ti­fy and Apple Pod­casts. When you sub­scribe for free, you get bi-month­ly access to our best, most exclu­sive con­tent from our Mem­bers-only events, world-class instruc­tors, and accom­plished alum­ni. Find your pod­cast chan­nel on our Estate of Mind Pod­cast page and sub­scribe! 

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