Home Staging Courses
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Choose Your Home Staging Certification Course Below...
| Realtor Course | Most Popular Professional Course | Advanced Course | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $197 | $247 | $498 |
| Course units | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Study time | 1-2 weeks | 4 weeks | 5 weeks |
| Payment plan | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSE designation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
See exactly what you'll learn...
| Realtor Course | Most Popular Professional Course | Advanced Course | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging & Design | |||
| Staging fundamentals Buyer psychology, first impressions, the blank slate concept, decluttering, and the five senses | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Color theory and the 60-30-10 rule Warm vs. cool palettes, neutral foundations, colors that photograph well | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quick fixes, vignettes, and checklists Eight quick fixes, the rule of three, staging workflows, and the master room-by-room checklist | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lighting, focal points, and accessorizing Three layers of light, bulb selection, natural light, creating focal points, the rule of three | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Furniture arrangement and space planning Scale and proportion, the 36-inch rule, conversation groupings, floating vs. wall placement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Photography and portfolio building Three angles every room needs, natural vs. artificial light, editing basics, before-and-after presentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vacant, occupied, and luxury staging Approaches for each type, model homes, Airbnb staging, condos, new construction partnerships | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Problem solving and seasonal staging Small rooms, awkward layouts, dated features, bad views, road noise, seasonal adjustments | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Business & Operations | |||
| Starting your staging business Business registration, choosing a structure (sole prop, LLC), insurance, bonding, and home-based business rules | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing, contracts, and payments Flat rate vs. hourly, competitor research, staging contracts, the 50% upfront rule, payment best practices | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Client consultations and presentations Running walkthroughs, staging reports, handling difficult conversations, turning yourself into a presenter | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Networking and vendor management Cold calling agents, creative ways to land first clients, building a vendor network, managing finances | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Furniture sourcing and inventory Buying vs. renting, warehouse solutions, inventory tracking, delivery logistics, scaling from vignette to full-home | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Buyer Psychology | |||
| Emotional staging techniques Emotional hot buttons, the Pottery Barn technique, depersonalization psychology, facts follow emotion | — | — | ✓ |
| Staging ROI and value perception ROI calculator for agents, handling negatives, what buyers actually desire, the power of small details | — | — | ✓ |
| Marketing & Growth | |||
| Blogging and content marketing WordPress setup, headline formulas, content calendars, writing for homeowners vs. agents, measuring results | — | — | ✓ |
| Email outreach and templates Ready-to-use templates for inquiries, cold outreach, testimonial requests, follow-up sequences | — | — | ✓ |
| SEO and local search Onsite and offsite optimization, Google Business Profile, meta titles, backlinks, directory listings | — | — | ✓ |
| Social media and paid advertising Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok strategies, content workflow, boosting vs. targeted campaigns | — | — | ✓ |
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | |
- ✓ Staging fundamentals
- ✓ Color theory and the 60-30-10 rule
- ✓ Quick fixes, vignettes, and checklists
- ✓ Lighting, focal points, and accessorizing
- ✓ Furniture arrangement and space planning
- ✓ Photography and portfolio building
- ✓ Vacant, occupied, and luxury staging
- ✓ Problem solving and seasonal staging
- — Starting your staging business
- — Pricing, contracts, and payments
- — Client consultations and presentations
- — Networking and vendor management
- ✓ Furniture sourcing and inventory
- ✓ Staging fundamentals
- ✓ Color theory and the 60-30-10 rule
- ✓ Quick fixes, vignettes, and checklists
- ✓ Lighting, focal points, and accessorizing
- ✓ Furniture arrangement and space planning
- ✓ Photography and portfolio building
- ✓ Vacant, occupied, and luxury staging
- ✓ Problem solving and seasonal staging
- ✓ Starting your staging business
- ✓ Pricing, contracts, and payments
- ✓ Client consultations and presentations
- ✓ Networking and vendor management
- ✓ Furniture sourcing and inventory
- — Emotional staging techniques
- — Staging ROI and value perception
- — Blogging and content marketing
- — Email outreach and templates
- — SEO and local search
- — Social media and paid advertising
- ✓ Staging fundamentals
- ✓ Color theory and the 60-30-10 rule
- ✓ Quick fixes, vignettes, and checklists
- ✓ Lighting, focal points, and accessorizing
- ✓ Furniture arrangement and space planning
- ✓ Photography and portfolio building
- ✓ Vacant, occupied, and luxury staging
- ✓ Problem solving and seasonal staging
- ✓ Starting your staging business
- ✓ Pricing, contracts, and payments
- ✓ Client consultations and presentations
- ✓ Networking and vendor management
- ✓ Furniture sourcing and inventory
- ✓ Emotional staging techniques
- ✓ Staging ROI and value perception
- ✓ Blogging and content marketing
- ✓ Email outreach and templates
- ✓ SEO and local search
- ✓ Social media and paid advertising
Benefits of taking a Home Staging Course
Education
Obviously, education is the primary reason for taking any sort of course, and it is no different with home staging. Home staging is a skill, just like interior decorating, landscaping, painting, or wedding styling – so it makes sense that’ll you’ll need some sort of home staging course to become talented in it.
Everyone who takes one of our home staging courses has different levels of existing knowledge, skills, and experience. No matter your level of experience, you’re going to learn something new no matter what course you take, on whatever topic you have existing knowledge in. For this reason, we believe taking part in a home staging course is a good choice for everyone.
Resources
We’ve spent much of 2023 updating our home staging resources for our students. When you sign up for one of our home staging courses, you’ll also get your hands on templates for contracts, checklists, proposals, invoices, and much more.
Some home staging training providers make their resources available to you for as long as you renew your annual membership. Here at the Home Staging Institute, you get lifetime access with your one payment, so you can access our resources (and all future updates) whenever you need them).
Credibility
One of the fundamental pillars of marketing is social proof. This means that people like to buy from brands that have been proven credible by neutral third parties. This can be either through testimonials or having a certification logo on your website and business cards.
Despite potential clients likely not knowing much about the particular home staging certification you have earned, the logo and badge itself will provide comfort for the client that you are a legitimate home stager, and not simply someone with a bit of spare furniture hoping to make a few bucks. Whether you’re comparing self-paced certifications, industry-recognized names, or accredited programs, it’s important to choose a course that fits your learning style, budget, and career goals, and the Home Staging Institute has been the top pick for over 6,000 students globally.
Happy Customers from 49+ Countries
Most people enrolling in our home staging courses are from the United States, but each week we also welcome students from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.
We are a 100% online home staging course, and we play our part in reducing our impact on the environment by not printing or posting any course material.
This ensures we provide the same experience for everyone, no matter where you are in the world.
United States
The Home Staging Institute was initially founded to provide online home staging courses to United States residents. This was back in 2007 when we literally emailed each student the course work one chapter at a time!
These days the majority of our students still reside in the United States, but we have an online membership dashboard where all the home staging training can be accessed, and we’ve added extra content to account for our students in Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Canada
Our second largest batch of customers are based in Canada, and they are spread throughout Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, ad Alberta.
We’ve made tweaks to our content here and there to account for our Canadian customers, and we will continue to strive to offer the best home staging course in Canada.
Interestingly, our Realtor Staging Course is very popular with our Canadian students.
United Kingdom (UK)
Unfortunately, there are few home staging courses in the UK.
Most online courses welcome UK-based students (as do we), however often the content isn’t tweaked to account for the layout and interior design trends of UK homes.
Over the next 6 months, we are focusing on ensuring we provide a thorough home staging courses for UK based residents. We’ll do this by creating new content, and adding UK examples.
Australia
There are a number of in-person home staging courses in Australia, but few online courses are designed specifically for the Australian market.
Here at the Home Staging Institute, about 15% of students are Australian, and the feedback we have received is very positive.
We make an effort to ensure our content and examples aren’t 100% US focused, and we are also striving to add more Australian examples to our home staging courses over the coming months.
New Zealand (NZ)
For a small country of 5 million residents, we have a surprisingly large number of Kiwis taking our home staging course from NZ.
Our home staging content has been written and designed by US based home stagers, but we’ve found this does also translate nicely to the NZ market.
It’s also worth noting that although the Home Staging Institute was founded in Oregon, it was purchased by a Kiwi in 2021 who is striving to make this the best home staging resource available.
How to Choose a Home Staging Course
Ask yourself the following questions before choosing a course
Does the home staging course offer lifetime access?
All good online courses offer lifetime access. There simply isn’t any reason to take access away after a certain period of time has passed. Here at the Home Staging Institute, we see some students log back in a year or two after completing their home staging course to refresh themselves on the content. What’s more, since we are always updating our course, they have something new to learn each year.
Do they offer any free home staging certification courses?
Some home staging courses don’t earn you a staging certification, whereas others do. Be sure to find out if the staging course you are considering purchasing offers a certificate upon completion if this is what you want for your CV, office, or website.
Here at the Home Staging Institute our Professional Staging Course, and Advanced Staging Course both come with a quick and easy online exam that will earn you your certification.
What is the best home staging course available?
Our opinion is obviously biased since we have been providing home staging courses since 2007. We think our Professional Course is the best home staging course available, and our Advanced Course is the best for those that can afford a little bit extra.
Does the program offer a Satisfaction Guarantee?
Nearly all home staging courses offer a 100% money-back guarantee, and we are no exception. There are a few that don’t, and some that only offer it if requested within 24 hours of buying the course. We allow a full 30 days for you to change your mind.
What is the course format?
Our home staging staging courses are delivered in our online member’s area and are a mix of written content, Google Slides, Google Sheets, images, and assignments. This way people can learn in most formats. Based on feedback from our customers, we don’t offer video lessons, since we have found students like to work at their own pace which video lessons don’t allow.
Do they have media coverage?
Sometimes it’s nice to know that the provider of the home staging course has had coverage in other media. For the home staging industry, this might be in media such as HGTV, Redfin, CNN Money, Entrepreneur, Readers Digest, Trulia, sheknows, TheStreet, houzz, Fool, or others.
Home Staging Institute has been featured in a selection of these, along with Herald Review, Tampa Bay Times, and more.
Are the staging courses online?
Taking a staging course online means you can do it from the comfort of your own home, whenever suits you. There is only one thing you miss when taking an online home staging course, and that’s the ability to pick up a piece of furniture and move it about (although we do actually encourage you to do this in our staging courses!).
