Home staging is a lucrative career in the real estate market. Home sellers across the country rely on home stagers to help them sell their properties quickly for the highest price. Home stagers are experts at making a house look appealing to a wide range of buyers.
Each month people from throughout Florida sign up for our popular home staging certification courses to learn all they need to know about becoming a home stager, or starting their own home staging business. Take a minute to see if our certification course is right for you!
Well-staged homes give off the best impressions, leading to a higher selling price. If you have a flair for design, you should consider starting a home staging business in Florida. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about how to get started.
Sellers from Tallahassee to Orlando to Miami and every city in between are understanding the benefits of working with a home stager. Not only do home stagers help get their properties sold faster, but sellers can also profit by thousands of dollars by working with one.
So, how do you become a home stager in Florida?
We’ll look at this from the point of view of starting your own home staging business. If you want to start with getting a home staging job, read our articles on resume tips, how to get a home staging job, and our overview of home staging careers.
The process for starting a home staging career in Florida is similar to other states. In most cases, it’s beneficial to receive a home staging certification first and foremost. Then you can start your business after spending a bit of time understanding the local market and researching your competitors. We believe these two steps are essential before you begin marketing.
Let’s take an in-depth look at these five steps now.
Steps to becoming a home stager in Florida
Below we’ll outline the five main steps to become a home stager in Florida. Keep in mind that we’re looking at this process from the point of view of a person who wants to start a business. In saying that, the first three steps still apply even if you’re not yet ready to start a home staging business.
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If this is you, and you’re not interested in starting your own business, there are plenty of home staging jobs in Florida that you can apply for. For help finding a home staging job, check out our other articles previously mentioned in this post.
Step 1: Take a home staging certification course in Florida
There are a handful of home staging training options in Florida, a few of which will award you a home staging certification.
Here at the Home Staging Institute, we’ve been providing home stagers in Florida with professional training since 2007. We’ve watched dozens of our graduates go on to begin their own successful home staging businesses.
However, it’s worth mentioning that obtaining a specific license to become a home stager in Florida isn’t a requirement but becoming certified gives you more credibility in the marketplace while helping fine-tune your home staging knowledge.
Step 2: Understand the local Florida market
Gaining a complete understanding of the Florida real estate market is one of the most critical steps to becoming a home stager in Florida. For example, staging a house in historic St. Petersburg is much different from staging a condo in Miami.
Similarly, the area in which you’re staging a home will determine the amount you’ll need to invest in the project to deliver a worthwhile ROI to the seller. For example, staging a home in an upper-class neighborhood would require you to invest at a higher price point than staging a home in a moderate locale.
Step 3: Learn from other home stagers in Florida
When starting a home staging business, it’s a good idea to conduct a bit of research to learn about the current home staging companies operating in your local area.
By researching other home staging businesses, you can get a better idea of which businesses are thriving, learn about the various services they offer, the different niches they’re operating in, and maybe even find out more about their pricing.
A simple Google search for ‘home stagers in Miami’ or ‘home stagers in Orlando’ will give you dozens of suggestions from your competition that you can analyze and look further into. As you do your research, think about what you can do better to improve your business and how to make your business stand out from the crowd.
Step 4: Start your home staging business
After you’ve taken a home staging course, done your market research, and learned all about the local market, you can start planning to launch your business.
Every business has a list of essential tasks to tick off before getting started, and starting a home staging business in Florida is no different. The following is a basic list of just some of those essentials:
- Register the business
- Set up a business mailing address and phone number
- Set up a business email address (We use Google Workspace)
- Set up software to track income and expenses (Xero is a popular choice)
- Design a website (We like both WordPress and Squarespace)
- Trademark your company name and logo
- Open a business bank account and credit card(s)
- Connect with service providers such as moving and storage companies and furniture rental companies for renting and transporting furniture
- Get liability insurance
Getting all these ducks in a row before launching your business is a critical step toward its success.
Step 5: Begin marketing
To call your business a business and not just a hobby, you first need to win a number of clients.
One of the most effective ways to get client referrals is to connect with real estate agents. These professionals are in more frequent contact with potential sellers than any other person in the industry.
Everyone can benefit by working with a real estate agent. As a professional home stager, you can make the clients’ properties look more appealing, which will ease the agent’s job, make their clients happy, and win you more business.
The National Association of Realtors is an excellent place to connect with local real estate agents in your area. With over 1.3 million members, everyone can get connected. You can also reach out to real estate agents directly through their websites or online profiles. When you connect with an agent, explain how your expertise in home staging can complement their services.
As with any business relationship, you’re unlikely to get business from a realtor as soon as you connect with one. Build trust by keeping in touch and contacting them regularly. You can even include them in your email list (with their consent) and send them updates to your portfolio.
If you don’t already have an impressive portfolio, volunteer to work on some properties to build one up or use some of the before/after shots you created as part of your home staging certification at the Home Staging Institute.
Other facts about becoming a home stager in Florida
How much do home stagers make in Florida?
TBC
Do I need a license to become a home stager in Florida?
No – there is no requirement to obtain a license for home staging in Florida. The industry isn’t regulated by the government and has no official governing board. However, there are home staging certifications you can get to build trust and prove your expertise among potential clients.
Do you need a degree to become a home stager in Florida?
No – there is no education requirement to become a home stager in Florida. However, completing college and university-level courses in interior design, real estate, and similar fields and getting a home staging certification in Florida will increase your credibility and help you grow your business.
