 |
|
From the April 25, 2003 print edition Profile 'Staging®' star rides its success Katherine Conrad Barb Schwarz, the guru of home Staging, doesn't believe in doing things half way.  Early last fall, she was happily living in waterfront property on Whidbey Island near Seattle. Suddenly, she decided she needed to live in the Bay Area. And so on Nov. 18 she pulled up roots that were 41 years old and moved to Concord.
"It felt right," she explains with a laugh. While her reasons for moving are slightly more complicated than that - much of her business is in the Bay Area - if it hadn't "felt right," she wouldn't have done it. Several years ago Schwarz had a near-death experience. A virus attacked her heart and she almost died. Since then, she has learned to trust her instincts. "It was my intuition. I really felt like I was being directed to be here for business reasons. There's a good market in Seattle, too, but my work was really calling me here," she said. "I'm an entrepreneur moving for entrepreneurial reasons." Schwarz is accustomed to setting off in new directions. She conceived and popularized the notion of Staging homes for sale and received the federally registered trademark for StagedHomes in 1985. The term derives from her background in theater. She tells her sellers: "We set the stage for the play because the audience is coming. In this case, the audience (is) the buyers. And the critics are the other agents. You're the actor and I'm the director." For more than two decades, the concept has received rave reviews. In addition to her Concord office with five employees, she has opened 10 branches around the country, and in Canada. Next month, she opens an office in London. And, she is looking for sponsors for a Sunday morning TV show that KRON is considering. Not bad for a former teacher. Schwarz spent five years in the classroom after graduating from the University of Washington. Then in 1971, she opened her own design business. The following year, she went into real estate. "Once I got my real estate license, I started selling homes while designing. It's really challenging. It's not like when you go into someone's home and they want pink and purple throughout the house. That doesn't work in a house for sale," she said. Schwarz is passionate about her topic because she knows it works. When she became a real estate agent, the market was terrible and agents were quitting in droves. Interest rates were into the double digits - they hit 22 percent - and homes were languishing on the market, except those for which Schwarz was the agent. "They would look at other houses and then they bought mine," said Schwarz, who soon became a top producer. Someone got wise and asked Schwarz to explain her amazing success. So she began speaking to large groups and eventually took her show on the road. "A lot of designers and decorators did not pay any attention to homes that were for sale because they thought they were dirty. My goal when I started professionally speaking was to awaken that market," she said. "I started in Seattle, then Portland, then one day in 1985 I went to San Jose to give a seminar and 176 people showed up. I knew that I was helping people and that's when my speaking career began." In 1990, she wrote the best seller, "How to List and Sell Residential Real Estate Successfully." And in 1992, her video "How to Prepare Your Home for Sale ... So It Sells" won the consumer education product of the year from the Real Estate Educators of America. When Schwarz began traveling, she approached it as energetically as she does everything else and was on the road 40 weeks a year. She taught more than 500,000 real estate agents the art of Staging a home. She taught in every major metropolitan area and visited major cities several times a year. Some real estate firms flew her in every quarter to give refresher courses. In 1998, exhausted from the travel, she decided to stay home and sell real estate. "I did the very things I was teaching," she said. "The first year back I sold 75 houses. The next year I sold 98, and the following year, my last year in Seattle, I sold 131 homes." A year ago, she realized there were no professional organizations, nor any guidelines in the industry by which the public could judge whether an agent knew what he or she was talking about. So Schwarz created the International Association of Home Staging Professionals and has scheduled the first convention in Concord in May. One reason she works to get the word out about Staging is that she hears of too many agents who either do nothing or go overboard. "It used to be a real estate agent put up a sign, hung out a lockbox and on Sunday had an open house. There are still agents living in the old days, but the real assertive ones know there is a lot more to it." Yes, but there's no need to get carried away. "I've heard of Stagers charging $150,000. That's absurd. People are paying $50,000, or $75,000 or even $100,000. Designers say everything must come out of your house. To me, that's ridiculous. "Where the talent is, is taking what is there and rearranging it," she said. Schwarz said she can do a condo for as little as $500 or a mansion for $1,500 - "and it can be done for less." She strictly adheres to her rule of 3 C's: Clean, deClutter and Color, but can fit any budget. For clients with money, she recommends redoing the kitchen and putting in granite countertops; for those with about half the funds, she suggests laminate for the backsplash; and for those who have little or no money, she advises paint and waterproofing. "We work with what people have to frame their home the very best it can be," Schwarz said. Reach Conrad at kconrad@bizjournals.com or 925-598-1427. |