Season 4, EP. 11 – Harnessing the Power of Home Staging to Attract Buyers | Dan & Becci Tomasek

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Brian
Welcome to the House Fluent Podcast. I’m Brian. I’m Tony.

And we’re both licensed professional inspectors here in the state of Texas. We want to help relieve those butterflies, alleviate that anxiety, and help you make smart, informed decisions by arming you with information about your home.

Tony
Oh, yeah.

Brian
So, Tony, we’re somewhere special today.

Tony
Oh, yeah, we are. We’re here with… Where are we?

We’re in the RE-MAX offices, DFW, here in Flower Mound on Long Prairie Road. Today we’ve got Dan and Becky Tomasek from the Tomasek team here, going to talk to us about harnessing the power of home staging to attract buyers. So welcome, guys.

Hi. Thank you.

Brian
Good to have you. Thanks for having us.

Dan
Thanks.

Brian
You guys want to maybe give us a little bit of background on yourselves? Sure. And how you guys got going as a team?

Dan
I’m Dan Tomasek. I’m originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Graduated in 1970, played in a popular musical group there.

Eventually went into the United States Navy, where I served on a nuclear-powered submarine. And after I got out in May of 81, I ran into an old shipmate of mine. He talked to me to get my real estate license.

And so that’s what I did. And I’ve been doing that full-time since 1982. Oh, wow.

So the rest is history then. Yeah, the rest is history. For the first time in my career, I brought on a partner, and that happens to be my wife, Becky, who has a unique and complementing expertise to our team.

Oh, very good. Nice.

Brian
What unique complementing expertise do you bring, Becky?

Becci
Well, I have spent about 25 years in the staging and design business. And then during the holiday season, I have about 20 homes that I do Christmas. They’re Christmas trees.

They’re mantles. They’re staircases. Nice.

So I’ve been around a lot of realtors doing the staging business and learning a lot through osmosis and decided to join Dan.

Brian
Very good. Welcome, guys. We love having you here.

Thank you. You bet. With all that said, talk a minute about the challenges of being married and working as a real estate team.

Dan
Well, it’s interesting because doing it as long as I have, I know of other teams that are husband and wife. And let’s just say I’ve overheard challenges. Oh, I’m sure.

Brian
Okay.

Dan
We have not experienced that. We’ve been very, very fortunate. Our marriage of 17 years works very well because of the love we have for each other, respect.

And we tend to each… We’re in our own lane. Whereas I’ve been evaluating property and negotiating contracts for over 41 years.

And then she brings the design aspect into it, helping our buyers when we’re walking through a home to see, gosh, you know, if you just did this, this wouldn’t cost much, colors, floor coverings, whatever it might be. She brings that aspect into it. Plus, there are times when each of us might see something else in the other person’s lane.

Well, and you want to listen to that because there have been times where I’m going like, gosh, honey, I didn’t think that’s really good. I’m going to go call Doug and Ann. And then we get on the phone with them and say, hey, Becky just came up with this solution.

They’re going like, oh, I really like that. And it had nothing to do with design. It had to do with other parts.

Tony
She’s helping you with what you do.

Becci
Yeah. I think I bring in a new perspective that because he’s been in the business for so long that since I’m kind of new to it, I see things differently than he is. It’s like meeting with your, with your, yeah, exactly.

Well, he’s been doing it a long time and I’m fresh and new. So I’m like, what about this? And I didn’t even think about that.

Brian
So that’s awesome. What would an example be?

Dan
I think what Doug and Ann was like, you know, because they’re trying to figure out, we want to do the best we can on selling our home, but then we want to buy one. We don’t want to rent. So she actually came up with the idea.

Well, what, what about a bridge loan? Or they can get a, if they’re not ready to list their house yet, they can get a home equity line of credit, which if you don’t have your house on the market yet, you can get that line of credit. Then you can pull from the equity of your house.

Oh, to buy a new house.

Becci
Because they were going to delay a couple of months. And I said, what about this? So they can continue moving forward because they, we found them a house that they wanted and I didn’t want them to lose that.

So I’m like, what about this? So we can get their house on the market, get them into the new house.

Dan
And then they weren’t buying a contingent on the sale of their other house. They were able to do the work and got with a good finance person. We put the sale together.

They did really well on the sale of their house and they did really well on the purchase. So it was her, she came, she came up with it. I don’t, you know, I don’t always come with it all the time, you know?

So that was one thing.

Tony
Well, I got a question. Have you guys ever considered recommending a pre-listing inspection for your sellers?

Dan
Absolutely. Oh, do you? Oh yes.

And a lot of the times, uh, it’s, I’m looking at the condition of the home where they’re at and I’m just saying, you know, you’re going to have to disclose a, B, C and D. It’s not going to take much to fix these smaller items because they’re not real costly, but then you have to disclose it. And now if you’re disclosing these negative things about the house, then now they’re saying, well, what else is there?

But if we have a, you know, have some like you guys come in, do that pre-home inspection. Now you got an eye on it. And it’s especially helpful when you see a situation where, hey, I can see where this home is going to have multiple offers.

And if you want to take away that, that contingency of a home inspection of many buyers today, many buyers today will look at the home inspection that the pre-inspection that the seller had done and they’ll go off of that.

Tony
Yeah.

Dan
And trust that. So it offers a little leverage, really. Yeah.

Sellers. Absolutely. Yeah.

And then, cause then they always feel free to, hey, contact the guys that did the inspection.

Becci
Yeah.

Dan
And if you need more clarity on something, then they’ll talk to you about it. And it’s always about full disclosure.

Becci
You talked about the market that we’re heading into as well.

Dan
Yeah. Yeah. And we’re in that kind of market right now where we’re going from a seller’s market into more of a buyer’s market.

But providing that information, I think is just, I think it’s always good. Everyone has a different opinion about it. Mine is, it’s a positive.

Brian
So yeah, I agree with you actually. That’s one less thing the buyer has to do. You mentioned we are going into more of a buyer’s market and we see that too from our side and on a pre-listing inspection, there are always a lot of cosmetic things that come up, just siding deterioration, just things that happen living in a home over time.

Right? How do you address that from a staging perspective or can you, when you’re going to make a home ready to sell and make it maybe more appealing as somebody is walking through?

Becci
I enjoy just walking with the owner through the home and talking to them about maybe what their budget is in that area. What are you wanting to do? Are you willing to switch out carpeting that could be really stained?

Because that’s an eyesore. You want it as fresh and you want to have it look, it’s very best the minute it hits the market. So are you willing to have it possibly repainted?

Are you willing to change out the carpet? Are we willing to freshen up the exterior with some bark dust and maybe a couple new plants outside to make it fresh?

Brian
Nice. I have a realtor friend who anytime she goes to list a house, she has these people, the sellers, if they have carpet, she has them go to a carpet place over in Fort Worth and she’s got a relationship with them and they have a carpet there called sell this house beige. It’s builder beige.

Becci
I mean, it’s a builder quality, but it’s fresh and it smells good. So when the new buyer comes in, it smells good. It smells like a new home.

One less thing they don’t have to do.

Dan
And the other thing that staging can do, you’re not hiding anything, but it can move your eye away from something that doesn’t look so great. And she’s really good at dressing it up. I mean, she can take your eye away from the unpleasant color of the cabinets or the tile, the backsplash or something like that.

And then you bring in this decor and then, in my opinion, I think when people walk in their homes, the house talks to you. And it just feels right to you. I’ve even had it where I had new construction going on and they were side by side duplexes.

They’re same floor plan, but one you came in and you turned one way, the other one you turn the other way. And I would have the prospective buyer say, well, that one next door is a lot bigger.

Brian
Oh, that’s funny.

Dan
It might feel bigger to you, but it’s not. So that’s why I say it. It’s a feeling thing.

And I have kind of a story. I’m going to tell that story later.

Becci
You’re going to tell it now?

Dan
I’m going to tell that story now. Is it a happy hour story? It’s a home that I call challenging.

The owners had specific tastes in decor and colors and their furniture was, they were very frugal people. Their furniture wasn’t even good enough to give away to anybody. And they knew that.

And they knew that.

Becci
They were going to do it to goodwill. They were done.

Dan
So she came in, takes down some art that was their taste. But we don’t want to have this look, draw your eye to that. We want to draw your eye to the floor plan.

Had them change some colors and then rearrange the furniture. I mean, this is how frugal they were. The coffee table was a wooden crate.

Becci
But there wasn’t a lot in the home, but I moved it around. So there were groupings. Yeah.

Because it’s kind of like, almost like a college frat house. And there was something here, something there, like a beanbag here, a beanbag there.

Dan
Why didn’t we do this before? Why didn’t we do that? Well, you don’t have that vision.

And this was a place not close in. So it’s farther out. Yeah.

Tony
It’s very rural.

Dan
Little chopper market. That dang thing sold in two weeks.

Tony
Oh, wow. That’s local here in Texas? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.

So you oftentimes work with the existing furniture.

Becci
Oh, of course. And items they have in the house, right? Of course.

Yeah.

Tony
Because I always thought of staging as it’s an empty house and they’re going to bring in furniture and pictures and hang them on the walls. So you go in there, take what they’ve got, consult with them, rearrange some things maybe, change a few colors. Yeah.

Possibly change the carpet out if it’s a major item like that. And that’s really going to make a big difference in how long it stays on the property, right?

Becci
Well, I think each house calls for its own thing, right? So if they have a lot of furniture in there and they’re wanting to use it and it’s usable and it makes sense, then we can go ahead and use it, use their art. Maybe it’s more about elimination because we accumulate so much as we live in a home, right?

And the way I like to address it with them is in a very thoughtful way. I always ask them if there’s something in this room that needs to stay here, like the photograph of somebody, please let me know. I would never want to say, okay, this has got to go, this has got to go, this has got to go and hurt somebody’s feeling.

So to go into a home and have that conversation and then tell them, you’re going to end up selling this house and it’s going to be, you’re going to pack up. So why don’t we get a jump on that?

Tony
Less is more.

Becci
Less is more. And the other thing I like to tell my clients is when you come into a model home, what do you see?

Brian
Sure.

Becci
You don’t see knickknacks. You don’t see small things. You see large pieces of art, large pieces of furniture and fewer everything.

And that’s what makes it look so full and fresh and clean and new and designed. It goes together and it flows. So when I had my staging business, the name of it was Grand Appeal.

And the reason I named it Grand Appeal is because I wanted to take a house and make it appealing to a very grand amount of people, a lot of people, because a lot of people have a very difficult time coming into say a vacant home or even a home that has not been staged properly and the furniture’s just been placed in there and they have a really hard time imagining what that home looks like, what it looks like with their items and how they foresee themselves living in this home.

Tony
It’s like they can see what can be, you know, what you need to help them because not everybody can do that.

Becci
Or that’s why I think we’re model homes do that for people. So when it’ll take me to another subject, which is the virtual staging, you can pull up a house online and they’ll have virtual staging and it looks beautiful. And then you go take your clients and show them that home and there’s nothing in that home.

It’s, it’s almost like their bubble is burst.

Brian
Yeah. I can see that.

Becci
So it’s really important to show that house and, and let them, let you want it to sparkle.

Tony
One thing I want to add real quick, I’m sorry to keep interrupting, but when they pack all that stuff up, could you recommend they don’t set it in the garage in front of the electrical panel or the water heater or the attic access. That was all, that would always, I mean, I hate going into houses like that and go, oh boy, cause I’m going to have to move a bunch of boxes, miscellaneous items and bikes anyway. You can consider that done.

Okay. I mean, that’s just what right into my mind when she said that, pack everything up. I’m like, oh yeah.

I’ve been there.

Becci
I want to invest in a small little storage unit.

Brian
There you go. So do you, um, you guys covered a lot of territory. You took a lot of my questions away, but I do have a question around, um, staging homes versus unstaged homes.

Have you seen a lot in your experience, maybe time on the market or maybe even number of offers or even the quality of offers based on the staging versus not staging?

Dan
Sometimes we just believe that depending on the floor plan is how much staging do we need to have? So the house is vacant.

Becci
A vignette, a vignette, like in a, um, maybe do just the kitchen and the bathrooms and maybe just a living area. You don’t, it’s, I don’t feel it’s necessary to always do all the bedrooms and a dining room and the kitchen and certain homes call for certain things. Yeah.

Dan
And just, and some homes need more help than others. So if they walk in and it’s a unique floor plan and you walk in and if it’s vacant, you’re going like, okay, where, where am I going to put, how am I going to live in this home? The bedrooms are the bedrooms.

They can figure that out. It’s the rest of the house.

Tony
Yeah.

Dan
It’s the daily where you’re walking and sitting and cooking and that kind of thing.

Brian
Right. Exactly. So do you, when you do that, I mean, do you ever recommend renovations ever or is it always just staging?

Dan
Here’s the formula, money in, money out.

Brian
Okay.

Dan
I never recommend anything that if by doing so is going to add value and hopefully more. And then, because most people want to, these days they don’t want to have to do anything. Yeah.

Having that pre-inspection, finding those things, fixing those things, taking care of those items might be a simple thing like, Hey, we haven’t had the furnace service and the AC service over all time. Let’s get that up to date. Might be something you find electrical panel or electrical problems are to me, that’s a safety thing.

You want to be able to sell that to, Hey, that’s money well spent because if I’m buying your home and I already put $10,000 into your home, I’m not going to offer you $10,000 less. I’m going to offer you $15,000 or $20,000 less. So that’s what I suggest.

You don’t have to be ready to sell your home right now. Becky and I will come in, she’ll put her eyes on it. I’ll put my eyes on it and there are two different sets of eyes and we both see different things.

Then you can do it over time and ready your home for market so that when you’re ready, now you’re ready to go.

Becci
And honestly, one of the things I’ve picked up from you along the way for years is you should always be ready because you never know what might transpire in your life.

Dan
I live in a model home. Okay. I just asked her, this is my desk.

I know where these papers that don’t move anything around. She has vision. Like I told you, that vision in that house with all the crummy furniture and everything, she just sees it.

And so when it gets staged, it’s right. So the only thing after that, it’s either functional floor plan, is there some dysfunctionality, your price, what’s going on in the neighborhood maybe. Those are the things, not staging.

Becci
Staging is just one element. It’s one piece of the pie, right?

Brian
So guys, we always kind of wrap up our show with some client questions. I picked a few that Tony and I can’t answer because we’re not realtors. But I thought maybe you guys could help us with them.

Is that be okay? Sure. Okay.

So the first one was, when negotiating repairs, should I only prioritize major problems like the foundation or roof, or is it okay to ask for smaller repairs too?

Dan
As a buyer? As a buyer. Yeah.

So if we’re helping a buyer, I usually tell them to stick to the major, stick to the major items. They’re seeing it. And even though they had a home inspection, something came up.

We just had a house we closed in Robeson Ranch that we sold to some folks. And they actually bought this home sight unseen.

Tony
Oh, wow.

Dan
That can go good or that can go really bad. And that’s why I get a little nervous with that, but going through the house, I could see things, but they bought it subject to a home inspection. In fact, the guy across the table here is Tony.

He did the inspection.

Tony
Oh, wow. Yeah.

Dan
And you found those things up on the roof that needed attention. And I had Tarrant Roofing come out and they looked at it.

Becci
So it really wasn’t sight unseen because they had Tony’s eyes on it.

Dan
That’s right.

Becci
Yeah. And he had Dan’s eyes on it.

Dan
Yeah. But I bring my expert in and they found, we can take care of these items for $450. Yeah.

Oh, that’s great. And what do you think? They say, you know, the roof is 16 years old.

I mean, it’s good. I mean, we had a foundation thing where, you know, slight crack, but that’s normal. But then we had one of the pieces that keep the foundation together, that’s rusting.

Oh, the cables? Cable, yeah. So we had some of those.

And so all that stuff, they weren’t concerned about any of this. So there’s nothing major. Oh, that’s great.

Now, if there was something major, then we’d talk about it. Sure.

Becci
But your point is not to nitpick. No. Pick your big issues.

Pick your moderately big issues. But don’t get down to…

Tony
Yeah. And roof maintenance is important. You’ve got a 16-year-old home roof.

You want to get another 10 years out of it if you’re lucky, you know, I need to go ahead and get some maintenance done on that and repair those things that need to be repaired. Yeah. Sure.

Brian
Yeah. All right. The next one, it’s a two-part question.

So we may have to come back to the second part. I don’t know. It says, is it reasonable or common to request a credit for repairs instead of having the seller fix any issues directly?

And are there any advantages to doing the repairs myself versus having the seller do it before they close?

Dan
It’s always… This is the line I go down.

Brian
Yeah.

Dan
Okay. If I’m going to have someone do work in my home, which this is going to be your home, then you want to hire who you trust and who you want to use. You and I are from the same school.

Tony
Yeah.

Dan
Absolutely. And so I make sure when I’m going through there that we leave a little room in there and that’s fair to do because I’m working for the buyer. Understand that.

Tony
Yeah.

Dan
And do that. But also you got to make sure you clear it with the buyer’s lender. Make sure that they’re going to be okay with that, that this isn’t a deficiency that they’re going to require gets repaired before closing.

Brian
Right. And I’m going to ask you guys this one. This one’s come up a couple of times.

We don’t answer these kinds of questions, but it says, will the issues identified in my report impact my home’s resale value when I go to sell it in the future?

Dan
Well, it can if you don’t take care of them. So if there’s… You always have a list.

These are the major things. These are things you want to keep your eye on. Right.

And you guys always give that to us.

Brian
Yeah.

Dan
You want to keep this, have this checked, have that checked. Well, have those things done, but then document. Document that you, on such and such a date, you’d had this work done that showed up because one of the questions, have you ever had a structural inspection on your home?

Sure. Yeah.

Becci
And who did it?

Dan
And who?

Becci
And if you have a receipt, keep the receipt.

Brian
Yes. Yep.

Becci
So that they know Uncle Joe didn’t do the repair.

Brian
Nice. Tony, this one’s maybe for you, but it says… I didn’t approve these questions.

I know. Well, I just, I pulled some at random and I tried to get some that made sense. But anyway, it says, in your report, you mentioned I should have a structural engineer further evaluate the foundation.

That sounds pretty scary. What should I expect if I get a structural engineer involved?

Tony
Well, I think that it’s an engineering report. So there’s that expertise that he has, and he doesn’t, I think, have any skin in the game. Like he’s not trying to sell you anything.

He’s just providing a report. So you believe it’s going to be honest, well done, and it’s going to tell you exactly what needs to be done, and hopefully give you some insights into what you might need to do around the house for drainage and things like that to prevent further issues in the future.

Brian
Yeah, I agree with you. Structural engineering reports are so much more than just a zip level. They come out and they measure your elevation.

They also do, they look at your drainage, they look at your gutters, they look at all those things. And more often than not, when we have a structural engineer go out, they don’t always recommend repairs. More often than not, they say, yeah, it’s moved, hasn’t moved enough, or we need to keep an eye on this, or maybe we need to do something here to just stop it from moving any more than it already has.

What do you guys see when that comes up? I know that probably come up once or twice in your career.

Dan
It has. It has on the house that Doug and Ann bought, they purchased. And we had somebody come out to check the foundation, because it’s really different, you know, because you’re on slab most of the time, right?

That’s a different type of engineering, and it takes a different expertise to do that. And so, I just, you know, let’s get an expert out here and trust what they have to share with you. And I know as a novice a little bit, because I’ve been doing this so long, well, if that foundation is moving again, I need to look at the windows, there might be a little something a little off on, you know, moving there where you’ll see that.

But you want to always, I’d get that done. I believe in hiring the professional and see what they have to say. But at the end of the day, if you’re a buyer, and some of these things are just a little too scary, I had one the other day, okay?

And for some reason, I don’t know why, the inspection, the pre-inspection showed that there was mold up in the attic space. And there was probably a little roof leak done, roof leak done. Now, the roof was since repaired, but the mold is still there.

And they didn’t have the remediation done. He’s going to me, well, what happens? I mean, they have a bid for it, okay.

How do I know that it didn’t get into the walls? So, he ended up and says, you know, I don’t want to take that on. That seller would have been better off taking the time, have a professional remediation come in, have them do it, get rid of the mold and so forth, have it certified.

Tony
Oh yeah, definitely.

Dan
Now, I’ve identified it, I’ve had the work done, and it’s been certified. Now, a buyer is at ease.

Brian
Yeah, so that, you brought me to my last question. That was perfect. Couldn’t have planned that better.

Becci
Well, we’re back to the conversation of keeping up the maintenance on your home.

Brian
Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. So, the last question, it’s, I’m selling an older home, and I’ve never had it checked for anything environmental, like mold or lead, and actually, they said lead or asbestos, excuse me.

Is that something that I need to do before I list it, or will buyers care?

Dan
I say, hire you guys, okay? Have the home inspection done, see what they find, because for, you know, it’s not perfect, but you’re going to pretty much find pretty much most of it. As far as lead paint go, because that’s the houses that have been built before 1978, right?

You’re going to have a disclosure about that, and most, I’ve never heard, I’ve never had one sale where, A, the buyer wanted to have the lead paint removed, or B, that they wouldn’t buy it because it may have lead paint, because you have that disclosure, you have the pamphlet, and…

Brian
Very good. Well, do you guys want to mention how people can get a hold of you, or how can people get a hold of you?

Becci
Well, through the RE-MAX DFW and Associates office, Flower Mound, or you can reach us on our emails or cell phones.

Dan
Yep. 972-878-3446.

Becci
Or 425-780-8076 for Becky. Very good.

Dan
Any last words? No, this has been great. We appreciate the opportunity to share our vision and what we do, and we’re different from any other team, so to speak.

It’s just the two of us, but what we believe that we bring to the table is how we’re people and how people guide them through their process, whether or not they’re selling or buying. You can only do the best you can with what you have to work with, and we’ll guide you through that and hopefully release some of that stress when you’re buying, and then you have my evaluation and her vision as to how this home can be. It’s been a great team thing, and we just complement each other really well.

Becci
And we have a great team behind us, like you guys.

Dan
Nice.

Tony
Sounds like y’all are working really well together. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

We’re a double whammy. Thank you guys for being here.

Becci
Thanks for having us.

Tony
Yeah, this is good. This is great. Thanks.

Becci
And we hope we helped people through the process.

Tony
Yeah.

Becci
And answered some questions, perhaps.

Brian
Okay, remember, you can always reach us on any of the social channels. You can message us on Instagram or reach out to us on HouseFluent.com if you ever need a home inspection, need some advice about your home maintenance, or just generally get to know us. So Becky, what does Tony have planned for the next show?

What does he have planned for the next show? I’m not sure. I never quite know.

Tony
I’m not sure why you’re asking Becky.

Becci
Well, hopefully you’ll have us back.

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