Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

A good contract with provisions for your recving a certain percentage upfront to stage the home and then a certain percetage once the home is sold.  It would have to be a contract formed outside of escrow.  But I think it is fair for your to recv at least your time and work to make the home a sellable and marketable property.

We suggest signing a Staging Contract with your home seller at the time of commitment.  This way you are protected.  If you agree with a sellers realtor to be paid by the realtor upon the sell of the home we also suggest contracting with realtor at the time of services.  For these contracts see us at Home Stages Designs http://www.Homestages.com

You need to get paid before you do any work. Real estate agreements are very tricky and need to be in writing with consideration. Painters who are hired to freshen up a home are paid when the do the work. Home staging services are no different.

All the Best,

Monica

Home Staging Fairfax, Virginia

Home Staging Washington, DC

Home Staging Maryland

I am in total agreement with PreferredStaging - you need to get paid before you do any work.

I don't care what kind of fancy contract you use, if you wait until the house sells to get paid, you'll regret it. There are simply too many factors beyond your control that will influence:

• whether it sells at all and
  
• when, and if, you see your money.

It's fine for an agent to wait until the house sells, they are earning a nice percentage of the selling price. Not so for the home stager who is locked into a fixed fee.

Personally I don't want to have to spend my time fighting legal battles to get paid. I'd rather get paid along the way. To me that's better protection than a contract. So if a client refuses to pay me, at most I'm out a few hours of my time. Also, I won't have spent any money on their behalf that I didn't get in advance.

Here's an article called "Never Wait for a House to sell to get paid for home staging" that you might find helpful.

Yes Debra, I think of it in very simple terms: If you can add $50,000 to a property's selling price, what does the owner care about a $1,000 fee or more? How many times would YOU take a $1 note into the bank if they would exchange it for a $50? This is the beauty of running a <a href="http://www.homestagingreview.com">home staging business</a>.

I know it's scary when you're first starting out, but as you say in the article, there are just too many factors beyond your control. For me, working on contingency sounds like a great way to do work for free. I say if you provide a valuable service, then charge accordingly.