Ontario Home Stager Proves Real Estate Agent Wrong

Debra Gould
With two very young children at home it was a risky move on Fabia MacNair´s part to quit her job in the residential development field to run her Ontario home staging business, Styling Spaces, full-time. But it´s a risk that continues to pay off for her and her family.

Fabia has worked hard to put what she learned in the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program into practice (she was obviously motivated to make her business work having given up her steady job). She has even been mentioned in her local newspaper after giving a staging seminar to local members of the community.

In December of last year, Fabia received a call from a homeowner who was listing his home and despite the fact that his real estate agent did not feel the home needed to be staged, he called in Styling Spaces to do the job anyway. After being a home stager for 7 years, I can assure you what happened to Fabia in this case is common. Savvy home sellers use their own common sense even if their agent isn´t a believer in staging.

When the agent came back and saw the transformation she was "wowed" and immediately hired Styling Spaces to stage four of her other listings.

One of those listings had been on the market on and off for a year before staging and it sold that same weekend. Two of the homes sold same day and one that had been overpriced for its market sold for $15,000 over market value.


That skeptical real estate agent became a big fan of Fabia and spread the word around her office leading to lots more work for Styling Spaces.

This story proves you cannot depend on real estate agents for your business. (That´s a lesson covered in Course 4 of the Staging Diva Program when you learn about the four key target markets a home stager has). Obviously the homeowner in this case had been educated about the value of staging and look at the snowball effect that followed.

Fabia writes, "The Staging Diva Program, hands down, has given me the answers I need to run my business. My class notes still guide me when I am stuck. Debra Gould is very knowledgeable about this industry and is willing to teach it. When you have spent enough time with those other courses and you are ready to get to work call The Staging Diva."

Entrepreneur and Home Staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, knows how to make money as a home stager and taught over 4000 others to do the same. Discover her secrets to business success in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.
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Debra Gould

Debra Gould, aka The Staging DivaŽ, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Gould has trained 7,000+ Staging Diva students in over 21 countries to start their own businesses. All shared a natural talent for decorating and interest in real estate, but didn't know how to make a living in their own house staging business before learning her secrets.

Debra Gould's mission is to inspire and empower others to use their natural talents to earn a living. She followed her dreams and wants to teach others to be able to do the same.

Gould pursued an MBA in Marketing and began a corporate career before moving to advertising. In the 1980s, she launched one of the first integrated marketing firms, which she ran for 10 years. Wanting a more creative life, Debra gave it up to design home accessories. She created the Debra Gould Home Collection, landing a magazine cover story and book feature, followed by her first of several HGTV appearances.

Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a new staging career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since that time she has staged homes for hundreds of clients in addition to providing home staging training.

Gould is the author of "Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home staging tips, tricks and floor plans", "Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The easy way to pick colors for home staging projects", and "Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning clients with the perfect home staging portfolio".

In addition to HGTV, Debra Gould's media coverage includes: CityTV, GlobalTV, CBC, CBS Radio, CNNMoney, Wall Street Journal, Woman's Day, Reader's Digest, MoneySense, Entrepreneur, House and Home, Home & Decor, Style at Home, Centre of the City, USAA Magazine, FabJob Guide to Become a Home Stager, Home Style, National Post Homes, This Old House, Home Business Magazine, Globe & Mail and others.

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