Real Men Stage Houses

The home staging industry is alive and well and full of opportunity for anyone wanting to profit from their creative talents with a fulfilling career decorating homes to sell; that includes women and men! Yes, there are men working in the home staging industry even though they are dramatically outnumbered by their female counterparts. However, there is no good reason why the ratios are so unbalanced.

There are plenty of men in the real estate industry. Male interior designers are not difficult to come by either. Just look in the media – can you think of a designer with a better career right now than Nate Berkus? He´s probably one of the world´s most easily recognizable decorators and by the way…did you know that he doesn´t have a formal education in interior design?

There´s proof that the lack of a degree in interior design shouldn´t hold anyone back from pursuing their dreams of working as an interior redesigner or home stager; it´s about knowing how to capitalize on your talent by turning it into a viable business.

Once you start looking for men in the design industry in popular media you´ll see lots of them. You may have heard of a little show called Extreme Makeover Home Edition. As of this writing, seven of their eleven designers are men including the very manly Ty Pennington.

One of the most entertaining real estate reality shows on television would have to be Flipping Out featuring Jeff Lewis, another successful male designer. His university degree is in legal studies not design. Did you know he bought, renovated and sold 45 properties in 9 years!

It´s puzzling to me why only a handful of the more than 900 graduates of the Staging Diva® Home Staging Training Program are men, especially since these male graduates are so successful. One of these men is Gary Baugher of An Eye 4 Change in Nashville. Gary made a scary decision when he left a secure management position he had held for 15 years at a car rental company to pursue a career in home staging – but he hasn´t looked back since.

Another man who has graduated from the Staging Diva Program, Ken Sater of Creative Home Visions in California, has a very similar story to Gary´s. Ken came into home staging after working for 14 years in the insurance industry followed by an 18 year career in mortgage banking. Making a cool six figure income in his first year as a home stager, I know he's not trading in being his own boss staging homes for a return to the corporate world anytime soon.

What could have prompted two men in such non-creative fields to get into home staging?

Both discovered through the purchase and sale of several of their own homes that they were able to significantly increase a home´s value with their innate ability to make their properties universally appeal to buyers. Gary and Ken were asked repeatedly by neighbors how they were able to sell their homes so quickly and they each realized that they had a very valuable and marketable skill. They each went on to profit from that skill after breaking away from their stuffy desk jobs and into the creatively fulfilling field of home staging.

Another very successful Staging Diva Graduate, Adam Luttrell of Tasmania, Australia has made a booming success of his property presentation company Shift by Design. His background is in advertising, multimedia, business management and creative development. He eventually discovered that by blending these skills with a passion for real estate he could really make a difference in peoples´ lives by starting a home staging business.

That´s another trait these three men share; besides a keen focus on turning their talents into successful staging businesses - they all sincerely love being able to help others in such a positive way by dramatically increasing the value of their clients´ properties.

If you´re a man who has been putting off starting a home staging career because of the stereotype that only women can do this, or because you have no formal decorating training, no more excuses. Go for it!