Are there Home Staging opportunities in Africa?
Are you living in Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya or somewhere else on the African continent? Anywhere where there are properties for sale, is a potential place for a successful Home Staging business.
Home staging is international
There are home staging businesses all over the world, but they do tend to be more concentrated in the US, Australia, Canada and to some extent, Great Britain. In other European countries such as Spain and Italy, the industry is still quite niche, but growing. In Africa, it's pretty new, but that doesn't mean the opportunities aren't there. Let's look at some stats.
Number of properties currently for sale in 4 African countries
In Nairobi, Kenya, there are over 50 000 listings.
In Lagos, Nigeria, there are over 60 000 listings.
In Accra, Ghana, there are over 11 000 listings.
In Pretoria, South Africa, there are 15 550 listings.
You get the picture. There are a lot of properties everywhere competing for buyers.
If you have a home staging business in Lagos and you manage to stage 0,20 % of 68 000, that's 136 properties a year! A lot! Probably more than even the biggest home staging companies do in a year in the States.
You can combine home staging with other services
Many home stagers offer a number of services, besides staging vacant properties. My own business, Home Stagers Cape Town, offers:
consultations for people living in their homes who want to sell
advice for builders or investors who want to flip a property
basic interior decorating services
staging for rentals.
Real estate agents combine home staging with their service
It's not unusual for agents to spend a lot of time tidying up their clients' homes so that they look presentable for the photos. Agents who've completed a home staging course have more authority when it comes to making recommendations to sellers on what buyers want. It's an added service and an a value add for any real estate agent's portfolio.
Staging is important for all properties, not just luxury properties
It's a misconception that staging is only for fancy, high ticket houses. Of course, those properties need it too, especially as the buying market is small for those properties, and so competition is fierce.
On the other hand, the irony is that people who own those very expensive houses don't always need to sell. They can afford to hang on to the property for months on end while paying all the holding costs (rates, taxes, lights, water, maintenance, mortgage, security, staff).
The average seller needs to sell so they can move on with their life (move city, buy another house, whatever). These are the houses that need to move quickly, and that's where home staging works its magic. Staged properties sell 3x faster than unstaged properties.
Grab the opportunity
If you're looking to start a new business, or add to your services as a real estate agent or decorator, home staging can be a really great income source. Not to mention, it's a lot of fun decorating new places every few days.
If you're looking for a home staging course, head over to www.homestagerstraining.com. Whether you're a beginner who wants to start with the basics, or you want something more advanced and professional with an international certificate, it's worth having a look at the courses of offer at this site.