The International Association of Home Staging Professionals, the country's only accrediting Staging organization, will hold its annual conference May 19-22 at the Concord Hilton in Concord, California.
Accredited Staging Professionals from across the U.S. and Canada will gather to share ideas and learn new skills in the area of Staging -- a system of preparing homes for sale that allows properties to sell faster, and for more money. The highlight of the convention is a hands-on Speed Staging Event held Friday, May 21 from 1-5pm, where 100 attendees will Stage a $2 million home in Danville, top to bottom, in four hours.
The concept of Home Staging was pioneered by Barb Schwarz, who is the President of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. Since 1985, she has taught over 500,000 real estate agents and interior decorators the principles of Staging. The popularity of Staging continues to soar, evidenced by the recent introduction of two new television series related to the subject, HGTV's Designed to Sell, and Sell This House on A&E. Schwarz began offering Accredited Staging Professional courses in 2000, the only accredited training of its kind in the country. Since that time, over 3,000 individuals from as far away as Hungary and Finland have become accredited.
Schwarz will present the convention's keynote address Friday, May 21 from 9am to noon. A highly energetic and inspiring leader, she has logged over 14,000 hours as a professional speaker, and is one of only 500 speakers worldwide to hold the designation of Certified Speaking Professional. Schwarz has personally Staged over 1,600 homes. She is the author of the best-selling book, How To List And Sell Residential Real Estate Successfully. Schwarz has also written and produced two video/DVDs, How To Price Your Home So It Sells For Top Dollar and How To Prepare Your Home For Sale . . . So It Sells, which was named Consumer Education Product of the Year Award by the Real Estate Educators of America. She hosts a weekly radio show, Staging Life with Barb, and is currently completing a TV pilot about home Staging for the ABC Family Channel and she is the founder of StagedHomes.com.