The President Meets: Constanza Subijana, 2x Winner IAHSP®EU 2022
In this episode, the IAHSP EU President, Sanja Radovanovic had the pleasure to interview Constanza Subijana, the IAHSP EU 2022 Award Winner in two categories: Best Vacant Home Staging and Best Photography
S.R.: Congratulations on winning the Best Vacant category and the Best Photography! This is not the first time you have been winning such awards for the European Home Staging contests! What do all these awards mean to you?
C.S.: Thank you very much to the organisation, the judges and the IASHP®EU for organising this great event in our industry.
Receiving this award gives you more responssability in order to make it better for the next year…! People look to my job with high expectations
I am very happy to see that for the recent past years, the level of the Home Staging in Europe is growing and there are really great professionals making great jobs , which is great for our business, the competence is really hard!!
It makes you feel really proud and honored to be part of a Business which is growing and getting more and more importance in the Real Estate Business.
Here again I must congratulate and thank the IAHSP®EU for contributing to make our business more and more visible in such a professional level.
S.R.: Please tell us a little bit about your Home Staging journey and what are the distinguishing characteristics of your business “Home Staging Decor”.
C.S.: I launched my company 11 years ago. At the beginning it was hard, as nobody knew about Home Staging in Spain.
But a few years later, after a lot of hard work and explaining the benefits of our business I generated a few loyal clients, who don’t hesitate to do Home Staging before putting one property on the market, and I work with them as a partner in order to make their business more profitable.
Most of my clients are based in Madrid , specially flats in Madrid city center, but we have also prepared properties in Barcelona, Ibiza, the south of Spain, etc.
S.R.: You also teach Home Staging at the ESMADECO School in Madrid. What is the best advice you would give to someone who is just starting their Home Staging business?
C.S.: I love teaching. I try to explain the day to day Home Staging business, not just the theory. And I think there are 2 important things to take into account :
The first one is to take the Home Staging business as a Business, not just as a hobby.
Only if you have objectives , a business plan, etc., you will make it happen. You have to be focused and work hard, it all depends on you and if you work hard you will have success.
The second one is to have good habits. ( Actually this is Barb´s Schwarz tips). Be educated, polite, work hard, create confidence in your client, and once you have finished the project, revise it and if you feel that it could be better, please, do the effort of adding or redoing the things in order to have the perfect final aspect. Even if it means that you will decrease your margen in that project. At the end of the day, if a client is happy he will recommend you to other clients.
This is the way I made my clients network and still keep it. They are now my friends, we work together in the projects and it makes me feel like a partner in their success when they sell so fast.
S.R.: Please give us your top 3 tips for creating a perfect vacant Home Staging project.
C.S.:1.- Go to the property and get the real measures of the spaces, and define the ambiences with furniture of the right proportions.
2.- Think who is the potential buyer of this property, and try to focus on his needs, tastes, lifestyle etc. I prepare one type of property in Madrid and the clients are very similar, so I know which kind of furniture they like, the kind of beds they use, the colors… even though it is a neutral atmosphere, I try to go further and make something special that I know they like.
3.- Prepare the property according to the level / price of the property.
If it is a luxury property, you cannot use cardboard furniture, because it does not match the expectations of the buyer. If a buyer is going to spend 3 MM euros in a property, he will probably want luxurious furniture in it. So we have to be able to offer that our clients.
And if you are preparing a cheap property, you can not increase the price of the Staging including expensive items.