Setting the Stage

STAGING HOMES IS A BOOMING BUSINESS IN THE BERKSHIRES

By Isabel Hochman // Photos by Jimmy ienner , J r .

Dawn Tractenberg sits in her 5,000-square-foot Staged Ryte storage facility in Ashley Falls.

Whether you are a local or a weekender, you most likely know that homes don’t stay for sale for long these days up and down the Berkshires—and the booming real estate market has had ripple effects in businesses in the region. The Berkshire County Board of Realtors reported a total market volume of more than $883 million transacted in 2021 (compared to $794 million in 2020). The U.S. Postal Service reported that in 2020, Pittsfield was number six in metros with the biggest change in net in-migration in the U.S. out of 926 metro areas in the U.S. One of the reasons for the surge, according to Tim Lovett with Berkshire Property Agents, is because many couples in their 30s and early 40s wanted to get their children out of the city as soon as possible. Today, buyers continue to flood the market.

Many industries associated with real estate also are experiencing a surge in clients and business. For instance, when prospective buyers are looking for their next home, staging can be a key component to understanding the space. Staging companies work to develop the interiors to help fill vacant homes with furniture and accessories to make the space feel more livable and appeal to the buyers tastes. In 2021, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that “82 percent of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.” From a selling perspective, NAR observed that when staging a home, “23 percent of sellers’ agents reported an increase of one to five percent of the dollar value offered by buyers, in comparison to similar homes.”

In 2015, Dawn Trachtenberg was on an expedition to find a home to flip or convert it into a rental property. As she looked at various homes in the Berkshires, she was not pleased with how they were showing. When brokers asked if she knew of anyone who did staging, Trachtenberg took this as an indication to start a company—and she did. She applied what she had learned from decorating her own home and the homes of her friends and combined that with her business partner’s background in decorating to start her own venture, Staged Ryte.

“When we started, we were educating a lot of the brokers up here. Now, six years later, the brokers get it.” Staging is helpful to brokers who are trying to sell a home whose interiors are outdated or uninviting. Staged Ryte offers remote consultations to help clients prepare for selling and offers services for seasonal renting staging, design consulting, and in-person home staging before homes are put onto the market. Trachtenberg will also get called to a home that has been sitting on the market for quite some time. She will either work to style or restyle a space, focusing on the target customer and the lifestyle they wish to possess. When the home is relaunched with the new staging, the sellers often receive a quick response.

Today Staged Ryte covers the Berkshires, Columbia County, Litchfield County, northern New Jersey, and New York City. In 2021, Trachtenberg moved from 20 small storage locations to leasing one 5,000-square-foot space in Ashley Falls. There, she is able to showcase over 10,000 pieces of furniture and accessories, which help to furnish up to 15 homes at one time.

With this new space, Trachtenberg has been able to open up her facility to become part showroom so that realtors, homeowners, developers, and investors can see her design sense. In turn, she produces a staging package that fits their needs. “We’re directing their eyes to the lifestyle the property offers and the life they will experience when living there.”

Trachtenberg is specific in her hunt for interior décor, looking for a blend of modern and antique pieces. Unlike other staging companies, she does not buy multiples of the same item, but rather purchases the items at auctions as one-offs so that they can have a curated and unique inventory. Trachtenberg will look at the history of the property, the area, and the kinds of people similar homes have been sold to so that she can create a story with the interior of the home that will resonate with the buyer. Her inventory includes over 1,000 books, 400 pieces artwork, and a vast assortment of furniture, textiles, and plants.

Allison Crane is founder and owner of Allison Crane Interiors in Lenox.

“We try and respect the period of the home but also mix in some other pieces. Oftentimes, most of the homes that we do are for a second homeowner, so we’re appealing to a New York City or Brooklyn kind of buyer. We just recently did a home built in 1907 that has a lot of the original details in it, but you have to appeal to that buyer.” Trachtenberg offers clients the opportunity to buy the look, either by purchasing a product she has in her inventory, or with curated interior design services.

Allison Crane is the founder and owner of three businesses—Allison Crane Interiors, Places + Spaces, and Willowbrook—design, home staging and estate liquidation companies based in Lenox. She has seen a significant shift in her clients’ needs in the past few years. Families who have owned homes in the Berkshires for decades are looking to benefit from a seller’s market and are opting to downsize or move to a retirement community. Another change she has seen is a dramatic increase in rental home projects—from redesigning spaces that have been sitting for a while, to setting up homes for short- and long-term rentals. Crane has attributed the increase in rentals to people who want to get a feel for the Berkshires before buying.

Crane does both staging and interior design with an inventory she has developed for over a decade amassed in her two storage facilities in Lenox and Lee. Crane has noticed the perfect circle for her business—she will work on staging a home, the home will be sold, and the new owners will hire her for interior design work. She works with local companies, such as Annie Selke in Lenox and Paul Rich & Sons in Pittsfield. She also works closely with Berkshire Property Agents, William Pitt Sotheby’s Realty, and Berkshire Hathaway Barnbrook for staging. Often, they also refer their clients to her for interior design. “Homeowners are turning around and hiring me for interior design work, or refreshing spaces, which is wonderful,” she says.

As we look to the spring, Lovett (with Berkshire Property Agents) doesn’t see a slowdown in business for both realtors and staging companies alike, as well as other associated industries. He notes that although the mass migration of the past few years is easing, “we are finding now that their friends and relatives are asking to look at houses, because they have fallen in love with the area, too.