Looking for a new career move? Try home stage consultancy

Some people think that realtors are a parasitical profession. For just posting an advert on the MLS system and showing some suckers around an overpriced house, they demand a six percent cut of the selling price.

For those who find the realtor exams a little tough, there is a new profession for wannabe parasites - a home staging consultant. House sellers call these jokers in when the house is stuck on the market. For a fat fee, these "consultants" come to your house and tell you to tidy the place up before the house buying sucker comes to visit.

In order to qualify as a Home Staging Consultant - you will need to take a "30 hour intensive immersion course". This program is "jam packed with practical ideas and sound business practices honed by years of working in the field". There is also an organisation that can rip you off with membership fees - the Certified Staging Professional.

The emergence of this new "profession" with their "intensive training programs" is yet another sign that the market is in trouble. Does anyone remember a time when a crappy slumhouse would go on the market on a Friday, have an open house on s Sunday and sold on a Monday. The breakfast dishes were still in the sink; the beds weren't made and the house was still holding the a strong body odour of the hygiene-challenged owners. That sort of thing was common two years ago. Today, that kind of house just doesn't get a visit.

So along comes the house stagers. These consultants are there to help sustain the denial. "It is not about the price, it is about the dirty laundry under the bed". For those desperate to sell, avoid the homestagers. Reconsider the price. If it ain't selling, it is over priced. Cut, cut and cut again. Eventually, there will be a buyer out there for your house.