Impact Home Staging Experts

Maximizing the Marketing Potential of Any Home

By Jane K. Asher, Ph.D.

With nearly 20 years of experience working with real estate professionals, investors and homeowners in Oakland and Macomb counties, Impact Home Staging Experts has a longstanding reputation for high-quality, punctual and budget-minded home staging services. Complete with operations and customer service staff members, stagers and assistant stagers, and logistics personnel, the talented team at Impact Home Staging is equipped with passionate experts who are committed to maximizing the marketing potential of any home so that sellers can move to the next phase of their lives with greater ease and peace of mind.

“From the beginning, our major goal has been to be the sole point of contact for all staging-related tasks at occupied and vacant properties while also providing the highest level of professionalism, responsiveness and value,” said Impact Home Staging Owner and President Darla Rowley.

Photo by Jessica Laine Photography

Darla founded Impact Home Staging in 2004. At the time, the home staging industry was just beginning to emerge, and Darla — who had owned and sold four properties and who had grown very passionate about home design — was intent on pioneering a new path for herself. “I was fueled by the necessity to reinvent myself with a new career and filled with a vision of aiding Metro Detroiters in selling their homes faster and for more money,” Darla said. “I’ve always been a stickler for excellent customer service and for providing real value, so I knew from the start that delivering an unrivaled level of both would be my primary objectives.”

Photo by Dawn Townsend Photography & Design

After completing some home staging training through Stagedhomes.com and receiving the Accredited Staging Professional® (ASP®) designation, Darla began to network and share her home-merchandising vision with anyone who would listen. Since many people were not familiar with home staging at the time, Darla not only needed to educate potential customers about the industry; she also needed to create a demand for her services and prove that home staging is a worthwhile investment. “My passion got me pretty far but not without significant learning about managing my time, wearing multiple hats and driving a truck — don’t drive a big truck under or into a large tree,” Darla said, laughing.

Today, Impact Home Staging is the highest-rated Michigan home staging company on Google, Facebook and Houzz. In addition, the Home Staging & ReDesign Alliance (HSRA) recognized Impact Home Staging as a Top 5 Home Staging Company in the U.S. in 2016 and as the Top Home Staging and ReDesign Team in 2018. Darla and her team have also received the Best of Houzz award every year from 2016-2021.

One of the key elements of the company’s success and longevity is its ability to recognize the unique aspects of each property and tailor services to showcase a home’s unique features to potential buyers. Throughout the years, Impact Home Staging has expanded into the luxury market, as well as maintaining and improving its basic services. The company has also adapted to the changing market, evolved to offer more services to homebuyers and identified additional opportunities for serving customers by offering professional photography, VRBO set-up and temporary models for builders and apartment communities. In addition, Impact Home Staging has expanded into the interior design market, offering restyling for living, move-in decorating and custom design services.

“As a business, we have weathered every market scenario and pivoted when our business model has been disrupted,” Darla said. “More effort is required and more service is expected if you want to thrive in this current market, so we are always reinvesting in décor and staying ahead of what our clients expect — change is a constant in most businesses, and being flexible to adapt is very important if you want to stay successful.”

To Darla, success is the ability to manage and drive her own destiny while also having a flexible work schedule and plenty of free time to spend with her family. Darla and her husband, Michael, enjoy cooking together, using their new smoker, and spending time in their large perennial garden and butterfly habit. They also enjoy trips to Eastern Market, weekend getaways on the west side of the state and cheering on the Purdue Boilermakers: Their son, Hunter Maximus, is a sophomore at Purdue where he is majoring in organizational leadership.

“In today’s competitive marketplace, full-service real estate agents need to remember that educated sellers expect the service the name implies, so supporting sellers in a way that lays out all marketing possibilities is very important,” Darla said.

Staging is a strategic marketing tool that yields improved sales results by inciting buyers to recognize a home’s longterm potential to shape the lifestyle of their dreams. The team at Impact Home Staging Experts has the passion and the skill to harness that potential — to showcase a home’s best features so sellers can walk away with the best offer and the best terms.

For more information about Impact Home Staging Experts, visit impacthomestagingexperts.com or call 248-591-4290.

Darla Rowley, Impact Home Staging Experts - Partner Spotlight