Good News, Bad News

April 9, 2009 By

Good News: Spring is here! The flowering trees are gorgeous and the birds are building nest for their babies.

Bad News: The pollen is intense and the birds often build their nest in areas where their not welcome, such as at the front door or in the garage.

We have to take the bad with the good, don’t we?

When you begin the process of placing your house on the market, you have to take the bad with the good. The house will be listed and marketed by a professional agent that you chose to suit your needs, however you have to start working to get the house ready. And let me tell you, it can be a daunting task.

Staging your house to sell is more than just cleaning and de-cluttering, although that is a huge part of preparation. Its about being “cut to the chase” honest with yourself and making the decision to edit the things in your space that make it feel like home.

Once you decide to sell the house, it stops being your home. It becomes a commodity that you are selling and you have to make it as appealing as possible to attract a larger pool of buyers. That means removing personal photos, changing that themed “Star Wars” bedroom to a more neutral palette and hiding the daily signs of everyday life in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry rooms. It means that the furniture will need to be re-arranged to show off the selling features of the room, not leaving it where it is because it works for you.

Having a third person come in (professional home staging consultant) and look at your space objectively is more affordable than one would think. Most staging companies offer a variety of services at different price points for potential clients. Most consultants offer a “walk n talk” consultation beginning at $150.oo and the home owners do the work themselves, or they can hire the consultant to do the work for 1/2 day, full day or what ever it takes to make the house marketable. Consultants can take the home sellers accessory’s and arrange them so that once a buyer walks in the room, there will be an emotional connection. This is often a skill that the average home owner doesn’t have because it is so difficult to disassociate themselves from the home where they have built memories.

It is well worth the investment to hire the services of a home staging consultant to help you with the preparation of your home. Why wouldn’t a home seller want to increase the chances of selling their house by making such and investment?

Filed Under: cleaning, de-clutter, editing, home seller, Home Staging, Home Staging Newnan, re-arrange, real estate agent, selling features

Staging Your Home is an Investment, Not an Expense

March 30, 2009 By


You’ve decided to place your house on the market to sell and you know it needs some updating, but you think that the buyer will come in and make allowances for the changes that it needs. You may be leery of spending money on Home Staging or updating. You may think that the buyer will want to choose their own fixtures and colors, so you’ll leave the property as it is.

As an experienced retired realtor, I know from personal experience that it is difficult for a buyer to visualize making changes to a home or look past the home owners personal taste and belongings. If they are able to see past the changes needed, they expect to purchase at a reduced price and usually the offer is significantly lower than the actual work would have cost the seller.

You must look at the money you spend on staging your home as an investment that will pay off in the selling price. There are no guarantees that staging will sell your home quicker and for more money, in the market that we are experiencing now, but it certainly gives you an edge over the competition.

Here are a few statistics to consider:

Over 80% of buyers start their search for a new home on the internet
Staging your home before the pictures are taken for the MLS shows your home at its best. If a buyer is not impressed with your home, they will move on to the next listing and you will have fewer showings and more days on the market. We all know that there’s not a shortage of homes for a buyer to consider. Why send them down the street?

Staged Homes sell quicker than un-staged homes
The longer your home sits on the market, the longer you will have the carrying cost of your home; mortgage, insurance, utilities. The National Association of Realtors survey found that the longer a home stays on the market, the further below list price it drops. The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) study shows occupied homes that are staged, listed and sold, spend 89% less time on the market than and un-staged home. Vacant homes that have been staged, listed and sold spend 85% less time on the market than an un-staged home.

Only 10%of buyers can visualize how a room would look furnished and accessorized
This is most important for vacant homes. If your home doesn’t feel inviting and looks too small or too big for the buyer’s furniture, they will not see the potential of the home and move on to the next one. Whenever I used to show vacant houses to a buyer, they would never stay in a room long enough to become emotionally connected. Sometimes they would only stick their head in the door of a room and walk away, without ever taking the time to linger and imagine their family in the space. You want them to imagine their family enjoying the fireplace or having breakfast every morning at the breakfast bar. If you don’t have anything for them to connect with, you lose the potential to sell.

Staging your home saves you money by reducing loss due to extended time on the market, carrying costs and eventual price reductions. Even if you decide to do it yourself – staging is worth the time and the money.

If you find the task more than you can wrap your head around, give me a call and let’s discuss the service that will benefit you the most. Check out my website to see some before and after photos.

Filed Under: accessories, furniturel, home seller, Home Staging, Home Staging Newnan, prepare, stager, statistics

Agent Open House – Feel Home

October 23, 2008 By

I have the fortunate privilege of being able to attend Wednesday’s Agent Open House most every week. This is when the different offices around our county pile up agents in several cars and go tour the new and sometimes not so new listings. Most of the time a snack or food is offered and very often a door prize or two is offered. This is supposed to entice the agents to come and view these houses and I have to say, it works.

What surprises me is that with all the shows on A & E, HGTV and info about home staging and selling a house in a challenging market, that more homeowners leave their home in “live in” condition, than not. The family photos, collections, personal beauty products, even litter boxes and trash cans remain out for all the world to see.

As a professional home stager I believe that successful staging is the art of using marketing and decorating to create an environment that buyers can aspire to….”If I buy this house, I can live like this”. Home Stagers use the art of positioning to create several emotional connection points throughout the home so that when a buyer steps into the house they “feel home.” Not like they are in your home.

Here are a combination of eight things that are analyzed in each room to create a lasting impression for the home buyer.

First Impressions – Room by room, we will walk through and take note of our first impressions,what grabs us, what glares at us and what gives to us a feeling of home?

Eliminating Clutter – The packing starts now as we pack away a good percentage of everything in the room in order to create a more clean, open and spacious feel.

Emphasize The Positive – While Downplaying the Negative – Finding your beautiful focal points, we will emphasize what we love about the room and hide or distract the negative aspects of the rooms.

Lighten Up – Focusing on lighting and color, we will make each room into a bright, warm and inviting space that buyers can respond to.

Home Buyers Appeal – In order for a buyer to “feel home” they need not be reminded of this being your home. We’ll depersonalize the space while retaining the warmth and fun of photos.

Odor Free/Cleaning/Repairs – The dirty work speaks for itself but is many times overlooked because you’ve lived here for so long. Let’s get rid of the buyer’s mental “repair list” by doing it
ourselves.

Modernizing – Updating your style and building simple accessories out of what you already have to create clean lines and form. In some cases, we’ll recommend purchases as valuable
“investments” in the staging process.

“Emotional Connection Points” – Creating the “Wow Factor”. This is the fun part and is a huge focus of our positioning strategy. We’ll show you how to build in these subtleties in order to make the buyers subconsciously desire to live here and “feel home”. The “emotional connection points” are where marketing strategy really comes in to play.

So, if you are a real estate agent with listings, send this to your home sellers. Encourage them to either do this work themselves or call Southern Staging & Redesign to help.

If you are a homeowner with your house on the market or contemplating listing your house for sale, give me a call, let’s discuss my services and choose one that benefits you the most.

Unless you really don’t want to sell…….

Filed Under: home seller, Home Staging Newnan, prepare, real estate agent, stager