real estate agent

April 9, 2009 By Webmaster

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?

Agent Open House – Feel Home

October 23, 2008 By Webmaster

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…….