staging advice: Staging that STARTS on a BANG... But ENDS with an OINK - 12/05/07 06:08 AM
Without a doubt, home staging can help sell a property. Even in this slower market, with so many home sellers having postive results using the services of an expirienced home stager, it is no surprise to find that time and again the blogging stagers here on Active Rain write posts to share their stories of the many wonderful success they have created.
So as much as I don't want to or like to report this, I have to admit that not every home that is staged benefits from the staging. Sometimes staging just can't do enough to make the home sell.
Why doesn't staging sometimes help a property sell? Well, there can be any number of reason … (17 comments)
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staging advice: Do Shifty Sellers Stage to Bamboozle Buyers? - 05/02/07 09:56 AM
Realtors, if you use home stagers, here is a point to ponder...
Should an occupied property that HAS been staged be ADVERTISED as such?
I bring this point up as I feel an educated Realtor is an empowered Realtor.
So, before answering "YES" consider this... I personally think it is the LISTING REALTORS responsibility to decide if, when, where and how to reveal the fact that a home has been staged.
With more and more people understanding what staging is and how it can actually INCREASE the asking price of a home, some buyers, may use that fact AGAINST the seller that has staged their property, and negotiate a price they "feel" is … (50 comments)
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staging advice: FAKE is OK, Just Don't be CONTRIVED - 03/29/07 02:07 AM
While home staging does require being visually creative, it really is a bit of marketing and merchandising "trickery" that gets the job done. Unlike the practices of interior design, decorating or re-design, staging is about creating an illusion of a possible lifestyle within a particular house that appeals to the largest home buying segment possible. But in order to create this REAL appeal within a house, a stager might have to resort to some "fakeness". One of the basic practices of staging (like decluttering or depersonalizing) is to bring the outside in. However, while some in our industry suggests its as simple … (61 comments)
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staging advice: THINK CRUSTY THOUGHTS... When Taking Listing Photos - 03/06/07 09:38 AM
Realtors you'll notice that while I am a home stager, a number of my blog postings have to do with taking better photos of listings. This is because I KNOW that what a home buyers SEES influences their desire to purchase... or NOT. But what a buyer SEES often starts BEFORE they drive up to your listing or walk through its front door.
With each passing day the Internet becomes more and more of a resource for buyers to PRESCREEN your listings by looking at the photos YOU have provided. So with digital photography being so easy and inexpensive... Realtors you have the responsibility to feature PERFECT images … (56 comments)
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staging advice: TRIX FIX 12 PIX - 12/01/06 08:22 PM
For both the realtor and a stager... GOOD photography of the property for sale is a necessity. For the realtor, the photos you take of your listing show the product you are trying to sell. For the stager the photos of your work capture and chronicle your staging skills.
Therefore it is to BOTH the realtors and stager's advantages to take and display the ABSOLUTE BEST PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES you can... especially NOW that more and more people use the internet as a means to determine evaluate a home or the abilities of a stager.
With that in mind... last night I went on line and looked at … (38 comments)
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staging advice: HOLIDAY DECORATING: Should home sellers GRINch or BARE it? - 11/29/06 08:45 AM
Back in the fall I blogged on about whether or not it was wise to decorate for Halloween... and while at that time many people gave varied opinions, I stated that I thought it best not to.
SO... what about Christmas? Should a home seller decorate their house during Christmas Season? My answer is a definite and resounding... CONDITIONAL YES.
Decorating a house for sale during the Christmas Season is a little different then decorating for the Halloween Season.
While the Christmas selling market is MUCH slower, and the Holiday decorations are not as "creepy" and offensive looking... Decorations still can be distractions.
So … (20 comments)
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staging advice: Canned Cranberry Sauce… the jiggly symbol of an industry? - 11/21/06 07:17 AM
This Thanksgiving every Realtor and home seller should be thankful and contemplate Canned Cranberry Sauce. As it/they sit/s on your plates, know that it/they symbolize/s what staging has to offer.
Here is my scholarly list...
7 ways Canned Cranberry Sauce embodies Real Estate Staging!
1. Canned Cranberry Sauce does not cost much, but can have tasty results.
2. Canned Cranberry Sauce visually appeals to almost everyone.
3. Canned Cranberry Sauce takes the right tools and skill to get it out of a can properly.
4. Canned Cranberry Sauce is memorable without overpowering the rest of the food.
5. Canned Cranberry Sauce isn't cluttered with complex flavors.
6. Canned Cranberry Sauce is best served with the entrée, … (26 comments)
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staging advice: Working with Seniors... requires some flexibility! - 11/20/06 06:49 AM
Well I finally had my opportunity to talk about real estate staging to the group of seniors selling their homes. The auditorium was PACKED with an overflow crowd... to a point that there were those that needed to be turned away. To be honest I did NOT expect so many.
Upset and anxiety filled the room. You could feel that the folks attending were searching for help and answers. ANY answers on how to sell their homes. Boy was I glad I prapared my "staging" case.
The idea of staging a houses for its sale is still for most people a new concept. And... it has been my expirience that the SENIOR market is … (47 comments)
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staging advice: Property Pricing advice can be hard for sellers to swallow - 11/09/06 12:13 PM
Being a stager can put us in a "funny spot" with sellers. After working in a seller's homes and transforming them in ways they never consider... sellers REALLY starts to TRUST us.
Stagers need to be very careful. While you may be asked... a stager should NEVER suggest what a property should be listed for or sold for.
Determining pricing is the Realtors job.
So, while it is not our job to advise a client on pricing of their homes... this information is good to know and understand. Basacilly, if asked, I ALWAYS advise a seller to listen to and trust in the professional advise of a Realtor.
Here are … (32 comments)
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staging advice: "CHEERS" to new marketing opportunities for stagers! - 10/19/06 08:26 PM
So if you have not figured it out yet... I have a BIG mouth.
I would rather share what I know and NEW THINGS I have learned about staging then hold it as a trade secret. WHY? Because the staging industry is young and the faster we all share what we learn the better realtors are helped, seller's benifit and the quicker the enitire industry grows.
(For an AWESOME example of sharing to the industry, see fellow stager Cindy Lin's blog from earlier today)
Anyway, today I visited a Retirement Community to set up a time to come in (open my … (29 comments)
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staging advice: Staged Property does NOT sell... BUT WHY? - 10/18/06 10:06 PM
Here is a set of Before & After pictures of a TOTALLY VACANT property we staged back in mid June and un-staged today.
IT DID NOT SELL. WHY? Was it because staging really does not help?
SOME nay-sayers might (and will) jump to that conclusion. I happen to have experienced far too many POSTIVE results because of our work to agree with that deduction.
Could it be because of the slow/poor market? Yes, that is a strong possibility. Actually the owner WAS able to rent it in the end.
OR COULD IT BE IT WAS PRICED WAY TO HIGH? YES, DEFINETLY in this case … (15 comments)
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staging advice: Paint a HOME'S SALE into a corner... by not making repairs! - 10/18/06 07:30 AM
While many stagers talk a lot about cleaning, depersonalizing, decluttering and rearranging a home, which ARE important aspects of what we do, there is another area a GOOD stager will focus attention on and find solutions for... home repairs.
Much like a buyer, the moment a real estate stager steps into a house they are looking for problems. We have trained our eyes to look for those items and areas in a house that need tending and mending. Why? Because quite often a seller no longer sees the issues we see... the owner/seller has become so accustomed to and accepting of the property the way … (6 comments)
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staging advice: Who wrote the book on Home Staging? - 10/09/06 07:55 PM
Well from the looks of if... 5 different people so far. So there is NOT a lot written about the subject as of yet. I happen to own all but have only read 4 of the 5 books listed here so far. And I gotta admit... not all staging books are the same.
I am actually surprised to say that the ONE BOOK I thought would and SHOULD be the best of the bunch... is a bit of a let down on a number of levels.
While this industry is still on the grow, so I am sure there will be … (15 comments)
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staging advice: If Switzerland was a color, what color would it be? - 10/05/06 06:52 PM
Ok… so this is NOT a blog on behalf of the Swiss Visitor & Convention Bureau.
It is a blog with another basic staging tip about color of and in a house
Q: What is the RIGHT color to use in a home that is on the market… most notably for paint and carpet?
A: NEUTRAL COLORS trump all others. WHY? Because they are non-offensive and are... well neutral. And just because it is a neutral color does NOT equate to it being BORING.
If you have an owner that is reluctant to paint back to a neutral… You might want to make these points.
1.Most … (6 comments)
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staging advice: Someone needs to tell the truth... PHOTOS LIE! - 10/03/06 07:29 PM
In my previous post today I showed Before & After Photos of a property that we just completed staging. What I did NOT show was how I got those After Photos to look so good.
Realtors and stagers need to understand a very important point about digital cameras... THEY DISTORT THE TRUTH.
Below is the raw Before (left) and edited After (right) photo of the Living room we just staged. PhotoShop is the tool I used to make the After look so good.
But what did I do to transform the image? Well, first I applied BASIC principles of photographic perspective.
Let's break it down … (77 comments)
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staging advice: NO SALE! for Good Morning America - 10/02/06 05:12 PM
If you didn't catch the conclusion of GMA's "Sell Your House In a Week Challenge"... well it was NOT a happy ending. Real estate expert Barbara Corcoran gave it her all to prepare and market the NJ house and get it sold in 1 week. And while they had 80 people tour with 3 serious buyers at yesterday's open house, they just could not seal the deal.
WHAT LEASONS DID BARBARA LEARN and want to share about selling in the current market?
#1 MOST IMPORTANT THING: "STAGING is not optional it is ESSENTIAL!"
#2 Price is King
#3 There are no "Hollywood Endings" … (15 comments)
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staging advice: 2 Sides of the Real Estate Transaction - 10/01/06 01:22 PM
It is often said that buying a home is the biggest PURCHASE one will ever make in their lives.
But there are 2 sides to every story.
Does it NOT stand to reason that putting one's home on the market would then be a person's biggest SALE in their life?
I think sometimes that is forgotten... and that is where stagers go to work.
Plain and Simple... Stager's help maxmize the BIGGEST SALE in one's life.
… (5 comments)
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staging advice: Halloween Decorations or DISTRACTIONS? - 09/30/06 01:55 PM
Well it's that time of the year when the ghost, goblins, gouls come out of attics and basements and into homes. While for some the day is great fun... for other's Halloween carries a negative connotation.
You might want to suggest to your seller's that this year they cut back or totally avoid decorating.
As a stager I advise our clients to use VERY little or NO decorations. WHY? For the simple reason... when selling a house the HOME is to be the "star of the show" not the stuff.
PRO OR CON Halloween... NOT decorating makes sense because:
* If a buyer LIKES Halloween you don't want them looking at all … (31 comments)
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