A Staging Job Close To My Heart - Introduction - 05/31/10 05:54 PM
 

 
For those of you who are a Facebook Friend, you probably read a few updates from me about a property that I was going to stage.  This one hit very close to home for me as it was owned by my In-laws.
Sadly, my Father-in-law passed away almost 3 months ago.  He suffered a massive stroke last June and pulled through against all odds.  The past year was a real struggle for him, but because of his spirit, he never gave up.  No matter how many setbacks he had along the way, he just considered them "another bump in … (17 comments)

Bill 168 - Is Your Real Estate Brokerage Prepared For June 15th? - 05/27/10 04:14 PM
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Bill 168 (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) was passed in October of 2009.  This Bill will be in effect as of June 15, 2010 and will put the onus on employers in Ontario, Canada with a staff of 5 or more to (a) assess their risk for workplace violence and (b) put policies in place.  Once these two steps have been taken, employees must then be trained on the policies.  All of this must be completed by June 15th.
The real estate industry is mentioned by various articles on Bill 168 as an industry with inherent risk of … (4 comments)

Canadian Home Sales: It's a Buyer's Market Again Which Means Staging is Even More Important! - 05/18/10 07:36 PM
An article published in this morning's edition of The Toronto Star: Canadian Home Sales, quotes recent statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association.  Existing home sales were down 2.6% in April from March of 2010.  Increasingly, there are more homes coming onto the market which in turn, is choking the recent seller's market.  In fact there has been a record number of new listings - up 0.9% month over month.  
Now that there are more properties available for sale, buyers are getting the upper hand as they have more to choose from.  What does this mean if you are selling your home right now?  It means that … (11 comments)

'Staging' Your Flower Photos: A Neat Trick for Close-Up Photography - Makes Great Staging Artwork - 05/17/10 08:21 PM
 

An inexpensive way to add some extra artwork to your home staging inventory is by photographing some of the flowers in your garden.  I have a macro setting on my digital camera for close-ups, but I would always have the problem of other items appearing in the background.  That's not always ideal when you are having the photos blown up quite large. 
Here's a little trick that I just learned for taking close-ups of your outdoor flowers.  Buy a piece of black construction paper and hold it up behind the flower(s).  Here's an example of the difference it makes.  … (20 comments)

Orange You Glad You Removed the Carpet? - My Latest REALTOR Magazine Article - 05/05/10 06:02 PM
 
Talking a homeowner into removing worn and/or dated carpeting can be a tough sale sometimes.  I had this scenario play out very close to home recently.  We are in the process of preparing my Mother-in-law's out-of-town home for sale.  It's a beautiful home with loads of potential, but it is in need of some updating.  The main drawback in my opinion was the orange carpeting.
Recently I wrote an article about this for REALTOR Magazine's blog Styled, Staged & Sold.  The 'before' photo is shown above.  To read about my experience and see the results afterwards, click here.
I was excited to find out yesterday … (13 comments)

Burlington Penthouse: Staged and Sold In Under One Month / Before & After Pictures - 05/03/10 10:56 AM
We were happy to find out that one of our latest staging projects just recently sold.  The most exciting part was that it sold in less than one month which is great, considering the price point of this property!  This Burlington Ontario penthouse was listed at $829,900 so we were expecting it to be on the market a little longer than other condo units at a lower asking price.
Hopefully our staging helped to speed things up - we think it did.  Here are some photos of what was done to make this property worthy of its price tag:

BEFORE:

The entry way was … (14 comments)