I'm sitting here with lots of free time on my hands watching the packers work hard doing their thing.  I'm so excited to be moving, it seemed to take forever for this day to come!  Thought it would be a nice time to take a minute and say thank you to all the wonderful people here that I've followed for the past couple years.  I joined AR when there were just a few thousand of us and now look what it's become.  Although I haven't been as active as I could be, It has been a truly wonderful place to visit and I love checking in when I can, reading so many wonderful, informational posts.

I was very fortunate to be able to sell my house to the first couple that looked at it!  A testament that great staging and great proper pricing work!  Now I'm packing up and moving to San Diego!  I couldn't be more thrilled to be heading back home, closer to my boys in college and actually get to live full time with my husband again.  He's been working in DC for the past two years and only came home on the weekends (not to mention a quick 5 months in Kuwait). 

So for now, I'm taking a little break from staging.  Think I'll enjoy the summer and decide what to do with my business once I'm settled in California.  I'm sure I'll pop in here to see what's going on, but in the meantime...  Good bye and best of luck for a successful year to you all!

STUNNING custom brick home in Founders Bridge featuring the best of everything!

4 Bedrooms, 3.5 baths.  YrBlt. 2005, Sq.Ft. 4443

$769,950.00

SOARING, open FOYER and balcony, elegant living and dining rooms, LIBRARY/OFFICE with stone fireplace, vaulted family room with stone fireplace that opens to an INCREDIBLE GOURMET KITCHEN with beautiful custom cabinetry and top-of-the-line appliances and separate casual dining area. Private and spacious 1ST FLOOR MASTER retreat with super-luxurious bath. Three additional (large) bedrooms on the 2nd level and two full baths PLUS a comfortable 2nd-level family room provide the ultimate in comfort! Attached, 3-car garage, inviting rear porch and deck, lush landscape and grounds w/ irrigation and MUCH MORE. Truly a superb property that will please the most discriminating buyer!!

Click HERE for more details.

UPDATE:  Happy to report this home went under contract to the first buyers who looked at it!

You've no doubt heard it before, but it always bears repeating... Remove wallpaper prior to putting your house on the market.  I recently did a Walk & Talk Consultation for some sellers who had their house on the market for a very long time, 175 days. Overall, their house was in pretty good shape.  They had decluttered and maintained it well.  I suggested a few additional decor items, repositioned some furniture, etc.  Unfortunately, their previous agent told them it was okay to leave up the wallpaper that was in the diining room and entry (sorry no before photo of that space).  Why would an agent say that in this market?  During my consultation, I insisted it would be worth their effort to have the paper removed.  After their listing expired, they re-listed with one of my favorite agents, Robin Hurst of The Hurst Team at Keller Williams.   The result is fantastic and the house went under contract after only 6 days on the market.  Proof that condition and proper pricing usually brings a sale!

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Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC, providing quality, professional home staging services to the greater Richmond, VA area.  For more information, please call 804-271-2604 or visit my website at www.judyheinrich.com

Sometimes a dated kitchen just needs to be redone!  Here's an example from a vacant townhouse I staged this past week.  The sellers had this property on the market for a long time.  They decided to take it off the market, update the kitchen, stage the property and put it back on the market.  I think the kitchen redo turned out fantastic!  Not a lot of buyers out there looking for blue formica countertops and those old '80s cabinets.  But now... the kitchen is sure to please!

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For professional, quality staging, please consider Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC, serving the greater Richmond, VA area.  For more information, call 804-271-2604 or visit my website at www.judyheinrich.com

I've been a bit frustrated lately with the poor quality of staging I've seen.  And even more frustrated that I've lost a couple vacant staging jobs to others who seem to be charging pennies!  To be quite honest, I believe I am very reasonably priced and provide a quality professional service.

One project I didn't get was a home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room, living room, office and kitchen.  We discussed the different levels of service for a vacant and the owner wanted more than just a simple, vignette staging.  So I prepared a proposal that I thought was well priced, especially considering the large number of built in bookcases that needed to be staged properly (we all know how that eats up inventory!).  According to the seller, I didn't get the job because he found "a stager who was able to fully stage the house for three months within their budget of $1200-$1500."  Now I don't know how anyone can provide quality, professional staging for that price for all those rooms fully staged and still get paid!  I haven't seen any pictures of it yet, but I can imagine.  Oh well... on to the next one.

I had another project I would have loved to do.  Two model condo units in a renovated building in the Fan district of Richmond.  I had staged a model condo for this builder in 2007 with great results.  Well this time around I'm guessing they wanted to save some money.  At least that's the only thing I can think of since the listing agent (who I prepared the propsal for) never responded to my several follow up emails/calls.  First of all, I think it's very unprofessional of the agent to not respond, let alone not have the courtesy to tell me "no thanks".  Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to discuss my proposal and ways to work within their budget, if at all possible.   Well, I just found the photos of the units online and needless to say... They Got What They Paid For!

It's probably not too professional of me to post those photos so I won't, but I can't resist just a comparison of my staged living room in the unit I staged a couple years ago vs. the living room of this unit.  Let's hope the builder and agent decided to do it themselves.  I'd hate to think a professional stager did it!

Here's the living room I did not stage...

Here's the one I staged...

Any other stagers running into this problem?  I'm afraid sub par staging is giving us a bad name!

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For professional, quality staging, please consider Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC, serving the greater Richmond, VA area.  For more information, visit my website at www.judyheinrich.com

In my previous blog, Before & Afters of a Staging Consultation - Part 1, I wanted to show the results of a client that took my suggestions from a consultation and implemented them themselves without having me come back to do some final staging and "tweaking".  The point I wanted to make was that, while a staging consultation is a fantastic tool to get your property ready for showing, for most sellers it's hard to see their property the same way a professional stager does.  So while they usually make tremendous improvements to the showing condition of their property, it may not be as polished as it could be with the hand of a professional stager.

In this example, my client worked hard preparing her property from the recommendations made during the consultation.  I am fortunate to work with a fantastic agent, Robin Hurst of The Hurst Team, who really understands the value of staging and uses me on all of her listings.  She had me return to the property to make sure it looked the best it could, and we provided a few decor items while staying within the sellers budget.

(left) Before Staging Consultation    (right) After Staging Consultation - Much better but still a bit too much clutter

After a return visit, you will notice there was a bit more editing of decor, the sofa was slip covered, a large rug was brought in and a few toss pillows.  Overall, the room feels more put together and pleasing to the eye.

Here's a few more before and afters:

The first picture was after the consultation (I don't have a before shot).  Looks pretty good.  But when I came back, I removed the valances, the candles on the table (they were snowballs) the plant in the corner and a few items on the hutch.  Overall, I only made a few simple changes, but it was just enough.

(left) Before Consultation.  (right) After Consultation - Better, but towels are quite right

After Staging - just a bit more tweaking of the towels and removal of silk flowers shows off the tub area better

After Staging - Repositioning the chair and the dressing table helped to balance out the weight in the room. We also moved the bench from a wall to the end of the bed.  A few more pillows and a throw added a pop of color that was needed.  

All of the changes we made were suggestions presented during the consultation, but weren't executed by the seller.   When budget is an issue, we always work first with what the homeowner owns, as i truly believe we can always make it look better.  The total investment in staging this property was only $500 (includes added decor).  I think that's money well spent!

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Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC - providing professional home staging services to the greater Richmond, VA area.  For more information, please visit my website, www.judyheinrich.com or phone 804-271-2604.

My approach to staging a property that will be occupied while it is on the market always begins with a consultation.  I talked about this in my blog "What a Difference a Consultation Can Make" and truly believe great results are possible!  This is the first step in the staging process and gives the seller so much information that they can do it all themselves, or have me complete the tasks.  Sometimes I get called back to complete the work, sometimes the sellers try to do it all themselves.  Either way, the property always looks better than it did prior to the consultation.  But sometimes when I see photos of the properties that I've done a consultation on but have not returned for hands on staging, I have mixed emotions.  Happy to see that the sellers have accomplished so much, but disappointed sometimes that I know it could look even better with my hands on help!  Here's a couple photos to demonstrate what I'm talking about:

House #1  (apologize that the after photos aren't the exact angle as the befores... the after photos were sent to me by the agent)

I'm happy to see the owners repositioned the furniture, toned down the paint, packed up some clutter, etc.  But I still think a little "tweaking" could be done. The mantle and chairs in the living room aren't quite right and I would like to see the little houses on the shutters removed.  But overall they did a great job.  Now, here's where it could be better with professional staging...

While the sellers did a great job again neutralizing paint, this extra room is really not staged to it's fullest potential.  Window treatments really need to be addressed and this is extra square footage that could be shown off in a much more appealing manor. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 and see a property that had me come back for final staging to see what just a little "tweaking" can do!

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Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC, - Providing quality, professional home staging services to the greater Richmond, VA area.  For more information please visit my website, www.judyheinrich.com, or call today 804-271-2604.

As professional stagers, our job is to help sellers prepare their home to show the best it can when its on the market!  I would venture to say that every successful stager most likely has had an occasional property not sell for some reason or another that staging could not overcome.  So here's a story of one of mine.  I was contacted by an agent to stage her listing last year. The seller was great! Very cooperative and did most of the painting and other prep work I recommended and he kept the property in showing condition.  We came in and staged and the house showed beautifully, and comments on the staging were all positive!  Here are just a couple photos of the the property before staging.

Now, here are a couple photos of the property after staging (seller decided not to paint the bathroom):

Unfortunately, the property did not sell and was taken off the market in the fall and destaged.  Now, I'd like to point out that the cost to keep this property staged with my accessories and decor was only $200/month.   I'm sure the seller thought at the time it was too much since the property wasn't selling! 

Now the property is back on the market, unstaged and for approximately $70,000 less than original asking price!  By the original listing agent's own admission, the property was overpriced initially. There were a couple issues that could not be overcome with staging as well (only 1.5 baths and a troubling rear yard).  So here's a few pictures I pulled off the MLS that show the same rooms as they're being shown now... at least the agent had a wide angle lens...sure does take better pictures than mine!

On the bright side, at least the property was painted, clutter packed up and even now shows better than it did on the first visit I made to the property! Its clean and neutral (except for the bathroom) and is probably priced right this time around.  You might even think these pictures aren't too bad... after all we've all seen much worse on the MLS!   But I can't help but wonder if I could have done something more or if I should have done something different?  In the end, I think I did the best I could.  We can make a property look great, but after that, it's out of our hands.  Would love to hear any stories other successful stagers might have!

The first step every seller should take BEFORE putting their house on the market is to hire a Professional Home Stager for a staging consultation.  This is the most affordable, cost effective solution to getting your house market ready.  A good home staging professional will provide you with a "roadmap" to prepare your home for sale.  For the DIY seller, the consultation is a valuable resource to guide you in the right direction.  If you are a seller that wants a little more hands on help, a home staging professional will be happy to do the actual work needed to make your property stand out from the competition!

Here are a few examples of what can be achieved by motived home sellers after a Walk & Talk Consultation provided by Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC.

Judy Heinrich Home Staging, LLC - providing professional home staging services to the greater Richmond, Virginia area.  For more information on preparing your home for sale, please visit www.judyheinrich.com or phone 804-271-2604.

Assuming budget is an issue and you want to get the most bang for your buck...

Would you recommend sellers invest in granite and stainless appliances in an otherwise outdated kitchen.  For instance, say a seller has old, cheap cabinets. Perhaps they've painted them white (or whatever) so they look better, but they're still old and quite frankly, cheap. Or maybe they are the type that were popular in the 80's - those white with wood trim ones (we've all seen them) Would you still recommend putting expensive granite on top of them?  

I ask this question for no particular reason other than I'm curious what others think.  To me it seems like such a waste of money if the original cabinets are ugly and most likely would be removed in a kitchen update.  I'm conflicted because I know buyers like granite and stainless, but would it be better to spend the money on new hardware, paint, nice formica type counter tops (they have some good selections nowadays), a decent looking floor, etc.  For me, I would feel like I was stuck with the dated cabinets just to save the nice granite counters. I'd rather have a less expensive, but nice looking kitchen that I wouldn't feel guilty about ripping out when the time came.  However, I don't want my personal opinion to influence my recommendations to a client should the occasion arise.

So, what's your opinion?