SOLD in 5 days at very near FULL PRICE! How to Help Your Home Stand Out in a Tough Market.Home › Living › Home & Garden How to help your home stand out in a tough market By Lisa Marshall, Special to the Rocky Friday, April 25, 2008
Steve Peterson, Special to the Rocky A house-staging team from We Stage Colorado - from left, Amy Tennal, Donna Ward, Vicki Weller and Trish Pachak - gathers in the kitchen of an Arvada home they've spruced up for sale. Related Links More Home & Garden Story Tools
A lime-green bathroom. Chipped paint on the front door. A cluttered home office with a dusty elk head hanging on the wall. A wall-swallowing sports- memorabilia collection. A few years ago, such subtle imperfections or quaint reflections of a homeowner's individuality may have been overlooked by prospective home buyers eager to catch a deal in a seller's market. But the tables have turned, and any of the above could constitute a distraction at best - and a deal-killer at worst, experts say. "November through the middle of February was the worst market I have ever seen in 31 years," says Edie Marks, the Denver Board of Realtor's top seller and a three-decade veteran of the local real estate market. "To sell a house today, it has to be in the best possible shape and it has to be competitively priced. People want to walk into the house of their dreams and find it in move-in condition." According to statistics provided by the Colorado Association of Realtors, a whopping 25,516 homes were on the market in the metro area in March. The average selling price is $223,597, down 3.5 percent from this time last year, and the average number of days a home sits on the market is a daunting 111. Add all that to the record number of foreclosed-on houses crowding the market at cut-rate prices, as well as the fact that "for sale" signs seem to sprout like tulips during springtime, and a would-be seller has good reason to be nervous. But experts say there are plenty of simple, fairly inexpensive things homeowners can do to make their houses stand out in a competitive market. "It's all about marketing - about changing your home from a home to a house to a product," says Real Estate of the Rockies Realtor Lisa Hives, noting that homeowners need to "detach" from their homes and work to make them marketable to the masses. The first step toward that end, professional home stager Trish Pachak says, is to de-personalize and de-clutter. "The way you live in your home is very different from the way you want to present it to buyers," Pachak explained during a recent walk-through consultation with home-sellers Rob and Carin Bremer, of Arvada. "If it is too personal or too reflective of the individual family, the potential home buyer sees that and they don't have the opportunity to see themselves in that place." Pachak's We Stage Colorado is one of about 30 professional staging companies in Colorado, which charge anywhere from $150 for an initial walk-through consultation to several thousand to fully "stage" a home for a seller (re- arranging, decorating and remodeling it to make it more marketable). Unlike interior designers, who aim to help you create a home that reflects your personality, stagers work to take "the you" out of the home, Pachak says. She recommends sticking with neutral colors (think off-whites and beiges) for all horizontal and vertical surfaces. Meanwhile, weave one or two impact colors throughout the house in items like bathroom towels and kitchen place mats (sea and sky blues and sandy earth tones are in fashion). She strongly urges homeowners to take down all but a few family photos, any religious items and large collections (China plates, sports memorabilia, hunting trophies) that eat up wall space, distract the potential buyer and may make a home feel crowded. And when it comes to de-cluttering, Pachak recommends clearing out closets, drawers and home offices, packing away anything you haven't used in eight weeks and leaving only a few essential items neatly organized in place. "Crammed home offices are one of the No. 1 problems I see," Hives says. "I've seen boxes and boxes stacked almost to the ceilings." For busy clients like the Bremers, who have three children under the age of 3, Pachak recommends keeping empty laundry hampers with lids in the closet of each room so that if a potential buyer shows up at the door on short notice, they can throw toys, books and anything else into the hamper and shut the door. "It's hard to deal with showings when you have little kids," said Carin Bremer, holding her 3-year- old on one hip, a handful of toys in the other arm. "We need to sell it quickly." Lynne Abreu-Martin, a professional home stager with Westview Design, says furniture placement can also have a huge impact. While homeowners tend to arrange their furniture around their favorite pastimes (often the TV), that placement is seldom best for accentuating the home's architecture. For instance a large sectional placed in a U-shape in front of a television can make a room look much smaller than if it were stretched out across the walls. "Furniture placement is extremely important, and it is one of the least-expensive things you can do," Abreu-Martin says. Once the home is rearranged, de-personalized, and de-cluttered, it also needs to be spotlessly clean, inside and out. "While the agent is unlocking the door, the buyer is looking around outside," says stager Jan Lawrence. A messy yard can leave a potential buyer with a preconceived notion about how the house has been maintained.
Leaving nothing to chance When a fresh coat of paint, a few colorful throw pillows and a good cleaning still don't do the trick, some homeowners turn to higher powers and other unconventional sources to help get their houses sold. Here's a look: * Bury a St. Joseph statue in the backyard: Centuries ago, nuns prayed to St. Joseph - the earthly father of Jesus and patron saint of workers - when they needed more land for the convents. Today, homeowners bury his statue upside down in the backyard when they're ready to hold an open house. "Does it work? I'm not sure. But people everywhere do it a lot," says Boulder Realtor Bettianne Shoney Sien, of Global Real Estate Network. "Some people bury him upside down facing out. Others face him toward the sign." A handy St. Joseph Statue Real Estate Kit will run you $13.95 on the Internet. * Hire a feng shui practitioner: The 3,000-year-old Chinese practice aims to balance the energy in a home, through furniture placement and use of light and sound, to create a space where yin and yang are balanced and the five elements are in harmony. If nothing else, the chimes and mirrors often used make the house seem lighter and sound pretty. * Have your house cleared and blessed: For as little as $150, a shaman will help you clear out "energetic remnants of thoughts and feelings" (perhaps negative ones left behind by a bad divorce, a violent incident or other unpleasant experiences). Boulder shaman Melanie Mulhall uses drums, herbs, candles and other tools to clear the space and then blesses it. "The space feels lighter, cleared, cleaner, more joyful," she says. * Give away free stuff: Sien likes to bake cookies and have them sitting on the counter, put out a bowl of chocolate, offer lemonade on a hot day or hand out seed packets come spring. "People associate the house with generosity, and it makes a subtle impression." * And whatever you do, do not: smoke in or near the house, have your pets present or use an overpowering scent mister. People underestimate the power of a home shopper's nose.
Some hot sales tips Professional home stagers Jan Lawrence, Trisha Pachak and Lynne Abreu-Martin offer these additional tips for homeowners trying to catch a buyer in our tough market: In the kitchen * Remove all pictures, personal notes, etc. from the refrigerator. * Leave only one or two countertop appliances out in view. * If your light fixtures or cabinet knobs are outdated, consider replacing them with something darker such as wrought iron or bronze or spray- painting them with metallic spray paint. In the bathroom * Put away all personal products. * Hang colored towels with a ribbon around them. It serves as a nice decoration and keeps home shoppers from using them. * Replace your shower curtain. In the living room * Remove all but one or two family pictures. * Consider rearranging the furniture to make the room look its biggest. * Keep a laundry hamper with a lid in the closet. If you have an unexpected showing, sweep the clutter into it. In the closet * Pack away anything you haven't used in six to eight weeks. * Organize what's left in neat categories (shirts, pants, etc.) Outside * Paint the front door and wash it regularly. * Spray off the front porch. * Rake up dead leaves and grass. * Place a pot of flowers or a potted evergreen out front to give it color. At the showing * Bake cookies or put out a citrus scent (it has a clean smell), but don't overdo it or they'll think you're hiding something. * Open the shades and turn on all the lights. * Play soft music. Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News Comments Posted by pgchek on April 26, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal) The house in Arvada that We Stage Colorado staged was listed at the higher end of the pricing range and sold very near full price in five days! Add to that the fact that there were several other comparable homes at the same price point including the same model in the same neighborhood for sale. Two things sell a house: Pricing and Aesthetics. Pricing is the expertise of a great agent and aesthetics is the expertise of a great Stager. Professional stagers can provide a "huge" market advantage for the home sellers that want to sell their homes quickly and for the highest amount possible. You can contact the pros at We Stage Colorado at http://westagecolorado.com/ or call 303-521-8551 to schedule a no-fee property review. Chicken Little- The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling! Or is it? Change your perception and you will change your Reality!No matter where you turn these days, you hear about how bad the housing market is. I even heard a comment on a recent showing of an HGTV show that dubbed Colorado the "Foreclosure Capitol of the Country". Whether or not you feel that is true or not, when a media source puts that kind of information out there, it colors people's perceptions. Is the market down? You bet Are homes still selling in Colorado? Of course! It is not the breakneck pace that we have enjoyed in recent years past but when homes are priced right and staged by a professional home stager they sell faster and for the most money possible.  Some market correction is probably a good thing. We can sit and blame the mortgage industry and in truth they should shoulder a lot of the responsibility but what has come of this is tighter regulations on an industry that previously has had little or no regulations. That is a great thing! But where do we go from here? The answer is UP! As in all things, Real Estate is cyclical and what goes down must come up. We are beginning to see some of that in the Denver metro market. Perception is changing and with that comes a shift in the home buying public attitude and awareness. Homes need to be priced correctly and be aesthetically pleasing through Staging. These are the two most important factors for selling a home in ANY market. "Trying" a price and giving "Allowances" don't work. They never really have and they never will. 90% of buyers cannot see past what is in front of them and that includes paint color! Buyers are getting smarter and more agressive but home sellers are getting smarter as well. The practice of having homes Staged before putting them on the market is becoming more and more common place. Staging is not being seen so much as an expense as in an investment in protecting the seller's equity. Merchandising is crucial. It has to look good and create a sense of urgency on the part of the buyer. You know what I am talking about here, just like the urgency you feel when you walk in to a Marshall's or TJMaxx. You know if you don't get that item right then, it won't be there when you come back later. It is ironic that people will take a vehicle and invest several hundred dollars detailing and cleaning to get a price that is perhaps 25-50% of what they originally paid for it. Yet, when it comes to their homes, they often do not clean, polish or shine up the investment that has probably increased in value since purchase and will net them the greatest return on their investment. Hmmmm....Interesting don't you agree? Educating home sellers is the key! Helping them to understand that by investing in making their home look as aesthetically pleasing as possible they will garner the highest price possible for the investment that will give them the highest return. Staging is an investment in protecting their equity or at the least helping them to garner the highest price possible. If an average price reduction is 5-10% to rekindle interest in a property, on a $500,000 home that would be $25,000 to $50,000 of their equity - GONE! I don't know about you but if your seller can give away that kind of money, please, give them my address and have them send me the check- my name is spelled PACHAK. Friends don't let friends sell homes without Staging. Realtors don't let clients list homes without having them Staged and without agreeing to a realistic market price. Education, education, education. Sellers don't know what we don't tell them and they look to us as the experts. Fear is the enemy. Fear of the unknown. Paint a realistic and hope filled picture. Let your sellers know the reality of their marketplace and educate them as to how they can make it work the very best and most beneficial for them. It is a buyer's market right now but when you create a beautiful, well priced product they will come. We Staged a home in Piney Creek last week and it sold to the first couple who looked at it. It was priced well and looked amazing. The formula works. Time and time again the formula works. Empower your clients to do the best thing for themselves when selling their homes. No one wants to spend top dollar for a "dog" of a property. We can change the perception of gloom and doom in todays market or at least empower home sellers to see that pricing their home correctly and investing in the detailing of their property through Staging is essential for the serious client who wants to preserve the equity they have or at the very least, reduce the amount of funds they would have to bring to the closing table. "No, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling!" It has been cloudy for some time but I can see the sun peeking through the clouds and it's gonna be a beautiful day. Perception is reality. What does yours look like today? Become inspired. Don't discount your time or services, increase your value to your clients. Insist that homes are ready to place on the market with the right price and aesthetically pleasing by being Staged. Staging Services offered by We Stage Colorado "Changing the Face of Colorado Real Estate...One Home at a Time!" Trish Pachak ASP Master Trainer for StagedHomes.com 303-521-8551 Home Stagers.......Who needs them?Home Staging is a phenomenon that is sweeping through the Real Estate industry across the county with no signs of slowing down or going away. Yep, that's right, Staging is here to stay. But why use an Accredited Staging Professional when you the Realtor can just do it yourself, right? Well, maybe we ought to take a look at that notion. The job description for Real Estate agents is to list, market and sell properties right? The more listings, the more sales. The more sales, the greater the income. Lots of paperwork and networking to sell homes, not to mention holding Open Houses, Broker Tours, Office Tours, Listing Presentations, Closings, etc. Wow, with all that going on when would you have time to Stage the properties? Your home sellers are counting on you to be the expert in marketing their properties and getting them sold for top dollar, quickly. By using a Professional Stager you give yourself the advantage of keeping your relationship with your sellers clean. A Professional Stager is trained to work with home sellers to help them move in the emotional journey from home.....to house.....to product. A product that needs to be merchandised to show well and sell quickly. Realtors who "get it" know that by adding a Professional Stager to their virtual team they are providing an extremely valuable service to their clients and increasing the odds to sell properties faster and for more money. More money for the home-seller, higher commissions, reduced advertising costs, fewer Open Houses and a reputation for being a top selling agent. Yes, you can put in a couple of plants and pictures. You can tell that home seller that the collection of 242 ceramic clowns needs to be put away but is that how your time and efforts are best spent? If you want to focus on what you do best, which is listing, marketing and selling Real Estate, be smart and efficient. Use a Professional Stager to give your clients the marketing advantage they deserve. Referrals come from happy clients. Marketing a house that hasn't been Professionally Staged is a lot like going to a job interview in your pajamas! This was a child's playroom before being Professionally Staged
This is the same room after being Staged by Accredited Staging Professionals.
Feels a little different don't you think? The investment you ask a home seller to make in Staging their house is going to be less than the first price reduction you ask them to take on their home. If an average price reduction on a $350,000 home is 5%, that is $17,500. The investment in Staging is a fraction of that. Staging statistics prove that Professionally Staged homes sell in about half the time and for more than the non-staged competition. Knowledge is power. Use what you know and make professional Staging a standard part of your marketing plan. Your clients will appreciate it! Realtors Earn 16 CE Credits and Your ASP Designation While Having Fun!It's COMING! The next ASP Course is coming to Denver! Get 16 CE Credits and have a wonderful two days learning about Home Staging! Knowledge is power and the more you know, the more you know! StagedHomes.com is bringing the ASP Course to Colorado on September 11-13. Realtors attend day 1-2 and Stagers attend days 1-2-3. You will come away with valuable Staging information as well as achieve accreditation as an Accredited Staging Professional Realtor or Accredited Staging Professional Stager. You've seen coverage of Barb Schwarz, the Creator of Home Staging on ABC, CBS, Today Show. You've read about Barb and StagedHomes.com in Forbes, Money, Home, and many other publications. When the media wants to know about Home Staging they go to the source. Be a part of the hottest trend in Real Estate. Bring more value to your clients or start a new career. StagedHomes.com is the place to start. Realtors earn 16 CE credits. Stagers learn everything they need to know to start a successful Staging business. Sign up now. Class size is limited. Location: The Ranch Country Club 120th and Tejon, Westminster. http://stagedhomes.com/ to register online! Staging brings to life 2million dollar homeWe just finished staging this gorgeous home in Denver. It is in an area where small bungalows and ranch style homes are being scraped and replaced with new homes with amazing square footage and top of the line amenities. As beautiful as the architecture and amenities are it still appeared sterile and cold. It has sat on the market for several months with no serious interest. A new Realtor is engaged and he is smart and knows that this property needed to be Staged. What a fun house to Stage it was! Take a look at the before and after photos and see if you agree that this property went from cold and cavernous to warm and inviting. Now potential buyers see possibilities all around! Here is the dining room before Staging
Here is the dining room after Staging
Family Room before Staging
Family Room after Staging
Formal Living Room before Staging
Formal Living Room after Staging
If you have a vacant or occupied property that you want to sell fast and for the most money possible contact We Stage Colorado..... .Changing the Face of Colorado Real Estate, One Home at a Time! Colorado Staging Professionals Accredited and Insured Phone: 303.521.8551 Email: Trish@WeStageColorado.com or visit us at: http://WeStageColorado.com No matter how much experience one has, we must consider our privilege of being invited in to the homes of others.It is mid-July and the height of staging season. One thing that I have been very keen on is the idea that we don't always understand everything we see. Every house is not just as the one before and each person has their own unique story. It is so easy to become callus or insensitive to the lives of the individuals we serve. I have often subscribed to the old adage of " Swims like a fish, smells like a fish, looks like a fish, It's a fish!" I am here to tell, that as much as we may feel that we have seen it all, we have not. Each and every individual walks their own path and we need to honor that. It is so very true that we do not always understand everything we see. We make assumptions, although often wrong. And we make decisions based on the incomplete information that we often have about people. I would ask that each of us step outside of our all too human need for judgement of others, to give the people we serve the opportunity to be the unique individuals that they are and provide a measure of respect that each of us deserve regardless of our perceived circumstance. Respect is something that as accredited staging professionals, we should afford each individual we are given the privilege to know. Let us each take the time to provide the very best of our talents and time to assist those who need our services most, and provide that without our pre-conceived judgements. It is after all, a privilege that we each enjoy when an individual allows us purview into their most intimate inner sanctum. Let us not lose site of the honor that we are provided. Serve with honor, integrity and hold yourself to a higher standard. That is the place that all professional home stagers should ascribe to. It behooves us all to aim to that goal and makes us all strive to be more. I have been Me-Me'd by a Me-meemer :0)Jennie- Thanks for me-me-ing me! What a great idea and a really fun way to get to know more about people! So, I guess we are supposed to say five interesting things most people wouldn't know about me. 1. I have 5 brothers and am third in line! 2. On 9-11, I was working for Sun Microsystems and my office was in the World Trade Center in New York. I was on the subway two stops north of the building when the first plane hit. Had I not overslept I would have been in the office when the planes hit. Lucky huh? 3. I have three wonderful children, two girls and one boy. The girls were born 1 year and 6 hours apart. They would have been born on the same day if I had not asked the doctor to wait until after midnight to deliver the second daughter. Good planning......or not. :o)
4.My favorite color is Periwinkle Blue, my favorite movie is "Steel Magnolias" and my favorite animal is my female Brussels Griffon named Zoe. She is the same breed of dog that was in the movie "As Good As It Gets" with Jack Nicholson. You remember the one he threw down the garbage chute. She is a cutie with personality plus. I think she looks a little like Chewbacca. Isn't she cute?
5. I have been married for 26 years to the same wonderful guy. We have known each other since we were 13. I was a cheerleader for his football team. We didn't date but he dated my friends all through high school. We saw each other at a bar after college and started dating. The rest is history!
That's all for now! Now you know more about me and it is time to know more about YOU! I am going to Me-Me: Jeannie Berger Amy Tennal Jennifer Mussato
Here are the pictures of the re-vamped old medicine cabinet :0)
Here are photos of the medicine cabinet with the framing around it. The stain color matches the cabinet below. This particular frame needed to be narrow to accomodate the lack of space between the cabinet and window casement. Liquid Nails was used to adhere the framing to the medicine cabinet structure.
Dated medicine cabinets get a faceliftHow many times have you gone in to an older home and seen the slightly rusty, dated medicine cabinet with the mirror on the front? I found a solution that gives new life to these medicine cabinets without the cost of trying to replace them, let alone trying to find a newer one that fits the space. Enter staging creativity! I took trim that you would use on crown molding and cut it to fit the size of the cabinet. I mitered the corners and used liquid nails to attach the wood to the chrome around the mirror. I stained the wood to match the cabinet beneath and put a coat of varnish on it to complete the project. It took only 45 minutes to construct and stain with a quick varnish the following day. It looks amazing and updated the bathroom by 40 years. Quick, easy, inexpensive! What could be better? Too soon old, too late smartIf we could all understand that life is a journey, each of us walk a unique path then we could and would, understand the fact that our lives are nothing but the sum of our experiences. Good, bad or indifferent, the bottom line is we need to own the choices we each make. Nobody gave us an owners manual to be sure. So what choices are we making. I am not always sure of many things, but here are a couple of things I know for sure: 1. Kindness matters 2. Think before you speak 3. There will always be someone richer and smarter than you 4. You don't always get a second chance; do-overs are not always an option 5. When you look in the mirror, Be someone you would choose as a friend 6. Life is finite: No matter what, all things must come to an end. 7. We need to work hard, do good works, shut up and go home. Okay, enough for now :o) |
Trish Pachak, ASP Master, Denver,Colorado Westminster, CO More about me… We Stage Colorado- Colorado's Premier Staging Experts Office Phone: (303) 521-8551 Cell Phone: (303) 521-8551 Email Me
Home Staging services offered by Trish Pachak, ASP Master, Owner and Principal Staging Designer of We Stage Colorado. We are dedicated to providing the very best in quality of work and customer service. Visit us at http://www.WeStageColorado to learn more or email Trish at Trish@WeStageColorado.com for a no fee estimate for Staging your property. Staging always costs less than your first price reduction.
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