realtors: Selling Your Kitchener-Waterloo Home over the Winter
- 12/03/11 12:44 PM
Selling your home is always stressful and inconvenient however selling during the winter presents its own unique set of challenges. Not only is the market typically slower during colder, winter months but the holidays can make it difficult to juggle the need to decorate with the importance to properly showcase your home. As there are less buyers looking for a home its vital to make sure your property shows beautifully so buyers will willingly – and eagerly – face winter’s cold wrath to preview your home.
Keep your driveway and walkways shoveled and accessible. The last thing a seller wants is … (14 comments)
realtors: The Buyers Didn't Want to Leave ...
- 04/23/11 04:17 AM
Last month, we were contacted by a new real estate brokerage to do a consultation for a client who was just outside town in a lovely area where the houses are larger and sit on huge grand lots. We had never worked with this particular realtor before and we knew this was an opportunity to really show him what we could do! The home owners were a lovely couple who had spent the few months leading up to this point de-cluttering, packing things away and generally getting into the mindset of wanting to sell. Their home was gorgeous with beautiful peaks … (15 comments)
realtors: Transformation of a Waterloo Home
- 03/03/11 10:50 AM
In December of last year, we were contacted by one of the realtors we partner with about a vacant property which needed some TLC and staging before being listed. We walked through the property and from piles of christmas lights to garbage bags and rooms full of clutter, we saw that with some hard work this property would really shine. It took some time but a few weeks ago we got the go ahead from the home owner to start working and we arranged for painting, repairs, new light fixtures and staging. The results are a charming Waterloo home which really … (19 comments)
realtors: Does Your Website or Business Card Feature a Current Picture of You?
- 02/03/11 11:00 AM
Okay, so this blog article was inspired by a meeting my partner Alana Merritt and I had with a realtor the other day and its not a new topic - but it IS an important one! We met with this realtor and being savvy business women, we checked out his online presence, read his blog and noted what he looked like so that we could recognize him when we met him. In his picture, he looked about mid-thirties, had a great smile and a full head of dark brown hair. Flash forward to the small coffee shop, Alana and I had … (24 comments)
realtors: Home Owners: The Importance of Choosing a Realtor who Partners with a Professional Home Stager
- 11/24/10 03:23 PM
The way in which home owners sell their homes has changed and evolved over the last twenty-five years. Due to increasingly busy lifestyles, dual income families and a tremendous rise in TV shows about all aspects of design, a new breed of home buyer has emerged. These buyers are smart, savvy and they are willing to invest more money in a home which they can just move into without making any significant changes to the property. Less and less of the ‘fixer-uppers’ are being bought by these buyers, primarily due to the fact that they simply don’t have the time – or the … (5 comments)
realtors: Kitchener-Waterloo Vacant Homes: Why They are a Tough Sell
- 07/08/10 04:44 AM
Vacant homes are some of the toughest properties to sell. A national survey done by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) in 2009 found that vacant homes which were staged spent 78% less time on the market. Below are the reasons why Kitchener-Waterloo vacant homes are so hard to sell: 1) Buyers are inherently visual - only 10% of buyers can actually see past what is right in front of them. If they can't see it, they won't buy it.
Living Room "Before"
Living Room "After" 2) Rooms always appear smaller than what they actually are without furnishings … (14 comments)
realtors: Home Staging Increases the Value of a Gorgeous Home in Stanley Park, Kitchener!
- 04/02/10 04:14 PM
Recently, my partner and I were contacted by a design savvy home owner who knew they would have to do some improvements and staging to get their home in the Stanley Park area of Kitchener, ready for sale. After an in depth consultation, we made a number of recommendations for their Kitchen, living areas and basement which they not only agreed to, they were excited about implementing. Rooms in Bloom was hired to come in after they were finished upgrading things such as the kitchen countertops, painting a few of the principal rooms and changing out some of the light fixtures. … (7 comments)
realtors: Why you should NOT stage your own house
- 03/29/10 07:14 AM
Recently, I read a magazine article which profiled the wedding day of a particular couple and one part of their story really struck a chord with me. The bride was determined that they would spend as little money on their wedding day as possible. She got the bright idea that she would do her own hair for the wedding - from colour & highlights to cut and style. Nevermind that she'd never done it before, she'd always gone to a hairdresser and she had absolutely no idea where to start. She plunged ahead, dollar signs that she was saving in her … (19 comments)
realtors: The Essence of our Kitchener Home Staging Services!
- 03/22/10 08:43 AM
Over the past few weekends, I have been travelling down to my hometown of Burlington to help my mom recover from major surgery. Amidst all the things I’m doing to help her, I have found time to go to a number of open houses – hey, its a passion of mine – and see what’s available. I’ve seen some great properties and been tempted by a few, but that isn’t the point of my blog post today. Today I want to talk about the essence of home staging. The reason I want to do this is because I think people … (16 comments)
realtors: Adventures in Staging
- 01/21/10 03:03 PM
In our line of work and because we deal so much with people, we collect stories which we feature in our "Adventures in Staging" portion of our monthly newsletter. Our adventures detail our experiences and usually provide an underlying message for clients and REA's reading them. This actual event occurred last year and while at the time was quite disconcerting, now makes us chuckle because it contains so many elements of what we hope not to have happen during a consultation. So first of all, both my partner and I are asked by one of our REA partners to go and … (9 comments)
realtors: UrbanEra Model Homes Staged by Rooms in Bloom Home Staging & Design
- 01/09/10 01:04 PM
Last year, my partner and I were hired by a local developer to stage their model homes. We worked tirelessly with the builder to create two stunning & entirely different designs and feel we succeeded. We chose to decorate the home with simple, yet stunning furniture and accessories which allowed each home's layout and architectural details to shine through. In the traditional home, we used a rich gold toned paint and accented it with a stunning palette of luxurious colours and materials.
In the contemporary home we used crisp modern furniture accented by stunning … (22 comments)
realtors: New Website and Logo
- 08/09/09 02:02 AM
I am very pleased to announce that my partner and I have a new logo and website! When we started our business just over a year ago, we chose a standard logo and I designed and wrote our website. It worked really well for us however over the past few months it has become more important to us to showcase our work with a more elegant and polished image. We are very proud of the new website and hope you will take the time to have a peek! www.homestagingdesign.ca
… (11 comments)
realtors: Kitchener Waterloo Realtors: Talking to Your Clients about Home Staging
- 07/27/09 04:34 PM
My last post was about home staging from the point of view of the seller. I tried to illustrate the fact that sellers while they might have a glamorized idea of what home staging is, they don't really understand how it works. In addition, it's vital that home stagers understand a seller's anxiety and trepidation on having professionals come through and critique their home. Putting sellers at ease is key to getting their trust and to ensure that they understand the stager's vision and be open to suggestions. Now its all about realtors. Currently, this is the toughest part of the … (42 comments)
realtors: Home Staging: From the Client's Perspective
- 07/25/09 12:12 AM
Okay, so I thought I would write a few blog posts from the different perspectives of the people directly involved in the home selling process. This first one is going to be written from the perspective of the sellers - and trust me after talking to many of them and hearing their reactions (good and bad) and knowing how I would feel as a seller, I think I can make this believable. Why am I writing this? Because after listening to both sellers and realtors I realize there is a lot of miscommunication, misunderstandings, and trepidation which shouldn't be there when … (6 comments)
realtors: Beautiful Cambridge Home - Staged & SOLD in 3 Days!
- 06/15/09 08:16 AM
We had the opportunity to work with some great sellers at a stunning home in Branchton. After doing a consultation for them, we advised them on everything from paint colours to new lighting for the dining room and powder room. We then came in and staged last week with some great rental furniture, our home decor accessories and combined them with the seller's existing furniture. The results? Spectacular! I have created a great slideshow on Flickr for anyone who wants to view it and here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/roomsinbloom/sets/72157619783432236/
And the backyard is simply to die for ... I'm trying … (7 comments)
realtors: Stratford Home Staged to Sell!
- 06/12/09 08:57 AM
We work with several realtors in Stratford and we got called in to stage at a home where the home owner had done a lot in the way of renovations. It was actually the mirror image of a vacant home we had staged in the area with the exception that our client had blown out the back of the home to add a gourmet kitchen, a great room, another bathroom and office. The realtor we work with said the home had great bones, it just needed some "tarting up" as the occupants were men and there was very little in the … (5 comments)
realtors: Kitchener Home Staging Makes Online Pictures Stand Out!
- 03/27/09 05:47 AM
My partner and I recently did a presentation for a Home Buyers & Sellers Seminar this past week and one of the things we talked about seemed to resonate strongly with our crowd. That is the importance of home staging to a home's pictures online, which is the place to shop for a home these days. We call shopping for a home online "speed dating". Its very similar to going out to one of those speed dating events where you have only a certain amount of time to impress another person enough that they want to get your contact information in … (8 comments)
realtors: Waterloo - Vacant Home "Before & After" Pictures
- 03/14/09 04:44 PM
Rooms in Bloom staged a vacant home in Waterloo this past week. We took an awkward layout and made it seem both cozy - and contemporary! We have contracts for five other vacant homes in upcoming weeks. After forwarding RESA's staging statistics to many Realtors, we have gotten a phenomenal response! Please let us know your feedback on our pictures!
Living Room "Before"
Living Room/Dining Room "After"
Living Room/Dining Room "After"
Dining Room "Before"
Dining Room "After"
Family Room "Before"
Family Room "After"
… (11 comments)
realtors: A really interesting consultation ...
- 02/05/09 11:39 PM
My partner and I were called this week to do a consultation on a listing, by a realtor who had never used our services before. This realtor had never used a home stager but after viewing our website and viewing some of our brochures left at his office, had decided to call us. We arrived at the property - well drove right past it because the sign was buried in the snow and what was showing, was plastered with more snow. One of the first things we did was use our car brushes and clear off the sign so it was … (4 comments)
realtors: Kitchener-Waterloo Vacant Home Staging Basics
- 01/08/09 01:52 PM
This is an article I wrote which is being featured not only in Rooms in Bloom's newsletter, but several other Realtor newsletters in our area. I just thought I would share. Also - if anyone else has any input on how they handle inquiries about the feasibility of staging vacant homes, I would love to hear what you say. For us, we get inquiries daily which is why I thought I would write this short article. Vacant Home Staging Basics Yesterday, my partner Alana and I received our third inquiry from a Realtor about what was involved in staging an … (21 comments)
Blog written by Heather Cook, award winning home staging designer for Rooms in Bloom Home Staging & Design Inc. Great information on home staging & re-design for realtors, sellers and buyers!
Selling your home is always stressful and inconvenient however selling during the winter presents its own unique set of challenges. Not only is the market typically slower during colder, winter months but the holidays can make it difficult to juggle the need to decorate with the importance to properly showcase your home. As there are less buyers looking for a home its vital to make sure your property shows beautifully so buyers will willingly – and eagerly – face winter’s cold wrath to preview your home.
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