This post about 8 Myths of Home Staging is well worth reading ... thanks to Donna Ross for her thoughts on this topic. A must read for sellers and their agents!
Home staging (or property styling as it's commonly known as on the Australian property scene) is really an art, not a science. One of the many things a professional home stager understands is that it's the house that's up for sale, not the home owner's bread baking ability or taste in music. So, from the sublime to the rediculous - here's 8 myths of staging to sell - busted!
1. Buyers can see past my stuff No - they can't. 95% of house hunters shop with a 'what you see is what you get' eye. You'll be maximising your chances of a better and quicker sale if you take the time to clean out, clean up and keep your look simple.
2. Baking bread, brewing fresh coffee and playing soft music will make a buyer fall in love with my house. Maybe once upon a time this was true - but most would-be buyers are onto that old trick. It's more likely to trigger alarm bells, with many wondering what it is you're trying to hide. Your buyers will be happy with a place that looks and smells clean.
3. I'll need to clear everything out to help buyers see themselves living here. This is only partly true. Wall to wall family photos are distracting, as is your porcelain rooster collection. These things are best put away. But don't go overboard, otherwise you'll end up with a look that feels cold and sterile.
4. If it's an original feature - it adds value. Sometimes yes - but often no. Generally a property built less than 50 years ago without being updated is more likely to appear dated, rather than classic.
5. My place isn't worth staging. All homes are worth taking the time to present in a positive light to buyers. The trick to knowing where to start and what to do is in having a good idea of what buyers in your target market will expect, along with learning more about what competing properties in your area are offering.
6. Empty rooms look bigger.
This is rarely the case. Buyers will always prefer to see how a room is used and what will fit in it, rather than be left to guess. Very large rooms can also be too intimidating for some. Even borrowed furniture can help buyers get an idea of scale and give the eye something of interest to focus on.
7. Converting a bedroom into a home gym won't be a problem. Bedrooms are one of the most valuable commodities of the 'for sale' property. Having a home gym set up in a bedroom will prompt buyers to wonder why that is. I remember once looking at a house where this was the case. When I came across the bedroom with the gym in it, I immediately began to question if a bed would even fit. Always give the rooms in your house a purpose.
8. No need to worry about wardrobes and cupboards. Home storage is a big deal to most buyers and is surprisingly valuable. Prospective buyers will open storage cupboards in kitchens and bathrooms, so keep them tidy. Keep only what you're using on a daily or weekly basis, and pack the rest away ready for the move.
Have you got a staging myth you'd like busted? Share them with me here.
Donna Ross
Great Impressions Real Estate Staging
"I love helping Sydney home owners and real estate agents catch the eye of choosy buyers with their 'for sale' listings, with fast, simple and inexpensive decorating fixes."
SELLERS: SOME GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR HOME STAGING COMPANY
When you’re comparing home staging proposals, here are some questions to consider asking so that you can be confident you’re selecting the company that’s best for your project:
Is the home staging company registered in the City they’re based in and fully insured for liability in the event of property damage while on your premises? Will they provide a copy of their insurance coverage to you?
Does the staging company's pricing proposal include staging the same number of rooms as your other proposals -- so that you can compare apples to apples? Do they partially stage with "vignettes" only, or do they offer full staging with coordinated furnishings and accessories?
Did they show you examples and photos of their actual work, and not just stock photos of the company they trained with (or photos they found on the internet)?
Does the staging company provide top-quality digital photos for your agent to use online, as well as for flyers?
Are they an established professional staging company with a good website? How long have they been in business? Does local media include them in articles, interviews & film clips?
Does the staging company include periodic visits to the property to check on the staging as part of their service?
Does the staging company accept credit cards?
What training and professional affiliations does the home staging designer have? Are they a full time home stager?
Does the staging company provide photos of their recent staging projects?
Does the staging company give you local clients' references and testimonials?
Does the staging company require a 3-month or longer rental minimum? (you may prefer a shorter time frame)
Because home staging is not yet a regulated industry, there are misconceptions about how it should be done as well as how to hire a good home stager. If you ask these questions of the stagers you're considering for your project, you'll be able to determine who's best for you.
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Room Solutions Staging in Portland OR helps homeowners, builders, investors, banks & Realtors prepare their properties with a full menu of home staging services to make them appealing to your target buyer. For a complimentary home staging proposal call us @ 503-246-1800.
If you're selling a home in the greater Portland Oregon area, let's talk turkey about staging it!
Your property may be just coming on the market ~ or maybe it's been for sale for a while now without an acceptable offer ... here are some Tips to help you sell it. By now (thanks to HGTV) almost everyone has heard about home staging, but not everyone knows how it works.
Be sure to list your property with a licensed Realtor who specializes in your neighborhood. Now is not the time to try a FSBO sale ... today's challenging market has too many possible pitfalls to handle by yourself. An experienced Realtor will guide you through the pricing process, contract of sale negotiations, inspections, ensuring your buyers are qualified, etc. An expert Realtor is well worth the commission earned and provides value-added services to their clients.
First, contact a professional home staging expert in your area! Whether your home is occupied while it's on the market, or vacant, we can provide a cost-effective consultation to identify what easy fixes may be needed to make your home appealing to your target buyer. Your property might need a fresh coat of paint -- we're color experts and help select the best color for your house. Maybe it's not in your budget to remodel your kitchen or bathrooms -- no problem! We can suggest easy & inexpensive updates that will be appealing to buyers. Not sure where your furniture should be placed to showcase your home's best features? We do this everyday and include this advice in our Verbal Walk Through Consultation service. If your home needs a few accessories or wall decor to give it that extra pop, you can rent them from our staging inventory, or we can advise the best places in town to buy them (or even shop for you).
If vacant, your property will look far more inviting to potential buyers with properly-placed furnishings. The cost may be less than you think ~ so contact your local staging company for a complimentary staging proposal. (This year our company's staged properties have sold in less than 29 days on the market, compared with the Portland metro area average of 144 days on market.)
Be sure that your home staging company is fully insured and ask them for client references ~ you want the best service at a competitive rate; finding out what previous clients have said is very important.
Make sure your online listing photos (and the ones in the marketing flyers your Realtor provides) are high quality digital photos taken with a wide-angle lens. Since we know that 90% of today's buyers are previewing homes on the web before making an in-person visit, your photos must be appealing to buyers and show the property's best features.
Hopefully these tips will help when marketing your Portland OR home for sale .... Stage it to Sell it!
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Room Solutions Staging offers Portland Oregon Homeowners, Realtors, Builders, Banks and Investors a menu of professional home staging services to suit your budget and time frame. For a complimentary home staging proposal, call us @ 503-246-1800 or visit our Contact page.
Having lived in Ireland, I like to visit there as often as possible ... such a beautiful country with the most amazingly friendly people! I've also discovered that the Irish love their dogs .... and sometimes those dogs are allowed to be quite independent especially in rural areas.
Here are a few new pals I found along the byways on my last trip over to Ireland .... some are scruffy, some spoiled rotten, some are lonely, some have serious jobs, but all surely must be loved.
The two characters to the right are Rocky & Swanky -- they live on the County Kerry farm where my grandfather was born in 1886 (my ghostly reflection is in the cottage's window). As a border collie and a Jack Russell terrier, they represent two of the most popular breeds in Ireland. In the photo below, Swanky is obviously trying to win the "ugliest dog" contest -- even with his smile.
Just a bit further North we came across this cutie on Kells Beach -- he wanted us to play catch with a rock he found in the sand. I just love the look of this little guy!
In County Limerick we found more new pals, some who were waiting patiently for their masters ...
This fellow looked so lonely that we asked his master if we could take him for a walk down to the river ...
Now isn't he havingmuch more fun?
And this lucky collie oversees magical Lough Gur in County Limerick, where I had a Bed & Breakfast business for 4 years ...
But my favorite Irish dog of all is my own Darby O'Gill (D.O.G.) who was born & raised in Lough Gur by me (now 14 yrs young)
Have you come across cute dogs during your travels? If so, please share your photos in your comment!
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If you're looking for a home stager in the Portland OR area, give Room Solutions Staging a call. We love preparing homes for the market just as much as we love dogs! For a complimentary home staging consultation give us a call @ 503-246-1800.
In case you missed the story published in the October 22, 2009 edition of the NY Times by Mark Oppenheimer, it profiles Meridith Baer, a home stager and designer in the Los Angeles area. Her company, Dressed to Sell by Meridith Baer, has been staging homes and offering design services for ten years with 12 designers and a staff of 70. They house their extensive and eclectic inventory in a 45,000 sq ft warehouse.
Her story makes for interesting reading and the photo tours on her website showcase some spectacular homes!
One of the hallmarks of this company's staging style is that they decide who will be living in this home (determining the target buyer) and then stage the home for that person. Apparently her techniques are very successful ~ and sometimes quite costly!
We can all learn from each other and this article illustrates the importance of professional home staging to sell homes -- luxury and otherwise -- faster than if they had been left vacant. In any market, staging makes the home memorable!
If you're looking for a professional home stager in the Portland OR metro area, Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to prepare your property for sale or lease. To make your property appealing to your target buyer, give us a call @ 503-246-1800.We offer complimentary home staging proposals for homes in all price categories.
Bob Stewart issued a bribe challenge for posts describing how we use Active Rain to enhance client relationships ~ a fun challenge to take on. One of the main advantages of being an Active Rain RainMaker is the great marketing opportunity to communicate with home staging clients in the Portland OR area.
Most of my blog posts are written for two main target clients: Portland Oregon Homeowners planning to sell, and local Realtors. Since most of my clients search for home staging professionals using Google, having a strong internet presence is critically important. You'd be hard put to find a better means of building your real estate-related web presence than Active Rain!
One of the ways that potential and existing clients can find your blog is to provide links to it in your social media profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Zillow, etc.). I also post links to many of my A/R posts on these other forums for wider exposure than the A/R audience. I also add a link to my blog in my email signature so that people can easily connect to my posts when I reply to their inquiries about our Portland home staging services.
One very effective way my A/R Blog helped me win new home staging clients came about this Spring when HGTV's production company posted a blog on A/R asking for Portland-area first time homebuyers to send in their application to appear on their show "My First Place." I wrote to the author of that A/R post and asked if they needed some design help for their Portland episodes. Shortly afterward, expert Chicago A/R home staging colleague, Julea Joseph did the design work for their Chicago episodes and the producer mentioned that the show's next shooting location was Portland, so Julea suggested that they contact me (since she knew me from my A/R Blog). The producers reviewed my website and A/R Blog and hired me to do 5 episodes of HGTV's My First Place, filmed this past summer -- to be aired in the Spring of 2010. (That was pretty cool ~ thanks A/R and Julea!)
Clients also find me through my A/R profile while searching online for Home Staging in Portland Oregon ~ today on Google my company is ranked in 5 spots on page 1! So ~ keep blogging on A/R ~ be consistent. It will enhance your client relationships!
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Room Solutions Staging in Portland Oregon offers full service home staging to the entire Portland metro area including Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Happy Valley, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Aloha, and Hillsboro. We can help your property or listing look fabulous online and in person for your target buyer. We've helped hundreds of clients including Homeowners, Realtors, Banks, Builders, and Investors using staging techniques that sell homes fast. For a complimentary staging proposal call Maureen Bray @ 503-246-1800.
When I visited Ireland before moving over & living there for eight years, I was surprised at how they use color when painting the exteriors of their homes and buildings. It's a delightful surprise to come across a brightly-colored cottage or pub, especially on a gray and misty day in the Emerald Isle. It's not unusual that painting the exterior is the last decorating step and is often done a year or two after your home is built -- usually because most of the building budget was already used up! So driving around you'd notice some homes are still the color of their cement walls .... while others are amazingly bright like these ....
And even "graffiti" celebrating history and sports is full of vibrant color on the sides of buildings in small villages ...
Irish Pubs and shops are notorious for being delightfully colorful ...
A brightly colored red door welcomes you to an old Church now used as a Museum ...
But in front of this colorful pub I wonder ~ are we yielding to Pedestrians, or to the urge for a Guinness?
Ah ~ here's the answer ~ Have a Happy Halloween! And remember to have fun with color!
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If you're in the Portland Oregon metro area and you'd like a paint color consultation for selling or staying in your home, give the color experts at Room Solutions Staging a call @ 503-246-1800. Our consultation service will help you choose just the right colors for your interior and exterior.
This custom home near Portland OR was designed by a Street of Dreams builder and offers three levels of unmatched quality and craftsmanship. Positioned at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, this property backs up to a green space that allows for privacy on both upper and lower decks. Great Bull Mountain neighborhood in friendly Tigard Oregon.
MLS 9045402; 4 Bedrooms + 3.5 Bathrooms; 4,721 sq ft
For more info on this home contact John DeCosta, Keller Williams @ 503-702-0856
As part of the ORA (Oregon Remodelers Association) annual Tour Oct. 17th & 18th, this LEED Platinum home will be featured as the prizewinner for Best Green Building Remodel for 2009. This home's innovative and energy-effiicient design make it one of the "Greenest" homes in Portland Oregon.
The Tour runs on Saturday Oct 17th & Sunday Oct 18th from 10am to 5pm. Check out the link to the ORA site above for more details on the Tour ~ there are more than 19 homes in the Portland and Salem areas included.
Here are a few photos of the winning home at 8020 SW Elmwood St., Portland 97223
For more information on this outstanding remodeled home please visit this website
Listed by Hilary Bourassa & Darcie Pelsor of Oregon First (971-207-0374)
This gorgeous custom home near Portland's Forest Heights neighborhood is an entertainer's dream! Dramatic two-story great room with soaring windows overlooks a peaceful setting filled with trees. Gourmet chef's kitchen with professional s/s appliances and slab granite along with beautiful sapele wood cabinets. 5 Bedrooms + 3.5 Baths in 3,813 sq ft on three levels. MLS 9073480
For more information on this stunning home please contact John Duncan of R. Collin & Assoc. @ 503-803-9184
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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