Even my 5-year-old niece has a website, do you? - 10/30/06 12:47 PM
I tour homes very often. I see stagers who leave their cards out but many either don't have a website nor a professional email.  Even my 5-year-old niece has a website, do you?!
 Here is why not having a website or a proper email will hurt your business:
It's the internet age, get with it! Don't look like a dinosour in your client's eyes. Like I said, even my 5-year-old niece has a website, do you?!Getting online is incredibly easy. I can buy anything ranging from socks to a car or a house online now (thank you ebay!) My father who is in … (2 comments)

Let Price Reduction Be Your LAST Resort to Sell Your Home - 10/28/06 04:47 PM
I recently spoke with a homeowner who has relocated for her job and recently also had a baby. She and her husband had decided to put the home on the market for sale. But then a natural disaster had happened that caused the portion of the freeway by their home split (Devil's Slide) so there weren't a lot of activities because it was difficult to show. The the Slide had reopened finally after a few months, the golden time of the listing had already passed, of course. So now they are paying for 2 mortgages, one is the one in the … (3 comments)

marketing gone wrong! - 10/24/06 12:06 PM
so this past tuesday i went to broker's open house and left my cards there for the realtors that come through. late sunday night i received a blocked caller id call, and it was this angry woman "cindy? is this cindy? cindy lin? blah blah many people are angry at you right now? how would you feel that if someone takes credit for your staging? blah blah.. *click.*"
i was in horror. frankly that was not intention at all to take someone's credit. (i left 3 cards and a few pens.) the marketing materials i left were meant for other realtors that … (6 comments)

Deadly Mistakes Of Posting Listing Pictures Online - 10/22/06 01:56 PM
I was researching online on trulia.com yesterday. (I do that sometimes to see what are some of the staging trends on the market and what my competitions are doing.) And I was shocked by some of the photos that I have seen online. 
Trulia is a HUGE website now and it's well known among sellers & buyers. So it's so important to have great photos on the site. Not to mention the competition is fierce among realtors. Wouldn't it make sense to put your best foot forward and attract potential clients through your listing presentations? Here are some deadly mistakes that I … (1 comments)

Missed Press Opportunity! - 10/21/06 09:36 PM
i received a call yesterday from nbc (NBC!!!) wanting to do a segment on staging and see if i have an staging gig this weekend so they can film it. ARGH! wished they would've called me LAST week when i had that staging job! oy! i was talking to a local stager friend who mentioned this is pretty common. a reporter called her the day of to see if she just happened to be staging. ack. (this totally shattered my illusion about tv people being organized!)
do you have any press experiences to share? and how did you receive these?
have a great … (4 comments)

I had a dream -- side effects of being a stager - 10/21/06 12:54 PM
The longer I am in the staging profession, the longer I see staging everywhere. When I go to friend's house, I no longer see the house, I see how their furniture is placed and how I would place them. When I am out on business trips and staying at hotel, I notice how their furniture is "staged." When I am out shopping, I no longer head toward women's section, I go to home furnishing first. My magazine choices have also shifted from people (wait, to clarify i don't subscribe i just flip through them at markets, okay? ;) ) to business … (1 comments)

Your past, present and future - 10/21/06 12:48 PM
In this competitve real estate industry, prospecting is key to our survival and to our success. Now that the market has started to slow down,
what are YOU doing to prospect? Are you planning ahead for 2007? What have you don differently this year to market yourself?What are you going to change in your marketing methods?This year, for me personally, here is what I have found that have worked for me:
Being listed on directories, such as stagedhomes.com where I was a graduate of it.Craig's List. I have received many business leads this way.Research and talk to others and see what works … (3 comments)

Staged4more Home Staging Services Client Open House This Weekend ;) - 10/20/06 08:06 PM
… (0 comments)

Lead Generation Ideas - 10/20/06 02:39 AM
I attended a business networking group (for the very first time!) on Wednesday and surprising I got a lead right off the bat. Everyone seemed very friendly and most members I spoke with have been in the chapter for awhile now. Seems very promising so far. Frankly I have heard of many people dismissed the ideas behind it, being it's a waste of money, etc. However, I think the idea behind the group is actually quite genius and it's what we call "warm calls."
I had a fundraising background in the non profit sector before I jumped into the real estate industry. … (2 comments)

advice needed/poll: what do you do when your client is wrong?! - 10/19/06 12:16 AM
an unpleasant situation arrived in my inbox today. actually i was so angry that i almost burst into tears. GRRR
so the staged home was sold and i sent an invoice for the additional month's rental, which was stated in the bid of how much additional it is going to be, also contract said that additional rental fee will occur if the rental is more than one month (however i didn't state how much it's going to be additionally per month. now looking back at it, for the future, i will spell out everything like my client is a 3-year-old. but we … (7 comments)

Car signs marketing - 10/17/06 05:46 PM
i was driving around today and received a staging inquiry because she saw my car sign. i have to say, i have had this car sign for 6 months now, this is the FIRST call. not to mention that she ended up NOT being a client. she called to inquire how to become a stager... hmmm food for thought. for awhile now i am contemplating perhaps it is the sign itself that is not effective?
my current signs read:
staged4morestage your listings to sell 4 morehello@staged4more.comxxx.xxx.xxxx.
has anyone had any luck with their car signs? if so would you mind sharing? or offer some … (4 comments)

4 Tips on Getting Rid of Your Junk in the Trunk! - 10/17/06 01:24 PM
Are you afraid of your garage or basement? Every time you walk near it, you *sigh* or *cringe* because of the clutter and things that you no longer use are eating up all the space. Now your storage is limited. This is why when I am out with clients at consultations, I always say:
(If it is Staging to Sell) "Clutter Eats Equity!" which is very true since buyers usually get so blindsided by your stuff, they can not see anything else, including their own belongings in your space. If they cannot visualize themselves living in that space, you can kiss … (3 comments)

citibank promotion: opening a checking account for a FREE blackberry - 10/17/06 01:37 AM
i just opened a citibank account last week (business checking) and apprently there is a promotion that you can receive a free blackberry. but you must signed up with t mobile to redeem... figure i will share this!    
… (0 comments)

How Do You Hire a Stager? - 10/16/06 02:00 PM
If you run a search on craig's list for "staging" under real estate services, several pages worth of stagers pop out.  All of them promise to sell your home faster and for more. Good or bad, how do you know? Do you dare to use your equity to gamble on a stager you randomly found on the web? Here are 5 tips to hire a qualified stager:
Ask for qualifications. But don't mistake this with the letters behind this person's name on his/her business card as qualifications. When I was working as a Realtor, although I have passed my exams, it … (4 comments)

new blog just devoted to staging tips - 10/15/06 02:21 PM
so for awhile i have been comtemplating about WHY i blog? what is the purpose of ME blogging? while the iheartstaging blog has turned into a brain dump, a fellow ar stager points out, it is borderline professional. at the same time, when i was reviewing the blog, i found that there is not a central theme to this blog. it is too random and all over the place. so i have decided to get a new blog. starts a new and just devotes on writing about staging tips and staging education. i will keep the old one as my brain … (2 comments)

book shelves! - 10/14/06 07:00 PM
i staged/redesign a home yesterday for sale. and i re-did their bookshelves as well i think it has become my 2nd obsession at work (the first one is making beds. ironically i actually don't make beds in real life!)
 
check out some of my before & after pics:

 

 
 
… (0 comments)

meeting clients that make your work worthwhile - 10/13/06 07:13 PM
i had a client meeting yesterday that really moved me. it was for a redesign to live. she had tears in her eyes when she started telling me her story. and today when i checked my email i received an email from her saying how appreciative she is about my services and to work long term on relieving her from her current situation. it was just one of those days that make you feel that ahhh... this job is wonderful!
 we change people's lives everyday, who wouldn't want to work in real estate?!
… (2 comments)

New-home prices likely to fall for 1st time since '91 - 10/12/06 01:06 PM
bloomberg announced today that new home prices are likely to fall: "US new-house prices will fall this year for the first time since 1991 and existing homes will have the smallest gain ever as a glut of properties forces sellers to accept lower offers, the National Association of Realtors said." any thoughts, my fellow stagers and realtors?
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/10/12/new_home_prices_likely_to_fall_for_1st_time_since_91/ 
… (1 comments)

blog boundaries -- at what point do you share too much? - 10/12/06 01:07 AM
one of the fellow readers of my blog at iheartstaing.blog.com had commented that it was great to share my frustrations out on the web, but i shared too much in the entry of movers, the struggle where i shared too much details about my frustrations in finding a mover. at what point to you cross the boundary of sharing too much to appear unprofessional before your readers who are potentially your customers? … (2 comments)

grrrr more misconceptions about the staging industry - 10/10/06 05:52 PM

i recently came across this article "weekend businesses for domestic gods & goddesses" from entrepreneur magazine. frankly i am appalled by the inaccuracies in this article.
1. first of all, this is NOT a weekend business. this is why there is a strong surge of home stagers on the market who are not qualified. i have been doing this for almost a year now and there are a lot of issues that a stager goes through that these articles do not address. such as:
liability -- what if someone sues you? i know a fellow stager who placed a candle in the … (8 comments)

random old things vs. collection - 10/10/06 12:48 AM
random old things vs. collection i staged/redesign a home a week ago to live (one of the services that we provide is redesign to live, which means that home owners can hire us to "stage" or "re-design" their homes to live. it's quite different from staging to sell, actually. anyway...). it is a gorgeous home in san carlos. the owner has collected very interesting and adorable things over the years and everything has just been "arranged" into any left open space possible. so when we first walked into the home, it was very overwhelming.
after grouping similar items together, we displayed … (0 comments)

i feel so special! - 10/08/06 11:41 PM
wooo i was so surprised this morning when i checked my email. someone out there is listening after all! and the first official comment to my blog at iHeartStaging.blog.com. so exciting!
i received very kind words from Janine Popick from Vertical Response. (still cannot believe she took time to write me a note.) what an impressive and well rounded marketing campaign.
the other one is also very exciting, i can't believe anyone would really pay attention to my little opinions. they are just basically thinking out loud on the web . it is from Craig Schiller on ActiveRain (which i … (2 comments)

active rain - 10/07/06 08:41 PM
i am very impressed by the content of active rain so far. i can't believe i didn't know about this before. i am looking forward to network with everyone and reading up on everyone's blog to get more insiprations! … (1 comments)

check out my blog at iHeartStaging.blog.com! - 10/07/06 08:08 PM
check out my staging blog at iHeartStaging.blog.com! … (1 comments)

 

Cindy Lin

South San Francisco, CA

More about me…

Staged4more Home Staging & Redesigns // EcoJoe

Address: 390 Swift Ave #6, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY PLEASE, South San Francisco, CA, 94080

Office Phone: 650383SOLD

Cell Phone: 650383SOLD

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