Showhomes

5 Reasons Selling Your Vacant House is a Mistake

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:52:57 -0700

A vacant house is like a vacant stare. Something is just not right.

Trying to sell a vacant house adds obstacles and depresses the sales price, says Showhomes, a nationally franchised home staging company. Showhomes uses live-in home stagers to lower the cost of staging and produce faster home sales. Take a look at its top five reasons why selling a vacant house is often a mistake in today’s market:

1. People don’t simply buy houses; they buy the next chapter of their lives.

This is an emotional experience and emotion influences what people buy and how much they will pay. Vacant houses are devoid of life, and the chance to make an emotional connection is lost.

2. Vacancy distracts buyers from looking at the house itself.

They wonder: “Is this a divorce? Why did they move out? Are they selling because they have money problems? Is this home hard to sell?” They’ll make a low-ball offer, thinking the owner is desperate.

3. When a house is vacant, buyers focus on flaws.

They look at nail holes, carpet wear and gaps in the molding rather than how the space works. In a vacant house, floors, walls and ceilings are all buyers see. This drives the price down.

4. People can’t visualize how furniture fits.

An empty bedroom might appear awkward or a living room might seem cavernous. Some spaces might confuse buyers because a use is not obvious. Buyers are derailed and move on to the next house.

5. Vacant houses don’t show as well as staged and occupied homes.

Without people, even the best home quickly looks and smells vacant. Dust settles, leaves scatter, and stale smell spreads. These cues often shorten the showing time, leading to fewer sales.

“Home owners don’t realize how much harder a vacant home is to sell. In today’s market, you have to win the beauty contest,” says Thomas Scott, VP of Marketing at Showhomes. “Vacant houses simply underperform staged homes and the increased sales price provides an excellent return on what staging costs. Choosing to stage your home should be an easy decision in today’s market.”

About Showhomes

Showhomes is a home staging business with a twist: the company uses live-in home stagers to manage vacant houses while they are on the market for sale and offset a home owner’s expense to stage the home. The innovative marketing strategy has been producing results since 1986 and the company has helped over 25,000 home owners sell vacant houses valued at over $8 billion. For franchise opportunities and more information, please visit www.showhomes.com and www.showhomesfranchise.com.

Home Staging Takes of in Richmond, VA

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:17:05 -0700

House Broken – Showhomes Richmond in the News

To get a leg up in a buyer’s market, the real estate industry turns to a little-known niche: professional house sitters.
by Amy Biegelsen

Last weekend, Michelle Sifford and Jennifer Ding helped the Armstead family move into a house in Church Hill with lightning speed. In five days’ time they fully arranged the furniture in the three-bedroom renovation, made sure the décor tied everything together and removed every speck of dirt. Most importantly, they made sure the family was ready to pack and leave again.

Sifford and Ding aren’t renting the house to the Armsteads. They’re contracting with them as home managers to live there while the owners try to sell it.

In August during the height of the real estate meltdown, Sifford and Ding opened Showhomes Richmond, which contracts with professional house sitters. While it might seem a potentially treacherous time to start a company, Sifford and Ding say the timing’s just right.

Jennifer Ding and Michelle Sifford, owners of Showhomes Richmond, specialize in hiring couples and families to live in houses they’re trying to sell. Photo by Scott Elmquist.

“Estimates are that between 30 and 40 percent of homes in Richmond on the real estate market are vacant,” Sifford says. “So there’s ample opportunity.”

Supporters tout the live-in staging business as one in which everybody wins. Furnished and decorated, which industry insiders call staged, such spaces

are sold 78 percent faster than when the same houses are put on the market empty, according to the Real Estate Stagers Association. The rate will skyrocket if an insurance company can be persuaded to continue covering a vacant home — which isn’t a given: Copper pipes and

appliances can wander out of unoccupied homes. Real estate agents sometimes pay a small fee, but far less than they would for all the staging and upkeep that contractors take care of while living in homes they often could not afford to live in otherwise.

Despite their two sons, 4 and 17 months, Nichole and Stafford Armstead have agreed to keep the house in immaculate condition; showroom-ready 12 hours a day. House managers must comply with lengthy checklists for cleanliness. They pay all the utilities and keep the air conditioner on all day during the summer in case of visitors. If they’re home before a real estate agent stops by, they’re asked to turn on all the lights, play soft music, and, time permitting, bake cookies to perfume the house. Setting up the house with Sifford and Ding was like being on HGTV, Nichole says.

The Armsteads expect to be there for about six months, but aren’t sure. “That is the nature of the adventure,” Nichole says. “But the pros far outweigh the cons.” They pay a fee similar to the cost of rent in their old West End apartment, but with much more space.

Nichole works at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Stafford is a motivational speaker, but the Church Hill house gives them an opportunity to get their finances back in order. “Definitely it allows us to do some saving and allows us to get caught up on some things,” Stafford says.

If the home sells and another Showhome is available, the company will help the Armsteads move to the new space. If not, the family will have until the closing — usually a month to two months — to find a new place to live.

Sifford and Ding, both former executives at Circuit City Stores, stumbled into Showhomes while researching business opportunities after Circuit City folded a year ago. Showhomes, with 42 locations in 24 states, seemed the ideal recession-buster.

Business booms when the real estate market deflates, Showhomes founder Dan Ortega says: “We absolutely blow up when the market goes in the tank.” He sold the business in 2004, but still operates the Atlanta Showhomes franchise. Because of the financial crisis, business has doubled.

Ortega launched the business in 1986 during the savings and loan crisis. “See, the same economy that produces foreclosures produces people who need somewhere to live right now,” Ortega says. It thrives in up markets too: When times are good, the business pivots to corporate relocation clients and plays up its staging services.

Ding and Ortefa say they screen potential house managers through criminal background and credit checks. Tough times being what they are, bad credit won’t necessarily keep someone out of the program.
“We’re looking for good people with great furniture,” Bezik says. And furniture is key. Not only does there need to be enough of it, it needs to be in good condition. He’s looking for some pop, but also the appropriate style. Country and western just wouldn’t have the right appeal in a Victorian setting, after all.

Ding says they’ve interviewed more than 700 candidates for home manager since opening the business. The challenge has been matching qualified candidates with the right houses. So far, the Armsteads are the first. Although their older son has shown a tendency to line up his stuffed animals in order by height, his parents say they’ve been tidy but not fanatical before.

“Now,” Nichole says, “I have a reason to be a neat freak.”

www.showhomesfranchise.com

Staged and Sold in 60 Days after 497 Days on the Market

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:49:51 -0700

In and Out Within 2 months! What’s Your Showhomes Story? John’s house sat on the market for 497 days without any offers before Showhomes designed the property on December 7, 2009… once Showhomes came in, it was sold in 60 days!!! Despite the down market, homes that are sitting on the market are selling whne fully staged. Showhomes works!

Home Staging comes to Park City: Parkites make home staging easy and affordable

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:41:07 -0800

March 13th Marketplace: Parkites make home staging easy and affordable

Showhomes Park City says there's no reason to leave a house vacant

by Andrew Kirk,

Clockwise from left: Drew Cain, Ryan Sapp, Angie Sapp and Katja Cain. Together they own and operate Showhomes Park City

Ryan Sapp is a developer and Realtor. His wife Angie is an interior designer. They're painfully aware of how long some homes take to sell in the current market and how dangerous it is for a house to remain vacant during that time.

That's why they and friends Drew and Katja Cain started Showhomes Park City. Showhomes is a national franchise that allows families with beautiful furnishings to live in vacant homes for sale. Statistically, the homes sell faster and for more because they're furnished, they're safer while occupied and the family pays a small fee to inhabit it that's much less than rent for a similar property.

Showhomes makes money, homeowners and occupants save money and the house is much better for it.

"How many businesses can truly say that everyone wins?" said Drew Cain, who handles the marketing of the properties.

Home staging is nothing new. Many companies offer to make a house look more desirable for Realtor walk-throughs and open houses. But with Showhomes, it isn't staged, it's authentic and homey.

"Otherwise buyers don't picture it as a home, but something they're trying to get for as cheap as possible," Drew said.

The people who live in the homes are "hired" as staging managers. They must have high-end furniture and décor, pass thorough background checks, be willing to have a house ready for viewing within 30 minutes and be ready to move out as soon as the home sells (although six months is average), explained Angie who uses her design skills to place the furnishings in the home.

"They're trained to live in the home very gently," added Katja, who oversees operations. "They're paying 70 to 75 percent less it's advantageous for someone looking for a place temporarily."

It's also ideal for someone thinking of buying a second home in Park City so they can give the community a try, she said.

Homeowners pay a set-up fee and then one-half of one percent of the sale price after closing. All together, the owner pays several thousand dollars, but the savings to them are so significant they're actually making money in the deal, Drew explained.

Other staging companies charge for time; Showhomes charges the same whether the home sells in two months or two years. Drew's photography and Internet marketing for the property are a $1,000 value alone, he said. Then there's the security from break-ins and vandalism. The staging managers cover utilities, so owners aren't paying for heating and air in an empty building. Also, homeowners insurance usually goes up often significantly when a house is vacant. There's no need to contract with cleaning companies to ready the house for walk-throughs. A vacant home's tax rate can go up as well, Drew explained.

In the 25 years the company has been in business, it has found homes sell for 10- to 20-percent more and 60 to 90 days faster.

"It's kind of a no-brainer when they wrap their brain around it," he added.

The Sapps and Cains are the only franchise-holders in Utah and can service homeowners in Wasatch, Summit and even some in Salt Lake County (east of I-15).

They're a Realtor's best friend, Angie said.

Showhomes Park City

www.showhomespc.com

To stage: 435-513-5454

Staging Sells a $1.65 Million Jacksonvillle Mansion in One Day

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:35:37 -0800

Jim and Kaye Biby, owners of Showhomes Jacksonville, emailed me these photos of a $1.65 Million dollar Ponte Vedra mansion that they staged with live-in home stagers. The home, which had been on the market for an extended period of time before staging, received two offers within one day of staging and closed in a staggering 3 weeks!

There is a reason 96% of Realtors say fully staged homes such as this one sell faster and for a lot more money!

Take a look:

What do you think?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

We're expanding; if you are thinking of starting a home staging business, talk to us: www.showhomesfranchise.com

Sold in the OC

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:43:05 -0800

Beth George, owner of Showhomes Orange County and LA and who was with me at the RESA conference last week, emailed me these photos of a $3.9 million home she staged and helped sell recently in Orange County, CA:

She did an excellent job!

We keep seeing homes like this one sell when nothing else does. Whole house staging with live in caretakers like this one are moving because they are the homes that buyers remember. Although they are expertly staged, they don't look like it and buyers get really hooked emotionally.

Thomas Scott

Showhomes

www.showhomes.com

We're recruiting: www.showhomesfranchise.com

What is Your Niche in Real Estate?

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:59:37 -0800

At the recent Real Estate Staging Association national conference, one of the best ideas I heard came from David Avrin, author of 'It's not who you know - it's who knows you."

David said 'The economy celebrates specialists and quickly forgets generalists.'

In my personal business career in both real estate, home staging and franchising, I have always seen companies and free agents take control of a niche and capitalize on being the go-to person or service for that niche. Once you sieze a niche and provide great service, you become unstoppable. I beleive this is the key to a successful business and I have always sought to position my companies in a niche and have found that David's advice holds true.

My current company, Showhomes, is a nationally franchised home staging company with over 60 locations. I teach our people to say we are a niche business up front: we provide staging for larger, more expensive vacant homes that have already been on the market for some time and we target homeowners who are distressed and not in a position to hire a traditional home stager. Because of this, we rarely come into contact with other home stagers and almost never compete head to head with them. We provide an alternative method of staging for these homeowners that allows them to pay for staging on the back end rather than up front and it has been highly successful. Our niche is small but we own it.

I see others in the home staging business grappling with what their niche is or should be. My friend in Sacramento, Lori Polk, a home stager I admire, has been focusing on small to large investment groups who buy groups of homes at auctions. She has a specific staging product for these homes and has figured out a team approach that helps this very specific type of seller. What she is doing for her investors might not work for many other clients but it is working really well for her niche. She was one of the few home stagers I met who was not complaining about the market and really optimistic about the year ahead.

My friend and highly experienced stager Gary Barnett focuses on smaller vacant homes in Indianapolis. He has a type of staging product that is not very expensive and produces a good sales result. While it is much different than the staging we do on our homes, it services his niche really well and allowed him to stage over 100 homes in his market last year.He owns his niche and would be very difficult to compete with.

I know a lot of Realtors and the successful ones always have a niche. Sometimes it is an area or subdivision. Sometimes it is a type of listing such as condos. It can even be on the buyer side working with a certain type of buyer. They are successful simply because they focus on a niche and as David said - the economy celebrates specialists.

Do you service a niche? Are you a specialist or a generalist?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com - a home staging business with a twist

we're expanding: www.showhomesfranchise.com

Important Home Staging Statistics

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:57:58 -0800

At last weekend's Real Estate Staging Association's National Conference (RESA), Showhomes released the following stats based on a survey of almost 500 Realtors from all over the county:

You are welcome to use these stats as long as you credit them to Showhomes.

We've begun using these stats in our pitches to homeowners and Realtors and they are really getting people to slow down. Everyone knows that a fully staged home is more attractive, sells much faster and sells faster but when this many professional give their industry input, it presents the need for staging in a whole new way.

It also raises some good questions that those who represent sellers should think about:

If 96% of Realtors say buyers react better to staged homes and 94% of them say staged homes sell faster and 94% say vacant homes sell for far less money than staged homes, is it really professional not to educate your owner about all staging options available to them and do a good job of illustrating the implications of not staging the home?

I know and work with a lot of Realtors. In my job at Showhomes, I get to work with Realtors from all over the country and few of the professional Realtors I know would hesitate to be open and honest to a homeowner about how their vacant home is going to show. Unfortunately, these Realtors do not make up the majority and the real estate industry has been very slow to fully educate Realtors on the issues surrounding vacant homes and sale times / prices. As a result, some very well intentioned Realtors give stunningly bad advice or simply do nothing.

I beleive the real estate market will take a long time to get to 'normal' and that staging is going to play an increasingly important role in how quickly a home sells and how high it sells for in the decade ahead.

What do you think?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

We're expanding: www.showhomesfranchise.com

As a Home Stager, Who is Your Real Competition?

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:25:21 -0800

I was lucky to attend the first annual Real Estate Staging Association's national conference last week in Las Vegas. Shell Brodnax, President of RESA, has done an amazing job bringing together a really fractured industry and getting everyone to join forces to think about where the industry goes. The conference was an overwhelming flood of information ideas and food for thought.

The most memorable quote that I heard was 'Other home stagers are not your compeition. Homeowners and Realtors who do not use a home stager to sell a home are your real competition."

I don't think I have ever heard a truer statement!

The statistical evidence for using a home staging company is huge: Fully staged homes sell faster and for higher prices. Using a staging company cuts your time to sell in half and can make your home far less vunerable to low-ball offers, garnering as much as a 15% higher sales price.

Equally overwhelming are how few Realtors and homeowners use a staging company to help sell a home. By purely unscientific measures, as little as 4-5% of the homes sold in the country employ a home stager of some sort.

That's not even a drop in the bucket!

Career builder listed home staging as the top emerging career and a career to watch for this decade. There is no doubt that the numbers of staged homes will increase dramatically this decade and from its humble start, the industry will evolve to the point where you need two professionals to successfully stage a home: a Realtor and a Home Stager.

My thanks to Shell Brodnax for pulling the industry together so we can all take this journey together by focusing all our efforts on our real competition: homeowners and Realtors who don't use a home staging company.

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

www.showhomesfranchise.com

Vacant and Fully Staged Homes: which sells?

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:19:26 -0800

Showhomes is a national franchise and we train new Home Stagers often. One of my favorite parts of training is a field exercize that clearly demonstrates the difference in a vacant home for sale and a home that is both occupied and fully staged. Our company's success is based on the premise that vacant homes are much harder to sell, take much longer to sell and sell for far less money.

For this exercise, we used two homes for sale in a suburb north of Nashville. Both homes are in the same neighborhood, are priced the same and have been on the market for the same amount of time. We carried a group of people through both houses and recorded their feedback from both homes:

House #1: vacant house:

Here is the positive and negative feedback from 5 people who visited this home:

Negative Feedback	Positive Feedback
weeds in planter	Lot of space
dark – lighting	Master bath big
temp cold, uncomfortable	Well maintained
No color	Tray ceilings nice
Inconsistent shine of wood floor	Bonus room nice and private
Sink dirty	Like high finish in garage
no fridge	like recessed stair lights
portable chairs	Good windows and lighting fixtures
empty mantle	Solid house
Tub dirty	Good looking house
shower missing enclosure	high ceilings nice
house seemed not finished	wood floor nice
Misc parts on counters
Carpet dirty. Dusty
windows have dead bugs
dirty windows
Toilets not clean
Large empty loft room
No place to sit
No window coverings – no privacy
Too close to neighbors
Front yard not kept
Lot of leaves
no curtains – feels colder
To big – get lost
Unfinished room at top of stairs
Hard to visualize space
smells like paint
Paint peeling on back door jamb
spiderwebs creepy
scrap of carpet for welcome mat
Storage by fridge left over
Cold and dark
Echo on floor
Echo on marble made subfloor seem hollow or poorly built
Granite didn’t match house – colors don’t match
dead leaves in front
dust bunnies on floor
low outlets framed awkward – looked like substandard building
dead grass
wood floor to marble floor uneven
House empty
Master tub too small
shower odd
scratched wood floor in study
lights out
living room and kitchen eating area small
Pink tint odd

Here is the home staged by Showhomes with a live-in Home Stager:

Here is the positive and negative feedback from the same people:

Negative Feedback	Positive Feedback
too many personal photos	wel lit
	clean
	homey feel – warm
	comfortable
	very nice colors – eye catchy
	great furniture
	felt luxirous
	upstairs bedroom nice as master
	big house – good space
	felt more usable, easier to live in
	music and fans
	full of life
	really liked it – cozy
	very welcoming
	music makes great impression
	sitting area in master great
	very funstional house
	great floorplan
	keeping room – great space
	extra family room – bonuns room huge
	nice playroom
	smells nice
	closets really nice
	garage not cluttered
	food in fridge
	nice and clean home
	curb appeal great
	wreath on door
	seems like a model
	felt like a perfect model home
	linens like a spa
	patio nice
	staging really great
	master bedroom awesome
	music really helpful
	clean garage
	warm and very clean
	woman’s touch
	holiday decorations tasteful
	feels like a great family house
	live plants look great

Look at them side by side and it’s obvious which home is going to sell faster!

In a pricing survey, all 5 said they preferred the staged home and if they were to put in an offer would start at 5-10% below list price and would all go up to list price to get the home. Several stated they would ‘be embarrassed to low-ball the owner since the home was so well cared for.”

The vacant home, on the other hand, did poorly on the pricing survey. Even though the homes were comparable in most ways, the viewers said they would submit a low-ball offer starting at 70% of the list price and would only go up to 75%.

What do you think?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Staging With Black and White

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:19:34 -0700

On field visits to many of the homes we've staged, I've seen some really creative use of Black and White to make rooms both memorable and contrasty. Even in builder-biege rooms, the black and white makes for a sharp and smart look and I find that buyers can easily remember these rooms after looking at homes all day.

They may not like the sharp look for themselves but it jumps out among all the other homes they see that look alike. It's a bold move to increase stickiness of a listing. See for yourself:

Have you experimented with using Black and White to stage rooms? If so, what's your expereince been?

Thomas Scott, Showhomes

www.showhomes.com

Franchise Information

Tough Room to Stage

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:18:00 -0700

Linda Saavedra of Showhomes Tampa emailed me these photos she was really proud of today. This room, as is typical in Florida, had all white, even the white tile floor. Vacant, this is a harsh room and feels like an operating room. These rooms, very contemporary in nature, can be really difficult to stage. Take a look at what she did:

Here's the after and this home sold in 7 DAYS:

I love the cozy conversation grouping near the fireplace - this gives buyers the ability to visualize some real activities. The sea-grass rugs work really well in FL (and just about anywhere else, too) and she added some color which takes the edge off this room.

What would you have done here? Have any feedback?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Franchise Information

Great Before and After - Sold in 39 Days

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:17:05 -0700

This Minneapolis home sold in 39 days after staging by Showhomes. This beautiful home had been on the market for 1.5 years before it was staged. The owner and Realtor beleive the staging is what made the difference and we agree! like many homes, the interior of this home was wide open space and when vacant buyers spent very little time in the home. With nothing to help them undersatnd how the space could become the next chapter in their lives, they just blitzed the home. See for yourself:

Wow! I know I would spend more time in the staged version of this home. I particulary like that it is neutral. Although this home is in Minneapolis, it could be anywhere. This same decor would work in many cities.

$720k Minnepolis Home Sold in 7 Days

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:24:33 -0700

We're on a roll at Showhomes!

Showhomes' Cindy Montgomery, possibly one of the best home stagers in the country, emailed me with pics of a home that sold this week in 7 days. Edina Realty Realtor Paul Pudlitzke is surely happy with this result. This renovated infill home had been on the market for a long time before. Within 7 days of moving our Home Managers in and staging the home sold for very near asking price. Take a look:

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Franchise Information

Home Sales Success in Tampa

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:24:54 -0700

Linda Saavedra, owner of Showhomes Tampa, emailed me with some pics and an amazing story about her home staging business in Tampa:

Hi Linda,

I just want to thank you for doing a fantastic job with my listing in Tampa which had been on the market for a year and 1/2 before learning about your services. My listing was a vacant custom built pool home which lacked the warmth and connectability. I had an almost full price offer within a week of your staging with the home managers' furnishings, and 25% higher offer than the 2 offers that had come in a week prior to the home being staged. Your professionalism, responsiveness, attention to detail, and marketing skills are First Class! I have already referred you to many fellow realtors. Thank you Linda and Showhomes Tampa & I look forward to partnering together in the future. Your results since you're Grand Opening speak for themselves. It really works!!

Tracy Truitt

Realtor

Century 21 Elite Locations, Inc.

Since this email, Linda had two other homes sell only days apart. One had been on the market for well over a year and sold in an amazing 8 days. Two days later, a 3rd home sold in 7 days! All three of these homes are staged with Home Managers (live in home stagers.) Adding life back to the home really does make a difference!

Here are some of her pics:

Great work - good staging taylored to the target buyer in that market and it produces results. If you've got a vacant listing in or around Tampa, give us a call and see if we can help you move homes that sit.

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Franchise Information

Newly Staged in Calabasas (LA)

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:42:22 -0700

Craig Brown of Showhomes LA emailed me these pics of a home they staged yesterday in Calabasas in LA County. This home has a live in Home Stager and after many months on the market, we expect it to sell:

Good job! This house is in the foothills and when vacant was really difficult to show. Even when professionally cleaned, dust settled over everything, sucking the life out of the listing. With a live-in home stager, the home kept in show-to-sell condition long after it is staged and prepped for every showing.

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Open a Showhomes Franchise

Newly Staged in Park City, UT

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:07:11 -0700

Just in time for Ski season!

Showhomes Park City just staged this $2million dollar new contruction home. This is a beautiful home that had been sitting vacant on the market for almost a year. The home is in a mountain community outside Park City and a year with few showings made the home hard to show. Showhomes' Katja Cain and crew moved in a live in home stager and staged the home to perfection. At an open house to reintroduce the home to Realtors and Brokers last week, over 60 professionals commented on how amazing the home now shows. Take a look:

Nice work! Bet this home sells quickly!

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Join us, we're recruiting

Newly Staged in Laguna Beach, CA

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:46:36 -0700

Wow, what a view!

Showhomes Orange County's Jill Cosby staged this spectacular home this week and check out the amazing view:

Nice work! I'd expect this home to sell quickly, even in the southern CA real estate market.

You can follow Jill on twitter: @jillcosby and follow me as well: @showhomesthomas

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

we're recruiting - join our team

Wow - Home Staging Sold this Home in 2 Weeks After 3 Years on Market

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:32:46 -0700

Townhouses and condos are hard to sell in tough markets. Unlike single family homes, townhouses and condos swing in price much more rapidly and in today's real estate market there is a glut of unsold inventory. unfortunatley for buyers, much of this inventory is vacant.

Cindy Montgomery emailed me some after photos of this townhouse in Hennepin County, MN that sold in two weeks after sitting on the market for a staggering 3 years:

That's a tough room to stage. Really tall ceilings, not much color to work with and an urban environment than has some noise. Add an empty space and its a recipe for a poorly showing townhouse. The staging with a live in home stager did the trick -the first person who viewed the home bought it.

Congrats, Cindy!

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Join us, we're recruiting

Stunning Dining Room Before and After

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:10 -0700

This Minneapolis dining room staged by Showhomes' Cindy Montgomery is getting RAVE reviews. This is an older, dated home and when vacant, very hard to show. Like many rooms in older, expensive homes, this one had typical lower ceilings, some outdated cabnetry and normal wear and tear. Take a look:

The homeowner hired Showhomes beacuse we have been selling a lot of homes this year, beating the average time on market by as much as 50%.

Like many vacant homes, showings had really tapered off and few buyers were venturing inside. The ones that did spent very little time in the home, making it hard to sell.

Take a look at what Cindy did to bring it to life:

WOW!

No wonder it gets rave reviews - this is a very intellegent room. Here's some staging tricks worth noting:

1. That's a $99 Ikea floor mirror painted and hung sideways. Its big and bold and really fills the space. The horizontal takes your eye away from the low ceilings and points towards the view which is really pleasant.

2. Those are Pier 1 leather dining chairs and a french farm table. Both wear really well and age gracefully, developing character the more you use them. My favorite choices - both smart and approachable for a wide range of buyers.

3. Big accesories and few of them. No knick-knacks. Big accesories make the room look more complete and you'll find you don't need as much to complete a space with larger items.

4. No set table - just a clean tabletop with two cool candelabras and a ceramic bowl. Very cool.

5. Contrasting cushions on the window seat take your eye off the dated cabnetry and draw it to the focal point - the window.

Great job, Cindy!

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Join our team!

Newly Staged in LA

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:55:47 -0700

Showhomes' Beth George emailed over these pics of a home they staged last week. As usual, they did an awesome job and I'm sure this house will sell qiuckly:

This home could be anywhere - the staging is classic and every one of these rooms looks and feels comfortable!

This home has a live in home stager to keep it in perfect show condition every time it is shown.

Great job by the Showhomes Orange County and LA group!

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Interested in what we do? We're recruiting

Best Business Advice Ever

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:44:09 -0700

Selling a home in today's market is tough. It's stressfull. Emotions are up and IQ is down. Under this kind of pressure, we are all prone to make occosional mistakes.

Molly Ivans has a quote I really like: ‘The rule of holes is: when you are in one, stop digging.”

I've certainly found this to be true in my personal and business life.

In fact, part of being driven and customer focused is that you move fast with a high sense of urgency. Customers need this. Work teams need this too.

The down side is you make mistakes. Even the best of us. Even with the best of intentions

Chris Brogan, author of 'Trust Agents' wrote something I’ve been able to use often lately with our staff:

The Three A’s of Apology:

A #1 – Acknowelge: admit you made a mistake

A#2 – Apologize: Say you are sorry. Don’t rationalize or editorialize it, just say “I’m sorry.”

A#3 – Act: do something to make things right.

This works – like I say to my kids, being honest is always the best way to dig your way out of a hole and often, if you display honesty and work hard to fix a problem, you’ll end up with lifelong customers simply because they trust you.

Has this been your experience?

Thomas Scott

Showhomes

Frank Discussion about Selling Homes Today from Experts

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:33:04 -0700

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest on Alice T Chan's Home Staging radio show. Alice is a west coast staging expert who works with tons of Realtors and home stagers helping get better performance. As VP of Operations for Showhomes, I train the largest home staging team in the country and operate with thousands of Realtors in over 50 real estate markets.

Alice T Chan of the staged home lifestyle and Thomas Scott of Showhomes, America's largest home staging company

Alice called with an interesting question? What does it take to really sell a home in today's market and how does Home Staging fit into the mix? I agreed to share my thoughts on her radio show based on our helping sell over 25,000 homes in markets across the country.

If you are a Realtor or home stager in today's market, take a few minutes of your day and listen to this frank and very vital conversation loaded with really valuable information that will help you become more relevant in today's market.

To listen to the recording of the show or download it as a podcast for your ipod, click here:

http://ow.ly/scxj

Let me know what you think - do you agree with the advice? Have other thoughts?

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Do you flikr?

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:46:31 -0700

We've been in Home Staging for almost three decades. When we started in the 1980s, home staging was unheard of and explaining what we did was a really conceptual sell for most people. The conventional wisdom went like this:

1. Most people have too much stuff and no place to put it

2. Reason #1 is why they are selling the home in the first place

3. People would prefer to see your home empty so it doesn't look so claustrophobic

This reasoning led to the conventional wisdom that a vacant home was easier to show and showed better because it didn't have 'stuff' everywhere.

Thanks to HGTV and a rapidly growing home staging industry (home stager was listed as the top emerging career in the down market - see my earlier post about this topic) home staging is becoming more and more normal.

Because it is popular, training classes and 'certification' can be had for less than $250 and you can even take them online. This attracts all sorts of folks - Realtors who want to be more educated, part time people who like decorating and some serious business mided entreprenuers.

Because the barriers to entry for home staging are so low, there are no quality standards making it hard to tell who really knows what they are doing.

I'd put forth the idea that you should use 2 things to evaluate a home stager or home staging company:

1. What is their recent track record of selling homes?

2. What does their portfolio look like?

In an effort to help our team build trust and credibility with new clients, we started a flickr photostream of our work.

I think public flikr photostreams are great for getting your work out there and really help drive traffic to your company.Take a look at our flickr stream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/showhomesphotos

Do you flickr? Have any direct experience using flickr to market via social media? Have comments on our work? Let me know!

Thomas Scott

www.showhomes.com

Home Staging Radio with Alice T Chan

Home Staging (Showhomes) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:21 -0700

Showhomes' Thomas Scott Guest Speaker on Home Staging Radio with Alice T Chan

'Join us as I interview Thomas Scott of Showhomes.com about Staging a home for a successful sales result. Thomas will share with us about very important factors that must be taken into consideration when selling a property, regardless of the price point. If you're even entertaining the idea of selling your home, you don't want to miss this interview. Listen as grill Thomas about the following and much, much more...: * Is there good news for homeowners today? Good news / bad news - there ARE buyers! * What do you have to do to successfully sell a home? * If it takes a lot longer to sell, what do stagers need to do beyond the initial setup? * How to increase the amount of time buyers spend in a home for sale and more!'

To listen in to the show:

Call-in Number: (347) 838-9121

Upcoming Show: 10/1/2009 12:00 PM

For more info:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Staged-Home-Lifestyle/2009/10/01/Staged-Home-Lifestyle-Radio-Show-with-Showhomes