real estate: Rental Market Surging
- 05/08/08 06:28 AM
The Rental Market is Surging At Showhomes, we place Home Managers in vacant homes for sale and use a mix of their furniture and our inventory to stage the home. The Home Manager gets to live in a mansion for a really low monthly fee and the home owner gets an occupied and fully staged home for low staging fees. I saw this notice today about the rental market surging - fewer people are buying homes and are choosing to rent instead (which is good for us but not so good for Realtors) Rents are accelerating in many markets across the USA. … (4 comments)
real estate: Staging or Design?
- 05/08/08 04:46 AM
Patti Eagan posted this comment on one of my blogs today: "Staging is more "depersonalized" where model home merchandising is specifically designed to a buyer profile and target market and includes a "faux" family including children's names, ages schools and extracurricular activities." This is a great point. At Showhomes we strive to create a full and complete environment that allows perspective buyers to visualize themselves living in the home. We go to great lengths to add 'life' to the home but strive to make it impersonal at the same time.
A Showhomes is obviously occupied but doesn't look 'staged.' We limit the number … (8 comments)
real estate: What does Staging Mean?
- 05/07/08 09:36 AM
At Showhomes, we refer to our company as America's largest home staging company. We earned this right by staging well over 25,000 homes and contiuning to stage thousands of homes all over the country as we grow. As a pioneer in the 'staging' industry, we define staging as: "adding furniture, accessories and art to a vacant home and designing comfortable rooms that strike emotional chords with potential buyers.' Since we only work with vacant homes (a few of our office do redesign but this is limited in scope) we originally referred to staging as similar to what a builder does with a new construction … (8 comments)
real estate: CNN Feature on Home Managers and Staging
- 05/07/08 09:11 AM
I was able to get a copy of the CNN story on Showhomes and uploaded it to youtube: Nashville based Showhomes is America's largest home staging company and with offices in 27 locations and 19 states, has helped over 25,000 homeowners and their Realtors sell vacant homes valued at over $8 billion. One of the pioneers in the home staging industry, Showhomes is known for using live-in Home Managers to help stage and occupy high end homes (the home in this video is 4.6 million) so that they sell faster and for higher prices. This interview with one of our Home … (0 comments)
real estate: Showhomes Featured on CNN
- 05/07/08 06:27 AM
If you are watching CNN today, Showhomes was featued in conjuntion with a Money Magazine article: http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/moneymag/2008/05/06/money.foreclosure.special.mansion.moneymag This is a 4 minute clip interviewing an Orange County Home Manager for Showhomes. This Home Manager, Jim Fisher, has been with us for 2 years and plans to be with us for a while longer as the real estate market in CA has slowed so much. Jim and his wife, Laura have great furniture and artwork and we have fun setting up their homes whenever they move. They've helped us and the listing Realtors sell over 10million in homes over the last two years!
… (5 comments)
real estate: Great study on using photos to sell homes
- 05/06/08 02:55 AM
I saw a great blog on the photography group linking to a study relating to photos and home sales: Here is the link to the article: http://fsbo.fizber.com/2008/05/01/the-successful-combination-of-photography-and-real-estate/ >>Another study relating to the number of photos a listing posts compares photos to the number of Days on Market (DOM). The findings show that listings with more photos sold faster. This is the shake down on the photos to Days on Market (average) analysis. - 1 photo = 70 DOM - 6 photos = 40 DOM - 16-19 photos = 36 DOM - 20 photos max - 32 DOM And listings with fewer photos sold for … (11 comments)
There's no JACK DANIELS in decorating!!!I get to tour homes all over the country and its always fun to see what we have to work with and what it looks like after we are finished. A well-intentioned Home Manager set this room up before our stagers got to it and I happened to walk through the home before they were finished. Needless to say, a hammock is not what I expected!
Living in a home is all about comfort, right? Somehow, this doesn't quite bring to mind those corona commercials...... … (5 comments)
real estate: Money Magazine feature on Showhomes drops today
- 05/06/08 02:17 AM
Money magazine ships its June, 2008 issue today. Showhomes, America's largest home staging company, is featured in this issue! This resulted from some of our PR and blog entries. Active Rain works! In addition to the Money magazine article, CNN is airing a new feature on Showhomes today. I don't have the time yet but will post it as soon as I can get a copy. Congratulations to all the hard working home stagers at Showhomes for getting this amazing press. Following on the heels of Sunday's LA Times article, our phones are ringing! If you find yourself passing the magazine isle, take a … (1 comments)
real estate: Great traditional staging in LA
- 05/05/08 03:53 AM
That's Lower Alabama (LA) Angela Blankinchip, owner of Showhomes - Mobile and Bladwin Counties on the Alabama Gulf Coast, posted these photos of a vacant home staging she recently completed. This home was dark, super-traditional and had some loud color choices. Best of all, it had an owner who refused to spend money on paint!
I think Angela used a great job using RED couches to tie together the PURPLE WALLS! This is a tough color to work with. Empty, this home was scary. Angela's touch makes this home look well thought out!
If you've never been to Mobile, its a beautiful … (7 comments)
real estate: More Press for Showhomes
- 05/05/08 12:57 AM
If you didn't read Sunday's LA Times article on using Home Managers to stage vacant homes, please do:
Staging featured in LA Times We are really excited about it! In addition to this article, we are featured in this month's Money Magazine. It ships this week and although I have not seen the article, I can't wait to read it. It will be the first time we have been in print in Money! The editors at CNN did see the article, though and liked the content enough to so their own story on Showhomes and using Home Managers to stage vacant homes. … (2 comments)
Forget staging -- the latest weapon in the savvy seller's arsenal is the home manager. It's a sweet deal for both sides: Owners get occupants who'll maintain that lived-in look and tenants get an upscale residence
By Frank Nelson, Special to The Los Angeles Times May 4, 2008
POCKETS OF people across the Southland are living like royalty without it costing them a king's ransom. Take Jim and Laura Fisher, currently basking in … (0 comments)
real estate: NBC Feature on Showhomes
- 05/02/08 06:26 AM
I've been uploading some of the wonderful press Showhomes has received onto YouTube. Like real estate tours, Youtube allows for embedding in blog posts and on HTML marketing. This is great for email marketing and Active Rain! This is an NBC story about Showhomes that showcases some really wonderful million dollar condos we did in Denver that sold quickly. Happy Home Staging! … (10 comments)
Twenty-six years after publication of The One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard has written The One Minute Entrepreneur. Blanchard, co-founder of an eponymous, 300-employee consulting firm in Escondido, California, spoke with editor Mike Hofman about leadership and fair pay. Your new book says that a leader's job is to make sure that the people in a company are taken care of. Does that mean that entrepreneurs who set strategy and demand results, no questions asked, are ineffective? If your employees are disengaged, and they don't take care of your customers, it … (1 comments)
real estate: Who is Showhomes?
- 05/02/08 02:11 AM
Showhomes: America’s Largest Home Staging Business - No Industry Experience is Necessary
Showhomes is based in Nashville, TN and has offices in Memphis and Nashville. We're active on AR and are looking forward to meeting people from our state! Here is some general info on our company: There’s a reason the Travel Channel calls Showhomes ‘The Best Kept Secret in Real Estate.” Showhomes is a niche business – unless you are a Realtor who lists high end vacant homes, are a homeowner struggling to sell a high end vacant home in a market with a Showhomes office or you’ve looked for luxury … (1 comments)
real estate: Speaking of Red Ties...
- 05/02/08 02:03 AM
In my previous post I mentioned the power of red during a discussion of red couches and the sale of homes. I mentioned that I occasionally wear a red tie and was able to dig this broadcast story on Showhomes from CNN Open House, a now-defunct real estate show on CNN: This is a good story on Home Managers but it doesn't touch much on the staging or sales side of our business. But like they say in PR school: just about any publicity is good publicity! … (1 comments)
Is this "magic" staging furniture? It sold 3 different homes in days - Before & AftersIn looking at the photos, I remembered our Ann Arbor, MI office had a lot of luck with this furniture:
This furniture sold several homes in a row. Why? I believe most homes for sale are neutral, especially newer homes. The walls, floors and ceilings are all tan. While I wouldn't want red couches in my personal home, they provide something critical to making a home sell: They add contrast! Red is a power color. It says 'Pay Attention to ME!". I occasionally wear … (10 comments)
real estate: Blast from the Past
- 05/01/08 06:14 AM
I uploaded this video from the Travel Channel about Showhomes. In 2001, the Travel Channel did an article on Showhomes as part of a lifestyles of the rich and famous series. This show has been in continuous rotations since and every time it runs, I get a flood of phone calls. Its a bit dated, has our old logo (we used to call ourselves Showhomes of America) but does a good job explaing staging with Home Mangers: Pretty neat - let me know what you think! … (2 comments)
real estate: Staging contest winners for March
- 04/30/08 03:36 AM
March Staging Contest Winners: Showhomes holds an internal staging contest each month based on photo entries of stagings active during that month. We just released in our internal newsletter our monthly winners and I'd like to share this on Active Rain: This month's winning rooms all display outstanding application of the key design principles we've discussed. Each boasts: a comfortable conversation areawell placed furniturepleasing balanceharmonious furniture heighta cohesive looka strong focal point effective, well chosen artworkthe right level of accessorization In addition, each shows effective use of components we've not discussed much - color and texture. The rooms are so similar in … (5 comments)
real estate: Vacant homes for sale hit new record
- 04/28/08 07:05 AM
Vacant homes for sale hit new record highVacancy rate climbs to 2.9 percent; western states hit 7 percent WASHINGTON - The percentage of vacant homes for sale in the U.S. set a new record high in the first quarter of this year, the government said Monday. The Census Bureau report shows that shows that 2.9 percent of U.S. homes — excluding rental properties — were vacant and up for sale, compared with 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. It was the highest quarterly number in records going back to 1956. That works out to 2.28 million properties, up from 2.18 million … (3 comments)
real estate: Name this Flower!
- 04/25/08 04:01 AM
Showhomes's home office in Nashville is located in a really cool restored home near Vanderbilt University in Hillsboro Village. We really love our office and earlier this week I was happy to see a beautiful live arrangement on the foyer table when I walked in. Phyllis Spencer, our business manager brought them in. She lives on a lovely farm out in the country and has a knack for making arrangements. Here is a photo of this arrangement:
We held an internal contest in our weekly newsletter to see if anyone could guess what these were and so far no one has guessed … (14 comments)
The Rental Market is Surging
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