Bloomfield Hills Michigan Stage Show Sell

Michigan Stager Goes Green

2008-05-02T10:15:36Z

I had the opportunity of purchasing a lot of furniture from a house that was going to be bulldozed.

In February I was offered the job of doing An Estate Sale and possibly staging the home. For health reason I turned the job down. The house was "Sick". Leaky roof, leaky cat and extreme dirt made it an unsafe situation for my crew.

Last week the listing agent told me the house is sold and will be demolished and that I could purchase items.

I was leery about entering the house AND taking on a job of refinishing furniture after reading posts from the AR community. Will I be able to do it since I've never done it before?

Being the adventurer that I am------ I donned my pollen mask (it was little help) and purchased several items

While working on the projects I realized that I was "going green" and doing the recycle thing with furniture. It was rather interesting trying to use only recycled or natural products for giving the furniture a new life. Citrus strip and old cotton shirts were used and sandpaper.

These are the items I purchased

Cleaned and ready

The difference is amazing

The rocking chairs were the easiest to clean up with soap and water

This table turned out beautifully. It's in the middle of the picture above

These two table are almost finished. They have been stripped and cleaned.

Today they will be oiled. The tegs were destroyed by the cat. I'll be looking for legs of different heights so that I can use them in different areas of a home.

The long table was a coffee table and the smaller was an end table.

They are both walnut

Oiled and waiting for legs

This mahogany table is giving me a very hard time. The legs are broken and need to be glued.

The table won't accept the stain in all areas.

I've used citrus strip and an electric sander many times and the finish won't come off. When I oil the table this is what I get.

Back to the drawing board with this one.

I knew this was going to be the most challenging project so I left it towards the end of the project.

There are two chairs that do with it that need new fabric seats. I've never done that before.

This has been fun and a challenge and I'm ready for the house to stage with them.

Stage-Show-Sell services Oakland Macomb and Wayne counties

Operation Clean Sweep Bloomfield Township Earth Day - Photos

2008-04-19T15:49:17Z

Clean Sweep weekend continues this weekend to co-inside with Earth Day.

The snow hides so many things and when it thaws the cities can look pretty bad.

Over 500 residents sign up to clean up after the winter. The township gives the volunteers bags for the trash and yard wastes. Subdivisions clean up their front entries and get them ready for the spring flowers that are trying to poke thru the ground.

The day is perfect for it. The sun was shining with little hints that we might be getting a little rain in the afternoon.

These photos were taken at the entrance of the Hickory Gove Sub. in Bloomfield Township.

The township worker was delivering yard waste bags to the drop off points for those who needed more.

Bloomfield Township throws out the trash- Earth Day - Photos

2008-04-19T15:22:31Z

Helping to protect our environment the township has offered residents an additional service. Today April 19, with proof of residency, the township hosted a site for droping off Electronics, paper shredding and Medication Disposal.

The event coincides with Earth Day and Clean Sweep activities.

At last count over 450 cars drove thru the line dropping off their items

Cars were lined up from early morning to drop off their items

The system is great. Pull up and items are taken from the vehicles

Shredding vehicle

Volunteers help take items out of the vehicles and sort them

Old medicines that many of us would throw in the trash or back into the water system.

There was also a container for diabetic items.

The volunteeer pharmacist said one of the bottles was about 50 years old. Darn it -- I would have sold it on ebay.

These boxes are the eletronic boxes.

It's wonderful

Happy with my new camera

2008-04-19T09:11:11Z

I purchased the finepix s8000 and couldn't be happier

http://www.photoxels.com/pr-fujifilm-s8000fd.html

Costco on line was offering a bag and card with it where other online stores were not. I believe there is still a $50 rebate if purchsed by the end of the month.

These photos were taken of a house where I'm doing a quote for staging. They were taken so I could remember what's in each room.

This is only the 2nd time using the camera.

She won't toot her own horn so I'll do it for her.

2008-04-15T23:02:43Z

http://realestateundressed.com/2008/04/06/march-2008-magnificen-7-nominees/

Marianne won't toot her own horn so I'm doing it for her.

Her post was funny, educational and got the idea thru.

Great job.

Vacant House Transformation

2008-04-09T11:32:08Z

This was my first contact thru active rain that led to a job. What a thrill it is that the contact was a realtor/owner of a listing and she found me thru active rain.

The house was vacant and staging it was a real pleasure.

Talents of Marianne can be seen thru out

Moving the refrigerator gave the kitchen a bigger feel.

Less is more

I choose this photo because it shows the lighting above the moldings on the walls

Bedrooms and basement after

This photo was fun taking with sun coming in so strong. I had to go into the closet to get the best angle for shooting the whole room

The basement was empty and lacked any appeal all together. Now it shows a purpose.

Diffference is like day and night

2008-04-08T22:47:58Z

I recently staged a property for a realtor who agreed to use my photos :-)

Thought I would share the exterior photos at different times of the day.

The photos are almost the same angle and shot. The big difference is the time of day.

The difference is like day and night.

I really wasn't happy with the first one that was taken around noon. The 2nd one was taken at 6 pm

The sun is finally shining in Michigan. Look carefully at the grass and a few small snow piles are still there.

Stagers Rick Wants Proof Let's give it to him :-)

2008-03-27T17:24:24Z

In my post http://activerain.com/blogsview/435812/Frozen-lock-box-house

Rick said that he would like some proof.

Virginia,

I'd really like to see some success stories about staging. I've heard all the great things but really don't have a feeling one way or the other.

03/23/2008 11:29 AM

by Rick Harrington Specialist--Infrared Residential

Delete Report as Spam

Stagers, lets give it to him

One of my success stories

Rick. I had a listing as a realtor that the attorney wouldn't spend the money on staging. It sat there for six months with few showings. I decided that the attorney didn't know beans ...and staged it. Two months later we closed on it. At the closing table I gave him the bill. He thanked me for forcing the issue and paid it with no problem at all.

Now he allows staging on all the properties. Now I prepare the houses for sale and list them with a realtor.

outlook has gone crazy

2008-03-27T10:17:39Z

Warning to all. The last update for windows and office cause outlook to go crazy. All the appointments that I scheduled, after the daylight savings time change, moved in the calendar. Luckily I caught it before it messed up my life completely.

It messed up my Treo 750 phone too.

Sometimes technology can be a pain

Driving From Florida to Michigan

2008-03-23T10:29:41Z

While driving the off highway route from Florida to Michigan we saw a couple of unusual sights.

The road was block in both directions while this helicopter was re-fueling. There is a lodge http://www.leconte-lodge.com/home.html that get supplies by hilicopter.

We were going to take several days to drive back and enjoy and then we heard the weather forcast and drove it in two days. We beat the storms by two hours.

I like the composition of this photo taken in Georgia. The moon was up during the day and I caught the birds flying by.

How do you want the buyers to remember your home?

2008-02-21T09:02:16Z

These are photos that I've taken of homes.

As a buyer's agent for over 20 years I listened to buyer's comments when leaving a home. I always encouraged them to write their thoughts on the MLS tickets that I provided them.

They would come up with Great house. Felt clean, bright and ready to move into

OR the house with the 3 ft ugly wall paper in the bathroom

Or The house with all the stuff on the refrigerator

or better yet The house with the moldy bread

Sellers how do you want your house remembered?

Staging homes in the Oakland and Macomb County area incl. Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Rochester, Royal Oak and surrounding areas

When will it be the new norm

2008-02-20T22:38:52Z

The norm was to get the listings of the office on ditto sheets that we put into a binder. We had no idea what the competition had until 'tour' day.

Shortly there after we had the MLS books. A new one every two weeks. WOW The book was old the day it was printed.

Shortly there after we went electronic. We had the MLS on line and down loadable to our lap tops.

The norm keep changing.

Once online we could put A photo of the listings

Shortly thereafter we could could put multiple photos That became the norm

Then OH MY GOD we had virtual tours. That took awhile to become the new norm.

All of these have helped the consumer. Both buyers and sellers.

The NEW NORM should be staging. It's coming along slowly. When will it become the new norm?

It's human nature to look at change and wonder will this really help or is this a gimmick.

Are sellers and agents still wondering if what we do is best?

We sell properties faster and for more money. Give it a try with a PROFESSONAL

Perfect Staging Clients

2008-02-16T14:33:01Z

Few weeks ago Marianne and I did a first appointment with my clients. We helped them decide what furniture etc was to go into storage. Mom and dad were there too loading and hauling.

They were wonderful. The best cleints that we've worked with.

We gave suggestion on waht lights fixtures to change, furniture to move and colors to paint.

This week, it was was too icy for me to go out, Marianne went back to finish the staging.

These before and after photos say it all.

most of the precious collection of copper has been put into storage. Others were used in the house

Windows were opened to the world for natural light

Simple changes can make a big difference. NO the dog does not come with the house

This bed is beautiful and belongs in a much larger room.

The room looks larger and the green is toned down with the art work, window treatments and throw

Removal of pieces of the sofa, opening the windows to beutiful tree outside, greenery to bring the outside in and a few items on the shelf.

Great Job

The room appears much larger

The desk will be clean for showings.

I can lick my nose - Can you

2008-02-10T17:24:53Z

New Year New Weight Newish Grand dog and grey hair. Time for a new photo

Meet my grand dog

I've never had a pet so having a grand dog is tons of fun

Shadow's story http://activerain.com/blogsview/374009/Odds-of-being-a

Odds of being a successful adoption are slim A true story

2008-02-10T15:13:20Z

This is a true story, written by my grand daughter, from the view point of Shadow

Shadow's Story

A cold breeze rattled around the small chain link fence. Snow came down heavily around the skinny, black dog, huddled in the corner of the cage, trying to escape the blizzard. This dog, named Shadow, blinked quickly as the storm raged on. The muffled sound of the little family huddled around the fireplace echoed around in Shadow's triangle ears. The family's dog gave a cheerful bark as Shadow was left to brave the storm. Shadow whimpered.

The storm went on, slowly strengthening. Finally, sometime in the night, Shadow fell asleep as the storm died down. The snow gently drifted down on the black, oily coat and covered the dark dog in a blanket of white.

"I do recall," Shadow says thoughtfully to me, two years later, "that the other dog did come and join me the next day. My ‘owners' came and delivered the food that came twice a week. The other dog came and lashed out at me, guarding the food. I backed away, as I usually did because I was frightened. I made the Cowardly Lion look like the Terminator.

"As usual, there was just a little bit of scraps left. I gobbled those down. Those small scraps kept me alive, even if I was a bit skinny. But I'm okay now!" Shadow says, wagging her tail.

Shadow goes on to explain on what happened to her on a daily basis.

"Every day, these boys would come and let the other dog out. Then, I would watch them arm their selves with long sticks and rocks. As always, they took the sticks and jabbed me in the sides." Shadow's ears are back as she explains the rest. "I couldn't escape because my pen was too small! The boys would laugh and laugh as they threw rocks at me and poked me." Shadow stuttered some more, but couldn't continue. All what she said was, "It was terrible."

Later, I talked to Shadow again. I asked her about when Allison saved her.

"Ah yes. Allison. She was wonderful! I've heard my humans talking about when they saved me. And yes, for clarification, they are my humans. I am not their dog. You humans always get it wrong....

"Anyway! I've heard them talking about how Allison was just surfing the web and how she decided to check an adoption site. Was it PetFinder? I don't know, but at any rate, she looked there and found the most amazing, beautiful, sleek dog ever! Guess who? Some dog other than me! I was found the next day when Allison searched again. The picture was taken when I was 10 months old, and when Allison's family rescued me, I was almost two years old!" Shadow paused and quickly added, "Allison disappeared to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for ten days, so her family had to pick me up."

"Before I had been rescued, I had heard these strange people say that in two weeks time, I would be put to sleep. I didn't fully realize what this meant until very recently. Now I just shiver at those words....Around a week later, I was loaded into a traveling crate and put into a car. I had no idea what this meant, but all I knew was that a car meant somewhere new, and somewhere new meant a worse home. This wasn't exactly the case, but at the time, I was scared to death."

I looked at Shadow, peering at her carefully. Shadow took in another large breath and continued.

"I had traveled for many hours, being bounced from car to car. Finally, after what seemed to be a million years traveling, I was loaded out of the most recent car and into a new cage. Then this family of three approached me. I backed away and was terrified when they loaded me up again and was driven to a new home.

"I've been here ever since and my life is awesome! I mean, I get table scraps and good food all of the time and it rocks!" Shadow looked around proudly. "I love this life now! I've made new friends! I mean, I have a neighbor named Ellie and she is just so much fun! We play almost every day...." Shadow starts rambling and looks up at me. "Sorry! Well, that's my tale! Or is it tail....I don't know! Bye!"

My granddaughter name has been changed in the story for her protection.

Shadow has now been with them for 1 1/2 years and is the most gentle dog in the world. She still shows signs of being an abused dog. She cowers when I approach her quickly. I must approach her softly and with my hand out and not from above.

The shelter thought Odds of being a successful adoption are slim after being beaten and abused. My family is so happy to prove them wrong.

Meet my grand-dog now

Staging Services are Ala Carte in Bloomfield Hills, Oakland County Michigan

2008-02-04T16:49:56Z

The first thing a seller or agent asks is how much is this going to cost. This is before seeing the property. Well good golly I haven't seen the house. Don't know how much work needs to be done or how much furniture is in the house.

Let me look into my crystal ball.

I'm not a "discount" Stager

I offer services that are pick and choose - It's called Ala Carte

Stage Show Sell services, many times, pay for themselves. When I work with attorneys, estates or homeowners with too much stuff, I help them get rid of the 'stuff' and the proceeds pay for my services.

With Homeowners the services pay for themselves by getting the property sold faster and for more money.

Stage Show Sell menu of services incl.

Consultation, walk through with the client

Cleaning out and organizing

Estate Sale

Pick and choose what goes out the door now and what stays to stage

What colors to paint

What rooms to paint

Make necessary repairs

Orchestrate the painting, cleaning and estate sale if the client does not want to do this himself.

Staging the property

These services can be all inclusive or Ala Carte. Pick and Choose what services are in the budget or time frame.

How Much Does It Costs? That depends on the Ala Carte Services that you choose.

My goal is to help the homeowners gets their property sold!!!!!!!!!!! FAST

How costly is it for the sellers to pay mortgages, taxes, insurance and utilities? Why pay for these for months when a Stage Show Sell can get it sold faster.

The areas Stage Show Sell cover are Oakland County, Macomb County and parts of Wayne County.

Stop counting pennies and count the dollars that you will save with a quick sale.

This is a very blatant advertisement

HG TV - take me out and sh--t me

2008-02-02T13:23:51Z

Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday I spent lying on the couch with my foot up and being iced.

Can't concentrate on reading ( think it was the pain killers), can't walk around the house, can't clean, can't sit at the computer so I turned on the TV.

Daytime TV is unbelievable!!! Court shows, talk shows and depressing news shows. OK, this was the time for me to watch HG TV. I wanted to see what my clients were seeing and of course why their houses looked like they did.

Give me a break. The advice they are giving to our clients bad, bad, bad.

Decorating your house is one thing. Getting it ready to sell is another.

One show shows that the rooms should be painted in different bright colors.

One of my clients actually painted each wall a different color.

The next show has all the rooms off white.

One show tells them to strip the wall paper and the next is saying wallpaper is the new thing.

GRASS CLOTH is coming back. Of my god that is so scary. My husband and I brought a rental house at it took 3 months to scrape off the GRASS CLOTH.

The best were the fix up on a budget of $2000 so the house can be sold at the first open house AND with multiple offers.

They forget to say that it's $2000 worth of supplies and all the labor of 6 people for a week was free

Yes, this show did show that the houses should be staged

The next show was a Florida agent who showed only 3 houses to a couple and they decided to buy. EACH house was empty. No staging what so ever.

Looks like the Florida agents have it made. No staging and only 3 houses to show before putting in an offer.

The rest of this week I'll work on Active Rain, my website and watch the History Channel.

Please, let me know if there are any HG TV shows worth watching

Back to Nature Plymouth Michigan Ice Show

2008-02-01T21:21:01Z

Plymouth Michigan held it's annual ice show this past weekend.

On Monday, my husband and I, thought we would walk around a little bit and enjoy the the 40 degree heat wave.

It's amazing how fast these carvings will melt in our balmy winter days when the sun is shining.

The next day the temp were higher and we had thunder storms. I imagine that the carvings are gone now.

BTW, we are back to sever winter with about 6 inches of snow.

It was a challenge getting these few photos. The sun wasn't right and they were melting. The tails had broken off the dragons becasue of one day of 40 degrees and a little sun.

Next year I'll try to go the day of the show.

I Woke Up On The Operating Table

2008-02-01T17:32:37Z

This Tuesday I had the 2nd surgery on my right foot. The first one was in November when I broke my foot gardening.

My plans for the late Autumn was to have a problem, that I've been having for many years, taken care of with surgery. That garden accident changed those plans.

About a month ago the break was healed enough that we could schedule the surgery. I took two weeks off for Florida and a business trip in Grand Rapids.

All rested and ready the sugery was performed on Tuesday.

The surgery was on the joint just above the big toe. There was no cartilage left. Bone was upon bone. The toe was twisted and nerves and tendons were messed up and in some places attached to the bone. (yuk)

No wonder I was in so much pain walking.

An implant was placed into the joint and secured with a long "pin" thru the toe, implant and foot to secure it. This will be there for a couple of weeks.

As you can see the screw from the broken foot is still there.

What do you think will happen when I go thru the airports security ?

Anyway back to the point of the story (to get your attention :-) ) I woke up during the surgery and talked to my doctor. BTW he's the best foot doctor in the world.

I asked if he was done and could I please have a Starbucks. Listened to them talk about the tourniquet and how much longer it could stay on.

I fell back asleep, for awhile, and the surgery was over.

Today when I went in for the checkup he said that I woke a couple of times and once kicked him with the left foot. I must have thought I was sleeping with my husband.

Now, for those who are ready to jump out of your chairs, I was under a mild sedatation and the leg was dead to the world. They put a nerve block behind the knee that gave me NO pain for almost 24 hours.

Since the surgery was far more complicated than was expected from the xrays, I'll be on limited mobility for another 2 weeks.

Luckily for me, I have a great team and will be taking care of my staging clients.

WCR Birmingham Bloomfield tentative meeting schedule 2008

2008-01-27T09:42:50Z

Proposed 2008 Meeting Schedule

Women's Council of REALTORS Birmingham Bloomfield Chapter

January 15^th Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People

February 12^th Continuing Education with Jack Waller

March 11^th The Ritz Carlton Experience

April 8^th The Luxury Home Institute

May 13^th Top Producer Panel

June 10^th Innovative Marketing Techniques

July 8^th How to Succeed in a Challenging Market

August 12^th Pro-Golf Lessons and Networking

September 9^th Negotiation Strategies

October 14^th S.W.A.T. - Interactive Self Defense

November 20^th 2^nd Annual Holiday Dinner and Auction

December 9th Awards Ceremony and Installation Luncheon

A little froggy humor

2008-01-25T15:20:07Z

Last week I rec'd an absolutely beautiful bunch of flowers. Since it's really cold and snowy fresh flowers are really appreciated.

My grandkids were spending the day with my husband and me. It's so good to have them around for the day. We played cards, education games, built things with zoobs and Lego. They played in the snow for awhile. Great day.

In the afternoon my granddaughter was looking at my flowers, talking about the great smells and colors when a frog jumped out of the arrangements.

Now they have a pet frog in their aquarium at home.

I have a little problem here. The frog or flowers didn't come from Michigan. It's way too cold for that All our frogs are in hiding till spring.

Is this frog legal or do I have to get a green card for it?

It's True -- I saw it in Bloomfield Hills

2008-01-24T16:05:17Z

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning. It was so cold that the snow sparkled like diamonds.

It's been grey too many days. I think mother nature gives us grey days so that we appreciate the sunny ones.

The biggest surprise of my life State Realtor of the Year

2008-01-20T08:32:07Z

I've been a member of WCR for over 10 years. Probably closer to 15.

Licensed in 1991 and a member shortly there after. I was asked to be on one committee, the budget committee, because math is my background. That was the start of a wonderful experience.

Some members, not me, like to call us feather dusters. I like to call myself the been there and done that.

I've sat on almost every committee and chair for the local Birmingham Bloomfield Chapter including President.

That took me to being President of the Michigan State Chapter and governor for two years.

WCR is educational and growing experience that can't be duplicated anywhere. No other organization, that I've belonged to, understands and follows Robert Rules of Order like the Women's Council of REALTORS.

Anyway, I got off the subject.

This week we had our first State meeting of the year. I came back from Florida early so that I could accept the plaque from the local chapter as REALTOR of the year. It's such an honor for me to receive it.

The final part of the meeting is to announce the State Realtor of the year. They went on and on about a member who has done a lot for the State. I kept looking around and to my amazement they announced my name. This truly brought tears to my eyes.

WCR is my passion and addiction. To receive an award for it completely overwhelms me. Thank you, my fellow members.

Giving me the award is Beth Pressler (Red shirt). Many of you know her from National Meetings. I know her as sister in WCR and friend.

Virginia Tatseos

www.Stage-Show-Sell.com

Back To Nature- Deerfield Beach Florida - Winter Vacation

2008-01-20T07:02:45Z

If there was ever a year for me to take an early winter vacation -- this was it. The real esatate market, in Michigan, was tough in 2007. I started my own business for staging www.Stage-Show-Sell.com and it's going along slowly but well. My broken foot in November didn't help !!! SO a winter vacation was perfect.

My brothers and sisters winter in Deerfield so I decided to crash in on them for 10 days.

The weather was very co-operative to say the least. 70s and 80s each day. Lots of sun, clouds here and there and the peaceful and beautiful ocean.

Michigan has wonderful sunrises but I can't see them from my house. The trees block the view.

On the beach at 6:30 in the morning we can sit and enjoy the full sunrise. It's different every morning depending on the amount of clouds.

Enjoy with me my sunrise on vacation

After watching the sunrise from the beach or the heated pool, my day was spent touring, reading and taking deep breaths.

Pink and Black Bathrooms

2008-01-19T16:30:19Z

Many of our Royal Oak and Berkley Michigan homes were built in the 1940 and 50's . The ceramic at that time was pink and black.

The work was done with cement and metal lathe so it stays there for a long time. Tearing it out for replacement is expensive. Making it looking good for selling can be a bit of a challenge.

Luckily the previous ownder updated some of the fixutures for us. The new round mirror and crome towel holder helps. There are items that I try to get my sellers to replace. The old cabinet has been replaced with a pedistal sink.

By adding a lot of white towels and the black and white checkers I believe that I succeeded in drawing away from the over whelming pink.

The current owner is a very busy resident at a nearby hospital. He was making changes to the home during his free time. Many items weren't quite finished ...

The whole transformation can be seen on this link