I got a call on Wednesday afternoon from a realtor who had listed a 60-year-old "tear down" in Palos Verdes Estates that she wanted to improve upon before the open house on Sunday.  By Thursday afternoon when I met her at the property, the painters had already started prepping.  We agreed that they would start painting in the living room so we could bring in some furniture from the realtor's house along with my accessories and start staging the main living area the next day. 

The next evening when I got there, they were still many hours away from being ready, so I unloaded some accessories and left.  Around holiday activities and a wedding, I spent several hours there the next day with my helpful husband, the realtor and her family, and 3 workers.  By Sunday morning, the painting was done except for touch-ups, so we set up the office, master bedroom and bath, hauled trash, washed windows and floors.  Everything was finished on time except for the remodeling of the 2^nd bath, which will continue. 

The first interested buyer came at 12:30, and the afternoon saw a continuous flow of people - some of whom had seen it the day before and couldn't believe the transformation.

Click on picture for slideshow

The pictures say it all.....well, most of it anyway.  Needless to say, the owner of this home was unable to keep up with everything.  We are thrilled to be able to present a lovely, livable home.  Although it could still use some updating, a family could now easily live here with the work in progress. 

While this home probably falls into the category of a quick extreme makeover, you can easily see what a difference "staging" has made.  Yes, painting & pulling up the carpet made a HUGE difference, but still would have left an empty, uninviting space, obviously in need of updating.  Any buyer would want to offer less than asking price.    

For a small fraction of the sales price, this home is now welcoming and attractive.  You can see why, according to the National Association of Realtors, staging statistics overall boast an 8-10% price increase.  Vacant homes that had been staged sold an average of 85% quicker in 2008 over empty properties.  

Occupied homes can also benefit from an inexpensive consultation and/or staging services by a professional certified home stager.  Give us a call today to upgrade your properties from "Okay" to "Wow!"