Last month, we were contacted by a new real estate brokerage to do a consultation for a client who was just outside town in a lovely area where the houses are larger and sit on huge grand lots. We had never worked with this particular realtor before and we knew this was an opportunity to really show him what we could do!
The home owners were a lovely couple who had spent the few months leading up to this point de-cluttering, packing things away and generally getting into the mindset of wanting to sell. Their home was gorgeous with beautiful peaks in the roofline, lovely wide verandas and a gorgeous interior. We gave them tips on how to best show off what they already had and it included moving some furniture around, editing some furnishings out altogether, doing a little painting and furnishing the front living room which was completely empty. As the living room was the first room off the foyer and one of the first rooms buyers were going to see, it was very important that it show well. The home owners knew this and we created a design plan to furnish this space and then add some lovely touches to the rest of the main floor. Our timeline was tight - we did the consultation on a Wednesday evening and by the following Monday night, the staging was complete and the house went up for sale the following day.
Additionally, the style of the home was very traditional and the setting more rural so our design elements were much more traditional than we normally work with and our palette was taupes and creams as we were working with a cinnamon hue on the walls.
A week and a half later we got a call from the thrilled clients that the house was sold - and that it had sold in the first five days on the market for full list price. We arranged to de-stage the property and on the day of de-staging, the client shared with us more details about the successful sale of their home. The house was listed on a Tuesday and while there had been a few showings, the real action took place of the open house on the Saturday. The home owners took off for the afternoon and the realtor had a record number of visitors throughout the open house with many potential buyers visibly impressed by the home. So impressed that one set of buyers came for the open house and wouldn't leave! They called their agent from the open house and asked him to come over and they were still there when the home owners came back home at just after 5pm. They prepared an offer on the spot and the home owners realtor arrived back at the home with other offers so it became a competition. The buyers who had stayed however, refused to give up and in the end, their offer was accepted. Our clients tell us that after the offer was accepted, the two couples enjoyed a glass of wine out on the back deck and got to know each other.
When we were de-staging, our clients couldn't thank us enough for all our help. Without our help, they believed they would not have had such a successful selling experience and they couldn't thank us enough. The realtor even said that "the plan came together like a great recipe" and he can't wait to use our services again. We can't take all the credit - our clients did a lot of work before we even arrived and they were open to all our suggestions and to investing in our staging services to add the final polish to their home before it went on the market. As the realtor said, its like a great recipe and when all the ingredients are present then the final dish can't help but be a success!
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