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This staging cost the Owners Nothing, nadda, zippo and we did it in 15 1/2 man hours

Matthew, eat your heart out. We did this in 15 1/2 man hours and it cost the sellers nothing. This staging won't show up on HGTV. Maybe it should.

The senerio. Two sisters have been trying for months to get the house ready to sell. Both their aunt and uncle passed away and drained all the finances with nursing home care. It was their house.

The sisters were exhausted with many other family issues that are going on.

My crew stepped in and we organized the house for an estate sale and keeping the furniture that we wanted for staging. We did this with about 40 man hours. The sale lasted 4 days and we still have plenty to sell.

The 2nd sale will be when the house sells.

They made enough money for the estate sale expenses, staging, cleaning of the house, carpet and windows.

The 15 1/2 man hours to stage consisted of emptying the garage that was more than 1/2 full with items for trash, moving the furniture that wasn't sold to the garage, moving almost all the furniture in the house to different rooms, washing curtains and hanging them and staging.

Oh to have 4 days and a $20,000 budget !!!

Marianne worked with me again. TTL.

This is the Living Room with the step up into the Dining Room Before

UPDATE IT WAS SOLD IN 7 DAYS AFTER TURNING IT OVER TO A REALTOR

Living Rm with Kitchen area

Same Room - opposite wall

Brick Fireplace with faux TV

Family Room Before

After

View from the door before

cut out in wall

After

nook with art work

Kitchen

cramped kitchen

Few More after pictures

sun room

powder room after

Matthew, These cow throws are for you

Staging is for all. Not just millionaires.

Stage-Show-Sell, offers affordable home staging solutions in the Birmingham - Bloomfield and surrounding areas in getting your home ready for the market. We service both home sellers and realtors. We have the experience, our own rental furniture and accessories to stage many homes. We specialize in Estate work. The house can be put into our hands for the whole process of getting the house on the market

Posted by Virginia Tatseos on 08/02/2008 09:50 AM

Comments (63)

Being Ready to Sell in the Home Selling Channel

staging cost the sellers nothing, nadda, zippo millionaires

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63 Comments on This staging cost the Owners Nothing, nadda, zippo and we did it in 15 1/2 man hours

AUG

2008

Beautiful work :-D Amazing how selling things that are no longer wanted/ needed can finance things that are truely needed. Keep up the great work!

Great job! Big improvements. Gets back to being able to work with any budget at all!

KUDOS Virginia! That job is wonderful...Many sellers think they can't afford to stage and your post proves that is not true...

I think you did a great job with what you had, but I would have highly recommended a LOT of paint (at least in my area) not to mention some wallpaper removal and very likely some tile reglazing.

The home certainly does look better than where it started but I do feel a few hundred in paint would have taken it to the next level. Because they saved to much money by having the yard sale I think it would have been great to still convince them to spend a little more if at all possible. (not trying to discount your work at all... you did a great job!)

Great job on the kitchen Virginia! I didn't even know there was a table in there! LOL!

I'm with Melissa on this one.. it kind of looks like you did a redesign job, using their stuff for $20,000? seem like a lot of money with no painting or rentals?

Labor fee is expensive in MI.

Melisssa, I truly wish there was family or budget for paint. I couldn't squeeze $200 for carpet removal to expose the hard wood floors. The remaining money from the sale will pay the unilities for a month or so.

Brian, go back and re read :-) I was jesting on the 4 days and $20,000 budgets that "The Stagers" get.

Marianne, The table was hidden under the boxes of light bulbs and potted plants we used

OMG, that was a good days work. Both sisters have called and were crying with delight.

I'm trying to show that we don't have to tear everything out to stage.

In my dreams I would have gutted the kitchen, bathrooms and painted. This isn't a dream. It's reality.

I'm looking forward to the next one.

Virginia,

What a great transformation you and your team accomplished with this home. This transition in a families life is always a difficult one, so to have the support of an outside source to help prepare the home for sale was probably a big relief for these family members! Congratulations Virginia and continued success!

Virginia, the difference is like night and day. No wonder the sisters were so ecstatic! We all have to work with what we are given within the allotted budget. Great job. Betty

Virginia- Being here in MI as well I too know the difficulties of trying to get people to "come off a little money" to do things that should/ need to be done. Mainly because alot of people here don't have the money so easily at their hands like others/ like they used to. I have a commercial client who was all set to spend over $10k (last year, but had to wait until the additions were done on the business this year... county ordinance on commercial property forces the addition of landscaping when adding onto comm. prop) on a big landscaping project, he ended up scaling it back to about $700 and he is doing most of the little tiny bit he is going to do himself :-(

AUG

2008

Melissa.......rest assured, Virginia advised the clients repeatedly to paint walls and tile. She also advised exposing the hardwood floors. The clients were overwhelmed and drew the line. There is still maintenance work that needs to be done--a faulty light fixture and a plugged drain. Those issues need to be addressed before listing. When you're on a tight budget, priorities prevail.

Brian.....you got it so wrong. Michiganders are struggling to keep their heads above water. The stagers here that I know are willing to do whatever we can to help houses sell quick and for the most money to avoid foreclosure. How about understanding the post before commenting next time??

Virginia, You and your team did a wonderful job with what you had to work with. The transformation is awesome! Your services were greatly needed and hopefully this will pay off for the family.

You guys did a great job. I have a listing now that I am concerned about the staging. Just wayyyy to much stuff but the sellers aren't open to getting it removed.

It is amazing what removing some furniture will do! Good job!

De-cluttering a space is an effective way to showcase it. The pictures need no words.

Great job staging in the real world! Of course we would all love bigger budgets and sellers to do everything we recommend, but in reality they don't - for whatever reasons they have. The place looks 100% better than when you started!

Wow, what a success - The difference is dramatic - Lots of hours though -
I know - I wen thru a similar staging effort not too many months ago, but the result was an extremely busy marketing period with an offer in a very short time!

Great job! Bravo, I love staging..problem is I run out of items to stage with. One place to shop for staging items is GARAGE SALES. Thanks for the post. Looks beautiful!

I think you did an absolutely fantastic job concidering what you had to work with! Love the transformations in the bathroom and ensuite! Good Work!

Terrific job! Ditto the bathroom transformation, looks outstanding. I listed a house Thursday and mother and daughter are staging over the weekend. I can't wait to see it Monday for the photos. Thanks for sharing...I love these before and after shots.

hopefully that helps sell that home much faster

Virginia this looks similar to many of the houses that I have to work with. While it's true that the transformations will never win me any awards I know that I have made all of the improvements that were possible with the given budget of the sellers. Kudos to you for making it happen as you did with what you had!

I think this is an amazing job, with the "after" photos being a house that I would be comfortable showing.

You did a great job on this home. Sometimes the sellers will not listen to the stagger. I offer staging to everyone of my listings. I even pay for them to come in. It is hard when I do this and they still don't do it. They don't understand we need to do everything we can get to sell a home today. Again GOOD Job. I know you didn't have the world to work with. But it shows that even with what you had you made every room look better.

Your work definitely improved the appeal of this home. It's frustrating when our clients won't spend more to let us do all that is needed, but even small changes make big improvements, as your photos testify to. Good work!

Virginia - great job!

I think that there are some in our industry (and definitely those that are being led by the media that insists on depicting Staging as being about decorating and remodeling) - that believe that unless a house has been remodeled, it is not Staged.

And the reality is that the majority of homeowners that are struggling to keep afloat don't have the extra income it would take for all the upgrades and modifications. The fact is that a Staged house incorporates everything from the modifications like painting, removing wall paper, to just setting the scene in the rooms - as you did - very tastefully and using what the sellers have.

Obviously when a house is not updated and upgraded, it is not marketed to compete directly with those that have been, so the list price takes care of the difference in attention up front.

We cannot expect every homeowner to make changes to their house - and cannot think that when that does not happen that the house is NOT Staged. Remember - Staging is about using a person's timeframe and BUDGET to prepare a house for sale so that it shows its best - and that ingredient of BUDGET and Money that a Seller can (or cannot) invest up front is a BIG variable.

We have helped many homeowners that were not able to make the updates and upgrades present their house to Buyers using our strategies for Staging, and using our time and inventory as needed. Of course we always recommend the major changes that we see are big blocks to a sale - and when the seller is able to implement them - that is great. If they are not able - our job is a bit tougher as we then have to embrace versus replace, but we can (and do) still Stage the house.

Good job - Virginia. You did great with what the sellers had and with the time you gave.

- Jennie

Yes, Virginia, you can make a house buyer ready using only the items the seller has..

Now this is what I call real world staging and using what the owner has! To me this is a much harder job than having the nice budget to work with (and beautiful trendy things) and you've really shown what staging for real life for many folks looks like.

KUDOS to you for your creativity and caring & for getting the job done, not many would have risen to the challenge. Congrats too on a much deserved featured post.

Please check out www.energizedseller.com too, consider joining and start posting these types of things out there for sellers to see.

Great pictures. I have seen normal homes like that and the after pictures show what a talented stager can do, very impressive.

I wish to thank all of you for your comments. (well almost all of you) I know that I'm making a difference by offering my services to those who are stressed out handling situations like this.

I also love working high end and in perfect shape houses though they don't have as many challenges.

Virginia- you are doing great - and as I have always shared and do teach in classes too - it is MUCH MUCH harder to have to use what things a Seller has rather than have them remove it all and have us bring in our stylish inventory.

The fact is - the average seller may not be able to afford a total overhaul, and so what you are doing requires not the use of a warehouse of nice looking stuff - but the creativity, vision and commitment to make a house look its best given the circumstance and possible restrictions - that THAT kind of Staging is MUCH more difficult than the remove it all - and replace with inventory Staging that many others do.

It is more challenging - and perhaps the outcome is not as "visually stylish" as it could have been if there had been a budget in place or a seller that sees the light about "invest up front" - but do not feel that your work is not up to par.

Great job! - Jennie

You are one talented lady. Very nice and the pictures exemplify what can be done. Let us know how things work out.

The redo looks awesome. Decluttering is so important in homes for sale. I also agree with some of the other comments, the next step if the sellers had money would be paint.

Nice job - both on staging the home and on this presentation.

Congratulations!

Thank you all and a very big thank you to http://activerain.com/homesweethomestaging

for helping me tons and tons on this project.

Virginia--Phenomenal job with both the staging and this post. More often than not we have to work within the seller's means. To my way of thinking, a stager's job is to make the house present itself in its best possible light whilst working within the parameters or limitations of the seller...and you did just that. A $20k staging budget simply is not within reach of the average seller in my market, and, frankly, it would most likely be overkill for the majority of properties. I recently worked on a very similar property with similar constraints. The sellers were delighted with what we accomplished, and the house is now under cotract.

Nobody appreciates a beautifully staged home with high end furniture, props and designer touches more than I, but it's jobs like these that set a truly talented stager apart. Staging for the real world--there's a concept. A concept that you've embraced with style and creativity. Well done.

Virginia,

Thank you for sharing...Great Job with staging and pics!

Virginia, What a huge difference and a fabulous job.. It makes me tired just thinking about that job.. I think you need a Smoky Mountain vacation/ uh - I mean cabin staging.. I have a 3 nights next weekend - if you can make it.. God bless,

AUG

2008

What a difference 15 1/2 hours makes : ) Seriously, this house looks so much better after all of the effort.

Hi Virginia! What a great job you did in preparing this property to sell. Nice work. Not every situation takes a lot of money to improve that's for sure.

A creative way to get the job done! The home looksso much better.

Cheryl, If I wasn't heading out to Boston area for 10 days I would jump in my car and head out to your cabin for 3 days of R&R/staging.

Let me know when the next dates open up

those are great before and after pictures and can really show what a difference decluttering a house can do! Good luck on selling that home! :)

HI VIRGINIA!

Great job on this one! Sure to sell soon!

Phenomenal job! The kitchen & great room was seriously scary! Even with it being dated, it looks liveable and clean after you staged it. Again, great job!!

Virginia: Brilliant idea - raise the staging $$$ by holding a tag/garage/estate sale! And you're right - staging IS for every house. Well done! Julie

You did a wonderful job with what you had to work with.

Great job and perfect pictures to back it up.

Julia, you are so right. The Estate must be cleaned out after the family passes away. Why not put my teams energy to work instead of the family stressing over it.

AUG

2008

Bravo. Great Job. Looks larger and more inviting!

It is truely amazing what you can do with a little creativity and some time

Great post Virginia, and good work!

So true--this is real life staging! Who can't do an incredible transformation with $20,000 and 4 days???. Here's a couple of before and after photos of a very similar Michigan staging that the Realtor did after paying for a consultation (it was her mother-in-law's house): LR-Before LR--After

Basement BR Basement BR After

We just used what we had. and a few accessories purchased at garage sales! I love this business!

AUG

2008

Looks great! It's amazing how much of a difference it makes by staging.

OCT

2008

Amazing......you are very proud of this I know. You have created a home that a buyer will consider vs. one they would walk away from immediately. Fab!

Virginia - You did a great job and you are absolutely right...everyone benefits from staging!

OCT

2008

Stage Shows Sells likes to give all buyers the best house for showing that they can. Not all home owners have the money for renting furniture or major repairs.

Virginia, those before photos really looked like a tough one, you did a great job! It shows way better!!

Virginia.....I just revisted this post and the photos. Dang.......we rocked that house, didn't we?? Hope you're having a great vacation. I miss you!

What happened to the login button!!!!!!!! I can't login to AR.

Marianne, This was was kick a-- job. I'm very proud of what you and I did to it.

The house was finally listed last week after the owners trying by owner since we staged it.

Since it's been listed we've had 8 showings. Not bad in this market.

I do need another estate to work on. What happened with the REA who wanted the staging? Did she call you back?

Robyn, This was a tough one yet very satisifying. Thanks

MAR

2009

Great work! You are so right, it does not have to cost a fortune to stage!

OCT

2009

Yes, Thank you. Real life staging is what happens out there. Love it!

NOV

2009

You did a great job and it also shows that older homes benefit from the staging. You used what you had.

Thank you Team Honeycutt. We at Stage-Show-Sell try to make the most out of what we get. Sometimes its easy and sometimes it's a little bit harder.

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Virginia Tatseos

Bloomfield Township, MI

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Stage-Show-Sell

Address: Bloomfield Hills, Mi , 48302

Cell Phone: (248) 421-8201

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