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Agents - Stagers are Worth Their Weight in Gold -Lots of Gold! - Fabulous Active Rain Story

By Debbie Cook

Real Estate Agent with Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc MD 82788

April 10, 2007 05:21 AM

I recently had one of my listings Staged by Allegra Shann of Styled & Sold, a member of Active Rain. (I found her on ACTIVE RAIN !) What she did with this home and what followed, REALLY BLEW ME AWAY!!

I put this house on the market on Good Friday by EASTER Sunday (2 days later) we recieved a FULL PRICE NON CONTINGENT CONTRACT with NO CONCESSIONS and the Sellers Preferred Settlment Date! I am convinced that it was the Staging and the fact that the sellers had the Home PRE-INSPECTED prior to putting it on the market.

*Note The average Days on Market in this area right now is 78 days and the comparable properties have an average sale price of $580,000 with average seller concessions of $8,000!!!

This home sold in 2 Days for $625,000! with NO, ZERO, $ 0, NADA Seller Consessions

WHOPEEE!!

Here are some before photos:

Here is the virtual tour with the after photos: TRANSFORMED!

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Cindy Richter

Interior Motiv Home Staging - Flower Mound, TX

IRIS Dallas, TX Home Stager

Congrats on the home selling so quickly. Keep up the articles! The word here regarding staging is a bit slow in Texas but with blogs like yours...Well what else is there to say?!?! It's also great to know you found her on Activerain! Thanks!

Apr 10, 2007 06:11 AM

George Tallabas

RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID

Idaho Real Estate

Debbie...thanks for sharing your great success story! Before Active Rain Home Stagging was just something I had heard about but knew very little about it. Since joining Active Rain I have been amazed at all the success stories like your own. I have made contact with a local Active Rain Stager and am meeting her this Thursday morning at my office and already have a job for her. Wish me luck!

Apr 10, 2007 06:13 AM

Yvonne Root

rooms b.y. root - Prescott, AZ

Home Stager - Northern Arizona

Debbie, Congratulations to You, toYour Stager, To Your Seller and to the Buyer. Wow, everyone came out a winner. Isn't that great?

Apr 10, 2007 06:53 AM

Kathleen Lordbock

Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN

Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Allegra girl - you rock - what a Diva Deal.

Debbie- congrats what a wise choice you made and it paid!!

Apr 10, 2007 07:20 AM

Phillip Cross

TBD - In transition... - Seal Beach, CA

ePRO Realtor - Relocation Spec

Debbie, Terrific - are you certain that is the same home?! :-) Just beautiful. I have been telling a lot of my sellers that they should probably step up and do something to separate them from other homes. Home Staging is a great way to do so. Better to pay a little to stage than to lower the price! Congrats!

Apr 10, 2007 07:21 AM

Home Staging

Reston, VA

Fantastic story. Great job Alegra and thanks for posting Debbie. We need to hear more stories like this.

Denise

Apr 10, 2007 07:44 AM

Alyse Bromberg

Dressed for Success - Kingston, ON

Fabulous! The stager did a great job, and you did a wonderful job in hiring her!! I bet the homeowners are thrilled!!!!

Phill - you said it. Staging can be in the hundreds to low thousands, where as a price reduction is usually at least $5k or $10k if not more! I wish more agents and homeowners would realize that staging is an investment and actually puts money in their pocket.

Apr 10, 2007 07:53 AM

Terry Haugen STAGE it RIGHT! 321-956-2495

Stage it Right! - Melbourne, FL

Very nice! I used to live in SS. Miss the area, especially the Vegetable Garden restaurant! Thanks for sharing.

Terry Haugen - STAGE it RIGHT!

Apr 10, 2007 09:47 AM

No Longer Available

White Rock, BC

What a great sucess story!!! Keeps us all motivated. Nice referal for Alegra as well.

Joelle Green

Apr 10, 2007 11:53 AM

Allegra Dioguardi

Styled and Sold Home Staging and Staging Training - Westhampton Beach, NY

Home Staging & Training, Suffolk Co. Long Island

Debbie,I was so happy to be able to help. The photos look terrific! Give some credit to your own genius as well. Thanks for trusting me to do my own thing!Allegra ShannStyled and Sold

Apr 10, 2007 12:38 PM

Karen Otto

Home Star Staging - Plano, TX

Plano Home Staging, Dallas Home Staging, www.homes

What a great testimony and how great of you to recognize the efforts of your stager - Allegra Shann - it is with teamwork and a mutual understanding that stagers work with realtors and sellers - I hope other agents will see this and get a better understanding of what staging can do for their listings. - thank you for sharing!

Apr 10, 2007 01:54 PM

Amanda Freeman- Home Evolution Staging -Portland Oregon

Home Evolution Staging - Milwaukie, OR

Nice job Allegra. The house looks so much better. No wonder it sold so fast!

Apr 11, 2007 06:13 PM

Laura Cerrano

Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY

Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

What a fabulous job, Allegra, it does look like a different house! Sounds like you and Debbie make quite a team too; keep it up and you'll BOTH win! Wonderful blog.

Apr 11, 2007 06:19 PM

Kathy Nielsen

http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA

Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

That's fantastic news! I absolutely love reading success stories such as this!

What a difference, Allegra. Superbly done!

Kathy

Apr 11, 2007 10:45 PM

Phyllis Pafumi

ReStyled to Sell Home Staging New Jersey - Old Bridge, NJ

ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ

Congrats and YES it does work. As i always say staging is an investment not an expense.

Phyllis Pafumi

Apr 12, 2007 12:24 AM

Sue Argue

Staged First Impressions - Hampton, NH

NH Home Stager

Wonderful success story of team work that helped this home seller, congratulations to all of you!

Apr 12, 2007 12:15 PM

Lori Gilmore

One Savvy Move - Joliet, IL

One Savvy Move Home Staging

Debbie, oh how I wish all the realtors in my area had your insight! It is a tough sell around here!

Allegra did a beautiful job!

Apr 14, 2007 05:29 AM

Margaret Ann Innis

Decorate To Sell - Merrimack Valley Real Estate Staging - Andover, MA

Real Estate Staging - MA & NH

What a gret transformation! After every Staging we cannot believe what a difference it has made - it really is life changing! Great job by the Realtor and the Stager and the Homeowner! It takes everyone to make it all work! Congratulations!

Apr 14, 2007 01:41 PM

Veronica Harbert

Select Home Staging - Denver, CO

Select Home Staging

Congratulations, Debbie and Allegra.

Thanks for sharing this story and the before and after photos, Debbie

If staging is slow to catch on in Maryland, like it is in Colorado...you've got yourself a bona fide competitive advantage. Run with it!

Here's to many, many more successes like this one.

Veronica

Select Home Staging

Denver, Colorado

www.selecthomestaging.com