home staging: Irony
- 10/03/07 01:13 PM
Sometimes people like me just need a good hobby. The absence of said hobby leads to all sorts of problems and vexations. I tend to notice small things that really should be ignored but they stay with me and I turn them over in my mind again and again until I am nearly bursting at the seams to speak about them (or often rant about them,as the case may be). I am apt to point out small examples of stupidity such as the recent case where I insured a 27 foot Winnebago motor home and was asked by the insurance agent … (7 comments)
home staging: New Service Launched Today
- 10/01/07 02:59 AM
Today I am officially announcing a new service designed to help fill a void in the home staging business. Since there appears to be an extreme shortage of male home stagers and since some of the female home stagers have expressed a desire to occasionally partner with said male home stagers, I have decide to launch a new "virtual male home stager" service. Armed with a digital camera, a high speed broadband card, your trusty laptop, and a cell phone, you simply walk through the house taking photos and simultaneously downloading them to me as we speak on the phone. I will … (31 comments)
How I got a bi weekly column on a local newspaper.
Since I am not eligible for this week's New Creativity Challenge I thought I would give my answer as a separate blog post. The challenge was to come up a creative way to meet and make appointments with Realtors. So here is one of my strategies. Where I live we have a local newspaper that is absolutely fabulous. It is not owned by some big corporation so that they can say what they want and most often do. Their editorial content is excellent both for national and world news and … (29 comments)
home staging: A frog tale
- 08/09/07 02:45 PM
I had a very interesting lunch today with a Realtor that I meet through one of my Realtor partners. We talked a lot about the real estate industry and when we were discussing the longevity of Realtors and the high drop out rate, he said something that triggered a memory of a story. It seems that two frogs fell into a bucket of cream. The first frog, sensing that there was no way to climb out of the slippery liquid, after awhile, just gave up, and drowned. The second frog however, began to kick and kick and try everything … (10 comments)
home staging: What drew you to HRS?
- 08/06/07 01:42 AM
What drew you to HRS? For me it was their website since I was looking for home staging business advice as much as I was looking for "training" in the art of home staging. I was very impressed with all that they offered in the way of features but it was the fact that their website looked the best (to me), worked the best (to me), and overall just seemed to fit for me. Then a personal phone call with Audra made my decision. I had called several of the principles of various training groups and I found her to be … (10 comments)
home staging: Are your clients really committed to selling their home?
- 04/17/07 01:44 AM
I firmly believe that in today's real estate market the days of selling homes "as is" is rapidly fading away. With the emergence of "home staging" as a profession, the explosion of home shows on television that deal with this issue (not to mention things like home staging features on Oprah) and a rise in awareness by Realtors that this is a viable marketing strategy that can help their clients sell their property, one would think that almost everyone would be staging their homes. Not so. Their are still many clients who refuse to do anything to their homes forcing their … (8 comments)
home staging: You Can't Jump the River in Two Medium Leaps.
- 04/16/07 02:11 PM
This tag line can, of course, be read at several levels. First it is a metaphor for risk and effort. In the case of our own efforts, it says Go For It. What ever you decide to do, do it with passion-don't do it halfway. Make the leap-if you fail, at least you know you gave it everything. Sometimes even the failure can be just what we needed. Success is not always measured in making something work. Remember the oft told tale concerning Thomas Edison and his reputed 17,000 failures before he found the right element for the electric light bulb. … (6 comments)
I know that I am not the first to blog on this subject but in light of a recent article I discovered and an experience I had this week I want to risk revisiting the subject. I just found a quote by the President of Realtor.com, Errol Samuelson, that listings with six or more photos get viewed 300% more than listing with one photo. [1] I am asking myself why any Realtor would only place an exterior shot on the MLS; I am even more amazed by the listings on the MLS that had "No Photo Available". What happened did you forget your camera? Or … (15 comments)
As some of you know I am always looking for great articles that are both from inside the staging industry and great articles about staging that are from "outsiders." I just ran across an article in the Business Week magazine (March 26, 2007). The title of the article is "How to Make A Deal Bloom" and it is written by Christopher Palmer. The article mentions staging as part of the overall five step plan to help sell your property. The first interesting thing he does is to offer the following quote, "Listings with six photos get almost 300% more viewers than … (8 comments)
home staging: The Cheapest Stager in Town-NOT
- 04/04/07 03:20 AM
As part of the normal stager's inquiries that I receive a number of them are, of course, people trying to find out about the staging business itself. These are pretty easy to figure out by the types of questions they ask. Usually one of the first questions they ask is "What do you Charge?" Now I honestly do not have a "standard" charge so I let them know this- I believe every home is different and if I tried to use this pricing structure I would wind up over charging some and undercharging others. When I try to find out about … (6 comments)
home staging: The Psychology of Hoarding
- 03/23/07 12:42 AM
One situation that home stagers and Realtors frequently see is the person or family that can't seem to let go of anything. Their homes become filled with stuff. It would seem to be a simple thing really-just tell them why the stuff needs to go and once they get the logic of it they will get busy right rickety tick and make it all disappear......If only. Sometimes it becomes like pulling teeth to get home sellers to let go of things or even pack them away. It is, perhaps, helpful to understand the psychology behind this trait, which cranked up enough, can become … (29 comments)
home staging: Home Staging Rational: Sometimes others say it best
- 03/13/07 01:22 PM
Sometimes people out side the home staging industry can say things a certain way that, perhaps, we "insiders" may not because it is obvious that we are, shall we say, a bit biased. But when ever I see home staging justified by others I try to make note of it. My latest find comes from the book titled, "House Flipping for Dummies."[1] Many of you are familiar with the wildly successful line of "Dummies" books-it now seems that there is a Dummies book for just about everything, which I guess one could, if one were cynical enough, translate into proof that … (13 comments)
home staging: Home Staging-The Oft Asked Question: To Stage or Not to Stage
- 03/12/07 12:55 PM
No I am not referring to Shakespeare as my literary skills do not extend to the Elizabethan world of the Bard.... Recently, a number of post have ask the question: To Stage or Not to Stage and looked at this question from different angles. I wish to offer another angle. I personally think that every home should be staged-vacant or not- the problem comes in when you start doing vacant homes. The price can scare people away but many times it is just psychological and not rational. For example, in my area home prices are deeply depressed and have been for … (10 comments)
home staging: Home staging: Fear and Loathing with the Kodak Camera
- 03/12/07 12:27 PM
OK so many of you read Jeff Turner's post Sell Your Camera On eBay & Buy This One! on the amazing Kodak camera (V705 or like mine V570) and ran out and bought one. So far so good, but then you got it home and tried to work with the amazingly bad software. So if your experience has been as bad as mine-here is one solution. Instead of going through the Kodak Easyshare software which basically tries to keep you in their realm and is exceedingly slow and difficult to use- especially the cradle download device, use the SD card directly. … (39 comments)
home staging: Desperate situation calls for desperate measures
- 03/10/07 12:31 AM
Sometimes things just aren't like one would want them to be; so, when this happens part of our stager creativity has to be used to solve a problem. Here is one example. I have a client who has a daughter and son-in-law who, like many people bought a new home, moved before they sold their old home, and have been sitting on two mortgages which has drained their budget. The home they are selling is not valued at a high enough price to justifiably do vacant home staging. In short, they are between a rock and a hard place so to … (17 comments)
home staging: Home Staging: Networking- Who Knows You?
- 03/04/07 01:40 AM
As Jeffrey Gitomer points out in his cogent and informative book, "it is not who you know but who knows you." [1] He makes a very powerful case for exposing yourself in the marketplace and operating on the laws of attraction. He calls is "putting yourself in the marketplace as a person of value, so that others will want to connect with you."
I love his "50 butt" rule about networking. "If there are 50 butts in the room I want to be there." [2] In other words, seek out events where you can network. But don't just go in with a … (3 comments)
home staging: Home Staging: People as props
- 02/25/07 07:28 AM
I am not making this up. Someone today ask me if I used people as a prop. In other words, did I bring in families to make a place looked lived in? After my initial shock and a quick scan for the tell tell facial expressions of someone who is pulling your leg, I realized that they were serious. They went on to explain that they had heard of staging companies that did this. I can't imagine this since most Realtors I know of would never want the owners around- they get in the way and can say the dumbest things … (5 comments)
home staging: Home Staging and Painting Tools
- 02/22/07 12:34 AM
I generally use Benjamin Moore paint and so I wanted to share some tools that they have which you might find useful. First of all, for those Pottery Barn Fans (yes, I know it is becoming fashionable to trash Pottery Barn but I am still an unrepentant and shameless fan). Anyway, Benjamin Moore has all the pottery barn colors as well as the color samples. I purchased their Professional Fan deck which gives you over 200 color swatches. One side is interior colors and the other exterior- very handy. Additionally, they have these wonderful 2 oz. samples of paint so you can … (3 comments)
home staging: Home Staging and Flowers
- 02/21/07 01:19 AM
OK, I know that many of you do not use fresh flowers due to the fact that they do not last. I know that many of us use silks for the most part. I usually do not use dried flowers to a great extent but I still love dried roses, especially the miniatures in bright colors. Right now after Valentines Day, roses are cheap. This is due to the fact that growers over produce for the holiday and then some roses mature slightly later than the hallowed day (Valentines Day is to a Florist is what Christmas is to the other … (2 comments)
home staging: Home Staging: Eliminating Offensive Odors
- 02/20/07 11:27 AM
Since we have recently been discussing offensive odors such as pet scents and cooking smells, I thought I would let you know about a product that I use. It is called Pure Ayre Odor Eliminator and it is specially formulated for getting rid of offensive orders. One of their "kits" contains a 22 oz bottle of Pure Ayre plus a syringe for cushions and carpets. Additionally, they include a battery operated black light for detecting urine stains. The stains really light up under the black light which makes convincing the home seller to professionally clean the carpets a much easier task. … (2 comments)
Sometimes people like me just need a good hobby. The absence of said hobby leads to all sorts of problems and vexations. I tend to notice small things that really should be ignored but they stay with me and I turn them over in my mind again and again until I am nearly bursting at the seams to speak about them (or often rant about them,as the case may be). I am apt to point out small examples of stupidity such as the recent case where I insured a 27 foot Winnebago motor home and was asked by the insurance agent … (7 comments)
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