home for sale: If you do nothing else when you put your home on the market, this is it. - 10/26/10 11:26 AM
CLEAN. Yes I know that may seem obvious to you and me but apparently not to all sellers, because today I got an eyeful of bugs. And yucky toilet stuff. Did I mention spider webs big enough for Hallowe'en decorations? And that was without my glasses on. Ugh.If you do NOTHING else, have your home professionally cleaned before, during and after you have it on the market for sale. Before you even think of staging your home, before you let the realtor put the sign in the yard, CLEAN.
What does cleaning do for your home's appeal?
It makes it smell … (62 comments)

home for sale: Do you REALLY want to sell your home? Take control. - 09/15/10 05:15 AM
If you really want to sell your home then you are going to have to make some changes. Changes to your lifestyle (no more leaving dishes in the sink or an unmade bed), changes to the way you view your home (it's now a commodity on the open market), and the biggest challenge of all is not taking it personally when someone doesn't love your home. Change can create stressful feelings in most of us. By nature we are creatures of habit. The habits we form help us create order out of our sometimes chaotic world!Moving is change, there is no … (16 comments)

home for sale: Ten Really Good Reasons to Stage Your Home - 07/22/10 12:24 PM
I was updating my website today and decided to also update the downloadable PDF files I have for sellers and Realtors to click on and read to find out why they should stage their home, as well as Home Gain and RESA staging statistics to show the numbers.
I thought it was worth posting my top ten list of reasons to stage a home. The original list was provided by Home Staging Resource (an excellent training resource, thank you Audra!) and I have updated it. Here we go....
Top 10 Reasons to Professionally stage your home 1. You Will Make More … (7 comments)

home for sale: Don't Sell Your Home Short - 03/12/10 11:22 AM
An aquaintance recently decided to put his home up for sale. I noticed the sign in the yard was from a discount broker I had never heard of. The seller said he was only going to pay 1.5% to the listing agent and then the buyers agent got 3%. After all he said "the listing agent isn't going to do anything to sell my house.  Especially since a listing agent can't sell their own listings in Texas".I said  "What did you say?" He repeated what he thought was true. That an agent couldn't represent both seller and buyer and that is … (12 comments)

home for sale: Before and Afters - Exquisite Tudor Cottage with all the Charm and Period Details! - 07/20/09 09:56 AM
I was inspired by this gorgeous brick Tudor home for sale in the Berkeley Place neighborhood near downtown Fort Worth. By the time I was finished staging it I could just imagine myself moving in and living happlly ever after!
I just love to see these older homes restored with new paint and updated with great kitchen appliances yet still have all of the great period touches like light sconces and hanging fixtures original to the house when it was built in 1926.
Here are my before (left) and after (right) photos of this beautiful home. The home was vacant after … (12 comments)