Trying to sell a vacant house adds obstacles and depresses the sales price, says Showhomes, a nationally franchised home staging company. Showhomes uses live-in home stagers to lower the cost of staging and produce faster home sales. Take a look at its top five reasons why selling a vacant house is often a mistake in today’s market: 1. People don’t simply buy houses; they buy the next chapter of their lives. This is an emotional experience and emotion influences what people buy and how much they … (44 comments)
To get a leg up in a buyer’s market, the real estate industry turns to a little-known niche: professional house sitters. by Amy Biegelsen Last weekend, Michelle Sifford and Jennifer Ding helped the Armstead family move into a house in Church Hill with lightning speed. In five days’ time they fully arranged the furniture in the three-bedroom renovation, made sure the décor tied everything together and removed every speck of dirt. Most importantly, they made sure the family was ready to pack and leave again. Sifford and Ding aren’t renting the … (2 comments)
home staging: Home Staging comes to Park City: Parkites make home staging easy and affordable
- 03/12/10 10:41 PM
March 13th Marketplace: Parkites make home staging easy and affordable Showhomes Park City says there's no reason to leave a house vacant by Andrew Kirk, Clockwise from left: Drew Cain, Ryan Sapp, Angie Sapp and Katja Cain. Together they own and operate Showhomes Park City Ryan Sapp is a developer and Realtor. His wife Angie is an interior designer. They're painfully aware of how long some homes take to sell in the current market and how dangerous it is for a house to remain vacant during that time. That's why they and friends Drew and Katja Cain started … (1 comments)
home staging: Staging Sells a $1.65 Million Jacksonvillle Mansion in One Day
- 02/10/10 03:35 AM
Jim and Kaye Biby, owners of Showhomes Jacksonville, emailed me these photos of a $1.65 Million dollar Ponte Vedra mansion that they staged with live-in home stagers. The home, which had been on the market for an extended period of time before staging, received two offers within one day of staging and closed in a staggering 3 weeks! There is a reason 96% of Realtors say fully staged homes such as this one sell faster and for a lot more money! Take a look:
What do you think? Thomas Scott www.showhomes.com We're expanding; if … (10 comments)
home staging: What is Your Niche in Real Estate?
- 01/30/10 11:59 PM
At the recent Real Estate Staging Association national conference, one of the best ideas I heard came from David Avrin, author of 'It's not who you know - it's who knows you." David said 'The economy celebrates specialists and quickly forgets generalists.' In my personal business career in both real estate, home staging and franchising, I have always seen companies and free agents take control of a niche and capitalize on being the go-to person or service for that niche. Once you sieze a niche and provide great service, you become unstoppable. I beleive this is the key to a successful … (13 comments)
home staging: Important Home Staging Statistics
- 01/30/10 03:57 AM
At last weekend's Real Estate Staging Association's National Conference (RESA), Showhomes released the following stats based on a survey of almost 500 Realtors from all over the county:
You are welcome to use these stats as long as you credit them to Showhomes. We've begun using these stats in our pitches to homeowners and Realtors and they are really getting people to slow down. Everyone knows that a fully staged home is more attractive, sells much faster and sells faster but when this many professional give their industry input, it presents the need for staging in a whole new way. … (13 comments)
home staging: Vacant and Fully Staged Homes: which sells?
- 12/10/09 03:19 AM
Showhomes is a national franchise and we train new Home Stagers often. One of my favorite parts of training is a field exercize that clearly demonstrates the difference in a vacant home for sale and a home that is both occupied and fully staged. Our company's success is based on the premise that vacant homes are much harder to sell, take much longer to sell and sell for far less money. For this exercise, we used two homes for sale in a suburb north of Nashville. Both homes are in the same neighborhood, are priced the same and have been on … (15 comments)
home staging: Tough Room to Stage
- 10/16/09 03:18 AM
Linda Saavedra of Showhomes Tampa emailed me these photos she was really proud of today. This room, as is typical in Florida, had all white, even the white tile floor. Vacant, this is a harsh room and feels like an operating room. These rooms, very contemporary in nature, can be really difficult to stage. Take a look at what she did:
Here's the after and this home sold in 7 DAYS:
I love the cozy conversation grouping near the fireplace - this gives buyers the ability to visualize some real activities. The sea-grass rugs work really well in FL … (11 comments)
home staging: Great Before and After - Sold in 39 Days
- 10/15/09 11:17 PM
This Minneapolis home sold in 39 days after staging by Showhomes. This beautiful home had been on the market for 1.5 years before it was staged. The owner and Realtor beleive the staging is what made the difference and we agree! like many homes, the interior of this home was wide open space and when vacant buyers spent very little time in the home. With nothing to help them undersatnd how the space could become the next chapter in their lives, they just blitzed the home. See for yourself:
Wow! I know I would spend more time in … (9 comments)
home staging: $720k Minnepolis Home Sold in 7 Days
- 10/15/09 06:24 AM
We're on a roll at Showhomes! Showhomes' Cindy Montgomery, possibly one of the best home stagers in the country, emailed me with pics of a home that sold this week in 7 days. Edina Realty Realtor Paul Pudlitzke is surely happy with this result. This renovated infill home had been on the market for a long time before. Within 7 days of moving our Home Managers in and staging the home sold for very near asking price. Take a look:
Thomas Scott www.showhomes.com Franchise Information
… (7 comments)
home staging: Home Sales Success in Tampa
- 10/15/09 05:24 AM
Linda Saavedra, owner of Showhomes Tampa, emailed me with some pics and an amazing story about her home staging business in Tampa: Hi Linda, I just want to thank you for doing a fantastic job with my listing in Tampa which had been on the market for a year and 1/2 before learning about your services. My listing was a vacant custom built pool home which lacked the warmth and connectability. I had an almost full price offer within a week of your staging with the home managers' furnishings, and 25% higher offer than the 2 offers that had come in a week prior to the home … (0 comments)
home staging: Newly Staged in Calabasas (LA)
- 10/14/09 12:42 AM
Craig Brown of Showhomes LA emailed me these pics of a home they staged yesterday in Calabasas in LA County. This home has a live in Home Stager and after many months on the market, we expect it to sell:
Good job! This house is in the foothills and when vacant was really difficult to show. Even when professionally cleaned, dust settled over everything, sucking the life out of the listing. With a live-in home stager, the home kept in show-to-sell condition long after it is staged and prepped for every showing. Thomas Scott www.showhomes.com Open … (7 comments)
home staging: Newly Staged in Park City, UT
- 10/13/09 08:07 AM
Just in time for Ski season! Showhomes Park City just staged this $2million dollar new contruction home. This is a beautiful home that had been sitting vacant on the market for almost a year. The home is in a mountain community outside Park City and a year with few showings made the home hard to show. Showhomes' Katja Cain and crew moved in a live in home stager and staged the home to perfection. At an open house to reintroduce the home to Realtors and Brokers last week, over 60 professionals commented on how amazing the home now shows. Take a … (11 comments)
home staging: Newly Staged in Laguna Beach, CA
- 10/12/09 11:46 PM
Wow, what a view! Showhomes Orange County's Jill Cosby staged this spectacular home this week and check out the amazing view:
Nice work! I'd expect this home to sell quickly, even in the southern CA real estate market. You can follow Jill on twitter: @jillcosby and follow me as well: @showhomesthomas Thomas Scott www.showhomes.com we're recruiting - join our team … (11 comments)
home staging: Wow - Home Staging Sold this Home in 2 Weeks After 3 Years on Market
- 10/08/09 12:32 AM
Townhouses and condos are hard to sell in tough markets. Unlike single family homes, townhouses and condos swing in price much more rapidly and in today's real estate market there is a glut of unsold inventory. unfortunatley for buyers, much of this inventory is vacant. Cindy Montgomery emailed me some after photos of this townhouse in Hennepin County, MN that sold in two weeks after sitting on the market for a staggering 3 years:
That's a tough room to stage. Really tall ceilings, not much color to work with and an urban environment than has some noise. Add … (8 comments)
home staging: Frank Discussion about Selling Homes Today from Experts
- 10/02/09 01:33 AM
Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest on Alice T Chan's Home Staging radio show. Alice is a west coast staging expert who works with tons of Realtors and home stagers helping get better performance. As VP of Operations for Showhomes, I train the largest home staging team in the country and operate with thousands of Realtors in over 50 real estate markets. Alice T Chan of the staged home lifestyle and Thomas Scott of Showhomes, America's largest home staging company Alice called with an interesting question? What does it take to really sell a home in … (1 comments)
home staging: Do you flikr?
- 10/02/09 12:46 AM
We've been in Home Staging for almost three decades. When we started in the 1980s, home staging was unheard of and explaining what we did was a really conceptual sell for most people. The conventional wisdom went like this: 1. Most people have too much stuff and no place to put it 2. Reason #1 is why they are selling the home in the first place 3. People would prefer to see your home empty so it doesn't look so claustrophobic This reasoning led to the conventional wisdom that a vacant home was easier to show and showed better because it … (3 comments)
'Join us as I interview Thomas Scott of Showhomes.com about Staging a home for a successful sales result. Thomas will share with us about very important factors that must be taken into consideration when selling a property, regardless of the price point. If you're even entertaining the idea of selling your home, you don't want to miss this interview. Listen as grill Thomas about the following and much, much more...: * Is there good news for homeowners today? Good news / bad news - there ARE buyers! … (0 comments)
home staging: Couple Helps Distressed Homeowners
- 09/28/09 11:06 AM
Carla and Jonathan Cheifetz recently opened a Showhomes franchise in Princeton, NJ after both lost their jobs and became frustrated with the lackluster job market. Jonathan, a former Wall Street executive and Carla, previously the director of a non-profit, both lost their jobs during the economic downturn of 2008. Both looked for new jobs for months before deciding to take their careers in a new direction. “I was very impressed that Showhomes has been around for 23 years,” Carla says. “It’s an especially effective solution in our Northeast housing market, where many homeowners are incredibly frustrated because their properties have lingered … (7 comments)
home staging: Home Stager Listed as Top Emerging Career in Down Market
- 09/27/09 10:23 AM
This article was picked up by Reuters and CNBC last week - business is booming for Showhomes as Home Staging continues to deliver sales results for the Realtors and homeowners who use it: September, 2009 - NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While many formerly bright job sectors continue to shed jobs at a record rate, home staging has emerged from the rubble as a top career choice. CareerBuilder and CNN recently ranked home stager as the No. 1 choice on their “Seven emerging jobs poised for growth” list. It may seem surprising that a real-estate related career is thriving in the current economic … (1 comments)
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