July 4, 2008 Selling homes by showcasing Edward Gately, Tribune Homebuilder Matthew Lupton purchased an older house in a well-established Scottsdale neighborhood for $600,000, demolished all but one wall of it and built a lavish new home with an asking price of nearly $2 million. With that kind of investment, he wants to make sure potential buyers are wowed by the property and eager to make an attractive offer. He recently began contracting with Showhomes of Scottsdale to "stage" his houses. Because new houses are usually vacant, potential buyers … (4 comments)
showhomes: Staggering Vacancy Rates
- 07/02/08 02:47 AM
At Showhomes, we provide a really specialized service for a very specific niche in the real estate market: vacant homes for sale over $500k. We really pay attention to vacancy rates - what we call the % of vacant homes for sale out of the total number of homes for sale in an area. During the boom, we often specualted that about 1 in 10 higher end homes for sale were vacant or 10%. These days, we are able to do much better and much more specific data analysis usng MLS dumps and spot checks of sample data and the numbers … (6 comments)
showhomes: Benefits of Belonging to a Franchise
- 07/02/08 02:18 AM
Natahsa Little, one of our newest Showhomes franchise owners, posted this on her blog today and I think its a great read. Staging associations are a great way to support each other but belonging to a franchise company takes support to a whole new level - at Showhomes, we are all in business together and it shows in this post:
Benefits of Belonging to a Franchise For whatever reason I woke up in a funk this morning. I was feeling frustrated and stuck. My life and business are actually going very well, but I'm a perfectionist; therefore I sometimes find … (0 comments)
showhomes: Business Cards as a Marketing Brochure
- 07/02/08 02:10 AM
At Showhomes, we recently decided to redesign our business cards which have been the same since 2004. In thinking about how we use cards in the staging industry, we decided to go with a fold-over card that used before and after photos to better tell what we do. Just like in most of real estate, photos make the first impression and we want our business cards to showcase great photos. Take a look at the draft card:
The before and after photo really drives much of the marketing in home staging and I'm excited to get these new … (34 comments)
showhomes: New Showhomes office in Denver, CO
- 06/30/08 06:25 AM
Showhomes is pleased to annouce the opening of a new home staging business in Denver! George and Dena Hart have purchased the Showhomes franchise for the Denver area and will begin operations in August. George and Dena have tremendous business expereince and we are happy to have them in our community.
George is a Gulf War veteran and the first receipient of the Vet Fran program. VetFran gives returning vetrans discounts on franchise ownership, helping them transition and rewarding them for their service. In addition to his military career, he and Dena have owned and operated both a training … (1 comments)
showhomes: Showhomes in Atlanta, GA
- 06/29/08 05:13 AM
Here's a blog post about our sister company in Atlanta, GA: Is your home a Showhome? Today was an interesting day. Randy Travis of Fox5 here in Atlanta was on location on one of my listings, 9010 Brixham Court in Suwanee, shooting some video for a story about a vacant home staging service. The home in question has a property manager from Showhomes of Atlanta. There isn’t a problem with this home. But, apparently that isn’t always the case. Another company didn’t deliver what the promised. And now the home owner is getting headaches and spending money instead of avoiding headaches and saving … (2 comments)
showhomes: Sell Your Home Faster
- 06/27/08 12:02 AM
This is a news story on Showhomes from earlier this year that I just received a copy of. It does a great job ef explaining how Showhomes stages vacant homes for sale: Home Managers Could Help Your Home Sell Faster Darcy Pohland MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) CBS ―
With the housing market in a slump, home sellers are looking for new ways to stand out and some are turning to house managers to transform their properties. House managers basically take staging to a whole new level, by turning ordinary homes into model homes. Realtor Mike Strand showed off a … (2 comments)
showhomes: Selling a house? Consider live-in manager
- 06/26/08 08:34 AM
Selling a house? Consider live-in Home Manager Wednesday, June 25, 2008 By Ric Romero These days, it's a buyer's market in real estate, and many houses are sitting empty much longer than the owner would like. Here's a new twist that is helping sellers seal the deal more quickly. Most likely you have heard of "home staging," where a professional comes into the home for sale and puts furniture and accessories in just the right places to make the home look better. Well, now home staging comes with a live-in tenant who might help speed up the sale. Click in the … (2 comments)
Showhomes Franchise Corporation Announces New Franchise Opening in Memphis, Tennessee
Nashville, TN (Grassroots Newswire) <June 9> -- In a year that has seen the real estate market fall to one of its lowest points in history, Showhomes, America’s largest home staging company, continues to beat market conditions and increase revenues. In many markets, Staged Showhomes are beating local market conditions by as much as 50% and this market success is fueling the company’s growth. Showhomes is pleased to announce the grand opening of Showhomes Memphis, the newest Showhomes franchise.
Showhomes, a nationally franchised company … (0 comments)
showhomes: Power of Red
- 06/13/08 01:42 AM
I've posted on using red in staging a few time before. Red is a great color to use in staging and even when used in small doses can make a huge impact. Its the color that is larger than life. In our April Staging Contest, our internal judge agreed, singling out some well staged rooms that tastefully used red. Here are the comments and photos: The Power of RedOne of my personal design rules in every room is to incorporate a bit of red.Often the amount is very small - a bowl, a few flowers, a detail in some art, a … (13 comments)
showhomes: Showhomes April Staging Contest Results
- 06/13/08 01:17 AM
Here are the results from our internal April Staging Contest in which the 29 Showhomes staging franchises compete for the monthly top design awards: Critic's Picks - Showhomes April Staging ContestJudging from the photos submitted for our April Staging Contest, the overall quality of Showhomes design is on the rise! Many of the rooms show thoughtful application of the principles we've discussed and trained on, and the results are highly successful. It's getting harder to narrow the field down to three clear winners, and it seems a shame not to recognize and share your good work for all to learn from. … (5 comments)
VetFran is an innovative program spearheaded by the Internations Franchise Association that gives veterans discounts on the purchase price of a franchise. The program is designed to give returning vetrans help in starting a new life and reward them for their courage and sacrifice. Showhomes, America's largest home staging company and the only nationally franchised staging business is proud to be a member of this program! To learn more about Showhomes, click here To learn more about VetFran, click here
… (1 comments)
showhomes: Showhomes Featured in The Daily Record
- 06/02/08 06:26 AM
Editorial Front Page - Monday, June 02, 2008 Owners, tenants and Realtors benefit from Showhomes Jay Edwards There is something about a house filled with furniture that changes the mood of prospective buyers. If you’ve shown houses, lived in houses, looked at houses or sold houses then you understand what an impression a tastefully decorated home makes on the people viewing it. So in these past few years of explosive home prices and innovative entrepreneurship, it was only a matter of time before home staging went to the next level by placing people in the homes along with their furniture. And … (0 comments)
showhomes: Using Deer Heads in Your Staging?
- 06/02/08 02:18 AM
I read a post recently about 'dead heads' - the use of stuffed animal heads. In most cases, this can be distasteful and look overly masculine. Beside being potentially offensive to vegitarians, they can be downright scary to little kids. I have begin to see, however, more of these objects crop up in our homes as our stagers try creative ways to use them in rooms. Here is an example from a home we staged in Minneapolis last week:
Notice the large antler Cindy Montgery used as a centerpiece on the dining table. I would have never thought to use … (19 comments)
showhomes: Elvis Has Left the Building and Now You Can Move In
- 05/30/08 04:15 AM
Elvis Has Left the Building and Now You Can Move In Home staging company uses live-in Home Managers to help sell mansions Want to live in a $3.6 million dollar Orange County mansion? Want to reside in a $2 million dollar golf villa on the 4th tee at Marsh Landing in Jacksonville? How about a stately $4 million dollar Lake Forest address in Chicago? What would it cost a month? $10,000 a month? $7500? Try $1800.
There’s only one catch – you have to have beautiful furniture and be willing to move on short notice because these swanky mansions are … (2 comments)
showhomes: Charlotte Home Sells in less than 60 Days
- 05/30/08 02:10 AM
Henry Graham, owner of Showhomes - Charlotte, emailed me these photos of a recent vacant home he staged that sold in less than 60 days. This home was listed at $785k. Henry staged it a few days after signing his contract with the homeowner and within 60 days, the owner accepted an offer. Henry staged the entire home and that made a difference. Here are some pics of his work:
The interview focuses in on the value of staging and Bert Lyles, Showhomes' CEO, does a great job explaining the use of live in Home Managers to help stage and sell high end vacant homes. Showhomes has a stellar track record producing sales for its clients in any type of housing market. Click below to listen to the 5 minute interview:
showhomes: 2010 Until Foreclosed Properties Recede
- 05/28/08 04:01 AM
This was posted on our company forum and I think it is good news for stagers: 2010 Until Foreclosed Properties Recede It will be 2010 before the glut of foreclosed properties works its way through the market and MGIC Investment Corp. recovers from the credit meltdown, according to Craig Culver, CEO of the Milwaukee-based company. Speaking to Mike Gousha on his Up Front television program, Culver predicted delinquencies will peak at the end of this year. “Our business fundamentals are sound,” he said. MGIC has been hard hit by the credit crunch and foreclosures. In February, the company reported a $1.5 … (6 comments)
showhomes: Socal Discovery Day a Success
- 05/27/08 01:10 AM
I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day! We returned from Orange County last week from our regional Discovery Day. Often, when we get a group of people interested in starting a Showhomes home staging business, we hold an open house event where we explain the business and get to know each other. Last week's California discovery day was a record for us with 18 people attending! We held the open house at 727 Las Palmas, a 3.6 million dollar home Beth George, owner of Showhomes Orange County staged:
Lots of this is due to the recent FOX, CNN, … (3 comments)
showhomes: Fox features Showhomes Greenville
- 05/23/08 07:32 AM
Fox News in Greenville, SC featured Showhomes last week on a 10 minute segment on Home Staging. This is wonderful for owner Natasha Little who recently opened her franchise in this market and is off to a great start. The media clip, which ran four times last week, is sure to help! The reporter did a good job laying out some stats about staging that should help others. Take a look and let me know what you think:
This article on Showhomes Scottsdale ran onthe 4th of July:
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