I have been marketing my services in my small town for almost two years now. I have given presentations (UGH!), given a "FREE" consultation (never used), driven all over town every Sunday to open houses, mass-marketed to every realtor in every realty in the city, and spent hundreds of dollars in advertising. And.....nothing. "We don't need to stage, these houses sell." "Oh, we stage ourselves" (with a couple plants, towels in the kitchen & bath). These are the comments I receive from our realtors. So I started marketing in a different area - and voila - several jobs. GREAT.
But, what about my town?
A couple weeks ago I chatted with a lady in my town who had her house on the market about 6 months - and no offers. I looked at it & realized why - red painted living room walls with hunter green carpet, a pink bedroom with, and a lilac master bedroom (still with the green carpet! not seen here). I let her know that she needed to paint it out neutral and bring in neutral carpet. She had been told that by her realtor, but loved the red - so hadn't done it. (picture below).
After she painted she had me over again - it was beautiful! I gave her a bid to stage, but it was too high for her, she had put so much money into the house already and her realtor said it was fine now that it was painted. I lowered my price to what she could afford and BEGGED her to let me stage it. She agreed. Since this house had to POP I bought more furnishings and extra things and spent twice what I charged her for the stage.
WHY??? Advertising!!! I want all the realtors in the area to come and see for themselves exactly what "staging" is all about! What a difference it will make! I believe in what I am doing. They had the open house Sunday and will have a broker's open on Tuesday. I am praying that this home sells - FAST! This would be the best advertisement.
SOLD................SOLD................SOLD..............SOLD............SOLD!!!!!
This house sold in FIVE WEEKS!!! After being on the market before staging for 6 months! The lady that bought it actually looked at the house the first week after staging - but had time constraints preventing her buying at that time. The owner is so grateful - and all the realtors that showed it were amazed at the transformation!
Now we wait to see if I get any jobs from this stage!
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