Speaking Up about Home Staging

This has happened on more than one occassion lately - particularly with vacant homes.  Agents should be paying attention.  In our local market (Charleston) homes are sitting a bit longer than they used to.  Vacant homes, which rarely show as nicely as owner occupied homes are taking a beating.  I see so many of them on MLS it makes my head spin.  What I'm finding interesting, however is that I've been getting quite a few jobs lately where the homeowner is changing agents (after the house has been sitting for months without selling) to agents that offer staging services. 

Cable TV shows are promoting staging nearly daily and homeowners are getting it.  The recent presence of staged properties are also getting attention.  I regularly hear now that agents have seen (or sold) one of our staged properties and what a difference it made when their clients viewed it.  They immediately contact their sellers with vacant properties and the trend grows. 

Which of these photos would your buyer clients be more interested in viewing in person?  Which would they more likely make an offer on?  Would they make the same offer for each? 

When representing the seller, think about the fact that offers are typically higher for staged homes.  When representing the buyer, think you will spend less time driving your clients around when they view homes that show better! 

Don't be one of the agents left behind..... isn't it time to embrace staging?  It really does work!

This seems really kind of interesting to me.  We finished staging a home today that was called 'dark' and 'very vanilla' by agents & buyers alike (prior to us getting our hands on it.)  We were there until 11:30 last night staging and had to bring in just a few things this morning.  While we were waiting for the furniture to arrive my assitant and I kept commenting how dark it was... the buyers were definately right.  We, of course, added lamps, etc hoping the agent would come turn them on before buyers walked through.  We even thought of putting them on a timer.

This morning when we arrived, surprisingly, without a light on in the home the home was brighter!  Somehow the furniture made the difference.  We are assuming that it broke up the patches of dark with splashed of color & shimmer.  Your eyes had more to look at, so they did. 

Today I went to another vacant listing presentation.  The complaint from buyers was the same.  Dark.... I told them the story of the home we did today and walked away with another job and signed contract.  I explained that I'm not exactly sure how it work (the dark to light thing) but that it does!  I find it very interesting...

Here are photos of the completed home....

Some additional photos that I don't have before photos...

This is just another example of what staging can do to help bring life into an otherwise dark & drab vacant home.  In this highly competitive market, shouldn't your clients be getting every edge they can?

This is a beautiful home located right on the 4th & 5th fairway.  It is 2699 sqft, has 4 bdrms and 2 1/2 baths and only $315,000. Amenities include Swimming Pool, Tennis Court, Club House, Golf, Club Membership Available.... agents you should bring buyers quickly, I don't think it will last long.....

Update:  This home went under contract on September 26,2007.  It was originally listed on 07/02/06.  Staging took place on 07/24/07.  After one year on the market unstaged, it SOLD in less than 60 days after staging!  Sellers & agents, are you listening?

**Melissa Marro, with First Impressions Home Staging & Interior Redesign is a licensed SC realtor, but does not buy or sell real estate.  This presentation is done soley for the purpose of showing the property & it's staging. Melissa does not receive any additonal money for sale of property.

I received a call from an agent who is taking on a new listing this week.  She called me because she needs my help.  Here is the situation.  The neighborhood that the home is listed in currently has 178 active listings.  This particular home has already been on the market 6 months and the current listing agreement is expiring.  As a smart agent she has advised that the home be staged PRIOR to re-listing with her. 

As a smart stager, I've been doing my homework... want to see what I see when I look at many of the homes currently listed (many of which have been listed over 100 days) ---- please note none of these is the actual subject property I am going to see tomorrow for my consultation:

Contrast this to the homes that are currently contingent (most of which sold in under 60 days):

Do you see what I see??  I didn't stage any of these homes.  I don't know if they were professionally staged or if the homeowners were just savvy.  All 8 photos are taken in different properties.  The agent who contacted me obviously understands what's going on & wants her homeowner to compete in this tight market.  My question is, do you?  

Consistently I see agents here in the incredibly overabundant Charleston market (in some areas we have as much as 8 years worth of inventory currently listed) do the following:

• Add new listings with only 1 photograph of the exterior
• Add tons of photos (of the yard) and none of the inside of the home
• Take photos of the light fixture, baseboards, or tub instead of taking wide angle shots of the entire room
• Put photos of messy rooms in MLS

I'm sure I can list a dozen more problems, but you are getting the point (I hope).  Will you do what is necessary to help advise the homeowner on how to sell their home, or will your photos (if any) be like the ones in the top section of this blog?  Are you paying attention?

This week my team (3 of us) spent 3 days helping an elderly woman move into her newly purchased home.  We were fortunate that we could look at her previous home to get an idea of how she enjoys her environment.  Her style is clearly Victorian and she LOVES things, art on the walls and knick knacks everywhere.  We did need to leave room for her to comfortably get around on her scooter. 

This is her home.  We needed to pay attention to what she liked, what she wanted and forget about our personal opinions.

The homeowner was clear that she wanted things a certain way - the way they have always been.  She wanted certain pieces in each room & all the pieces were to be used.

There are still a few more pieces to come from another location and they'll be filling in any 'gaps' (she doesn't like blank spaces anywhere).  We'll be there next week to help with that.

This homeowner was an absolute delight.  She was fun to work with and she really appreciated what we were doing for her.  Bound to a scooter she didn't know how she would get it all unpacked.  Her son, who takes great care of her, doesn't have a solid week to do the work, and much of it takes more than one person to move. 

This job leads to other jobs.  She moved out of a condo in another part of town.  We will stage that unit for her to put it on the market.  (Believe it or not there is still plenty of furniture in it that we won't have to bring any in ourselves.)  Her sister is also looking for a little design help.  She just moved and wants a redesign. 

For the agent who represented the buyer.... what kind of impression would this leave for your client if you had suggested it to them and perhaps offered a gift certificate towards some of it?   Do you think you might get the listing as well?  Would she talk about you to her friends and family and recommend you?  ABSOLUTELY!  Something to think about....  

Color - it can really make or break a home.  I have been writing about this quite a bit lately.  I guess that's because so many of my consults lately have walls that simply need help.... Agents & Homesellers, please understand that fresh NEUTRAL paint is like liquid equity!!!

The agent had started 'staging the home' prior to me contacting him.... (This was one of my prospected homes after the condo sold that I blogged about.)

Photos don't quite convey just how highlighter green this condo was.  When my assistant and I walked in, our first comments were, "Wow, that's green."... This is what your buyers will say too....

Just like Kermit the Frog sitting on that log at the beginning of The Muppet Movie... the home sitting for sale for months on end, may be sitting there singing, "it's not easy being green"... or chocolate brown, red, pink, purple, etc.  Homes do not have to be tan or white, color can be added, but make sure it is appealing to nearly everyone - not just you!

I love BIG projects!  I LOVE turning old and outdated to HOT & STYLISH.... Do you think this house will sell now?

If you would like to see the rest of the transformation... click here.

Agents & Homeowners, If you have a home that is OK but just not 'trendy' or 'current'.... think about calling a professional stager.  We KNOW what to do to make it WOW!

I've never understood why some homesellers are so put off by the idea of painting.  Today we finished a tremendous makeover on a home in an older part of town.  The homeowner was GREAT!  They had started the makeover themselves and decided they were overwhelmed and needed an expert. 

This particular home was listed for $324,900 in January 2007.  After 4 price reductions it was listed at $274,900 when they called me. 

Here's what their best MLS photos looked like....

Here's what it looked like when I got there...

Here's what it looks like now...

So many times homeowners & agents believe that they understand staging.  Professional staging is a full time job!  Sometimes it is best to pay the professionals for what they do best....

Oh.. the home goes back on the market tomorrow.... $299,900.  I have no doubt they will get it.  For the record, the price of the staging.... less than $4000.  Do you think it was worth it?

I recently purchased a wide angle lens for my camera.  I have a Kodak z740 and I have loved the 10x zoom feature and clarity of photos.  I LOVE my camera!  I've been a little jealous of some of you with your wide angle lenses.  Checking on things I found out that I could have one on mine as well.... finishing up one of my vacants... I thought I would try both of them and see if I could see the differences....

I was standing in the exact same place for all of these photos. All I did was change out the lense.  Notice the chair and the windows (particularly up high).  What a difference!

The big problem I have is that the lense is HUGE and overpowers my flash... I've tried one of my photo programs and haven't been able to figure out how to brighten the photos.  That will take a little work on my part. 

I'm just in awe with the difference in the photos.  Remember, I didn't do anything but change the lenses.  I was standing in the exact same place!  My investment, was well worth it... now to figure out my photo programs...

Ok, so apparently my focus was in the right place at the right time (or at least my mini-van was!).  I was on my way to an appointment for a large renovation vacant home staging job when I got a call on my cell phone.  Those of you with advertising on your vehicle (that's all of you, right?) know how it goes....

"Hi, are you driving a red mini van?  Great, I'm in the car behind you....."  The caller goes on to say that her sister, an elderly woman, just moved into a new home and needs help!  Today I did a general walkthrough to estimate the time it will take to unpack her home and set up everything.  My estimate is approximately 3 days, maybe 4.  My daily rate is $750.  We begin work on Tuesday - my first available day.  (I have to unstage 2 homes and stage 3 others between now and then!)

The moral of this story....

1)  ALWAYS have signage on your vehicle.  Why are you paying for a website and NOT for car signage?  And don't tell me you don't have a website either.... we'll need to have some serious conversations if this is you....

2)  FOCUS on the business you would like to have.  I've found whenever I start thinking of what I WANT to work on the universe provides

3) REMEMBER that there are many ways to bring in income in this business.  Keep your options open & constantly look for possibilities!