I was going to try to be whitty, but I'm not terribly clever the way Elaine and some others are so I'll keep this to my usual style.... Today I staged a great home in a very large community that has probably 75 homes for sale at the moment, plus it is still building out. These particular sellers have had their home listed for a while and have since had to move. No one wants to continue paying for a home they no longer live in, so the listing agent, finally catching on to our statistics through our newsletters decided to give us a call...
Looking in the MLS, the photos for the home are a bit confusing. There are photos of both vacant and occupied rooms - the same rooms mind you. This is when the seller used to live there and how it was prior to today - empty. For this blog, I'm only going to focus on the living room & the 'dining room'....
My issue with this room both occupied and vacant is that at the pricepoint of the home and the overall rooms and layout, this space didn't make much sense as a formal dining room. There was a dining space off the kitchen that was perfectly large enough for a home this size. To me, it didn't make sense or good use of square footage.
Instead I decided to stage this as a home office with a sizable desk. Clearly you can see that if this were a dining room there is significant space. Overall, however this is much more usable space in the home with this configuration and the rooms make more sense....
The first photo simply looks overly crowded and confusing while completely diminishing the wonderful fireplace. This is the only family room in the home - it needs to be comfortable and functional! The vacant photo make the room look tiny, which is backed up by the oversized, poorly layed out first photo....
Now there is actually significantly more furniture (or so it appears) in this space and there is still massive amounts of space left over. We kept one wall open (& you can see the cable connection clearly when in the room) to show that there is still more than enough room for an entertainment center (of course adding it would have again likely started making the room feel smaller again & detracted from the fireplace - a key focal point.)
The best news is that the savvy agent called one of the buyers' agents who had shown the property this week, with clients who liked a lot about the home, but had some downchecks and let her know that the home was painted (well, the master suite was painted) and that it was being staged today. The buyer and her husband are going to view the property again this weekend to see if the changes are enough to make a difference!
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First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDesign is a nationally award winning company owned and operated in Summerville, SC a suburb of Charleston, SC. We provide high quality staging for both occupied and vacant homes in the greater surrounding areas and beyond! For more information please visit, www.WeStageSC.com. If you are interested in learning about making Home Staging your profession, please visit, www.StagingAndRedesign.com for more information.
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
Hi Melissa...You did a great job. You have certainly contributed to getting this place sold. Hope it happens with that couple.
Kate
Nice job, Melissa! It doesn't even look like the same space, especially the living room! I hope they sell it this weekend!
Melissa - The room looks great. I'm sure the house will sell faster.
Melissa,
What a difference! That's great they're coming back this weekend - I think they'll be impressed. Fingers crossed.
I have never seen both vacant and occuppied photos of the same room on MLS. How strange! You did a beautiful job with the staging. I'm learning a lot from viewing your pictures.
Hi Melissa, good lesson in marketing space and light, the two most sought after things in real estate.
Melissa, Love what you did with the living room. If you have a buyer that was interested enough to take a second look then I'm sure you have a sell!
I like the living room as well, Melissa. You'll have to let us know what the buyers do after they preview it this weekend.
Kathy
Melissa -- I think your post style is wonderful . . . and your staging is too! Great examples and illustration of how staging can help buyers enviision themselves in the space -- looking foward to the "progress report" after the buyers see the transformation!
It looks great! Can't wait to see how long it takes to sell....... Minutes, or a few days!
Hi Melissa,
Your staging looks great.
What I still don't understand is why it is so difficult for many realtors to get their head around the fact that they are supposed to be marketing a property. That's it. That should be their main goal, to get that property sold. Why do they wait until the listing becomes stale before calling in a professional? I just don't get it. More and more homeowners are calling me and asking that their properties be staged so they get it. I really feel for these homeowners who may have lost a buyer because their photos, looked awful and the agent just waited too long to get that property marketed adequatedly. Now, more than ever, homeowners, and realtors really need to step up to the plate and have those properties looking their very best.
Aloha Melissa,
Great job! Lovely staging as usual and I like your concept of leaving a space 'open' in the room. One technique I incorporate is putting the 'open' space directly before the viewer as opposed to leaving the 'open' space in the back ground. For instance instead of having the back wall be the focus of the 'openess' I would have placed the club chair matching the sofa against the back wall allowing the open space to be in the foreground. The result is the viewer is actually able to feel the openness as opposed to just seeing it.
PS Check your photo's, one is repeated twice which I don't think was your intention.
Peace,
Good luck with the returning buyers this weekend. It's great to have input from someone who saw it "before" staging.
Melissa, Great post, thanks.
Staged to sell quickly indeed!! Keep us informed please!
Well of course they will love it - look at the new photos.