This morning our newsletter went out and it has already been wildly successful! That is very exciting for me as I remember a few years ago sitting at the computer ready to write my first one. I was nervous as to how it would be received and even more nervous about the committment of spending $50 a month on the service - would it pay off? (needless to say we get a good laugh about that now since I'm pretty much known for my newsletters.... lol)
Still, my favorite parts are really two.... putting in the testimonial & advertising our statistics. Every month without fail for over 3 years we've had agents provide us with glowing testimonials. This always comes across better than us trying to 'toot our own horn'. This month's quote came from a Keller Williams agent that I've worked with on a few occassions - Jim Near.
"We listed a condo built in 1983 and needed it changed from an older, tired unit to one that says buy me now. Melissa came and worked wonders. The very first showing resulted in the unit going under contract at a price 6% higher than the previous units sold for. First Impressions makes the difference in this challenging real estate market." Jim Near, Keller Williams Realty
MLS# 2912367, Listed 05/05/09 , Sold after first showing!
Then I thought, since I'm adding a quote from a Keller Williams agent that I would add one from Gary Keller himself, right out of his new book, Shift - "Proper staging is one of the best ways to entice buyers to take a look and make a property stand out... Preparing a house to put it on the market directly impacts whether or not a home will sell, how quickly it will sell and for how much."
Still as fun as quotes are, the most bang for our buck invariably comes from our statistics....
MLS# 2903262 Listed: 05/18/08 Staged: 04/08/09 AC: 05/26/09 only 48 days!!
MLS# 2910652 Listed: 04/25/09 Staged: 04/24/09 AC: 06/06/09 only 42 days!!
MLS# 2901714 Listed: 1/19/09 Staged: 04/02/09 AC: 5/02/09 only 30 days!
MLS# 2909698 Listed: 04/07/09 Staged: 04/06/09 AC: 06/02/09 only 56 days with multiple offers!
MLS# 2827131 Listed: 03/01/08 Staged: 04/01/09 AC: 06/15/09 on market 395 days prior to staging, only 75 after! avg DOM neighborhood - 127!
MLS# 2821477 Listed: 06/12/07 Staged: 02/26/08 AC: 06/08/09 on market 8 months prior to staging, only 100 days after! avg neighborhood DOM 176!
Carol Oaks Villas - Three properties AC after staged model unit on 1/12/09!
Palmetto Pointe Villas -5 units currently AC after staging model!!
I really do love my job!!!!
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If you would like to be taught by CSP's Executive Director, Melissa Marro, see her class dates below and call 1-888-STAGING to reserve your seat. To learn more about becoming a Certified Staging Professional, visit www.csptraining.com.
- June 23 CSP Elite Agent Class - Charleston, SC
- July 8 -9 CSP Elite Instructor Training - St. Catharines, ON
- July 28-30 CSP Certification Course - Charleston, SC
- August 4-6 CSP Certification Course - Jacksonville, FL
- August 11 CSP Elite Agent Training - Charleston, SC
- August 13 CSP Elite Agent Training - Columbia, SC
- August 25 - 27 CSP Certification Course - Nashville, TN
- September 10-12 CSP Certification Course - Atlanta, GA
- September 22-24 CSP Certification Course - Denver, CO
- October 6-8 CSP Certification Course - Charlotte, NC
- October 20-22 CSP Certification Course - Baton Rouge, LA
- November 10-12 CSP Certification Course - Tampa, FL
- December 1-3 CSP Certification Course - Jackson, MS
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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
I just received received a fabulous testimonial from a Realtor last night for a home that we Staged that went under contract in 3 weeks, for full price. And with Stats like your, how could anyone argue with adding Home Staging as part of their marketing plan? They'd be crazy NOT to! Congrats on your successes!
Just followed this back from Twitter. That is a great marketing strategy, indeed! They are easy to read and the message is abundantly clear on a number of levels:
Message 1: Staging works
Message 2: YOUR staging works
Message 3: You're busy and staging lots of properties
Message 4: Other realtors are using your services so the competition had better take advantage of what you offer or they'll be eating their competition's dust.
Brilliant Melissa! That's a brilliant marketing mind at work!
Melissa - I am so thankful for your posts on your newsletter. I am just sitting down to right my June issue - a little later in the month than I would like, but they are very, very effective. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!
People like to see hard numbers, and your's are something to be proud of. I don't look at it as tooting your horn, it's saying this is what we've done, and these are our results! Numbers don't lie!
Melissa you do a fabulous job and it shows how much you love it! Love the ideas for the newsletter - am trying to get this new one out. I appreciate so much the standard you set for all of us!
Melissa, I've told you how much I appreciate you getting me started sending out my newsletters and I'll never stop. (One of my biggest marketing tools) I'm working on getting those testimonial & advertising our statistics. It was very pleasing yesterday when I sent out my newsletter and I received an email from a Realtor that simply stated "very good newsletter". This was from a RE trainer, so I felt pretty good about that comment. Thanks for being a leader in our industry!
Interesting... The thought came to mind that I cannot picture you doing anything else!
Maybe you love what you do becasue your really good at it? Maybe your really good at it becasue you love what you do? Help me figure this out....
Super fantastic stats Melissa! I've just sent out my very first newsletter today thanks to your inspiration - thank you!