This is a beautiful home full of character. Unfortunately much of that character is old world and many people today don't necessarily feel that this fits their needs/wants. For downtown there is tons of space and light. The home is within walking distance to Charleston's Battery and most of the nightlife, restaraunts, shopping and parks.
This said the home has been on the market for some time and so the agent called me in to see if we could help. Coming into the common areas I was stunned to see a beautiful lush arboritum & benches. This is simply not something we see everyday around here. Walking into the unit itself, I found the problems to be pretty easy to spot.
The home was large & there was a ton of light, but the floors were marble, the walls were faux painted and each room was a trapezoid! Yes, that's right, the walls were clearly far from square and the angle was pretty sharp! Most buyers would definately leave scratching their heads as to what to do with this. Using the actual MLS photos as before photos let me show you some of our changes....
This is the only room you can sort of make out the trapezoidal shape I was mentioning. Look at the distance between the foot of the bed (about 12") and the wall compared to the headboard and wall (about 30"). You can also tell if you look at the left hand side of the rug.
Staging created defined spaces and shows how large the unit actually is. The photos create a more inviting atmosphere to encourage buyers to want to see more!
If you would like to see more, click here for more photos or click here to view the RES.
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocet 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. She now operates as the CEO of First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDesign as well as the Executive Director of Certified Staging Professionals International Training Academy (CSPI) - the world's largest Staging Training Organization, and regularly speaks at the StagerList Expos 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 843.822.2622 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
If you would like Marro's team to provide information on staging a property in the state of South Carolina, or the Greater Charleston Area, please visit www.WeStageSC.com, email marro.melissa@gmail.com or call 843.822.2622.
For more information on Marro's CSP Staging Training, please visit www.StagingAndRedesign.com, visit the CSP Calendar for dates or email marro.melissa@gmail.com. Below is a list of Marro's current CSP Certification class dates:
February 6-8 Charleston, SC
February 16-18 Austin, TX
March 6-8 Atlanta, GA
March 13-15 Raleigh, NC
March 20-22 St. Petersburg, FL
April 10-12 Knoxville, TN
May 4-6 Covington, KY
May 18-20 Charlotte, NC
July 5-7 Memphis, TN
July 10-12 Charleston, SC
I love love loveeee it! I would sooo live there.
Heather
Heather - well for just under $800K YOU CAN! It's cold where you are and warm and sunny here... what do you say?
Gary - Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words. The agent is having a broker's open house tomorrow and I was unable to attend due to another obligation (staging another home for a Saturday open house... lol!) I can't wait to hear what she thinks!
Absolutely wonderful job. I would be surprised if it stays on the market for very long. Your work will certainly help speed up a sale.
Your staging looks great, Melissa. The location closeby the Battery district should help the sale, too.
Kathy
Melissa I love the reds throughout the space and yes you are right, that bedroom was such a weird shape, why did they build it like that? Without staging I would think it would be virtually impossible to sell that unit. Great Job
Phyllis Pafumi
Connie - Thank you! I actually was surprised it has been on the market as long as it has been as beautiful and well priced as it is. I think buyers just couldn't get past the cold marble floors and oddly angled rooms. They seems small and difficult to layout in your head.
Kathy - Familiar with Charleston are you? It is only about 5 blocks away from the park off the battery. It really is a beautiful walk and horse drawn carriages actually go by those big windows in the living room!
Phyllis - Who knows, it was the 1850s! Furniture certainly has gotten larger.
Melissa, I gasped at the price. Good Grief...thats spensive!!!
But with all the money you'd pay me to be on your staging team, 800 k is just chump change. ;)
Heather
I love this house! The staging will help tremendously in letting buyers seeing the potential the home has.
You need to add your RES shows to our website! The last 2 you did were beautiful!
Heather - for downtown it is actually quite reasonable.... it is along the walking path most vacationers would want to walk, shop and dine.
Now, when I can afford a home like that, then I'll think about paying someone else so they can live in one.... lol!
Bevin - I emailed the RES shows to them this morning, but as you know they are off on Fridays! They should be up first thing on Monday along with the home I'm finishing up now. (Still need a few additional pieces - um, trees - looks like I'll be shopping tomorrow morning!)
Kathleen - tell me about it! It absolutely had to have a queen size bed though. I could have used smaller night stands, but honestly I think that might have made the room feel smaller. The little bit of extra room it would have created would have been out of scale.
I actually was really worried about using that bedspread too. We had it in inventory, along with pillows, etc and so I figured by mixing and matching I could 'make it work' (as Tim Gunn would say). I think it turned out quite nice and some of my artistic shots of this room are my favorites.
Fantastic work, Melissa!
I love the fact that you used the deep red to contrast the otherwise very neutral floors and walls.
Red gives a space such an energetic feel!
Julia