I have been contacted by a homeowner who has a $699K vacant property for sale here in Charleston. The hitch is that it needs to sell in 4 weeks or they will lose the contract on their new home. My personal average is 4-6 weeks (I've had homes in this price range sell in 1hr, and others that took 4 mos). Below are photos from the home... their order is kitchen, breakfast nook, living room, dining room & master bedroom.
Can I make these rooms dramatically different (ie better)... ABSOLUTELY! I have proposed a 6 wk contract for only $1500. I have most of the furniture on hand already. Since it's a short contract, my furniture won't be tied up. I have told the homeowner that the odds of selling the home staged are better than unstaged.
My questions is, would you recommend the staging if you only have 4 weeks to produce?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 an instructor for 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:
April 10-12 Charleston, SC
May 4-6 Covington, KY
May 18-20 Charlotte, NC
June 22-24 St. Petersburg, FL
June 26-28 Marietta, GA
July 5-7 Memphis, TN
July 10-12 Charleston, SC
August 2-4 Washington DC
August 24-26 Chicago, IL
These were my recommendations to the homeowner & agent:
"If you do proceed with the staging I would highly recommend your agent having an agent open house on Tuesday or Thursday of next week and very possibly an open house this weekend. Getting the most advertising and people to walk through the unit in the next few weeks is crucial. I would be happy to help at the agent open house if it is next Thursday - PCRE caravan. Because staging is new to the area you could get a lot of agent walk-throughs if your agent advertises that the unit has been professionally staged. This should go out in an email blast to all of MLS"
How can you not stage it? What a great challenge!! Go for it. In addition to the open houses and realtor caravans, did you ever think about hosting an event at the house. Holding a fund raising event in a staged vacant house targeting the key buyer demographic is a great why to show off the house. Give us pics and let us know if the houe sells! Best of luck Melissa!!
There basically are three main things that can effect the sale of a home...Price - Marketing - Condition. So by staging it you will have contributed to 1/3 of it's selling potential! That's a big chunk!
I'm sure you'll make it fabulous!
Thanks for all the confidence!! Of course I have been encouraging the client to stage... I just wanted to see what the rest of you had to say - would you recommend or feel the time is too short for impact. I received the call at 10am that they want to proceed. I had already scheduled movers. The home will be staged tomorrow! I've rearranged my schedule to get it in this week to maximize exposure time. I'll post the after photos Saturday - Friday night is Spiderman III
Melissa Marro, www.StagingAndRedesign.com - become a member today!