Here is a testimonial from the Realtor. I’ll admit I got a little teary reading this one.

“I can’t say enough about Annie…not only is she a real professional, she goes beyond the call of duty… This home was vacant and the seller was out of state, so all the correspondence was conducted via email, and having a very particular seller, details were a big part of it…She did not disappoint either myself or my seller!  The staging was done on time and our first Broker’s open brought out a huge turnout due to the fabulous photos that I was able to post after the staging was complete in enough time to tantalize the buyers. We had four offers right away and it was in escrow within 5 days of hitting the market, I say that’s a REAL SUCCESS STORY! Thank you Annie once again for making me look good and doing what I promise my clients, have the home in the best condition you can, and they will come! Looking forward to the next opportunity to work with you!”

-Claudia Border, GRI

As any professional Home Stager will tell you, we spend probably a quarter of our work week in the car, driving all over town from one listing to another, and back and forth to our storage facilities. So I was incredibly psyched to be able to Stage a  home right down the block. I even gave this client a really good deal on the price for the convenience factor. Budget was an issue for her, but for my own sake as well as hers, I wanted to make sure I did everything in my power to keep both our property values high!

This home is a gorgeous mid-century design, with beautiful built-ins and a stunning fireplace. The layout would be confusing to buyers if the property were shown empty because of the very long living room that’s divided by the fireplace wall. By placing appropriately scaled furniture in just the right arrangement, it will now appeal to even the most particular buyer!

Oh, and when we were almost finished Staging, but didn’t have quite the right vases for the coffee table, we just walked down the street and picked them up. How great is that?!

When I first previewed this property, my biggest concern was the size of the 2 main living spaces. The townhome had both a formal living room and a family room on the main level, but both rooms felt very small, especially without furniture in them.

The formal living room wasn’t as much of an issue because those rooms tend to be used only rarely. But the family room was open to the kitchen and dining room, and was going to be the heart of this home where the family gathered to watch TV and relax. But because of a layout issue and patio door placement, there was not much room for a lot of seating.

Family Room Before

As you can see from the photo, there was another issue – a strange bump out next to the patio door that significantly shortened the amount of space we had along that wall for seating.

Family Room After

Luckily I was able to find a small scale sectional sofa that fit PERFECTLY in the space! It looked almost as if we had it custom made.

With a strategically placed floor vase, that odd bump out didn’t feel so odd. And we even had room for an accent chair across from the sofa.

As you can see from this shot of the Staged formal living room, this home was filled with niches! There were so many niches that I was initially concerned about how to fill them all! But as you can see from the next couple of photos, I figured it out.

Hallway Niche

Another dilemma was that the kitchen island had great shelving/storage space. However the shelves were VERY narrow and also curved around the edges, so it was near impossible to fill them with cookbooks the way we normally would. However, by standing the cookbooks upright and strategically placing smaller, more narrow spice and condiment jars, crackers, teas and even a small plant, we were able to show buyers a great way to use this built-in storage space.

We created a dual use home office/guest room in the 3rd bedroom to show buyers it could be a flexible space depending on their needs.

The master bedroom was spacious and had not only a fireplace, but also room for a seating area as well as a chest of drawers.

Master Bedroom Reverse

We were so happy with the way this job turned out and look forward to this building selling out quickly! If you’re interested in learning more about this home, click here for additional info.

Well it was a great success! There were 10 seniors who attended, and they all gave me wonderful feedback and said they learned a lot from the presentation. One in particular was ready to sell in the near future and had several specific questions.

At the end of the presentation, I had one of my Realtor partners give a 5-minute introduction to our next seminar (scheduled for Saturday April 4th at the Keller Williams office in Santa Monica) that will cover the following topics:

• how the sales process is different in a buyers’ market
• how a pre-sale inspection can save you thousands of dollars
• creative pricing strategies
• offering seller incentives that movtivate buyers
• strategies for selling when your mortgage is more than your house is worth
• bullet-proof ways to pick the ideal buyer,

and of course…

• how to properly prepare your home through staging

All in all I was very pleased with the outcome of this seminar and hope this is just the first of many that I do at local Senior Centers!