Stage To Sell » staging consultation

Home Staging for Occupied Homes – Yes We Can!

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:25:45 +0000

It’s a commonly held misconception that home stagers only work on vacant homes.

But what if you’ve got 3 kids, 2 dogs and a pet parakeet, and plan to live in your home while it’s on the market? You may think that staging is not an option for you. Now I can understand why you might think that, because there are stagers out there who refuse to work on a home unless it is completely empty and they can start with a “blank slate.”

Though it’s true that it’s easier for stagers to start from scratch so that we don’t have to incorporate your existing furniture with what we may need to bring in, there are home staging professionals (including myself) that actually enjoy working on occupied homes!

In fact, staging occupied homes is one of our specialties, and we offer a low-cost staging option that can give you the look of a staged home for a fraction of the price.

The way that I work with occupied listings is to start with a Home Staging Consultation. During a consultation appointment, I will spend 2-3 hours touring your home and making a detailed, room-by-room written report listing what can be done (using mostly what’s already in your home) to prepare it for sale. This might include rearranging furniture to highlight architectural details or views, de-cluttering, neutralizing the decor, painting or minor repairs.

In most cases, you can take this report, check off everything on my list, and there’s no need for me to ever come back to the property. Sometimes, however, there may be certain items that I recommend that you rent or purchase in order to complete the staging – art, accessories or even furniture. In that case, if you prefer to rent these items (and have no use for them in your new home), a professional stager can provide a quote to rent you the necessary items and set them up, putting the finishing touches on your home to really make it shine.

Here are some before and after photos of my most recent occupied home staging. Which photos would you rather see on the MLS?

Living Room Before

Living Room After

The living room was a simple case of too much furniture. The large settee on the right in the before picture was HUGE and made the room feel tight and cramped. By removing it and spreading out the remaining matching pieces, the room felt more spacious. We also brought in throw pillows and art to tie in the colors in the rug, added a few accessories, decluttered a bit, and voila – a staged room!

Kitchen/Dining Room Before

Kitchen/Dining Room After

Hmmm, what is that big thing hiding in the corner of the dining room in the before photo? Yes, you guessed it – a treadmill. Just the thing to stimulate your appetite while sitting down for a relaxing meal! We removed the treadmill and replaced it with a console table from another room in the house, set the table and now this room is staged and ready for the open house.

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

First of all, the master bedroom is supposed to be all about romance and relaxation. But there’s a huge TV blocking the biggest feature in the room – a romantic fireplace! Next we have an overabundance of family photos – a real “no no” when selling your home. You want potential buyers to picture themselves living in your house. If they see you and your family staring at them from every wall, it just doesn’t feel like home. And lastly, having your golf clubs and an extra vacuum in the room makes it seem as if there’s not enough storage space in the garage or laundry area for those items. We removed all those items, relocated the TV and played up the fireplace and seating area with new art and accessories. Now that’s romantic!

Guest Room Before

Guest Room After

Once again, the main problem was too much stuff! Removing all the stuffed animals, the extra end tables, the personal photos and the exercise ball made the room feel not only more spacious, but also more “grown up.” This was a 4 bedroom home, but all the rooms (except the master) appeared very kid-like. We wanted to show that one room could still be a functional guest room or home office. Once all the extras were gone, we simply made the bed and added some art and throw pillows to complete the staging of this room.

Guest Bathroom Before

Guest Bathroom After

All the bathrooms in this home had a matching detail in the tile that was quite lovely. But with all the crazy patterns in the bath rugs and different colors of towels, that feature was being lost. We had the seller buy some solid color matching towels, removed the rugs and toiletries and brought in a nice vase with flowers to complete the look. Now the features of this bathroom can be the star, rather than an afterthought.

So as you can see, staging even an occupied home can have dramatic results. And since we used the seller’s own furnishings and they did some of the work themselves, they saved a bundle!

If you’re going to be living in your home while it’s on the market, call a professional home stager in your area. For a few hundred dollars, you will receive valuable, practical advice on getting your home staged and ready to sell. Your return on that investment will be many times what you pay, not only in terms of a better sale price for your home, but also in a quicker sale. Less time on the market means lower carrying costs for you and more $$ in your pocket.

Make sure to ask for references and before and after photos from the stagers you interview.

Happy selling!

Stage to Sell Announces Our New Referral Program

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:33:51 +0000

Los Angeles Home Staging company Stage to Sell has a new referral incentive program that we’re excited to share with you!

For every new client* that you refer to us before the end of this year, we would like to thank you with a gift card from one of the following stores:

If the client hires us to do a Consultation, you get a $25 gift card.

If the client hires us for a Full Staging (for a vacant or occupied home), you get a $50 gift card.

Thanks and we look forward to sharing our success with you!

*Client must tell us s/he was referred by you when making the first appointment. Gift card will only be awarded if referral hires Stage to Sell for either a paid Consultation or a Staging Job. Gift card will be sent once job is complete and payment has been received. Only one gift card per referral. Promotion valid through 12/31/09.

Another Staging Success Story – Cheviot Hills Spanish

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:08:10 +0000

As a professional Home Stager, it is always such a pleasure to work with clients who take your advice and roll with it! Such was the case with a recent occupied listing in Cheviot Hills. The couple living in the home were retiring and moving to Palm Springs, so they wanted to sell their beautiful Spanish style home…quickly!

The agent, Randy Troup of Coldwell Banker Brentwood West, often hires me to do Staging Consultation reports for his sellers. I preview the property and spend a couple of hours giving the sellers detailed recommendations of low-cost things they can do to (using mostly what they already have in the home) to Stage their property for sale.

I met with this lovely couple and gave them quite a list! Their home was actually quite beautiful to begin with, but there were many things I recommended they do in order to enhance its appeal to buyers. For instance, though the home had plenty of square footage, it only had one actual bedroom inside the house (there was a guest house out back). The second room inside the home was being used as an office, despite the fact that there was a full suite of offices (which housed the client’s landscape design business) off the garage. So my first recommendation was to transform this office into a usable bedroom. We brought in a camping bed which the owner Staged with her own bedding, and we brought in a dresser from another room to complete the look.

Guest Room

This home also had a huge laundry room downstairs. Unfortunately it had a concrete floor and felt very cold and industrial. So we brought in a rug that was rolled up in the storage area and some unused storage cabinets (which the homeowners Staged with some of her folded towels and laundry supplies) to make this space more inviting.

Laundry Room

One of the most important transformations, however, was in the kitchen. Though the kitchen was quite large, it was a bit labyrinthian in its layout. In the very back next to the back door, the owners had a HUGE china cabinet that reached from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. It was chock full of their extra dishes, vases and other items that wouldn’t fit into the kitchen cabinets or in the dining room. As I pointed out, having a huge piece like this in the kitchen (rather than in the dining room where we might normally expect it to be) clues buyers into the fact that there might not be enough space in the dining room. In truth it wasn’t the square footage that was lacking in the dining room, but the fact that the room’s walls were actually curved! Though the unique shape gave the room a beautiful look, it precluded the owners from putting any sizable storage pieces in the space. So rather than draw attention to something which might have been viewed as a negative, we removed the large cabinet and added a small table and chairs in its space, creating a new feature… eat-in kitchen!

You can't see it very well from this angle, but the table and chairs are in the back of the kitchen on the right.

The homeowners worked really hard to prepare their home for sale, tackling every “to-do” on my Staging list. They did it all themselves and though they were a bit exhausted, I assured them that all their hard work would pay off. Well, I was right!

In the first 10 days on the market, they had 6 offers on their home. They have since moved on to their new Palm Springs abode and are true believers in Staging to sell!

Are you serious about selling your home?

admin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:05:30 +0000

Today I saw a post by David Painter of Keller Williams in Spartanburg, SC entitled “Dress Your House Well So It Will Sell.”

In his blog, David points out how the national stats are clear that sellers need to have their homes “priced right and staged right” in order to sell in this highly competitive buyers’ market. He goes on to say how buyers are looking for homes in move-in condition and don’t want to spend time painting and remodeling after they move in. I couldn’t agree more!

Especially in today’s market, it is crucial that your home appears well-maintained and move-in ready or buyers will simply move on to the next property on the list. Some buyers even tell their agents they only want to look at Staged homes.

When you properly prepare your home for sale, you are telling the buyer:

1) You’re not desperate.

Have you already purchased your new home and moved in, leaving your old house completely empty except for the cobwebs? That is a clear clue to a potential buyer that you are likely paying two mortgages and are desperate to sell. Hiring a professional Home Stager to Stage it with furniture and accessories will create a beautiful lived-in look that has buyers breaking down the door to view your home! It also shows buyers that you’re serious enough about getting your home sold that you’ve invested in Staging to show it in its best possible light.

2) Your home has been well-maintained.

Today’s buyers want a home to be move-in ready. So as they walk through your home they are assessing everything they see, trying to determine whether the home has been well-maintained, or whether they will need to do lots of work before they can move their family in. Not to mention that when they see something that hasn’t been well-maintained, they often jump to the conclusion that if the paint/carpet/fixtures haven’t been kept up, there are probably many other problems that have been left untended in the home.

Today’s buyers are also looking for any reason to ask for a credit to lower your asking price. Is the carpet worn? Credit. Is the paint old and peeling or too bright of a bright color? Credit. They may have mentally taken $15,000 off your asking price before they’ve even gotten to the back door.

A professional Stager will advise you on the necessary updates you need in order to get your home in proper showing condition. If paint and carpet are required, we will select a neutral yet appealing paint color and the proper carpeting to make your home look brand new and ready for any family to move right in. Once the initial updates are complete we can add the extras that make your house show like a model home.

If you’re still living in the home and prefer a Do-It-Yourself option, a Staging Consultation will provide you with a comprehensive checklist of what you can do using mostly what you already have in the home to properly Stage the property. If you want a professional to do the work, a Stager can bring in art, plants and accessories to enhance your home’s appeal. If you have a vacant property, we can bring in furniture, art, rugs, plants and accessories to create that model-home look that will entice any buyer!

According to the latest Staging statistics, 94% of Staged homes sell in 35 days or less. If you are serious about selling your home, consult a professional Home Stager.