Since creating the “to be continued” blog, I’ve been closing each post with the words “dwell in possibilities.” I must confess that I borrowed this phrase from the great poet, Emily Dickinson. I saw her quote and realized that it summed up what I am doing as a professional home stager and interior designer.

I am most grateful to Ms. Dickinson for her insightful and inspiring phrase.

Regardless of the size or price range of a house, my objective is to find the possibilities in that house. I am looking for those unique features of that house and finding possible ways to accentuate them for the potential buyer. I am analyzing those unusual spaces that buyers find difficult to understand upon first glance and finding possible functional uses for those spaces.

In the end, my mission is to help the potential buyer see how they could dwell in the possibilities of this house!


Monday, June 6, 2011

The Continuing Story of a Labor of Love

A few weeks ago, I shared the story of updating and staging Walt’s mom’s house.  We painted her house with spectacular colors; updated the bathroom light fixture; changed out all of the cabinet pulls and staged vignettes in key rooms of the house.  For about $500 and a good bit of sweat equity from my husband, me and his sister’s family, we made Mary’s house look fresh and almost like new.  It was truly a Labor of Love.

The next chapter in this continuing story is remarkable and worth sharing.  Mary lived in a 55-plus retirement community in suburban Chicago where the real estate market has been stagnant.  The comps for her model townhome showed a few models that have been on the market for over 300 days and a few more for over 90 days.  In those cases, the sellers priced their homes at the amount they paid and not at the market price.

After consulting with multiple realtors who they interviewed for this listing, Walt and his sister decided to price Mary’s house to sell – at a loss from what she paid but not a dramatic reduction.  They were prepared for the long haul – expecting it to take 4-6 months.  Hedging her bets on the upgrades, staging and pricing, Mary also buried a statue of St. Joseph in the backyard!

In spite of all of the gloomy forecasts of the suburban Chicago real estate market, I am quite pleased to tell you that Mary sold her house in a little more than 2 weeks!!!  Even more amazing, she had multiple offers with the cash offer being the one selected.  Walt’s sister spoke with a relative of the buyer who told her that he liked the floor plan and really liked the fresh paint job and the kitchen cabinets that looked like new.

I preach the benefits of home staging on a regular basis in this blog and in conversations with sellers and realtors.  We did not preach home staging to Walt’s family – we just did it.  I am so happy and proud that the updating and staging helped Mary sell her house quickly and for the price the family hoped to get out of the house in this tight market.  She gave me a great real life example about how professional home staging can make a huge difference. 

It was a Labor of Love with a very happy ending.  Now Mary can focus on the possibilities of the next chapter of her life in the assisted living center.  And I am thinking about buying a case of St. Joseph statues too!?!?!


Dwell in possibilities


Cindy
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