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!


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Same Old Online Photos

One of the most amazing developments in the buying and selling of a house has to be the online photos and visual tours.  With a few clicks, potential buyers can narrow the MLS search to their general price range and identify houses they think they want to visit.  Sources claim that between 75-90% of home buyers start their search online and then work with their Realtor.

If the online sites are the first impressions a buyer makes, I am surprised that some Realtors do not invest the time, effort and resources to present the best possible photos of their listings.  It is the equivalent of using a driver’s license photo on your online dating profile.

In many cases, my Realtor partners engage me in the front end of their listing process.  We work together to have the house staged before the photos are taken.  Some realtors use professional photographers to take their house photos and to create their visual tours.  In those cases, I work with the photographer to make sure that the best possible shots are taken for this house (emphasizing the focal points and house strengths).  The result is a win-win for the seller, listing Realtor and buyers’ Realtors – each is working with the best information about this house.

In other cases, my Realtor partners engage me after the house has been on the market for weeks or months.  My job is often to help minimize the negatives identified by Realtor and prospective buyer comments (for example - “we were not sure what to do with that small room off of the kitchen” or “help us make sense of the bookshelves in the master bedroom”).  Of course, I also stage the house to emphasize the focal points.

In most cases, the Realtor has new photos taken of the house after it has been staged and they update their online site to show off the staged house.  The new photos point out that there has been a change and this house may be worth a second look. 

In other cases, the Realtor does not invest the time, effort or resources to have new photos taken after the house has been staged.  Their online photos of this house are the old ones taken before the staging (the ultimate example of a driver’s license photo).  As a result, they have diminished the full impact of the newly staged house.  They failed to give other Realtors a good reason to come back for a second look. 

It is really confusing to me why the Realtor would convince their sellers to invest in professional home staging but expect the same old photos to suffice for the initial online search.  But then there are many things in life and real estate that confuse me. 

Remember to dwell in possibilities


Cindy
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