Friday Treat – It’s All Relative – Upper East Side NYC

Happy Friday!!  

Today’s blog treat is a simple story of a two bedroom, two bath co-op apartment located on the Upper East Side of New York City.  The Friday treat part for the “to be continued” Blog is that there is a home staging angle to this story. 

I must admit that it is hard to fathom how much money can be spent for a place to live especially in NYC.  It is a story right out of HGTV but in this case, we were there.  We heard this story from friends who live in this building (during our recent visit out East to meet our newest granddaughter).   

I had to keep reminding myself that it’s all relative but it does require some work to get your head around this story. 

Located on East 74^th Street with fabulous, unobstructed south, west, and north views from the 15th floor, this is “a true two bedroom, two bath, corner apartment with a 27 foot living room plus a large dining alcove, windowed kitchen, windowed master bath and two large walk-in closets”.  The asking price for this approximately 1200 square foot co-op apartment was $1,150,000! 

The Realtors, who were lucky enough to have this fabulous listing, were also proactive and savvy enough to have it staged.  And this is the treat part for me and for every other professional home stager trying to make the point that home staging can make a huge difference.   

In this case, our East 74^th apartment located on the 15^th floor with fabulous unobstructed views sold for $100,000 over asking price in 3 weeks.  Yes, $1,250,000 – about $1000 per square foot!!  Not a bad return for the savvy Realtors who decided to have this apartment staged!!!  

In our part of the country, we are still working to make home staging a standard.  That is not the case in NYC where home staging (or fabulous co-op apartment staging) is becoming the standard, especially for high end listings. 

I am always pleased and proud whenever one of my staged houses sell whether it happens within the first few days or first month or two.  I am sure that my Realtor partners are waiting for the return of those days when their listings sold for more than the asking price.  But I know that those Realtor partners also understand and value the benefits and possibilities of professional home staging because we keep finding new opportunities to show our stuff.  And we will keep working to make the possibility of home staging as the standard our reality.

Always dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Entertaining Tonight

I always like to work with new Realtors.  And I also love to take on challenging spaces that I know will benefit from home staging. 

Recently, I was called to help one of my blog followers with a lovely home located near a beautiful golf course, amid some very stately homes.  This house has an open floor plan that combines the living area and formal dining area.  This open floor plan is its greatest strength but it is also its biggest weakness.

The house had not sold in spite of its beautiful qualities.  The feedback from potential buyers was all about the open floor plan - “that room is huge; “we would need a ton of furniture to live here”; “how would we arrange our furniture”; and, finally “where is the dining room?”   

My assignment was to stage this house in a way that would answer these questions and concerns as well as to make this house come alive with possibilities.   

When I visited this house, I envisioned great potential in the open floor plan.  It spoke to me of entertaining in a gracious, country club setting.  I saw how the space would accommodate wonderful gatherings of family and friends.  This house was designed for entertaining tonight . . . and on the weekends and holidays  . . . and just because!    

By using large rugs, artwork, accessories and furniture, I created three defined areas in the open space to show potential buyers how a living area, dining area and library area can beautifully and logically function in this one great room.   

One space was the comfortable living area which was fashioned around the fireplace with a large rug, a comfortable sofa and chairs, and stylish accessories in the bookshelves. The dining area was created by a large rug, furniture and artwork.  The third space, the library area, was created with easy chairs, a library piece and a leather-bound set of books.   

The open space went from lots of questions to lots of possibilities for parties, dinners, entertainment, family and friends.  Interestingly, it also retained a warm and cozy feeling. I really liked the possibilities presented by this great room.  I think it is “country club gracious” and ready for living and entertaining.  And don’t the “After” pictures make a stunning impression?   

Check out the Transitions website for “Before” and “After” photos of this charming house located near the Indian Springs Golf Course in Broken Arrow - http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Indian-Springs.html .

 

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

A Realtor, Her Assistant and a Professional Home Stager Go Into a House . . .

A priest, a rabbi and a minister go into a house  . . . .Actually, it is a Realtor, her assistant and a professional home stager go into a house  . . . to stage it.  This is no joke and you can look for yourself at what the magic of teamwork accomplished in a recent home staging project in the Tulsa area.

This home staging project is the perfect example of a house that is a home to its family where they are surrounded by things that they collected, love and make this house their home.  Everything functions just as it should. 

But, remember there is a difference between the way we decorate and arrange our homes for living and the way we stage and prepare our homes for the real estate market.  So ,our team worked together to make this house more buyer-friendly. 

Piano Room - This home has a charming room with a beautiful grand piano directly left from the entrance.  In order to play up the drama of the room and demonstrate how it flows into a larger living area (think entertaining possibilities) we turned the piano around and put it on the opposite corner next to the open French door and opened the top (provide drama to the room).  We packed up the mask collection and replaced it with one large, bright painting.  Of course we removed all the family pictures and simplified the accessorized skirted round table and moved it in front of the window.  I just love the gracious look the lit lamp will give this home at night.

Dining Room - Directly to the right of the entry is the formal dining room.  We needed to simplify this space in order to create visual square footage and understated elegance.  We removed a leaf and some chairs from the table as well as relocating the wine refrigerator and other accessories.  We brought in the upholstered chairs from the formal living room which became perfect host and hostess chairs and added a lighter and more airy plant as the center piece. 

Family Room - The family room that is connected to the formal living room via the French doors was refocused, rearranged and simplified.  We removed an overstuffed leather chair and placed the previously angled furniture at right angles.  The focal point became the beautiful fireplace instead of the television.   The accessories were removed and rearranged.  By rearranging the furniture we were able to open the French doors from the formal living room (again, think entertaining possibilities!)

You can see all of the “Before” and “After” photos of this home staging on South Ash at our Transitions web site at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/SouthAsh.html

At the end of every staging assignment, it is really satisfying to walk through the space and look at what was accomplished.  Usually, I do this alone.  But, this time, I had company.   

A rabbi, priest and minister can be the perfect combination for an endless number of jokes.  But a Realtor, her assistant and a home stager are the right combination to spread the magic of home staging and to introduce possibilities to every buyer who walks in the door.

Always dwell in possibilities

Cindy