Back to the Basics – Curb Appeal

Happy New Year!!  I am excited about the wonderful opportunities and possibilities 2012 will bring to my clients, Realtor partners and me.

As you may recall, “to be continued” is designed to inform and educate progressive Realtors and savvy sellers about the value and benefits of home staging.  We want our blog to be another tool you can use to sell houses.

To that end, I decided to go back to the home staging basics to kick start 2012. 

When I stage a house, I concentrate on the five main aspects of each home: Curb Appeal, Entry Area, Focal Points, Flow, Furniture Arrangement and Accessories. 

Today, we will examine my first area of concentration – Curb Appeal.  We will feature the other areas of concentration throughout this month.

Curb appeal and exterior style often determine if a house will make a potential buyer’s “first cut”.  So the staging process begins here. 

There is an initial impression made about every house.  My goal is to create an emotional reaction that begins when a prospective buyer pulls into the driveway and does not end until the home has been viewed and the front door is closed.

My first questions when I pull into the driveway:

·         Do the exterior paint colors look dated, mismatched or poorly maintained? 

·         Is the landscaping consistent with the house and the neighborhood? 

·         Are the porch and steps inviting or lackluster? 

In a potential buyer’s eyes, the appearance of the outside of a house is an indicator of what is to follow.  Freshly mulched flower beds, a clean and orderly front porch, colorful flower pots and overall order foreshadow a well maintained house that has been enjoyed and pampered. 

Curb appeal can be a challenge in the cold, gray months of winter but it just makes me find creative ways to inject color into that first impression to make that house stand out at first glance.

You can find the portfolio of houses staged by Transitions at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Projects.html  

Dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy

The New Rules of Real Estate

Yesterday is gone. The right price sells fast. Low-ball offers are insulting – but don’t get insulted. 

These are just a sample of The New Rules of Real Estate that I stumbled upon while browsing Chicago magazine.  This article by Dennis Rodkin interviews Chicago real estate professionals who give their perspectives on how to make the most of today’s “pinched economy”.

Do these comments sound similar to our market, sellers and buyers?

·         “If you’re hoping to get what the Joneses got, I’d like to get gas at 80 cents a gallon.  I can drive around all day looking for it, but it’s gone.  Forget what you paid four, five, six years ago.”

·         “We hate to be the ones to tell you that what you paid for your house has nothing to do with its value today.”

·         “When sellers tell me that they’re not in a hurry so they just want to try out the price, I would rather have them wait until they’re ready and price it right.”

·         “A compelling price gets you sold, and if moving is your goal, you need to get sold"

Read the full article (The New Rules of Real Estate) at http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/October-2011/Real-Estate-2011-House-Prices-in-Chicago-and-the-Suburbs/   If you are interested in comparing the Chicago real estate market with our market, click on Real Estate 2011: Home Prices and the accompanying charts about prices in Chicago neighborhoods and the suburbs at http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/October-2011/Real-Estate-2011-Home-Prices/ .

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

The Perfect Home Staging Project

Every once in awhile, you strike lightning in a bottle!  And today’s featured home staging project was one of those “once in awhiles.”  It was the perfect home staging project.  

This project started with a great house (French country) in a great location (103^rd Street– Legacy Park in Tulsa).  It had a very progressive Realtor partner willing to do what it takes to help her clients sell their homes.  I was blessed with trusting sellers who were willing to make the investment in home staging and trusting enough to give me free rein to showcase their home.  And this project had an extensive home staging plan with more rooms to be staged than the typical home staging project.

Most importantly, I had a clear vision of how to stage this house from my first moments during the initial walk-through.  And it was a true joy to translate that vision into a house in which buyers imagine their best selves living in this great home.    

Simply stated, my vision was to stay true to the French country design of the house but to also do the unexpected.  In keeping with this vision, I used clean lined furniture, fresh colors and lots of beautiful artwork. 

And here is how I put the vision into action.

·         Dining Room – I accented the deep red colors of the dining room with large scale abstract art, an elegant French mirror and clean- lined and rich wood table and chairs.

·         Living Room – With the fireplace as the focal point, my idea was to portray easy elegance.  I created this effect with a Sisal and fiber woven rug, white linen French antique chairs, and a large gray tweed sleek sofa, piled high with contemporary pillows to tie all the colors together.

·         Master Bedroom – I covered the chic platform bed in pink, purple and green bed linens (part of my unexpected vision)  and accented the room with the sunburst convex mirror and wooden nightstands.

·         Kitchen – Less was more in this stylish but functional kitchen.  I simply accessorized to highlight how easy it will be to entertain and live in this open and inviting kitchen.

Once again, pictures tell the story better than words.  You can see the accompanying photos.  If you want to see more beautiful photos of the 103^rd Street- Legacy Park Staging Project, check out our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/103rd-Legacy-Park.html

It was possible to make my vision a reality.  Now, it is possible that the right buyers will walk in the door, imagine their best selves living in this house and make the right offer.  With professional home staging, anything is possible.

After I finished the draft of this blog, I heard from my Realtor partner that she received an offer on this house in four days!!  And that made it the truly perfect home staging project – sold in the quickest amount of time for a premium price.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Weekend Treat – The Worst Online Passwords, 80 Is the New 65, Time Spent Grooming by Men and Women and More!

Our weekend treat includes some interesting news and information, tips and quotes discovered along the way this week.  I thought you might enjoy them and maybe even learn something.  The possibilities are endless!!

·         A software security firm has isolated the 25 worst passwords to use online.  These include “123456”, “qwerty”, “letmein”, and the worst, “password”.  (ABCNews.com)

·         A British study found that men now spend 81 minutes a day on personal grooming, including shaving, washing, moisturizing and picking out clothes.  Women spend only 75 minutes a day on personal grooming. (The Week)

·         So much for relaxing in your sunset years, said Walter Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times.  Nearly three quarters of Americans say they expect to work into their retirement years, according to a new Wells Fargo poll of 1,500 middle-class Americans between the ages of 25 and 75.  A quarter of the respondents said they would need to work until age 80 to retire comfortably.  It appears that many Americans are “dangerously unprepared for retirement.”  On average, those polled had saved only 7 percent of their desired retirement goal and three in 10 people in their 60’s had saved less than $25,000. (Los Angeles Times)

·         “Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity:  It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” ~ William Faulkner (HuffingtonPost.com)

·         Of the top most innovative companies in the world from 2005 to 2010, 40 are from the United States, 27 are from Japan and 11 are from France, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters on patent activity.  (The Economist)

·          With college tuition soaring, few gifts will be more appreciated this holiday season – or down the road – than contributions to a 529 college savings plan, said Sandra Block in USA Today.  No other savings option “offers greater tax benefits.”  Your earnings on investments grow tax-free, withdrawals used for college expenses aren’t taxed and 34 states also offer state tax deductions.  What’s more, “anyone – parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – can contribute to a child’s 529 account.”  If the beneficiary skips college or gets a scholarship, the account can be transferred to another child.  (USA Today)

·         “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” ~ Henry J. Kaiser (Associated Press)

Remember to dwell in possibilities but be sure to have fun doing so!!
 

Cindy

How to Market a Product and a House

A recurrent “to be continued” theme is that gone are the days when you can just stick a “for sale” sign in the yard!  When a house goes on the market for sale, it is no longer the owner’s source of pride.  It has become a product for sale that needs to appeal to as many buyers as possible.

We came across an article recently that made the same point. 

“Like inventors and marketing professionals, home sellers are in love with their product (home). Many home sellers believe they have an excellent home (product) and that it is ready to market just the way it is. Unfortunately, this is rarely ever true.”

This article built upon the ideas in a basic product marketing approach and applied them to marketing a house.  This article presents a checklist template for how to market a house like you would market a product. 

For most of my Realtor partners and “to be continued” followers, this article (How to Market a Product) will be a refresher guide.  But there may be a nugget of an idea or an approach that is new and different.

Explore the possibilities of “How to Market a Product” at http://energizedseller.com/gralarticles/gralarticles/archive/2011/10/04/how-to-market-a-product.aspx .

 

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy