My Work Recognized as Top 10 Best Occupied Stagings™North America

2012 was truly an amazing year for me capped off in December by being recognized by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) for my work!  Two examples of my home staging work were recognized as one of RESA’s Top 10 Best Occupied Stagings™North America.  Both are Tulsa properties listed with local realtors -- you can see photos of these houses at our website http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/

This national honor is really a testament to my proactive realtors and savvy sellers who recognize the value and return on their investment in professional home staging.  We work as a team to create buyer-friendly spaces to sell houses for the best price in the shortest amount of time.

The RESA award is also a validation of my work.  It is proof positive that the work that I do in our part of the country is equal to or better than work done in the rest of the country.  Professional home staging may be in its early stages in the Tulsa area but this award shows that what we do here is good work.

And I must confess that it means a great deal to me to know that the top professional home stagers from across the US and Canada voted on all the entries and I ranked among the Top Ten in North America.  You can view all of the entries at http://www.realestatestagingassociation.com/

Today’s Tulsa World features an article about this RESA honor as well as about professional home staging.  Read more from this article (Tulsa-area home-stager earns national recognition) at http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=41&articleid=20130115_44_D2_CUTLIN978677.

I will be competing for the overall title which will be announced at the RESA convention in late January.  And yes, Walt and I have our tickets for San Francisco, the site of the convention. 

Who knows, I might just win!!  After all, anything is possible!!

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

 

 

So what have you been doing with yourself, Cindy?

“So what have you been doing with yourself, Cindy?  It has been so long since you last shared a post on “to be continued” we almost forgot about you?”  I hope that is what some of you have been thinking.  

I must confess that it has been way too long since I posted on “to be continued” but I have excuses, explanations and evasions.  The short answer (and also the truth) is that I have been extremely busy over these past months doing some amazing work!   

But the good news is that I am back and better than ever – resolved to be a more regular communicator about professional home staging.  And I plan to share some of my 2012 adventures in this and upcoming blog posts. 

2012 was an amazing year for me and one that I will find it hard to duplicate!  A few of the highlights include: 

·         Transitions Home Staging was featured and I was interviewed for a Tulsa World article about home staging (Tulsa resident readies her home of 28 years for the market - http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?articleid=20120407_44_D1_CUTLIN669483)

·         I was selected to stage a Brian D. Wiggs (http://www.briandwiggs.com/ ) signature home for the 2012 Parade of Homes.  More about this one in another blog post.

·         I was hired this August to decorate and furnish the housing for the cast of the movie August: Osage County which was filmed in and around Bartlesville and Pawhuska. The cast members, who lived in these lofts, included Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Julianne Nicholson and Abigail Breslin.  This was an amazing experience and I will share more about the experience in an upcoming blog post.

·         Two samples of my home staging work were recognized by the Real Estate Staging Association as one of RESA’s Top 10 Best Occupied Stagings™North America.  I submitted “before” and “after” pictures of two staging projects that I did in the Tulsa area.   The RESA membership from across the USA and Canada voted on all the entries and I ranked among the top 10.  I will be competing for the overall title which will be announced at the RESA convention in late January.

·         Even with my blogging sabbatical, I posted 35 discussions on my “to be continued” blog and was blessed with more than 2000 visitors.

 

·         Most importantly, I made new friends; worked with incredibly savvy realtors; and, helped convince buyers to make the emotional decision to buy that house! 

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

So, remember what Emily and I say and . . . 

Dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy

 

Declutter That House to Sell It Faster – New York Times

If someone else can make your point better than you can, let them. 

I ran across this article in the New York Times about the importance of “decluttering” a house.  I realize that I am preaching to the choir for most readers of “to be continued” but I thought you might enjoy it as well as be able to use this article and its ideas when working with your sellers.

Here are a few key takeaways from this great article:

·         “It (decluttering) is vital, because most real estate is aspirational, and buyers want to see themselves someplace better and more beautiful,” said Jeffrey Stockwell, a senior vice president with Stribling & Associates in Manhattan. “They want the feeling that if they move in there, it will be organized, clean and attractive. If they walk into a cluttered, messy space, there’s none of that feeling that life will be better.”

·         ”Even if your home is in good condition, Mr. Stockwell said, “if it’s cluttered, people will think it needs a renovation, and that lowers the value.”

·         But cleaning up isn’t always easy. “You’re parting with things that have emotional value, and that’s very difficult for people,” Mr. Stockwell said. “They understand the need to do it. It doesn’t cost much, if anything, and yet it’s really hard to get clients to do it.”

You can read the article, “Declutter That House to Sell It Faster” at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/garden/declutter-that-house-to-sell-it-faster-market-ready.html?_r=1&ref=marketready

 

Dwell in possibilities

 

Cindy

See What 2 Hours of Professional Home Staging Can Do – Claremont Drive Project

Professional home staging runs the gamut from basic consultation to full scale staging of a vacant house -- and everything in between. 

Recent blog posts have been featuring Transitions home staging projects that are closer to full scale staging – usually bringing in furniture, artwork, accessories and linens.  These projects require an investment that is often returned in a quicker sale for a premium price.

But offering staging services to your listing homeowners doesn’t always have to be expensive or time consuming.  Even a couple of hours can make a huge difference in how a home shows and photographs. 

Today, we feature a basic consultation home staging project on Claremont Drive in Bartlesville.  It just needed a few new and colorful accessories; some furniture rearrangement that took two hours of my time; and, great homeowners willing to do their “homework” and provide some sweat equity. 

The result is a house that shows well and photographs even better! 

Entry – To make the entry and first impression of the house more dramatic, we brought in a console from another part of the house, made it more important with a piece of art and a forsythia arrangement.  A fern added that touch of graciousness.

Formal Living Room – There was just too much too large furniture in this room.  The homeowner’s homework included removing a sofa, bringing in a rug that I spotted in the workout room and adding the wingback chair from the den.  The room opened up and we solved the problem of walking into the back of a sofa.

Den – This den was being used by the homeowner as a bedroom.   A room should be staged according to the original intent of the room.  So, that is what we did.  Isn’t it a beautiful den?

This home is located at 2600 Claremont Drive in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and listed by Donna Skelly (McAnaw Realtors - http://mcanawrealtors.com )

The amazing result is that this house went under contract in 1 day!  Talk about selling a show ready house quickly!

Remember to dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Staging “Aha” Moment Made the Sale

Kitchens seal the deal.  Staging helps makes sense of the house.  Show ready, staged houses sell quickly.  We need to teach them how to live in this house. 

If you follow “to be continued”, you’ve heard these themes and ideas many times.  Today, we can share a real-life example where these ideas came together in an “Aha’ moment for the potential buyer and helped her make an offer on the house.

I was in mid-process staging this Fairview Road project when a Realtor partner and friend arrived with a potential buyer.  I excused myself, went to my car and returned phone calls allowing them time to experience this house.  After they left, I went back in and finished my staging plan.

Imagine my delight when a few days later I learned that this buyer made an offer on the Fairview Road house.  It is always so much fun when my staged houses sell -- and sell quickly! 

I followed up with my Realtor friend who showed this house to learn from any feedback.

She told me that the buyer was torn between two houses that she really liked.  Then they returned to the Fairview Road house and the buyer had an “Aha” moment in the kitchen.  My staging of the kitchen (which had not been completed during their first visit) made the sale.  The buyer was able to make sense of the kitchen space and helped the buyer envision living in that space.

The Fairview Road project involved “strategic staging” – kitchen, dining area, family room mantle and bathrooms.  Strategic staging is lightly staging either key areas; great features of the house we want a potential buyer to notice; or, areas that require explanation.

In this house, my strategic staging included: dressing up the mantle (the first thing you see upon entering the house); using furniture, accessories and artwork in the kitchen; and accessorizing the spacious and fresh master bathroom.  I staged the kitchen and breakfast eating area extensively.  By doing so, an awkward, blank wall above the kitchen sink was explained and not a decorating issue.

The staging helped the potential buyers visualize these key areas and then left the rest of the house to their imagination.  See more at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Fairview-Road---Bartlesville.html

This home is located at 4222 Fairview Road in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and listed by Pat Poindexter - McAnaw & Company Realtors (http://patpoindexter.com).

It might be the “Wow” first impression.  It might be how the imagination is fired by a great kitchen, family room or dining room.  Or, it might be that “Aha” moment when the possibilities of the house make sense to the buyer.  In each case, professional home staging helps make sense of the house and highlight its many possibilities.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy