A Labor of Love

I really love staging houses and helping my clients sell their houses for the best price possible in the shortest period of time.  This week I was engaged in a labor of love helping my husband’s mother, Mary Gasior, transition into her next life adventure in an assisted living center.  We moved her to her new home and then painted, updated and staged her house which was placed on the market for sale. 

This labor of love also explains why I’ve been a bit spotty in posting to “to be continued”.  Without cable or internet access and with jam-packed days of work, it was tough to find the time for “to be continued”.

Mary lived for 10 years in a 55-plus community in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.  Due to health issues, she needed to move to the assisted living center and sell her house.  I must confess that it is one thing to tell a client her house needs to be painted and updated and quite another to tell your mother-in-law!   

We painted her house with top selling colors from Sherwin Williams (Ivorie – SW 6127 and Blonde – SW 6128) – and the colors were spectacular.  They were elegant and inviting.  We updated the bathroom light fixture and changed out all of the cabinet pulls.  For about $500 and a good bit of sweat equity from my husband and his sister’s family, we made her house look fresh and almost like new.

We filled our SUV to the brim with staging accessories and artwork for the staging side of this adventure.  We used a few pieces of furniture Mary was not taking to the assisted living center and picked up a table at Pier One.  It is often wonderful to see what can be accomplished with some basics and a whole lot of ingenuity.

There was a lot of pressure on this home stager who sets perfection as her standard.  Since this was for family, the end product needed to be perfection plus.  The accompanying photos tell the story better than I can so check them out.

The good news is that the family was very impressed with how we were able to transform her house. 

With the help of the statue of St. Joseph buried in the backyard, Mary’s horoscope about something good happening for her in real estate on May 9^th and lot of hard work, we are hopeful that this house sells quickly in a tough real estate market. 

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

PS – Happy Mother’s Day to every mother out there and especially to Kaye Stafford (my mom), Mary Gasior (my mother-in-law) and Florene Britt (my 95 year old grandmother!)

Remarkable Is the New Business as Usual

Wow!  This certainly sets a high standard for Realtors and home sellers.  I read this line in a Facebook marketing report.  As you can imagine, it struck a chord with me. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I set a very high standard for myself when I am given an opportunity to stage someone’s house.  My standard is perfection and it is not always easy to attain.  Now I need to add remarkable to my list of standards!!!

If you think about it, this standard makes sense for selling houses.  In a competitive real estate market, the savvy seller and proactive Realtor want their house to be remarkable as well as competitive. 

Who wants to buy mediocre, “just OK” or similar to the rest of the houses on the market?  The only buyers I can imagine wanting this are those buyers looking for a bargain by offering a dramatically reduced price.

Most buyers don’t imagine themselves living in ordinary or “just OK”. They imagine themselves living in different, unique or special.  Buyers want to imagine their best selves in the house they intend to buy.

Professional home staging can transform “just OK” into “this house is unique, special and remarkable”.  By accentuating the house’s best features and providing a nice, easy and consistent use of space and movement a professionally staged house appeals to as many buyers as possible.  Most importantly, home staging helps sell the house quicker and for the highest price possible.

With a professionally staged house, buyers imagine living in that house and making it their home.  And that is because this staged house was remarkable – the new business as usual.

Remember to dwell in possibilities!

Cindy

Another Friday Treat – This One from “Down Under”

Happy Friday!!

Clean lines, vibrant colors and a fresh perspective – that is what you will find in today’s Friday Treat.  Ivy and Pepper is an Australian blog which has evolved into a magazine and store. 

Melanie Parker and Elizabeth Raptis create eye candy inspirations for anyone who loves houses, lifestyles and design.  Ivy and Pepper- The Blog represents for them “the merging of two creative minds who share a common aesthetic but have individual influences”.  Melanie and Elizabeth “strive to design and provide quality homewares with a focus on modern glamour, drawing inspiration from both travel and fashion”.

Ivy and Piper – The Blog can be found at http://ivyandpiper.blogspot.com.

Treat yourself by spending a few moments Down Under enjoying what Melanie and Elizabeth have to offer.  You can bet that I will be enjoying it too.

Dwell in possibilities!

Cindy

PS – I was up at 3:00am watching the Will and Kate wedding.  I was also up for Diana and Charles and had to see this one.  How about Kate’s dress?  As expected, it was so elegant!!

Televisions – What Do We Do With Them?

We all have them.  We all want them.  When it comes time to sell a house, what do we do with televisions?

I was having lunch with friends who had been searching online for real estate.  They made the insightful observation about televisions in the online photos – “all of the cables, cords and remote controllers make the online pictures look junky”.  In fact, my friends made the suggestion that home sellers should at least move the television and accessories out of the room and then take the pictures!!!

As I mentioned in The Family Room Fireplace Staging Conundrum blog posting (April 20, 2011), how do you draw attention to the fireplace when the family room also should have a place for a television?  Even when you find a solution for the fireplace as focal point and the television as the "other family member" in the family room, what do you do with the spider web of cords and controllers?

It is an easy problem to solve if the home sellers are not living in the house.  You remove as much as you can.  No one will be watching the television any way.  It is a much more delicate issue if the family is living in the house for sale. 

My approach is to do what I can to hide the “spider web” of cords and find a home for the controllers in a drawer.  It is amazing the multitude of sins that can be hidden behind a tastefully placed plant or large accessory!!!  If I have the opportunity to spend time with the house seller, I also encourage them to maintain a neat and orderly appearance in and around their television and entertainment center. 

In many cases, the online photos are taken the same or next day after I stage the house.  In those instances, we make sure that the photos do not display the “junky” television accessories.  Neat and orderly are our watchwords for the family room photos. 

You want the potential buyers to see the possibilities of this house when they discover it online.  You don’t want them to have the same reaction as my friend – “junky”!

Dwell in possibilities!

Cindy

Music to My Ears

Next to hearing from one of my partner Realtors that a house we worked on sold, the following are great examples of music to my home stager’s ears!!

“You took my house from zero to “show ready” in one day”!  This house seller benefitted greatly from professional home staging.  More importantly, he understood it and appreciated what I was able to do.  He received an offer the first day which unfortunately fell through.  The good news is that he received another offer and is proceeding rapidly to a closing. 

“Perfect”!  I am working with a new Realtor partner on a spectacular house.  We decided to dress up key areas of the house with dramatic furniture and eye-catching floral arrangements.  She quietly examined what I had done and turned to me with a word that made it all worthwhile – Perfect.  It is the standard that I set for myself in staging a house so it was great to know that I met her standard and mine.

“You made all of the difference”.  My home staging was minimal compared to this spectacular custom built house.  I consulted with the home seller on furniture arrangement, picture hanging, and various accessories.  They received an offer within 10 hours of listing with the Realtor fielding two other offers just in case the first one fell through.  The home owner was so kind to share give credit to the difference that home staging made to her house.

“I just love what you did to my house”!  This one happened this week.  The home seller agreed to stage key rooms in her vacant house.  This home seller also followed my advice with paint selection and lighting recommendations. She came by to do some clean up while I was in the final stages of my home staging with furniture and accessories.  It was not even completely staged (remember my personal standard is Perfect!) and she exclaimed “I just love what you did to my house”!  Of course, I had to call my husband with that news after the home owner left.    

I am looking forward to more “music” like these unsolicited testimonials.  How can I not be motivated and inspired by my extended family of savvy sellers and proactive Realtors?  The possibilities are endless.

Remember to dwell in possibilities.

Cindy

PS – We were treated Friday evening with the arrival of our latest grandchild, Ashlyn Rose Kelly, born in New Jersey to Rachel and Pete.  Imagine the possibilities that she will have in our wondrous world!!