Back to the Basics – Focal Points

We continue with our Back to the Home Staging Basics series.  Today, we will examine Focal Points.

After examining the house’s curb appeal and entry area, I focus my attention on those factors that make this house unique and distinct from the other homes on the market in this price range.  Typically, a focal point is a permanent element of the house. 

In trying to identify the focal points, I ask myself these questions:

·         Does this house have a great view? 

·         Is there a fireplace and how can we draw the buyer’s attention to this unique feature of this house? 

·         Are there hardwood or marble floors that accentuate a dining room or master bath? 

·         What about the kitchen?  Does it have special cabinetry, granite countertops, or a unique layout?  Is the kitchen designed to be a gathering space as well as a place to cook?

·         Are there any other architectural features that we want to highlight?

Once the house’s focal points are identified, the home staging task is to show off the house’s potential by drawing the potential buyer’s attention to them.  And this is where my creativity, experience, resources and inventory can be invested in helping sell the house quicker and for the highest price possible.

Check out our Transitions website for examples of focal points in Kitchens, Living Rooms and Family Rooms that we staged - http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Staging-by-Room-Type.html

Focal points provide a house’s emotions, dreams and possibilities.  As a Realtor partner shared with me, “If all we were buying are bricks and mortar, just about any house will do.  Instead, we are buying emotion, dreams, and possibilities.” 

Think about it - in buying emotion, dreams, and possibilities, we want to envision comfort and care; laughter and joy; simplicity and ease.  And we most often find those dreams in the flames of a fireplace, the warmth of a kitchen and the views out the window (all focal points to be shown off to their best advantage). 

With a professionally staged house, buyers do imagine living in that house and making it their home.   

Isn’t this why we staged the home in the first place? 

Remember to dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy

Back to the Basics – Entry (Entrez, Sil vous plait!)

We continue to kick start 2012 with our Back to The Home Staging Basics.  Today, we discuss the most critical staging area of concentration – the Entry.

It is pretty simple why I believe the Entry is so critical to a well-staged house.  I know that buyers make up their mind in the first 30-60 seconds upon entering a house.  The rest of the time in the house is spent justifying their first emotional reaction. 

Entries come in all shapes and forms.  From the small closed off “hallway” to the magnificent with a grand stairway.  No matter what you have to work with, the Entry has to look great.  And in my experience, it can always be done!

As a stager, I must make sure that an entry space makes that all important first impression. I ask questions that relate to the senses:

·         Are all areas within sight of the entry visually appealing and is the room well and softly light?

·         Is there a clean and fresh smell?

·         Does the front door hardware have a nice feel and is the air temperature comfortable?

·         Is there a relaxed, warm and peaceful feeling? 

If I could only stage one room in a house, that room would be the Entry.  The entry is where the action begins and where professional home stagers earn their fees!  The objective is to say to the potential buyer – “Entrez, Sil vous plait! (Enter, if you please!). 

You can view examples of staged entries on our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Entry-Ways-I.html  

The professionally staged home speaks to the potential buyer - “Enter, if you please!  Imagine your best self in this house.  Envision living the next chapter of your life adventure in this inviting home.”   

Dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy

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