Home Sellers, THE TAXMAN COMETH... but NOT if a Home Stager Can Help It!

Home Stagers have seen first hand just how home sellers have come to enjoy numerous unexpected benefits of staging. The 2 primary reasons sellers initially still choose to hire a stager is they hope to sell their property faster and/or for more money. However, there is yet another positive reason, how a home sellers can benefit from staging, that is often overlooked. Fees for staging services can be considered an advertising fee (See IRS Publication 523) and influence a home seller's capitol gain (or loss) on their property that has been sold. Of course there are rules and restrictions, so here our a short explanation of how a home seller's capitol gain (or loss) is impacted.

What is IRS Publication 523 and what does it say? IRS Publication 523 explains all tax rules that apply when a home seller sells their main home, including advertising expenses and how they influence the seller's capital gain or loss on the property. It does not cover the sale of a rental property, second home or vacation home.

What does IRS Publication 523 consider seller's MAIN home? The term "main home" usually refers to the home the seller lives in most of the time. A main home can be a house, houseboat, mobile home, cooperative apartment, or condominium.

How is capital gain or loss figured on the sale of a seller's main home? In order for a home seller to calculate the capital gain or loss realized on the sale of their main home, they must know the selling price, the amount realized and the adjusted basis.

What is the selling price? The selling price is the total amount a seller receives for the sale of their home, including money, all notes, mortgages, or other debts assumed by the buyer as part of the sale and the fair market value of any other property or services they receive.

What is the amount realized? The amount realized is the selling price minus selling expenses. Selling expenses include commissions, advertising fees*, legal fees and loan charges paid by the seller.

What is the adjusted basis? During the duration of ownership of a main home, increases or decreases (adjustments) may have been made to the basis (base cost, either bought or built, of home). This adjusted basis must be determined before capital gain or loss can be figured on the sale of the home. There are many rules when computing the adjusted basis. Consult a Tax Adviser to accurately determine the adjusted basis.

To quickly estimate capital gain or loss, apply the following formulas:

• First Calculate: AMOUNT REALIZED = Selling Price - Selling Expenses
• Next Calculate: CAPITOL GAIN/LOSS = Amount Realized - Adjusted Basis

*Staging a home for re-sale can be considered an Advertising fee. There are no time limits on the Advertising Fees related to the sale for the IRS. However, it is important to note that if a property does not sell and is taken off the market, expenses for that transaction are NOT deductible in the future.

IMPORTANT: EVERY HOME SALES TRANSACTION IS DIFFERENT. To know how this Tax Rule affects you particular home sale in your state, PLEASE check with a Tax Adviser or Tax Consultant regarding IRS Publication 523 and how it may impact your individual tax situation.The complete explanation of IRS Publication 523 can be found on-line at: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/index.html

FAKING Your Home's Staging is Fine, Just Don't be CONTRIVED

While home staging does entail some visual creativity, in actuality it also requires a bit of merchandising and a few marketing "tricks" to get the job done. Unlike the practices of interior decorating, re-design, or even traditional interior design, much of what home staging is that it is the creation of an illusion of a possible lifestyle within a particular house so that it appeals to the largest home buying segment possible.

But it is important to note that in order to create REAL appeal, a home stager might have to resort to some "fakeness". One basic known industry practice (like decluttering or depersonalizing) every good stager relies on is to bring the outside in.

However, while some in our industry suggests that bringing the outside in is as a simple stroll out to one’s garden to cut something fresh and green, in reality this option just might be realistic. While, for some, this might SOUND like great advice to bring the outside in, for others the facts that either it’s freaking freezing and everything is dead in the garden or, oh ya you don't HAVE a garden, you live in a high-rise condo quite often IS reality.

So what can one do to bring the outside in? Well, this is where fake plants can help. Today's silk plants are so "perfect" and so widely accepted that they just blend into the background and, even MORE IMPORTANLY, do not draw the attention of a buyer's eye. Fake fruit works well too.

Also, using fake FOOD as props is a BIG No-No! For some reason, fake food captivates people’s attention… for they love to go up to and look and touch fake food to see just how "real" it looks. A good stager knows, and will advise their client, that anything that distracts a buyers so that they are looking at something other than the house steals precious selling attention.

For homes that are vacant, it is quite acceptable to use fake TV's. Because TV watching is a big part of our culture fake flat screens help a buyer understand how a room can be configured.

That with all that being said, I want to stress the importance that while sometimes "Fake" is fine... it is NEVER OK to resort to contrived trickery. Contrived and “cutesy” staging (Upper Picture ) is staging that just tries to hard. Resorting to gimmicks such as laying out silk gloves, with a single red rose (fake); setting a tray on a bed with a tea cup, a book of sonnets and the word "Love" configured with sticks from your garden; or setting out two champagne glasses wrapped with cute raffia bows on a tub’s edge is just NOT real and not the way most people live.

Because this is typically NOT the way people live, it becomes a contrived distraction to home buyers touring the house. So always remember, the best staging allows the HOUSE to be the star, not the stuff in it. The best and most talented stagers know and easily master the principal that "less is more" and their work is always tastefully understated.

The picture (Right >) of a staged property (staged and photographed this week by Marci Toliver of Fresh Eye Designs) is a perfect and pure example of how to apply an understated "less is more" approach to staging. As you can see, it is a beautifully appealing breakfast nook that is not contrived.

Oh ya, and one more thing, Marci just happened to make that floral arrangement herself…. using fake tulips.

Stage It Forward...
Me


PS: THANKS MARCI... for allowing me to feature this picture of your beautiful work. This is STUNNING staging!

PSS: My company, Real Estaging, happens to use proptronics.com as our supplier for these props. I recently spoke with Darlene, the owner of Proptronics… she graciously offered to give a discount to any stager who mentions this post. Please just ask for Darlene or Michael. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Growing Membership of Stage It Forward... Creates a United Voice for the Staging Industry

Just what kind of power and impact Active Rain, the online real estate network, is capable of is definitely been proven. Almost daily, one can log on and read great posts crediting it in countless ways for helping create success in so many ways for some many professional that are employed in the Real Estate Industry. But what really is mind boggling is Active Rain is ONLY in its infancy (less than 1year old), so it is hard to comprehend all that is possible in its future.

So while the "big" Active Rain has been so revolutionary, when it comes to the Home Staging Industry, I can personally attest to just what impact Active Rain has had to legitimize and catapult that industry forward. It so happens that the day Active Rain added the "Group" functionality to its site... the Stage It Forward group was born. This past Saturday, that small group hit its own small milestone... the 300th member joined the group. And while that might not seem like that big of a deal to most... for the Home Staging Industry it is quite an achievement.

Active Rain’s Stage It Forward group is one of the Top 10 (out of over 600 groups) most lively and active groups on the site. It has become a gateway resource for GREAT staging information. Members respectfully and FREELY pass along knowledge to both Home Stagers and Realtors alike. Each day anyone can go and read well articulated stories written by Home Stagers from all across the USA and Canada.

Realtors, if you never considered using a Stager, go on in. You will be bombarded with visually stunning examples of what we do… you will find that the Stagers are relentless to make sure you and your sellers understand the power of our craft. This group is quick to share stories that speak of success, after success, after success.

But what is most amazing, and what I am most proud to be a part of, is to see how Stagers enthusiastically help and contribute to the success of their colleagues.

Unfortunately, I have been in the Home Staging Industry long enough to know that there was an underlying negativity that was keeping our industry small. Margaret Ann Innis, a stager that studied at BOTH stagedhomes.com and the Interior Redesign Industry Specialists, described the industry perfectly when she recently commented, “…our industry was fragmented by personalities, training schools, etc. Now there is a level playing field for all the voices of Stagers to be heard. We all bring many talents to this passion."

When Active Rain created the Group functionality... an opportunity to mimic what was already taking place in the "bigger" Active Rain became possible. Stage It Forward created the ONLY free and accessible forum where any and ALL Home Stagers, regardless of where they received foundation training, can go and ongoingly learn and discuss the “ins and outs” of staging.

This just goes to show the power that sincere sharing and respect for diversity can do… for it is moving the entire Home Staging Industry forward into the future.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Sneak Preview

New Listing coming next week and it is adorable! It's a three bedroom ranch, drop-dead gorgeous located in Henrietta with a Pittsford mailing address. That is all I can publish here but call me if you want more details.....585-414-5513.

Why Do People Hate to Get Pre-Qualified???

When ever I talk with a new buyer, I always encourage them to call a bank or a mortgage loan company to get pre-qualified before they start looking at property. And very often my suggestion gets lots of resistance.A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Chris in New York City. He wanted to buy an investment property in Rochester. When I urged him to get pre-qualified, he told me he had excellent

3 years Ago TODAY, We First Appeared on "STAGE"

Today, is the third anniversary of my first home I ever staged. So, I thought I would reveal the back-story behind my own first home staging experience and how it proved to ME that home staging really works.

Back in March of 2004, after I had completed my studies in interior design at Harrington College of Design, I was asked by a Realtor to "stage" a high rise condo in Chicago, which actually had a lot working against its potential sale. I can remember thinking... "Staging? What the heck is that?" You see at that time, I really knew NOTHING about home staging. So I researched what I could on the web. However, unfortunately at that time, there was not as much information available as there is today on sits such as in Active Rain's Stage It Forward group. But there was enough that I was able to get the "basics" of what staging is all about… which was to de-clutter and let the HOUSE be the STAR not the STUFF in it.So with this new found LIMITED information I did the next best thing I could do... I blended this new understanding with: 1.) My own life experiences of multiple moves (where my father, an account executive for United Air Lines, always had us get the house "ready for selling" each time we were transferred) 2.) My newly educated creative passion (interior design) and 3.) My professional career experiences spanning the past 20 years (sales, marketing and most importantly and helpful... advertising).

I can recall going out and buying nearly $700 worth of props for this 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo and thinking "what would I do with all these nic-nacs & fake plants when the condo sold?" But, I didn't worry too much... as I figured I could always use the after photos as part of my interior design portfolio. (Odd thing is I DON'T use these photos in either our interior design portfolio OR our staging portfolio.)

Well, anyway, the home staging not only worked... and worked FANTASTICALLY!

The property sold in 10 days, had 3 offers and sold over its original list price! While selling over list is not unheard of, what makes this QUITE unique is the fact that NOTHING had been selling it the ENTIRE high-rise for months as any new owner was going to be hit with a special assessment for new windows. In the case of this particular corner unit the special assessment was going to be an astounding $20,000!

Plus what was also working against the sale was its original kitchen (ugly dated metal cabinets) and there were OTHER units in the same tier of the high-rise with fully renovated kitchens. So you can see why I say much was working against the sale of this condo.

It is no surprise, and rightfully so, that the Listing Realtor still takes great pride in the fact that for over 2 years after it sold this unit held the selling price record for a non-renovated 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit in this condominium high-rise.

This whole experience was AMAZING to me… I learned FIRST HAND just how awesome of a marketing tool home staging can be when it comes to selling real estate.

Needless to say, I was SOLD ON STAGING in Chicago… and on that day I became a home stager and Real Estaging was born.

Stage It Forward...
Me

I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!

(This is Part 4 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 1-3 are below.)

I happen to know among clients, builders & developers, home selling professionals, and even stagers that there are polarizing opinions on a controversial topic in our industry. When asked… everybody is quick to chime in and share their thoughts about one side or the other, some even surprisingly have very strong opinions against the subject. However, these negative opinions, I feel, are quite prejudiced. I believe these people are misinformed and it is their ignorance that keeps the myth and controversy that surrounds the "R" word alive.

Quite recently, we here at Real Estaging lost a client because we began using the ugly "R" word. NOW… this really got my blood boiling. So I am on a campaign to... stamp out the ignorance and prejudice! This crusade will end, once and for all, what is been wrongfully labeled as "BORING" and "UGLY"... and what the “R” word is is Rental Furniture!

To finally end to the Rental furniture myth I have posted a few photos (NOT slick studio production shots) from ACTUAL staged homes we did for sellers all over the metro Chicago region. In each we used rental furniture and then added beautiful BLING from our own extensive prop library. We started our company, having our own furniture in our prop library helped us get started and differentiated us from others in the market. But, as we looked at what we had invested in the furniture and the return on the investment we were attaining from THAT portion of our prop inventory... and we made a strategic decision. If we can not carry it (physically) we won't carry it (in our prop inventory)... instead we would rent it and roll that expense into the fee we charge the client.

For us this strategy is the right decision for 2 reasons: 1.) It was getting WAY to expensive to first PURCHASE and then continuously transport to, move in, move out, clean, repair, store and insure the hundreds and hundreds of furniture pieces we now are placing in staged homes. 2.) We found that Brook Furniture Rental, based here in Chicago with locations in CA, GA NV, TX, and DC, had diverse and MULTIPLE furniture lines, and a strong willingness to work with us.

So, a few months ago, we began working with Brook Furniture Rental and using their furniture in our stagings. I have to admit I have been delighted, for MANY reasons, but the first and foremost reason is they share with us a common commitment to provide the best level of staging creativity and service to our shared clients.

So the next time we have a client that says anything anti-rental furniture... we here at Real Estaging will hold our heads high with RENTAL PRIDE!

Stage It Forward...
Me

POST SCRIPT: This is the 4th and Final blog in a series were rental furniture was "secretly" used. The other 3 blogs featuring rental furniture can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 1: Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka Illinois
• Part 2: Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois
• Part 3: WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging

Wanting to Share the "GREEN"... I'm Gonna Recycle a Full-Circle Moment in My Own Life

This past November I took a business trip to China. I traveled there because the professional designer side of "me" was required; however to my surprise the personal side of "me" was profoundly impacted.

It just so happens that when I was in China, I visited both Hong Kong and a city called on the mainland called Shenzhen (which is 45 minutes away from Hong Kong via water taxi). During this trip something became quite apparent to me… Hong Kong was all about consuming, and Shenzhen was all about manufacturing. Shimmering and sparkling, yet stuffed and cluttered in EVERY nook and cranny of the streets of Hong Kong, were stores, shops and boutiques offering for sale every conceivable thing we stuff into our lives.

Oddly, in contrast, was Shenzhen, a city where pollution constantly spewed out of the thousands and thousands of factories located there. The pollution was so bad that I could literally and easily look directly into the sun in the middle of the day. Sadly, at one point we drove over a river that was so polluted it was thick and black as tar. (I am NOT exaggerating.) It is also important to note that Shenzhen is just one of the multitude of manufacturing/industrial cites throughout the world that makes the material goods we think we "need" in our consumer society.

Upon returning to the states, I started to reflect on all I had experienced and thinking about how it affects my job as a home stager… and I came to a “full circle moment” in my life.
I came to realize that in this age of consumption, it’s kind of odd that my job as a stager is to "transition" a home back to simpler view. Basic to what we do is de-cluttering the mass amount of consumer "stuff" that has built up in a seller’s house. In fact, if a stager’s work is done properly, completely and timed right, the seller can actually PROFIT from the sale of their home. It is scary to think that these “profits” then COULD then be used to go out and buy more "stuff".

But now, because of this trip to 2 cities in China… if I have it my way, people that use our home staging services will begin to look at their lives and their desire for stuff in a new way. I hope and want to show people, whose homes we transform, that a beautiful home NEVER needs to be STUFFED full of useless consumer crap. I hope to share with all our clients the fundamental lesson EVERY interior designer is thought early on in their design education... the fact that "Less is More."

For now, because of my trip to 2 cities in China, I come to realize our planet's life truly depends on less being MORE.

Green It Forward...
Me

Culv-Wint - Another Hot Rochester Neighborhood

It's been a couple of crazy real estate days.....typical real estate feast or famine. It started Sunday evening when I received a call from an agent saying she was very excited to be faxing an offer for one of my listings. I was excited too until I learned that it was $19,000 less than asking. My sellers were not too excited either and refused to respond to the offer.Then Monday morning I got two

STAGE IT FORWARD... means giving IT back

The willingness and importance to give back is basic to what the group of Home Stagers in Active Rain’s Stage it Forward group are all about. Giving back is so basic, that in the group's short description on Active Rain, the words "sharing" or "share" is used in three separate places.
However for me personally, Stage It Forward is more than just helping fellow home stagers grow their businesses... for me, Stage It Forward means using my time, talent and treasure to benefit community where I live. So at Real Estaging, our company’s current Stage It Forward effort centers around the creation of a marvelous community wide fund raising event for Brickton Art Center... which happens to be a WONDERFUL not-for profit organization (committed to outreach) in Park Ridge Illinois.

Starting last summer, we helped invigorate and re-invent Brickton's Artistic Living event by refining it and adding an entire Tour of Homes. With a goal to raise $20,000, here is what we have been working on and organizing…

The Artistic Living Tour of Homes event revolves around what is being called the Gallery House were art is featured within each room of a newly constructed home (donated for the weekend of May 18th - 20th by Tim Metropolis of TMM Development Corporation and listed with Gretchen Gullo of Coldwell Banker) in Park Ridge. This beautiful constructed Arts & Crafts style home will be where its interior spaces will be transformed and feature the creative works of both artist and designer. This house will also host the: Gallery 1033 Cocktail Party - a unique themed grand opening cocktail party and event night, and Silent Auction Room - featuring a variety of donated artistic objects, gifts and other items from local businesses.

In addition to the primary Gallery House, this tour event will also feature several other beautiful homes of Park Ridge. Residents are opening the doors to the interiors of their home to be locations on the tour. Craig Interior Design (our sister design studio) is even offering to help stylize & stage these homes with FREE design advice and help prior to the event.

The final fun new twist is that Brickton is commissioning a special gallery exhibit entitled The Doors of Park Ridge. This show will feature and exhibit the artistic interpretations of doors of homes, shops, schools, or churches etc. throughout Park Ridge, as seen through the eyes of and created by local kids.

The whole event is designed so that whether donating "BIG" or donating "SMALL" of one's time, talent and treasure, we have created many ways for others to experience the joy of giving and share in this wonderful event. All are invited and encouraged to tour the homes and see the power of what is possible when you… Stage It Forward.

WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging

(This is Part 3 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 1, 2 & 4 are below.)

The Bucktown area of Chicago has risen up to be a renaissance neighborhood. A little over 10 years ago this area wasn't very much to look at. But because of its close proximity to downtown, builders came in tore down and rehabbed much of the old and built new. NOW Bucktown area is one of Chicago's vibrant and trendiest neighborhoods.

Because builders saw such possibility and opportunity... more came and built (and are still building actually). Eventually the levels of inventory rose,,, and continues to rise today. Unfortunately, that creates a challenge for home sellers in the neighborhood. How does a seller, who bought new homes a few years back, differentiate their home from all the rest that are for sale?

THIS is where this staging story happens to start.

At the beginning of this year, one of Chicago's "coolest' and most progressive real estate companies, @Properties (even their name is cool), started a advertising campaign geared around HOME STAGING. They sent out email “blasts” and glossy postcards teaching consumers about the value of Home Staging and how their agents are in step with it.

At about this time, PJ Duffy, a Realtor with @Properties, who back in August 2006 had first listed a great contemporary town-home in Bucktown was faced with a new dilemma. The owners of an unsold listing of his now HAD to move on with their lives and were moving out... and they were going to be taking their furnishings with them. So now while it was a great property... he knew there were MANY other properties as interesting in the Bucktown area and NOW this listing was going to be vacant. PJ saw this as an opportunity to jumpstart a stalled listing.

So PJ contacted Jeannie, one of our three sales Services Specialist here at Real Estaging. Jeannie (who also has a knack for staging) along with Kirstin and Norma, staged the vacant property. Kirstin, who happens to be an artist, even contributed an original painting she painted that would work with the contemporary nature of the property and the staging style we were creating. (That painting hangs in the Dining Room… see pixes below.)

After our team finished the staging, PJ started showing the NEWLY staged and transformed property. AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW? THIS BUCKTOWN TOWN-HOUSE SOLD... IN JUST 2 DAYS! WOW... now that IS fast.

This is definitely another happy ending for ALL... buyer, seller, both realtors and stager.
So on behalf of all of us at Real Estaging I would like to personally acknowledge and thank @Properties and PJ Duffy for taking a strong committed stand for Home Staging. They saw early on that staging SELLS homes... and it is for reasons like this that @Properties has risen up to be one of the best Real Estate Agencies in the Chicago Market.

POST SCRIPT: This is the 3rd blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 1: Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka Illinois
• Part 2: Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois
• Part 4: I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!

One Stage NOW shines its Spotlight on the entire Home Staging Industry

The geniuses that created Active Rain might not realize it (and I KNOW they did NOT intend it) but they have created something amazing.

They have created a stage for the voices of an entire industry, which was still a relative infant and struggling to be heard, could finally be heard. That industry is the Home Staging Industry.

Today is going to be a VERY special day for all home stagers that utilize Active Rain and its Stage It Forward group as a resource for fresh and helpful industry information. Today, the stagers on Active Rain will be welcoming their 500th stager. Considering Active Rain is TOTALLY FREE and non-aligned with any home staging foundation training program THAT is a HUGE milestone for home staging!

If you are NOT a stager, I don’t think one can fully appreciate how significant this milestone is and what Active Rain is doing for a very young and rapidly growing industry.

You see prior to Active Rain there was no one place that any and all stagers could freely go to and share information with their colleagues. Many of the company's that provide foundation training in home staging have turned their backs to and would not acknowledge any of their fellows who did not have the same training as they provided... and definitely would not share ideas... or even a kind compliment!

Active Rain has shattered all that, and has allowed the voices of ALL STAGERS to be heard and RESPECTED. On Active Rain and in the Stage It Forward group ALL stagers are welcome! I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful place.

SO MY HAT IS OFF... to Active Rain and all the home stagers who proudly SHARE ONE VOICE on this ONE STAGE. YOU ARE ALL in your own way SINGULARLY SENSATIONAL.

Stage It Forward...
Me

PS: The smiling dancer is the stager Marci Toliver, the person I call "The Smile of Home Staging". Marci embodies professionalism. She lives and IS what more of the leaders of this industry could be... kind, respectful and welcoming to ALL who have and will choose in the future to make home staging their career... regardless of where the stager first received their foundation training.

THINK CRUSTY THOUGHTS...when taking pictures of homes for sale

While I happen to be a home stager, you may have noticed a number of my postings here on my blog have been about improving photos used in advertising homes that are for sale. This is because I KNOW from experience that what a home buyer SEES influences the desire to purchase a home... or NOT. But what a home buyer SEES often begins BEFORE they drive up to the property or walk through its front door.

Realtors and home sellers MUST understand that with each passing day the Internet becomes more of a resource for buyers to PRESCREEN your properties. Buyers looking at the photos realtors have posted in the online ads the produce. With digital photography being so easy and inexpensive... there is now excuse for Realtors NOT to have photos that PERFECTLY capture the images of their listings.

WOW... the "perfect" label is a mighty demanding standard to expect! But isn't marketing and selling a home what realtors have been hired to do? Isn't capturing and then displaying homes on the market the job of the realtor... and in the best interest of both the seller AND the Realtor?

It is no surprise that many Realtors now use professional photographers/videographers to shot properties to help market and sell them. It is this reason more and more professional Homes Stagers are photographing the homes they stage and offering these quality images, which best show off the home, to the Realtors to use in their marketing campaigns.

So when it comes to taking pictures of properties here is a simple CRUSTY PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION technique that will help a property look its best.

But before I share this technique… I need to make a point. Many of us, through years of taking pictures of PEOPLE, have wrongfully (especially when it comes to interior shots) take pictures of homes that are for sale.

Quite often realtors approach taking pictures of properties like taking pictures of PEOPLE… they just point the viewfinder in the middle (where the people usually are) and CLICK. But if one just takes a moment to LOOK, not only in the direct center, but also LOOK to see and take into consideration what is happening around the 4 outside edges (think bread CRUST) pictures used to sell homes will be composed and FRAMED much better.

It's really that easy.

Oh, by the way, the home encrusted in the picture above is of a totally vacant home we recently staged.

Stage it Forward...
Me

Selling Your Home is as Easy as Riding a Tricycle

Home sellers, when you put your home up for sale… you might say it is like you are like a little kid about to go on a tricycle ride. But for this particular “sales trike trek” 4 basic elements impact how smoothly your ride will go. These 4 important elements in your home’s sales trek are: Market, Location, Condition, and Price.

During your ride, consider the MARKET as the sidewalk that your tricycle maneuvers on. Sometimes the market is bumpy, sometimes smooth. Regardless, what the market’s surface conditions are, you must just keep rolling along for there is little you can do to impact the market path.However, to get the tricycle ready for its travels, you must consider the 3 wheels that keep your home's sale rolling along.

First, PRICE is the big front wheel where the knowledge and expertise of a Realtor helps you steer and direct your sales ride for the best possible result.

But in order for your front wheel to maneuver properly... the two back wheels must also be looked at and operate smoothly and in conjunction with your front wheel.

One of your trike's back wheels is LOCATION. The LOCATION wheel is a fixed hard rubber wheel that will NEVER go flat... it is what it is.

Your other rear wheel is CONDITION. By the time you, as a home seller, are ready to jump on your trike’s seat and go for a sales ride many of you don't always want to look at the rear wheels... especially the CONDITION wheel. Unfortunately, much of the time your CONDITION wheel's treads have worn down, the rim is rusty, it has leaked some air and maybe even gone flat.

Home stagers go to work on your flat worn-out rear tricycle wheel. We pump up, shine and make suggestions that will improve the rear CONDITION wheel, so that your home’s sale doesn't end up being a rickety ride.

So when you sell your home, preferably before you list it, find and use a home stager in your area to see just how smoothly your own tricycles can roll along to the closing.

Stage It Forward...

Me

PS: I spelled "peddling" the way I meant it.

Home Stager's Websites are the Display Windows of their Skill & Talent

I believe that the home staging industry is in the business creating amazing first impressions; therefore, I often search the Net for websites of home stagers to check out what kind of first impression they ARE or ARE NOT creating for the consuming public.

I first started doing this 3 1/2 years ago when I was opening my own staging business and researching the staging industry. At that time, two home staging company's websites caught my attention and left me with an amazing and favorable first impression. Those two staging companies were: Nest Home Design in San Francisco and Dekora in Vancouver BC. (They still are shining examples of professionalism.)

A little while back, I happened to stumble upon and then was blown away by the website of Turton Interiors. Then, just yesterday, I found yet another great website… Bella Casa Staging. It happens, by coincidence, that both of these stagers received their initial foundation training from the same training resource (stagedhomes.com), however each has gone on to find their own unique way to express their creativity, staging styles, and business acumen within their individual websites. It is also important that I note that both of these stagers have chosen to further differentiate themselves within their respective markets by NOT having a web presence provided exclusively through the company that provided their initial foundation training.

In my opinion these 4 staging company websites embody the essence of GOOD home staging. Just like a well staged home, these sites are fresh, clean, uncluttered and easy to maneuver in and around. All are stylish and creative, simple... not flashy. They are well thought out, and beautifully display both creative skill and talent. When a consumer visits these sites they can SEE that these professional stagers know what they are doing.

Now, as more stagers graduate from the multitude of staging training companies and enter the home staging industry and as home staging continues to gain in popularity... it only makes sense that more and more of the consuming public will first "shop" the internet and use a stager’s website to "pre-screen" them. It is only natural that prospective clients be attracted to stager’s sites that are beautiful, simple to navigate and demonstrate an understanding of scale, proportion, color, and balance.

As a professional stager, “who you are” and “what you can do” must be displayed on your site. With the accessibility and ease of digital photography, Before & After Galleries/Portfolios are essential to a home stager in there website. By investing no more than $500 in a decent digital camera and then taking the time to READ the operation manual and learn how it works will pay off.

If you are serious about growing your business and differentiating yourself from other home stagers, I suggest you invest in and create your own website that is a beautiful "Display Window" of your talent. To help, I list and link (in the right hand column) many of the best sites that I have stumbled upon, so that those of you who are committed to improving and growing your own staging business can easily access examples of some of the best DISPLAY WINDOWS with the Home Staging industry.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois

(This is Part 2 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 1, 3 & 4 are below.)

When one of the most architecturally significant areas in the world is right here in Illinois… in the Oak Park / River Forest area! For it is there that Frank Lloyd Wright had his first "studio" and created his famous and easily recognizable architecture design known as the Prairie Style. When touring the area it is easy to spot amongst the gorgeous mansions and tree lined streets the historic Architectural masterpieces, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

However, due to this area’s close proximity to Chicago, builders find it profitable to tear down less pleasing older homes and replace them with new homes featuring all the amenities today’s homebuyer expect and enjoy. And it is at this point that my staging story begins.

Real Estaging was recently contacted by a builder who last fall completed building a totally new home in River Forest. But this home was no “ordinary” home. From inside to out… the builder built with accurate attention and detail his own Frank Lloyd Wright style masterpiece. Built-in handmade cabinets, inlaid woods, barreled ceilings, etched glass hutches where just of the few prairie style elements that were designed into this new home. In fact, the home even has a cozy inglenook fireplace. (How COOL is that?) This home of “yesterday” that was built “today” is a magnificent feast for the eyes. Unfortunately it wasn’t selling.
Real Estaging know that a home on the market MUST appeal to the LARGEST buying audience as possible. Working against this beautiful Prairie Style home’s sale was the fact that it was TOO Prairie Style. For while potential buyers liked the home… they could not understand or envision how their lives (and their stuff) could fit into a home with such a strict architectural style.

In fact our Services Specialist in the Oak Park / River Forest area, Susan Hamaj, had to explain to the builder that it was NOT in his best selling interest to stage the vacant home with Prairie and/or Mission style furniture. WHY not? It is because the average consumer does NOT typically own that type of furniture... and might just feel a home in that manner would be too hard (expensive) to appropriately furnish.

So we at Real Estaging went to work, staging this vacant home to help SELL it. I have to admit this was a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be. However, here are the results of our staging efforts... to which the builder was quite pleased. It is important to note that while we created a look that HONORED the style of the home... we were far from being Prairie Style purists. Our ultimate staging goal was to create an appealing home the AVERAGE home buyer could see living in.

Now we can say when it comes to Prairie Style homes... Real Estaging stages it Wright!

POST SCRIPT: This is the 2nd blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 1: Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka Illinois
• Part 3: WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging
• Part 4: I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!

Happy New Year

In many ways, March first is the beginning of a new real estate year in Western NY. With spring right around the corner, the phone starts ringing with buyers wanting to go look at property or sellers wanting to put there house on the market. And since it is the real estate new year, I'm going to make a new year resolution to get this blog up and going, finally! For those of you that have stopped

Stunning $1.8 Million Home staged in Winnetka IL

(This is Part 1 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 2,3 & 4 are below.)

Since I started blogging about staging I know I have shared and yapped a lot. Unfortunetly, lately I have been very quiet... but for good reason. WE HAVE BEEN BUSY! (Thanks to all who have sent emails asking me if all was OK.)

Anyway, I thought I might share some of what our crew here at Real Estaging has been working on that has kept us ALL so busy.
Here are a variety of pictures from the second staging project we completed for a "boutique" builder I first blogged about last summer entitled: UPSTAGING the Competition. The first property we staged for the builder had been on the market for nearly 10 months when he finally agreed to have us come in and stage it. But once did stage it, it sold in about 45 days. Needless to say the builder was SOLD ON STAGING.
So when their next property was ready for market, instead of waiting to see if the HOUSE would sell, the builder had us come and stage it the INSTANT it was ready.

The builder, Sandstone Bluff Properties is METICULOUS in their renovation efforts and the result is a stunning $1,850,000 home... this time in Winnetka Illinois. (This builder really creates renovation miracles!)

Needless to say Real Estaging is proud to be the staging company associated and used by this quality builder on Chicago's North Shore.

Above is a sample of Sandstone Bluff Properties L.L.C. and Real Estaging's work... if you would like to see more go here: http://www.1353tower.com/ (Be sure to click on the Panorama Tab.)

POST SCRIPT: This is the 1st blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

• Part 2: Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois
• Part 3: WOW! This Town-House in Chicago's Bucktown is SOLD just 2 days after Home Staging
• Part 4: I confess... We Use the UGLY "R" Word!