Month: November 2018

Memphis Home Staging extraordinaire Melissa Douglass took a few hours off recently to grant me an interview about home staging. Always on the look out for an interesting story, I became intrigued after being introduced to Mrs. Douglass at a local function. Together with her partner, Carmel Hopper, Home Stager Gals was formed nearly four years ago. Both have received accreditation after extensive training from the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. The IAHSP was founded by the famed West Coast Realtor and creator of home staging, Barb Schwarz.
What amazed me the most, other than her complete mastery of the subject, was to learn that ninety three percent of all homes that are staged sell within thirty days! That is an incredible statistic and if your are a real estate agent or a home seller, you are going to want to read of the many benefits that come with having Home Stager Gals expedite your sale. Home staging addresses the look and feel of your home, helping you make the best possible first impression on buyers. Whether you need furniture for a vacant home or need your home staged with existing furniture, they have you covered.

I need to sell my home now! That is a familiar song in many real estate offices. So let me ask you, how long do you want your home to sit vacant while you are living in another part of the country? You probably don’t want to be reminded of the horror stories about vacant homes when the owner is out of state. One month one of vacancy is a long time. First the grass and landscaping starts to look a little rough. Then it becomes obvious that the home is vacant, maybe some local teens decide to take an innocent peek and see? Other than a break in, the worst thing a vacant home can suffer is a broken window. Nothing says “keep looking” like a broken window. It certainly is not going to garner top offers is it?
Have you ever had the experience of walking in the front door of a house and having your nose assaulted by smoke or pet odors? You may think that some air freshener sprayed around while your on the way out the door is going to work just fine. And it probably will for a few minutes, but what is it going to smell like three days later, closed up with all the utilities off? The problem is that when people smell a strong fragrance, they automatically assume that you are trying to hide something. That is not the impression you want to give to prospective buyers. Their imagination is probably far worse than fact.
I asked Mrs. Douglass how Home Stager Gals dealt with the odor issue. “The answer,” she said, “Is to eliminate the odor.” Now that sounds logical I know, but I wasn’t making the connection until she told me about their ability to treat the entire home with the same technology that NASA uses to clean the air on the shuttle missions. It is beyond my capability to describe the science behind this but seeing is believing, or in the case here, smelling! I got the opportunity to use one of these machines in my home and I did not want to give it back. Seriously, I ended up purchasing one for my home. I was that impressed.

I know a few real estate investors and they will tell you that the Memphis real estate market is one of the hottest areas in the nation. They will also tell you that the last thing they want is to have a home sit vacant, simply because furnished homes sell faster than empty houses. Extensive surveys have shown us that buyers typically make a purchase decision within the first ten seconds of viewing a home. That is great but it really doesn’t help you once the mover has packed up all your furniture does it? Home Stager Gals takes care of this problem with a large inventory of furniture and accessories that can be used to stage a vacant house. They deliver and set it up for maximum impact and then after the sale, they come and move it out. It doesn’t get much easier that that. Fortunately, for those of us who aren’t moving we too can get a new look or a makeover on our home that would rival anything you see on cable television.

As a homeowner looking to move to another location there is a lot on your mind about what is going to happen once you get there. With all the pressures of moving, we typically are not in the right frame of mind to step back and take an honest look and ask if our home is ready to show. This is the major benefit that comes with enlisting Home Stager Gals, peace of mind!

copyright 2010 Greg Traver

It is a good idea to protect yourself as much as possible when you are selling or buying your home. It is within your ability to protect yourself, especially against making costly home selling mistakes.

Finding this information online, or from your real estate agent, is possible and within your abilities. To ensure that your deal is successful, you would be wise to accept any responsibilities that come your way. Your agent may care enough to go the extra mile, but if you will placing a lot of trust in that person. The following three approaches can be used to protect yourself from making some of the worst home selling mistakes possible.

If you list your home and it doesn’t sell during the life of the listing, there is a kind of black mark – stigma – that surrounds your home. Much of it is a psychological effect which is typical with stigmas. Potential buyers will wonder why the home didn’t sell during the original listing and assume that it must have a problem. To prevent this from happening with your home, there are steps you can take to safeguard against this problem. When this happens, you will have lost time and money. It is necessary for you to address to this problem before listing your home. See what kind of solution or recommendations your agent has to avoid this problem. Then, consider the efficacy of their answer. Nobody who wants to sell their home should settle for the first real estate agent they talk with. You need to gauge the experience of the agents you talk to and you can best do that by talking to a variety of different agents. While you are interviewing a prospective listing agent, discuss what they suggest as the listing price for your home. When you list your home, you hope that you will get as much from the sale as you can. However, this is an area where a home seller and their agent can make a big mistake. How fast your home sells will depend on a pricing compromise between too high and too low. Your potential buyers will instantly know if your asking price is reasonable or not as they have been looking at other comparable properties. You may lose many sales if your home is not priced according to the local market for homes like yours.

Getting acquainted with the real estate industry, and its many diverse terms and expressions is something that you should do. For example, there is the home showing which is a fairly intuitive term. In most cases, the buyer is coming over to look at your home. That’s what it means. But then there is what’s known as staging your home. You are getting your house ready for showing – that is what this means. You need to let a professional do this for you. It is worth your time and money. The person who does home staging will know exactly what to do and all the little tricks that are known to work. The money will be a very good investment and should be considered.

Costly home selling mistakes happened to many people. You need to avoid these and remember that your house is your investment. You need to take this seriously! Truth be told, it’s not as difficult as it may seem to be. It’s all about taking control over what is happening and using the information to do things the right way.

Staying out of this mistake it may be carried out such lots of ways. You can find some ways by letting in contact with this expert to assist and educate you on this concern.

Be sure to check out our website to get some good suggestions Click Here!

Home staging can help you achieve maximum dollar for your home and sell it faster. Here’s why it works:

1. Unstylish means unsold. More often than not, people can not look past empty rooms or even unattractive decor. Successful builders usually use model homes for this reason. Home staging will give the home a more unified, up-to-date, simplified look that people are looking for.

2. A Buyer Can’t Fight the Feeling. House hunters usually start off with a list of things that they want in a home or reasons why they won’t buy. In the end more people tend to buy for emotional reasons sometimes disregarding their list of criteria. Staging your home gives it more of an emotional feeling, it will change, “The second bedroom is too small” to “Wow, this feels like home” and “I can see us living here.”

3. Sold is in the Details. You have been living in you home for a few or even many years. You are used to it. The best thing you can do to improve the look of your home is to have a fresh set of eyes come in to see what you may not. Stagers give you professional advice that you may not have thought of. Even the smallest changes can make a big difference. When buyers come through a home looking to buy they will notice the smallest details even if you don’t anymore.

4. Don’t Trade Sleep for Upkeep. When people have their homes up for sale they often times are too busy and tired to do work on their homes. Buyers see that the house could use some tidying or there is too much clutter. Home stagers come in and do that work for you. They can quickly get the home ready for sale so when the buyer comes in it is organized, clean and has a functional traffic flow.

5. Seeing is Believing. By staging your home you are creating that “model suite” look. This clean, organized look appeals to a broad spectrum of potential buyers. Your home will look better on the internet, in print advertising and in person.

6. Your Home has Gold Status. Realtors look at staged homes as the premium homes to be viewed. As a result you will get more viewings. Staging works and costs less than the usual first price reduction. So, there is nothing to lose, just more to gain.

Permission to reuse or redistribute these materials is hereby granted provided they are reproduced or redistributed in their entirety with full attribution. (c) 2008 Colette Robicheau Colette Robicheau, President of Organize Anything, is a consultant, coach, and public speaker offering corporate, residential, and personal organizing services. For more information contact Colette Robicheau, Organizing Consultant and Coach visit her website www.organizeanything.com or email .