All I did was....Home Staging Success Stories

Listing clients ask me all the time.... do I really have to do all this work to prepare my home for sale?

The short answer is yes if you want to ask top dollar and sell your home in the shortest amount of time possible.

Buyers are busy people just like you and me.

They book 5, 6 or 10 houses to look at in one day. They spend less than 5 minutes in your home if you have not given them something to capture their attention.

Give buyers what they are looking for- clean, modern decor and rooms arranged for good flow that show how you can live in a home.

Your home is a product for sale. It is up to you to market it by having it professionally staged. 

Advantage Staging creates desire in the buyers mind and helps to initiate action on the part of the buyer to make an offer.

In this home staging  the bedroom went from "use your imagination here" to "move right in to your new master bedroom".

Investiment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award   2009

Travelling is a wonderful thing. It allows you see other ways of living and inspires you to want to bring home some memories. It can have such an impact on you that you just have to bring back some of that happy feeling by decorating your home with items that make that happen for you. Only thing is, buyers don't have those fond memories of the place you travelled to.

When you list your house for sale, it is now a product for sale. That means all the personal themed items are stored away and the house is marketed for sale to appeal to the widest range of buyers.

65% of people will pay more for a house that looks "move in ready". And that means neutral decor and colours that allow them to see their belongings in your home. So long safari and hello beautiful bedroom retreat.

This home staging at Norstar Harmony Village in North York now has buyers saying "absolutely beautiful, I want to move right in".

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award  2009

Advantage Staging has the unique opportunity to stage the lobby of the Remax Premier office at the centrally situated Vaughan Mills location with a new look every quarter.

You may remember when I arrived at Remax it started out looking like this....definitely could use a little more warmth to welcome clients.

I knew I could create a warm, welcoming look very easily by adding furniture with the right texture fabric and colour. The first staging looked like this....

And now the lobby looks like this......

Subtle changes were made that effect the mood of the space, creating a welcome feel. Clients and visitors comment every day how comfortable the furniture is. They feel right at home and don't want to get up as they feel so good sitting there. Now that's what I call effective marketing. Creating such a great space that your clients look forward to coming and don't want to leave!

Watch for the changes at Christmas... with the launch date for the new office being December 3rd.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year  2009

Adantage Staging recently had the amazing opportunity to stage three condos in one day for the Norstar development of Harmony Village in North York.

These are inventory houses that have been on the market for two years. After staging this week, one has sold already and I am confident the others will follow shortly.

The before photos demonstrate how cold and uninviting an empty home can appear to buyers. After staging, the buyer can now envision how they would use the space and see themselves living there. I suggested to the marketing team that the condos be sold with the furniture.

For less than $40 per month on your mortgage, you can move right in to your new dream lifestyle. Put your feet up on the coffee table the day you move in with no muss or fuss. Just unpack your clothes and personal belongings and say …. Honey, I’m home!

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award  2009

I recently spent three days learning the ins and outs of running a successful design business with Kimberly Seldon of Kimberly Seldon Design Group here in Toronto.

Kimberly is a dynamic designer who embodies success in the Toronto area. Appearing as a regular on Cityline TV, speaking at design shows and featured in many magazines and books, Kimberly is a wealth of information that you can use immediately in your business model.

The one thing that I learned from Kimberly was how to discuss a clients budget. Clients are always reluctant to state what their budget is for many reasons which you are not privy to. Kimberly suggests that you ask them if it is a million dollars. By doing this, they invariably break down laughing and say what their actual budget is or they might even say that it is higher than that. Either way, you can't lose by asking the million dollar question.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award 2009