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

This is a recent example of how taking a home with very vibrant lime green and yellow walls and painting in a more neutral colour along with some decluttering makes for a very inviting home.

In doing this, you can now see the size of the rooms and the focal points/selling features of the home much better. The house shows very well online and allows the buyers to see that they want to put this property on their "must see list".

This property sold in just 39 days in a slow market for the highest price the neighbourhood had seen in the last year.

Advantage Staging will market your home to stand out from the competition every time.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award  2009

People love red in the dining room and the master bedroom. Which when you think it about it, seems like polar opposites in thinking.

Red is often used to stimulate the appetite in the dining room. While in a bedroom you are trying to create a calm oasis to sleep in. A place to rejuvenate your self for the next day by using calm, neautral colours.  Red really doesn't fit the bill to achieve that end.

I prefer to market homes with calm colours in all rooms including the dining room and master bedroom. However, some homeowners decide they will not paint in neutral colours even though they are trying to appeal to the most people who are out looking to buy a house.

Remember when selling a home...

Staging is marketing your home for sale not decorating to suit your design desires.

When you are selling a home you are selling space and light. Whether you have 1500 sq. ft. or 4500 sq. ft. you are always trying to make it look bigger to increase the perceived value of a property.

Dark colours equal smaller perceived space and light, light colours equal more space and light.

Dark/bright colours do not show well online. With over 80% of buyers looking online to buy, doesn't it makes sense to let buyers see the features of your home while viewing listings online. Buyers click through to the next listing when they see dark/bright paint colours instead of the focal point in the room or the features they will be getting with your property.

You decide... should the red walls stay or go?

Recently I was commissioned by the Rainbow Mall to design a wall graphic memorial to the fallen Canadian soldiers who have served in United Nations Peace Keeping efforts.

It was a month in planning and execution and on Monday March 16th the dedication took place.

CFB Borden Base Commander Colonel Hamel, The Minister of Foreign Affairs Office representative Valerie Knight and veterans from the Angus and Barrie Legion along with the Army, Navy, Air Force Club were on hand to witness the solemn event. As four soldiers had been repatriated home to Canada in the previous days it was a poignant reminder that reflected the efforts of our peace keepers in Afghanistan.

The wall graphic shows a field of red poppies reaching up to a blue sky. There are 225 names of fallen soldiers written on the wall and sadly, four more to be added this past week.

Advantage Staging was proud to be part of this community event to show our support to the troops and their efforts to keep peace in the world.

Lately I have been finding that the smart Realtors are calling for a professional Home Staging consultation on every listing.

Why the change?

A few reasons.

With so much competition on the market right now, they realize that to make their listing stand out from the crowd online  they need to get their clients motivated to prepare their properties for sale.

Realtors know that if they list properties not ready to show they will see their marketing expense balloon out of control.Properties that have not been prepared do not show well online. Bright paint colours and vibrant patterns do not allow buyers online to see the features of a home.

Plus clients are letting their Realtors know that they do not want to languish on the market like they see so many other listings in their neighbourhood.

With over 80% of buyers looking online for their next house,  clients that decide to follow the suggestions that I make end up with a property that shows well online resulting in traffic to their listings.

6 White Elm in Barrie listed with Dianne Beauchesne with RE/MAX is an example of the suggestions that I made to market a home being carried out by the homeowner.

The main floor is very inviting and a family could see easily how this could be their new dream home.

In the perfect scenario, the vibrant colours in the children's rooms should have been neutralized to show better online. Overall the house shows very well and you can now see the features in each room of the house.

This property sold in 30 days for 98% of the list price. Another Staging success story.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceles.

This month has seen the number of listings jump dramatically mostly due to the break in the weather.         Once the sun comes out and the snow melts away, people love to dream about their next move.

The difference this year is that more and more Realtors and homeowners are realizing they need three things when listing their house for sale.

1. A detailed marketing plan to sell their property including using new advertising avenues like social media sites and home staging services

2.  To spend less money advertising a property not ready for sale

3. To find a professional home stager to provide a written action plan to stay focused on what is important to do to get the most pay back from money and effort put into preparing the property for sale.

Homeowners and Realtors are realizing they need a plan and that  a Professional Home Staging consultation is the first step to get the most equity out of their property and to have less days on market.

I consulted on this property at 7 Apple Valley in Adjala. The suggestions that I made were carried out by the homeowners.

Is it Staged the way I would I have done it? Not exactly.

But the point is, the property shows well online now.
They are getting traffic to their listing and not wasting their marketing dollars on a property that wasn't ready to show. Plus the homeowner will be able to get back to their regular life sooner with less days on market.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Our local radio stations in Barrie, KOOL 107.5 and ROCK 95 are giving away a house with Zancor Homes.  All you have to do is phone in and be caller number seven. You get a golden key and are invited to attend a party with all the key winners. One lucky person will find that their key opens the lock on the prize house and the dream prize house is theirs to call home. How easy is that!

Advantage Staging can be heard during this prize house give away contest at 8:30 a.m. each morning on       KOOL 107.5 encouraging homeowners to have an advantage in the marketplace by Staging their homes for sale.

After all, when you win a dream home you still have to sell your old one and get the most equity out of it to buy the plasma TV with surround sound movie room, new furniture, landscaping, inground pool with cabana, hot tub...........ooops! I was  dreaming of winning the prize house again!