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

Home staging in Vaughan I run into quite a few  homes that have sellers with birds. The latest one was a bit over the top though. 

When I arrived to do the staging consultation I found a 5 foot parrot cage in the eating area of the kitchen along with two small freezers. No table and chairs. Just a giant parrot cage and two freezers.

  I know what you are thinking. Who does that?

As I like to assure my clients, you live in a house one way, to suit yourself. You pay the mortgage and taxes and if it gives you pleasure and isn't illegal you live the way you want.

But, and this is a big but- when you are selling your home, it is now a product for sale.

And you have COMPETITION in the market place.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I called my Dad.

All you ladies out there will understand why I made this call. My Dad will do anything for me. Always has and always will. I asked him if he would be willing to bird sit until the house sold. He has raised many birds so I knew he could handle it. Dad is now in his 80's so I thought this would be a great social activity for him getting to know the bird and of course teaching him to say a few new phrases. It doesn't hurt that my Dad is a huge Pavorotti fan either.

So now the bird and my Dad sing and whistle together. And the house is ready to be put on the market.

The agent, Peter Klosowski was blown away that I convinced the seller to part with his prized parrot. He really appreciated that I went above and beyond the call of duty by having my Dad bird sit. He really didn't know how he was going to market a home with giant bird cage and two freezers sitting in the kitchen.

Now the property is ready to be photographed and get sold.

So if you need a home stager in Vaughan that can motivate your clients to do what needs to be done to prepare their home for sale call Advantage Staging to get the ball rolling.

Michelle Finnamore  Advantage Staging

416.928.299

2010 National Builders Association U.S.   Silver Award Design  Zancor Homes

2010 Ontario Home Builders Association  Design Nomination  Devonleigh Homes

2010 Canadian Staging Professionals      Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Advantage Staging was called in to design the model home for Terra Moda Developments new site located in the Beaches in Toronto.  I arrived to find your everyday construction scene. Brown paper covering the floor to protect it, scattered construction debris and some fabulous details on the windows.

The area is a favourite of young professionals to buy their first home so I began to think about how that target market would live in this home. They would be educated, travel frequently and take advantage of the local beaches, entertainment and restuarant scene.

Here are the before pictures of the second bedroom. Not much to inspire someone to dream about at this stage, but the windows were a great feature to work with.

This is what I saw in my head to appeal to the target market of buyers for this property. I try to explain to my clients that as soon as I walk in a room I get a vision for how it should look.

All I did was start with a fabulous picture of Paris in my showroom for inspiration. That one thing kick started the whole design process.

A few hours sourcing bedding, drapery and furniture and voila! A  bedroom to appeal to the educated, young professionals that travel and live in downtown Toronto.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Vesna Kolenc from Remax Premier is the listing agent for this project. I have a feeling the 18 townhomes will be sold soon!

Advantage Staging is ready to design your model home to appeal to your target market.

Two offices to serve you better.

Toronto and area   416.928.2999

Barrie and area     705.720.0113

2010 National Home Builders U.S.A. Silver Award   Zancor Homes - Kings Ridge Site - King City

2010 Ontario Home Builders Award                      Devonleigh Homes - Parkside Site - Alliston

2010 CSP Entreprenuer of the Year Award

Whoa!!! I can hear you disagreeing all the way up here in snowy Toronto.  I have heard many a real estate sales person and home owner express this sentiment. The problem with leaving a home or a room vacant is that the buyer cannot identify what the purpose of the room might be or whether their furniture will fit in the space. The buyer needs something in the room to make a comparison to.

For instance, when a dining room has a table set in it the buyer will be thinking ..."My table is a little longer than this one so mine will fit here no problem". You get the buyer seeing themselves living in the home. 

Advantage Staging will rent a dining room table set to you for a very reasonable fee or you can do as my client did. They had lived in the house for 5 years without ever having purchased a dining room set.  I suggested that they borrow one as they had no budget to rent one.  Well they did one better than that.

When they bought their new home, they asked the homeowner if they could "borrow" their dining room set to put in their home to get it sold. The person that they bought the home from said of course and actually delivered it to the family.  Will wonders never cease.... their house sold in 5 days!

Another home staging success story in Vaughan. If you need help getting your property ready for sale contact Michelle to get your listing "move in ready".

Here are a couple of examples that illustrate why you would want to stage a vacant home.

Which room in the house is this? After staging there is no doubt. It is a bedroom and a very nice one at that.

This bedroom looks too small...... or does it look just right?

Invest minimal.

Impact priceless.

When you want to prepare your property for sale, call Michelle at Advantage Staging to produce that "just move in" look that buyers are looking for.

Two offices to serve you.

Vaughan, Woodbridge, Maple   416.928.2999

Barrie and area                       705.720.0113

In this home staging in the Aurora area, I performed a staging consultation leaving a very capable homeowner with a list of to do items for each room in the house.

Within 10 days this home was decluttered, foyer painted a neutral colour, furniture rearranged for good flow and the yard trimmed.

This property is an excellent example for agents and homeowners to see what can be accomplished when they hire a professional home staging company like Advantage Staging to conduct the initial staging consultation and get a detailed, room by room action plan to prepare their home for sale.

By following the detailed instructions to prepare the property for sale the homeowner has created results that will attract attention in their on line listing photos and create desire to see the property.

A few things would have been staged differently if I had done the job, but overall, the results in this home showcase the importance of having a staging company as part of your marketing strategy.

Barrie Video Tours provided the video services for this listing at 16 Island Park Road with Remax Premier's Mark Vaher. Barrie Video Tours has become one of my "A List Team"  to capture the lifestyle of living at a property. The video technology they use markets your property to make you feel like you are right there at the house and look like a home you would see on HGTV.

Take a look and see if you agree!

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Two offices to serve your home staging needs.

Vaughan, Woodbridge, Maple 416.928.2999

Barrie and area 705.720.0113

Michelle Finnamore Advantage Staging Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2010

This post is by Sergio DePinto, an agent at Remax Premier who attended a couple of seminars that I conducted there. Sergio listened intently to my suggestions on why you would want to be part of Active Rain, the largest free networking site for agents, home stagers etc. Sergio took to heart the suggestion I made to write from your heart and you will never be without good, quality content for your blog. Boy!  is he ever a good story teller.  I love reading his posts and thought you would too. So here is one of his latest musings.

I find Active Rain such a useful building block of my business that I recently held a seminar at Remax Premier in Vaughan. I encouraged everyone to bring their laptop to the seminar and I would get them logged on, fill out their bio's and start their first post to their blog. As most were not familiar with Active Rain or what blogging was it was an adventure for everyone.

Well here is the first agent to participate with their own blog. Allow me to introduce Sergio DePinto. 

You only come across a person as fine as Sergio every so often in your life. When you work with Sergio, he makes you feel like you are his only customer. Attention to detail and follow up are his motto. Treat everyone with respect and the courtesy of listening intently when speaking with them.

Take a look at his first post. I think he followed the suggestions I made very well

• write a catchy title to get reader interest
• write short paragraphs to keep reader attention
  
• write like you speak so that readers get to know you and respond
• write content from the heart, little copy and paste, include pictures
• write a series to keep readers coming back for more as they like your style and what you have to say
• include personal pictures of your town, your activities, the people in your life

Here is a link to Sergio's Blog 

He has written three posts in a few days, all worth your time to read. Get to know Sergio, you won't be disappointed.

The agents in attendance asked me how to find the time to write posts to their blog, they are so busy now they will never find the time. I suggested that in the time they spent at the coffee station in the morning, they could write down what they were saying to the other agents around the coffee pot and their post would be done for the day.

As I often write at the end of my posts,

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging....preparing your property for sale.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award  2009

In this home staging in Woodbridge Ralph Oppendisano from Royal Lepage Maximum  called Advantage Staging in to do a consultation on a 9.4 million dollar home on the National Golf Course.

The agent that sold it a few years ago asked what is I was going to do there as it had been designed by Brian Gluckstein , a very talented Toronto designer for upper price point homes.

When I arrived I was taken on a tour of the property-

• underground parking for 20 with heated floors, hand selected marble floors throughout
  

• wine cellar for 3500 wine bottles

• walk in sub zero freezers

• 25 foot fountain off the rear terrace

• stunning kitchen, media room, opulent bathrooms,
  

• master bedroom with ladies and gentlemens sitting areas

I could go on, but you get the picture. I have seen prestigious homes with some of the more desirable ammenities but this home has them all and then some. 

At this price point of home the next buyer will definitely be looking on line. The list of eligible buyers is slim in this price point.  What could I do to stage this home and market it for sale? 

What could I do to make the listing photos do their job- get a buyer to put this listing on their "must see list".

They definitely didn't need rental furniture, props or artwork.

This home is a good example of showing that staging will always provide what buyers are looking for when buying their next home. Highlighting the focal point of each room and showing how you would live in the home.

After packing the extra items away, moving accessories and artwork around- this is what 180 Fenyrose in Woodbridge looked like when I was done.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

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