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

Michelle Finnamore, owner of Advantage Staging has been nominated for the Ontario Home Builders SAM Award for best decorated model under 2200 sq. ft.

This model home was designed for the site in Alliston by Devonleigh Homes.

Features include using eco friendly finishes to market the homes to buyers that are concerned about indoor air quality.

Quartz counter tops, low VOC carpet and paint and natural stone were used to improve the indoor air quality.

This home's design focus was to make the kitchen the backdrop for the cook in the family to entertain family and friends. The open concept kitchen looks out to the dining room/ living room as well as having the option to have guests sit at the counter while the cook demonstrates their cooking skills.

The master bedroom and ensuite is one of pure indulgence. More than once I heard myself saying.... and why doesn't my house look like this?

Take a look and see what a professional home stager can do to build public awareness for your new home construction site.

Remember the four golden rules that home staging strives to produce-

* Attract attention

* Gain interest

* Create demand and desire

* Initiate action on the part of the buyer

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging serving Toronto, Vaughan, Woodbridge, Maple, King City, Richmond Hill, Barrie, Alliston and area.

416.928.2999

705.720.0113

In home staging your purpose is to highlight the features and focal points of a property for sale.

When you list a house, you really want to premept objections by showing the property in its best light.

Take a look at these before and after shots and see if you can pick out the features that should be shown to buyers to get the most money in the least amount of time.

In this example are you selling yellow florals in a vase and stacks of firewood or a living room with a beautiful working fireplace?

Staging allows the fireplace to become the focal point in the room.

In this example are you selling toys to buyers or an inviting living room for entertaining guests? Remember, this is not the family room. Living rooms tend to look more formal and family rooms more relaxed.

In this example are you selling a cramped, dark kitchen to buyers or a bright cheery room in which to start the day?  Light and space sell homes. Give buyers what they are looking for and they will make an offer.

As you can see,  the results of staging highlight the features of your property.

Each room must be clearly marketed so that buyers see what they are looking for when they visit your listing photos. You have to get your house on the buyers must see list and staging gives you every opportunity to make a great first impression. Sellers need to know that a professional stager will give them a marketing plan for their home that outlines the work that needs to be done and how to make it happen.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging        Serving Vaguhan, Woodbridge and surrounding area. 

Voted Trailblazer Company of the Year 2009.

In this home staging in Vaughan I wanted to show sellers and agents the importance of their listing photos. This condo had a beautiful kitchen but it was difficult to see in photos with the accumulation of day to day living. Hectic lifestyles leave little time to get your home ready for sale.

Fortunately, this seller listened to the suggestions I made to stage their home for sale and the results were dramatic.

All I did in this home staging was put everything away and pack up the items that weren't required for the next 60 days. The 60 day rule allows sellers to figure out very quickly which items to keep and which items to pack away for the move.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging, preparing your home for sale in Vaughan.

In this home staging in Vaughan I would like to show the difference between what your home looks like while living in it compared to when you are selling your home.

When you are living there you don't really think about how other people see your home. When you are selling, you are now selling a product.... and you have competition.

To accommodate your active family when you live in your home you typically

• place furniture against the walls to make room for active children

• no artwork is hung over sofas as the children play there and might bump their heads

• toys take precedence in the room over any adult activities

• don't think about drapery as the kids tend to pull on it while playing 
  

When you are selling your home it is now a product for sale.

Buyers are looking to check off their wants and needs when they view your home. 

To get the most equity out of the sale of your home and to have it sold in the least amount of days there are steps you can take to make this happen.

Step One- Hire an real estate agent that includes a home staging consultation as part of their marketing plan. To sell your home and get the most equity out of  it you must prepare it for sale. A home staging consultation will give you the plan to make that happen.

Step Two- Follow the plan as closely as you can. If you have little time or budget to spare to do the prep work, let the stager know so that they can advise you on where to spend your limited time and budget to reap the most rewards.

Professional home stagers know what buyers are looking for. They can advise you on "staging safe" paint colours that buyers find appealing. Also, whether to replace worn flooring and with which product that buyers find appealing. 41% of buyers will pay more for a house with no "honey do" list.

Step Three- The staging day. Hire your stager to either stage your home to market it for sale or to do a follow up walk through to see what you have done and make simple suggestions if it needs some tweaking.

In this home all I did was take the "kid" centric feeling out of the room and show it as a place for family time with parents and children together. Baskets in red and white store the children's toys for easy access and to indicate whose toys are where. The client was buying new sofas, so I negotiated a discount for their purchase. Simple draperies were bought at a local discount store for $15 each. Artwork, vases, coffee table and end tables were purchased from Ikea and area rug from Rona Hardware. 

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Voted Trailblazer Company of the Year 2009.

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In this home staging in Vaughan I would like to show homeowners and agents the importance of updating your look to attract todays buyers. Sellers want the highest price in the least amount of time and agents want to market a home that is ready to sell. Professional home staging is a key part of your marketing strategy to get results. HGTV has created an educated public that will not settle for less than perfect.

If you give your buyer what they see currently in stores and magazines you are bringing the dreams of their next home to life for them.

Buyers start their hunt for their next home with a logical list of things that they want in their next home.

An extra bedroom.

A larger kitchen.

A larger bathroom.

In the end, most buyers still purchase on emotion. Buyers remember how you make them feel when they enter a home.

When buyers walked in the front door of this home, the dining room immediately created an impression that you were somewhere special. Buyers wanted to see the rest of the home. Each room created desire in the mind of the buyer and encouraged them to make an offer.

All I did was paint, move their Ikea table, chairs and buffet from the kitchen to the dining room, add a rug, drapery, artwork and a lamp.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging creates homes that sell with effective, simple and inexpensive solutions.

Winner of the 2009 Trailblazer Company of the Year Award.

In this home staging in Vaughan the agent Geroge Zanette of Remax Premier invited Advantage Staging to consult for a senior who really had no idea what home staging was or why you would want to do it.

The condo was vacant as the owner no longer lived there. It was an empty space that buyers would have to imagine what it would look like if they lived there.

Luckily the owner has supportive family that understood that home staging is marketing your property for sale and decided to bring some of their furniture and accessories out of storage and staged the condo themselves. 

To make this condo unique, all I did was suggest that they stage a windowless pantry off the kitchen as an office so that it could be marketed as a two bedroom with office. There were no shelving units in the room so I thought why not market it in a way that would stand out from the other units in the condo building. Give buyers something to remember this particular unit. As the room was quite large, the new owner could always use the room as pantry/office  by adding shelving or storage units.

I never did meet the owner or the family, however, they followed my staging suggestions and look what they accomplished. Remember your professional home stager is a person trained in creating a lifestyle look for any property and this one says "Welcome Home".

Investment, minimal.

Impact, pricless.

Once a listing client sees first hand what a professional stager can accomplish in one or two days marketing their home for sale, it often leads to staging their new home for living.

I had the opportunity to stage a property for a busy professional couple with 3 year old twins. Once they had seen the positive change in their present property, they understood that it is the details that bring a design together to create a finished, polished look.

My brief was simple. Stage the five principal rooms on their move in day. Sofas, drapery, artwork, bedding, lighting, area rugs and accessories were purchased over a three day period. 

As the couple were busy packing and moving from an hour away, I was at the new home receiving new furniture deliveries, hanging drapery rods and drapery and staging the rooms. The painter had been in to paint earlier so the stage was set to complete the look.

In the family room I chose a Natuzzi sofa for the parents and an extra long chaise lounge for the children to use. On the far side of the chaise there is a 52" LCD TV. The twins snuggle up on the chaise like kittens when they watch their movies and the parents sit on the sofa looking over the chaise to the TV. This is an idea the client had not thought of and really loved the concept of enjoying their family space in a new way. The cube storage piece stores away their individual toys. The red and white storage bins indicate which childs toys are inside.

The dining room was the first room that was seen upon entering the front door. It was in need of a focal point so I chose to paint the alcove for the serving piece in a deep, warm red colour. Symphony in Red artwork was selected to create impact and express the entertaining aspect of the room. The overall feeling in the room is now one of warmth and welcoming guests for a good night with friends and food.  The dining room leads out to the centre hall which leads to the family room. The chandelier selected for the space is truly a one of kind, jaw dropping piece. The shade is a grey mylar over a crystal light fixture.

The kitchen sits off to the right of the family room and is the heart of the home. I chose to purchase a dining table on its own so that I could select seating that would suit the needs of the clients family.  The adults have individual chairs covered in fabric the same warm red colour used throughout the design of the home. The children have a bench that provides easy on/off access for them to sit at the table. It is also a fun element that the twins really enjoy.  For a focal point on the wall I had my painter apply the same red paint colour to the wall using a stencil. The results are dramatic and create a conversation point for guests when they are over. The client remarked that the stencil mirrored the chandelier image on the wall.

For the master bedroom the clients only instructions were that the colours to be used were blue and chocolate brown. When she opened the double doors to the master bedroom her first reaction was tears of happiness. She said that she wouldn't have chosen any of the things that I did but that she loved it all.

This is where a client who trusts their designer to implement the concept for the overall design results in a finished look. Clients remark many times that they go to the store and buy the complete bedding set as shown in the store and when they get home it doesn't have the impact on them that it did in the store.
A professional knows it is in details that the final look comes together. This bedroom is truly a place for the clients to relax in at the end of the day. The artwork on the wall opposite the foot of the bed allows them to feel like they are waking up on vacation each morning. And who wouldn't love that?

The chair in the master bedroom was a special find. Peacock feather design on the seat side and a beautiful silk on the back panel with studs along the seam.  When the client saw the chair she sat down in it and said she was never leaving her bedroom. It was absolutely more than she ever envisioned for her husband and herself and was overwhelmed with happiness.

Advantage Staging is at your service whether it is for staging to market your home for sale or to stage your home for living.

Awarded Trailblazer Company of the Year 2009

Offices in  Vaughan Mills and Barrie

416.928.2999

705.720.0113

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

In this example I would like to show the importance to Realty companies of their lobby reception area to the public. Whether it is a potential home buyer or an agent looking to join the sales team, first impressions count.

Gabe Bianchi of RE/MAX Premier opened the new location at 9100 Jane Street in Vaughan situated beside the Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre .  His concept for the new building was to create a main street atmosphere within the building. Two mortgage brokers, two lawyers, a home staging company amongst others are right in the building to serve the agents needs and to provide immediate answers to the buyers questions.

Part of the vision was to have the lobby staged by Advantage Staging. My suggestion was to change the look of the lobby every three months. Easy Decor rental furniture has  provided the furniture for the first vignette. I chose warm coloured, abstract artwork from a local art supplier and the props and accessories are from my rental inventory.  Every three months the look will change to keep interest high and create a positive energy in the building. Now the agents are looking forward to meeting their clients at the office as they have a story to tell that is unique to their location. And who wouldn't want that Advantage?

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Winner of the Trailblazer of the Year Award  2009

In this example of home staging I would like to show Realtors and home owners the value in the buyers perception of a property when you take the time to tidy up and create a home that is ready to be shown.

Buyers spend less than 5 minutes viewing your home so it is wise to paint the picture for them to see how they would live in your home. It is in your best interest as a seller to present your home as "move in ready".

65% of buyers have stated that they will pay more for a move in ready home.

All I did in this home staging was tidy up, rearrange the furniture from other rooms in the house and place a few rental accessories and props throughout the home.  By doing this I was able to market the home to potential buyers that were looking for their new dream home. One that they could live and entertain in with ease.     

The investment for these two rooms was $300.00.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Winner of the Trailblazer Company of the Year Award  2009