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

Michelle Finnamore of Advantage Staging has been busy along with 10 other designers at the fabulous Estate on the Bay Designer showhome makeover for the upcoming United Way 50th Anniversary open house tour.

I chose to stage the exterior grounds including the front door area, the cabana, the top of the 55 foot boat slip and the fish pond. It has been a pleasure working with the many suppliers who have graciously contributed to the fund raising efforts for the United Way. Wander through the home and grounds and see the lifestyle of lakeside estate living first hand.

For ticket information and dates and times in September please visit estateonthebay.com

I would like to thank the following suppliers for their contributions to my design concept-

Martin House Art - exterior Artwork  and mailbox at front door

Hiltz Marble & Granite - bar top on bar in the cabana

UCA Branding - glass door art and exterior signage

Bradford Greenhouses - urns and florals at front door

Nadia Painting. bar base in cabana

Ponds By Design - fish pond and water garden

Michelle Finnamore, owner of Advantage Staging has been invited

to participate in the

United Way 5oth Anniversary Estate on the Bay  Designer Showcase.

Arch and Helen Brown, well known local philanthropists, have generously donated the use of their beautiful home on Kempenfelt Bay for a complete design transformation!

The Estate on the Bay, located at 1 Barrie Terrace, Barrie, Ontario, sits on 1.3 spectacular acres, with 250 feet of frontage on the north side of beautiful Kempenfelt Bay. The home is approximately 10,000 square feet with a covered  boat slip that can house a 55’ boat.

      Advantage staging will be highlighting the focal

                                                                                                         points of the extensive landscaped grounds

        as well as the top of the 55 foot boat slip that overlooks the bay.

This unique occasion includes a silent auction, a tour of the Brown home decorated and furnished by area designers with entertainment throughout the evening.

The home will be open to the public to tour September 18-20, 2009.  Stay tuned for updated photos of the finished design concept.

All proceeds will support United Way of Greater Simcoe County.       

         Winner of Trailblazer Company of the Year  2009.

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.

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!

There is one sure way to get attention in the marketplace.  Do something that no one else is doing and you have a story to relate. The media will pick up your story and you can further the reach of the story through online blogging.

This idea is open to all Realtors and Home Staging companies in North America. I will provide the template to you so you can organize your own version of the event in your area.

Last year I was able to be featured on CBC Radio One ( a major radio station in our area), get TV coverage and several newspapers and the Habitat newsletter to cover the story.

It drew attention to all the participants and with the advantage of repeating the event yearly, you gain good public exposure in your area for a very worthwhile cause.

So what is the idea? How can you participate and be noticed in your marketplace? 

Last year I organized an Art for Humanity Open House Tour for a Saturday in Barrie with 3 Realty companies providing the homes that were listed for sale and Staged by my company.

I also had the local Georgian College Fine Arts Program provide me with graduating students that would place their artwork  in the homes. Each student was given a house in which to place their artwork as their own gallery. The students each donated one piece of artwork to be auctioned off to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

The day of the tour the Realtor was there to show the house. The artist was there for the public to meet and greet. A representative from Habitat for Humanity was there to take donations, let people know how to volunteer with Habitat and to supervise the bids on the artwork.

I have branded the event so that you don't have to think of anything- all the work has been done for you.

Just send your info to me to be inserted into the flyer and it will be sent back to you ready for print ads, online etc. There is a very small fee for this service as the idea is to raise money and awareness for Habitat. I did co-op advertising with the Realtors in the pull out Real Estate section to keep the cost of print advertising low.

What is your next step?

Realtors - Organize an open house tour with 4 -5 houses on the tour. You need permission from your client for the possiblilty that a TV crew or print media may be there to promote the event.

Home Stagers - Approach Realty offices to participate in the open house tour. I worked with 3 Realty firms to have enough houses to participate in the tour. Everything went very smoothly with all the participants.

Approach your local Habitat for Humanity to arrange reps for the tour day.

Approach your local college or any other organization that you think will be a good fit for this event.

The end result - one house sold from the tour, the Realtors were happy as they were featured in a new and attention getting way, Habitat was very pleased with all the exposure, the College Fine Arts Director and students were ecstatic with the opportunity to showcase their work and get experience in the real world and I gained the exposure in the marketplace I was looking for to grow my business.

If you would like to find out more, send an email to michelle@advantagestaging.ca with your questions and I will be glad to help you get your event organized. 

Thought everyone could use a mini lesson in colour today.

This website has stories about interior indiscretions that will make you wonder what the homeowners were thinking when they put their home on the market.

We have all been there-either as a Realtor or as a Home Stager.

Trying to market a house that has been painted entirely in burnt orange.

Or every surface has been painted shades of green or blue or purple.

When you are selling your home, loud vibrant colours will not market your property to the most people.

How many homes have you seen with bright orange walls everywhere?

That's exactly the same number of buyers you will attract to your property for sale.

I tactfully suggest to my clients that a neutral colour will attract more buyers when they are looking online at listing photos.

Not to mention shorten the number of days on market.

When buyers leave a property painted like this, all they are talking about is the bright orange paint throughout the main floor living area. They miss the features of the property entirely. Advantage Staging will motivate your client to make the necessary changes to get the property on the "must see list" of buyers.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, Priceless.

Advantage Staging will give your property an advantage in the marketplace everytime.

In this example I would like to show Realtors and Homeowners that when you own a piece of the waterfront and want to list at the top of the market comparables you would do well to invest in a consultation by a Professional Home Stager.

This two bedroom condo facing Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe in Barrie had terrific home furnishings to start with. The challenge was taking it from a swinging bachelor pad to an image of a cool urban lifestyle that either a single person or a couple would be attracted to. Nightlife, art galleries, shopping and the harbour at your doorstep are all fabulous selling features. But to stand out from the many other units for sale in the towers along the bay, you have to market the lifestyle aspect inside as well if you want to top dollar.

All I did in this condo was add artwork, props and accessories and declutter. It was the last 20% that was missing in the marketing of this condo.

When buyers were looking at the listing photos for this property they could see the lifestyle that they were dreaming of and quickly put this listing on their must see list. This property sold in short order for near list in a very saturated market.

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

It's your money... don't leave it behind!

We all have them- at least I hope we do!  Reuseable shopping bags. I am now the owner of 27. That's right 27.

I forget to take them with me when I go shopping, so I buy some more and they end up in the front hall closet too. And now to top it all off, our local grocery chain store is now charging 5 cents for each plastic bag if you want one of those. How to break this guilt inducing cycle? 

You see I am a Live Green, Live Smart Trainer. Someone who is supposed to be setting an example when it comes to living in a sustainable way. Someone who is supposed to be trying to create a smaller carbon foot print on this earth. It seems so simple. Why do I forget to take the reuseable bags when I only shop once per week. I know I am going to the store to buy a week's worth of groceries. It never dawns on me until I actually start to bag the food.

I'll tell you why. Because I am human just like everyone else. I have things on my mind. I am busy. I am on a timeline to get this and that done before I need to be somewhere else.

But I was given a solution today when I attended a meeting at the local Barrie radio station, Rock 95 & Kool FM 107.5.

I noticed cases of canvas reuseable bags sitting in the meeting room. I remarked that I try to use them and always forget to take them with me to the store. The person sitting there said he found a simple way to remember was to change where I stored them. Instead of the front hall, put them all in the trunk of the car. Use them up, say 6 or so each week. Those get put in the hall to pile up again, and then when the  pile looks big enough, put them all in the trunk again.So simple, I busted out in a big laugh. Why didn't I think of that?

It's what I always say. Don't raise the bridge, lower the river. Most solutions in life are right under your nose if you care to see with new eyes. Look for the simple solution, the low cost solution, the solution that will become a habit and you have solved your problem.

I'm off to put all my reuseable shopping bags in the trunk now. I can shop with confidence now that I can make one more simple effort to make my carbon footprint smaller.

I recently replaced the 30 year old carpeting in my master bedroom. There are many options out there today from wood to laminate to bamboo to low VOC carpet. I would like wood but I also wanted the softness of carpet in the bedroom. Decisions, decisions.

It took awhile to decide, but I finally opted for Low VOC carpet from Gallery of Floors in Barrie. The carpet cost a little more than regular carpeting, but the upside was no off gassing from the carpet. As you spend 8 hours sleeping this was a concern for me as I have asthma and did not want any odours and off gassing from the carpet to effect my health.

I knew I had made the right choice when my husband came home from work that day.

The first thing he said was "didn't the carpet guys come today?" He couldn't smell the new  carpeting (he works on new residential construction sites all day so he knows first hand what new carpeting smells like).  I told him that the carpet was in and there were no odours to speak of. We slept very well that night and I suffered no ill effects from the carpet off gassing.

So if you are in the market for new flooring, take a look at Low VOC carpet. It may be exactly what you are looking for. Especially if you are marketing a home for sale, it is a great marketing tool to use when listing the house.

I would like to show Realtors and Homeowners that a simple declutter and placement of some key props will work like magic to create a spacious, model home feel to a kitchen.

In the before photo you wanted to pass through the kitchen rather quickly as all the products to clean the kitchen were out, and there were too many items on the counter making it feel cluttered. As a buyer, you really didn't get a sense of how large this kitchen was and how you would cook for your family in it. You just wanted to move on quickly and not spend any time in the kitchen which is after all, the heart of the home. The seller was not taking advantage of this major selling feature in a home.

In this property in Barrie, I all did was declutter the work surfaces and placed items strategically on the counter to elongate the room. You can get a sense of how large the room is as your eye is drawn down the length of the counter.

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

Investment minimal.

Impact, priceless.