About Waterloo County, ON

The December class of the CSP ELITE AGENT Designation is scheduled for Tuesday, December 8th, for realtors in Kitchener-Waterloo, and Cambridge.

The Elite Agent designation is designed to increase understanding and marketability of real estate staging; to provide a realtor with better opportunities to differentiate their services from that of their peers through a proven strategic process; and to have an improved listing package with statistics, articles, DVDs plus an abundance of information for sellers.

CSP Elite Agents will be affiliated with one of the most respected names in the staging industry worldwide, Certified Staging Professionals, and will have increased exposure through the CSP website, use of recognizable logos and artwork and access to CSP Elite Stagers.

After completing the one-day workshop, you will also receive a voucher for the full value of the CE Network tutorial for Professional Home Staging to earn CE credits.

If you have any questions about CSP Elite or upcoming classes please get in touch with me directly, or visit www.cspelite.com

Research suggests that the Moving-Up Buyer is going to purchase a new home for perhaps 50% more than the one they're selling. You've probably worked with these buyers, and typical wish lists are for a bigger kitchen, a 4th bedroom, a luxurious "spa" ensuite, and more room in general.

Getting into the head of the Moving-Up Buyer may be hard sometimes, because they know what they want, but they may not be able to explain it in so many words. What they really want cannot be truly defined, or physically built for them. They'll just know it when they see it.

And so what is the "it"? It's intangible... it's a feeling... a sense of opportunity and excitement... a suggestion of a better lifestyle.

When Moving Up Buyers are out looking at homes, they're often not so much looking at the house as they are looking into the lifestyle that it suggests they could have, and it needs to be a step up from the home they are leaving.

This is where working with a professional Home Stager can make a huge impact, to both the Buyer AND the Seller. The price needs to be set right (realtor expertise required here), but it also needs to look great and provide the intangible IT factor... the lifestyle influence.

The perfect combination for a sale to the Moving Up Buyer is a property within their price range that exudes the quality of life they want. For Sellers that understand this and Realtors that guide the process, it's usually a win-win-win situation.

My partner Alana and I started our business nineteen months ago with a great combination of design background/experience, an inventory of home decor accessories .. and a passion for making spaces beautiful. We were lucky and landed some great contracts right away and with lots of smart marketing, hard work and combined efforts we have made Rooms in Bloom a well known name in the real estate community.

Along the way we have had numerous people make well meant comments on the fact that we are partners in what is usually a solo career. Profits are split down the middle and when you're starting a young company that can be a tough reality.

My partner and I see that - we have lived it - but we don't share a moment's regret for choosing to be partners. Everyday we say to each other - and to others - that we cannot imagine how other stagers make it on their own. We both bring to the table so many different strengths and the combination has made it possible for us to handle many different facets in our growing business very quickly. We both handle consultations - for the first year we did them together because we felt it was a learning process we needed to both experience - and now we are busy enough that we can do them separately. Our approach towards staging is different as well - but in the end we both arrive at the same design from different perspectives. We aren't afraid to voice a different opinion and sometimes its those small changes that make the difference between a good staging design and a great one. We support each other tirelessly and joke that we need to move our families into one huge home so we can cut down on our phone bills!

When one of us is sick (or our kids are sick) the other one picks up the slack without pause. When we're feeling down or we're just not feeling the design, we've got someone to talk to who "gets it". We offer each other different points of view and we respect each other's opinion and point of view which means we are open to things we might never have considered on our own. From our perspective, if a staging business survives and becomes successful it will grow and the designer will have to take on new staff or a partner at some point. Better to start with a partner, grow together, develop the business together and share in twice the success!

In two weeks we will be furnishing two model homes. Getting ready for that big day is not something either one of us would have wanted to tackle on our own. Not only that, we wouldn't have wanted to accomplish it alone. Sharing the success just makes it all that much sweeter.

These days there's a statistic for everything, so let me throw one in about staging. Staged homes STATISTICALLY sell for between 5% and 10% more than their unstaged competition.

So using those figures, a $260,000 home will sell for between $13,000 and $26,000 more. That's great news for your client because you've protected their equity, but it also means that the 3% seller's commission has increased between $390 and $780, or on average $585 per home.

From there the math gets easier to understand. If, on average, you earn an additional $585 per home and sell 24 homes per year, you're AT LEAST $14,040 ahead of where you would be if you hadn't recommended staging.

All this is based on just a $260,000 home ... and only the commission. Now, because we also know that a staged home typically sells 2 to 3 times faster, start factoring in the need to host fewer open houses, spend less money on advertising, leaving more time to focus on other leads... PLUS the additional referrals from satisfied clients who have realized greater profits themselves, and it becomes clear that staging makes good financial sense.

New View Home Staging is a full services real estate staging and property styling company serving Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Stratford and surrounding communities. We pride ourselves in exceptional customer service and would welcome the opportunity to work with realtors and homeowners in southwestern Ontario.

Christine Bird, owner and lead stager, is a Certified Staging Professional and CSP Elite Agent trainer. Please call 519-505-0892 to speak with Christine about your real estate staging requirements.

Kitchener-Waterloo Home Stager, Christine Bird of New View Home Staging, is helping take the home staging industry to a new level of awareness.

Home Staging has emerged as one of the most important and influential components of the selling process that remains within the seller's control. "Location can't be changed and price has a range driven by the market, but how the house is viewed is completely up to the seller," Bird says.

And how the house is viewed directly impacts the sale price. Buyers will pay more for a home that's move-in ready. They no longer want to tackle the challenges of a fixer-upper, and if they do, it will be reflected in their offer. Buyers are busy and they're educated. They're frugal and yet expect more for their money.

So Christine Bird is challenging the realtors themselves to assist home sellers realize their best opportunities for protecting their equity through professional home staging. As a Canadian Certified Staging Professional, she is instructing the North American-wide CSP ELITE AGENT Designation at the local-level. Realtors completing the designation will gain a better understanding of home staging and have the tools available to promote it more effectively to their clients. Home sellers, working with a CSP Elite Agent, will have the confidence and trust in knowing they are being well served and their biggest asset - their home - will be market-ready and competitive.

Home Staging is an extremely effective marketing tool, and it's here to stay. Buyers have embraced it because it reflects their lifestyle and eases the transition to a new home. Sellers and realtors need to understand how to help the buyer make that connection. CSP Elite Agents will be the recognized frontrunners in their field by doing just that.

Canadian Certified Staging Professionals, CCSP ^TM, was founded in Niagara by Christine Rae, and is one of the most widely recognized and respected names in the industry the world over. Her groundbreaking training programs have advanced the careers of thousands of home stagers internationally, and she is now offering realtors the opportunity to gain more insight into the evolution of staging over the past three decades, and its invaluable contribution to the home selling process today.

New View Home Staging is owned and operated by Christine Bird, CCSP^TM. Located in Waterloo, she regularly travels throughout Southwestern Ontario working with home sellers and realtors to enhance and improve a home's marketability through pre-listing consultations, showcasing and staging. Christine's strong background in business and a passion for real estate have propelled her company to one of the most sought out home staging names in the area.

"I am very excited to be offering this innovative training program to realtors in Southwestern Ontario on behalf of CCSP^TM. I hope to advance their businesses by furthering their understanding of mine, and in fact that of all professional home stagers," she said.

To contact Christine Bird email christine@newviewhomestaging.ca, call 519-505-0892 or visit New View Home Staging's website at www.newviewhomestaging.ca.

Realtors interested in learning more about CSP Elite designation, registering for a local class or finding a CSP Elite Stager in their area can contact CSP by calling 1-888-STAGING or visiting www.cspelite.com.