About Chester County, PA

I had a listing appointment yesterday at the home of a very nice couple. Mr. and Mrs. Seller were referred to me by someone that I used to sit on the board of the Chester County Women's Commission with. The home was very lovingly cared for and all of the important and expensive systems have been replaced. The house sits on what is obviously the prettiest lot in the development. This is obvious even with 2 feet of snow on the ground. The grounds have many flowering trees, shrubs and flowering bulbs and the sellers feel the house will show better in the spring when things start to bloom. There is no question about it, houses do fly off the shelves in the spring when an owner has a well cared for home with a well tended garden. My opinion though, is that the spring market has started. Rather than waiting until after Super Bowl Sunday as is usual, the market picked up right after the first of year here in Chester County! The extended tax credit has something to do with it, but I'm hoping it's more that our area is returning to a more normal real estate market.

Is the snow slowing us down a bit? You bet. Two feet of snow takes some doing to clear and while Chester County Municipal authorities are excellent at keeping our roads cleared, it does take time to clear and our sellers needed, in some cases, two days to clear their driveways and their walkways. With another storm bearing down on us that weather forecasters predict will dump another foot of snow on us by tomorrow night, I can understand a seller's hesitation to list their home this week. It is my opinion, however, that you have to strike while the iron is hot, and our market, right now is hotter than it's been in quite a while.

If you are thinking about selling your home this spring, NOW IS THE TIME! Buyers who may have chosen your house are out there right now choosing another seller's home because they don't know your home will soon be available. In any case, I am available to help you when you are ready!

Here's a preview of spring and a shot of hope with a photo from my garden last spring! It's a repeat and everyone who knows JJ has seen it, but I needed a dose of spring today myself!

Every now and then I have a staging challenge that I just cannot figure out. Most homes are easy to plan- first I determine the best purpose for the space, next I come up with the design scheme and then I sort out what furniture and accessories work best for the image we are trying to convey. Sometimes however I come upon a space that puzzles me. If I cannot figure it out, how can the buyer?

Such was the case with one of my most recent staging projects in Chester County Pennsylvania:

• First there was an entry hall that had been added between the home and the garage. It was both the front and the back entrance to the home so it was the first thing buyers noticed when they came in. It had a tile floor and brick walls making it instantly feel cold.

• Next was the living room. It was open on one side to the entrance hall, the other side to the kitchen and the other side to the sun room. The fourth wall had the fireplace and built-in bookcases. Upon first glance the only obvious place to put the sofa was on the wall near the entry hall but this would make the seating area absurdly far from the fireplace.

• The kitchen was lovely but since it was open to the dining area buyers needed to see how this space would work for them.

• Finally there was the sun room. It was a gorgeous bright space overlooking lovely farmland. It had been added onto the house and it was the largest room in the home. By calling it a "sun room" buyers instantly felt like they could not enjoy it all the time and were relegated to the smaller living room or the basement.

My solution was to give more definition to the spaces in this open floor plan:

• The foyer became a mudroom and a command center for busy families.

• The living room featured a gathering place adjacent to the gourmet kitchen and a separate home office niche.

• The kitchen and dining room were made into one cohesive space by using the same color palate as the adjoining spaces.

• The sunroom was transformed into a spacious family room that was an extension of the other living areas.

Since this home was bright and sunny I felt the typical staging neutrals (beige, brown and grey) just would not do. My vision was to infuse the home with color so that the buyer would remember how cheerful this space felt. The result? A charming and whimsical country retreat!

In a recent article in the Main Line Suburban Life Chris Polites this years chairman of the Easttown Board of Supervisors put a call out to citizens who live and work in Easttown to give advice on the township budget. During the process for this year there was outcry at the suggestion of an earned income tax being implemented. Hundreds tourned out to the board of supervisors meetings. Whilst this was avoided for the current year, by raising property taxes and implementing a new $52 business tax on anyone who works in the township the threat of state budget cuts creating further pain on the Easttown budget for the coming year cannot be avoided.

However, before jumping to conclusions Chris Polites called for local citizens and those who work in the township to contact him at cpolites@eattown.org who desire to serve on a citizens advisory budget group. The group will look at numbers but also at other options as well. Chris Polites expressed his belief that the township ran well but admitted there is always room for improvement.

Turquoise is one of my favorite colors to wear however when it comes to selling a home it is not typically my go to color of choice. Last week I visited a property in Wayne Pennsylvania owned by a real estate investor that I work with and was surprised to discover that one of the units we were getting ready to sell had some really lovely teal wallpaper in the hall bathroom. Normally, this client does what ever we ask him to do to get his homes ready to sell- he replaces light fixtures, installs new carpet, regrouts the floors and stages the rooms. When I mentioned the wall paper to him he was not interested in replacing it. He had already invested a lot of money and he thought it was not really that bad... but was it?

That wallpaper gave me nightmares. My tranquil, transitional vision for this townhome was not in tune with those teal walls. Night after night I plotted how I could make those walls go away until I had an amazing idea. Instead of fighting the turquoise walls, I decided to make them work as part of the design for the home. As home staging professionals we can recommend what our clients need to do to properly present their home for sale, but no matter how persuasive we are, getting them to actually do the work is another task entirely. Suddenly I felt empowered again. This client would not change the walls, but I could change the way those walls felt. To make it all tie together I would use that teal color in all the rooms we were staging so it would not seem like such an island of color in this otherwise neutral home. We would make it look like it was supposed to be that color all along!

Below are some photos from the staging we did. The results look even better in person. From the teal front entrance door to the master bedroom spa-bath the touches of turquoise carry the buyer's eye through the space. The home seller was beyond thrilled. He even loved how the flowers in the wallpaper matched the floral art we selected. And in case you did not know, turquoise is one of the Pantone colors for 2010. It is trendy and here to stay.

Support the Goshen Fire Company and come out tomorrow, 1/24/10 from 8 AM to noon to enjoy a Buffet Breakfast or simply to pick up some of the delicious Goshen Fair Donuts.

Station 54

1320 Park Avenue, West Chester

You can even order them via email to donuts@goshenfireco.org. Include your name, address, phone number and your preference for plain, power and/or cinnamon. $5.75 per dozen. Simply the best around. My favorite is the white powder! Yummy!