El Cerrito, CA

Today I heard yet another story that sent chills down my spine! Like the previous story heard about a week ago, this one involved an El Cerrito property that had recently sold. The new owners had taken out permits for some work that they wished to do on their new home. When the job, a small one in this case, was completed, the inspector was very interested in visiting the property. Once there, the inspector asked to see other parts of the home that had not been modified. Long story shorter, the new buyers were fined for all previous work that had been done on the property, some of it dating back decades, forced to redo work that could not be documented to be up to code, and charged penalties as well as current permit fees. They had done no work without permits themselves!

In speaking with colleagues about this case several points become obvious, and chilling:

• Cities are being hit hard by the decline in the economy, and see this as a quick revenue source. One number mentioned was $100K, as the amount the City of El Cerrito has collected so far this calendar year in permit fees for previous work done without permits.
• El Cerrito will not be alone in pursuing unpermitted work as a revenue stream. Alameda has had inspectors cruising open houses and broker tours for some time now.
• This could well be the precurser to requiring a whole-house inspection at point of sale, with an accompanying requirement that all aspects of the home be brought up to current code, regardless of the codes at the time the house was built. San Pablo already has a similar ordinance. I just returned from the NAR conference, where I heard from several agents who had whole-house inspection requirements in their communities.

Can you image what such a requirement would do to real estate in areas, such as Berkeley, Albany, Oakland and Alameda where the vast majority of the inventory was built pre-1940? We believe that we have low inventory currently. Imagine what a wet blanket such a requirement would be on the housing market! Just think what expenses would be required if all home owners were required to make their homes compliant to all codes before selling! I feel a very cold draft down my back!

This was a project that we could not wait to share with you.

We worked on this project for four months. Before our client purchased the property it was used as a half-way house for recovering addicts. A great cause but its located in the heart of an established neighborhood and maintaining the property was not number one the previous owners priority list.

The new owner was referred to us by another Stager from Active Rain because we offer Full Service Staging and could fill the clients needs. We met with the new owner, assessed the needs to bring it up to current market value and away we went. He agreed to all of the recommended items and we ended up changing every detail of the house except the roof and the foundation! A crew worked six days a week on every detail. Here are just a few of the before and afters:

Turn a Family Room into a Master Bedroom with a new Travertine covered fireplace

MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE

MASTER SUITE AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Turn a tiny bedroom into a Master Suite Bath

MASTER BATH BEFORE

MASTER BATH AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Turn an area that was just dirt under the house into a spectacular laundry room/craft area

No befores available - it was just a dirt mound

Take a Front Door and move it from the side of the house to the front - Curb Appeal!

EXTERIOR BEFORE

EXTERIOR AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Take down three walls to open up the gorgeous view of the San Francisco Bay

GREAT ROOM ENTRANCE BEFORE (lots of walls)

GREAT ROOM AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Gut the entire kitchen and start fresh with new floors, cabinets, appliances and granite counters

KITCHEN BEFORE

KITCHEN AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Update the facade of the fireplace

FIREPLACE BEFORE

FIREPLACE AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Change three outdated, dirty and dingy bathrooms into beautiful spaces

HALL BATHROOM BEFORE

HALL BATHROOM AFTER

GUEST BATHROOM BEFORE

GUEST BATHROOM AFTER STAGED TO SELL

KIDS BATHROOM AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Remove outdated and unattractive banister and replace with contemporary bamboo and glass

What were the results of all this work? Sold in 6 days for the highest price ever received in that area - ever. Yes, even in this market.

www.staged-to-sell.com is the East Bay's premier full service staging company. Our services include small and large preparation of homes for market. Whether our clients just need the bare minimum to make their home stand out from the rest or much more we have the resources and team to make it happen. For more information visit website www.staged-to-sell.com.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does it gives me a stomach ache.

We were on a job earlier this week when my Blackberry did the little jingle it does when an email has come through. I stopped hanging the new fixture Danny was just adjusting over the dining table and scanned my in-box where I found an email from a Realtor I had staged a home for a couple of weeks ago.

"Hi Kym, this is Margaret. The sellers have decided to take the home off the market. You did too good of a job, they realize that they love it, can live there for the rest of their lives. How about that!

Oh my...not the goal of any Professional Home Stager and words we don't want to hear. Of course, we are happy that the clients loved our work, but our goal and mission is always to help them love their NEW house even more!

My crew went to pick up the job yesterday, and we all agree that they are one of the nicest families we have ever staged with. The grandparents lived with the young couple to help raise their 8 month old baby girl. They couldn't stop thanking us for our work and were pleased that they had received multiple offers but decided they now loved it too much to sell.

Moral of the story is to CALL A STAGER NOW while you are still living in the home. Don't wait until you need to put it on the market. Let us help you fall in Love with your home now and live in it for years to come. When you are ready to sell down the road you will be ready, and have spent years of enjoyment prior to selling.

OCCUPIED HOME - USING HOMEOWNER'S FURNITURE

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

LIVING ROOM AFTER STAGED

BABY'S ROOM BEFORE

BABY'S ROOM AFTER STAGED TO SELL

OFFICE/GUEST ROOM BEFORE

OFFICE/GUEST ROOM AFTER STAGED TO SELL

Staged to Sell is the San Francisco East Bay's premier staging company. We offer services for both Occupied and Vacant Homes and Design services for Staging to Live. For more information go to www.staged-to-sell.com. Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville, Orinda, Lafayette, Berkeley, Oakland, Albany and the entire Contra Costa County.

El Cerrito High Class of 1979 Reunion

Calling all Gauchos El Cerrito High Class of 1979!

If you are a Member, Teacher or Friend of El Cerrito High Class of 1979 reunion is at hand. Communication has been difficult. Well the El Cerrito High Class of 1979 now has a FaceBook Page to help facilitate communication and planning.

There are some trying to plan a El Cerrito High Class of 1979 Reunion Picnic at Tilden Park on September 6, 2009. However, this is too short notice for many and on a holiday weekend, so there is another effort to plan an El Cerrito High Class of 1979 Reunion in November.

Yes I did learn to write in High School but if I keep writing El Cerrito High Class of 1979 Reunion over and over in normal sentences it will drive search results to the information about the El Cerrito High School Class of 1979 Reunion can be found.

If you are a member of the El Cerrito High Class of 1979 please go to Facebook and get signed up. I started the page, but really want to open it up to the El Cerrito High Class of 1979; so let me know if you want to be an administrator. Help get some pictures up of the Great Gaucho El Cerrito High Class of 1979.

Down the field the Gaucho's go to win a Victory

Onward Gaucho's fight to the end

Green and White will never give in

Fight El Cerrito Fight For the Victory Will Win Tonight

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We were very lucky to work on a wonderful project a few months back on Harper Avenue in El Cerrito. We were very pleased to take on the job as we were referred to the project by one of our fellow stagers here on ActiveRain Cindy Lin. She was kind enough to refer the homeowner to us and it turned into a four month project with great results (sold in 6 days for the highest amount in the area).

Now, we have two more to thank her for on the same street. The homeowners came into that project and called us to help with another project we just finished today. It as only a three month project this time - lots of work, but great results. The clients agreed to most of the improvements on our list - and the house turned out better than they hoped. In addition, we just finished a consultation on the same street with another client that we will begin working on soon!

We love the neighborhood and look forward to transforming the entire street before we are done. Here are a few photos of the project we finished today. After it's sold we will be posting the amazing before and afters...it doesn't look like the same house! Thank you Cindy Lin!

Kym Hough's Staged to Sell serves the San Francisco East Bay including El Cerrito, Berkeley, Albany, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Danville and beyond. Www.Staged-to-Sell.com