Jan Whitlow, ASPM, #1 Pinellas Co AR Stager/Blogger

After viewing a piece on 10 Connects on 7/8/9 about the copper thefts in St Petersburg I must mention a service company for vacant homes on the real estate market; Professional Home Sitters based in Tampa Bay.

www.ProHomeSitters.com offers Staging Services with Home Sitters at no charge to the seller or Realtor! Yes, seriously - they do! I believe you would be providing a great service to the community to share this service with your viewers. Professional Home Sitters is like throwing a life line to sellers out of cash and in desperate need to sell their home! As well as providing the Sitter, Pro Home Sitters also provides Professional Home Staging Services for each property.

This is truly a WIN/WIN! 94.8% of ASP Staged Homes sell on average in 37 days according to www.StagedHomes.com.

Pro Home Sitter Benefits to the Seller are -

• Your home will be safer from vandalism and theft.
• Your Utility Costs are Eliminated.
• Your home will be lived in and taken care of.
• Your Insurance costs will be less.
• Your lawn is cared for.
• Your home is kept clean inside and out.
• Your Home will be ready and available to be shown at all times

Each Professional Home Sitter is carefully screened for:

• Consumer Profile — which verifies SS#
• Public Records
• Credit Reports
• Residential History
• Rental Databases
• Eviction History
• Criminal Background
• National Sex offenders
• Employment Verification

Also as we see the declining look of vacant homes on many streets around Tampa Bay the need and appeal of having real people bring life back into these homes & neighborhoods is invaluable.

Doing what I can to Change Lives and Help the Real Estate Market in Tampa Bay.

April 24, 2009 shall be etched in my mind! That is the day that Outlook stopped and my technology work life became a nightmare. As I had a Dell computer I called them first ... after (no kidding) about 12 hour on the phone with them over about 4 days Outlook was not restored; I had lost lost of my emails and lots of contact information but I was left with Incrediablemail and purchases "to fix everything" to the tune of about $450. The dancing butler and Elvis voice made me crazy!! I was D O N E with Dell told them never to call me again - I was not cursing, nor rude but definitely D O N E !! Here is the weird part - my customer service rep was overly enthusiastic, "scary helpful" and called me for 5-6 more days repeatedly on my office & cell phones - this is after I forbade him from caliing. He would call and leave 6-8 messages in a row everyday; sometimes more than once a day ... I call him my Dell stalker ... LOL Who could believe? Anyway, I never spoke to him/them again. Over the next several weeks I purchased an iPhone and proceeded to lose my old Blackberry before I was able to transfer all the numbers - oh me!

During this time I was trying to get my laptop up to speed and use it for business - that worked to a point as I had everything backed up via an external hard drive. I was in business say 85% - not so good really. In my opinion whatever infected my PC was transferred to my laptop - it was a mess too!! My laptop (not a year old) was slow, I began to see the negatives about VISTA in my life daily ... the iPhone was great and calling me to make the MAC switch ... but the laptop was not that old. What is a girl to do? I continued to try & try never getting all my 3 email accounts to work in my laptop. By this time I was limping along using my laptop but with the use of a memory stick printing from my PC - it was crazy to go on thus for so long! We installed Verizon FIOS durIng this time too - things were not faster - VISTA was the problem!

Over the next few weeks I brought in 3-4 "experts" to solve my problems. Improvements were made but never lasted - my email settings in Outlook would reset/fail after a shutdown. It was the nuts! I never did get some information back ... it is not to be ...

Saturday I broke - went to the Apple store in Tampa and purchased a MacBook & MAC. OH MY - this is heaven - LIFE IS GOOD. I left my new computers @ the Genius bar along with my old laptop; they transferred everything for me. Last night my son, Alex helped me set up all three email accounts. I had absolutely no idea how quick, clean & easy MAC is ... I had heard but I could not have envisioned how exceptional my experience was going to be!! I get goose bumps thinking about it. LOL

I now will have time to work in my business rather than on it - technology does not/should not take most of our time - it does when it fails. I have barely been keeping my head above water with what need to be done - I see the light as my friend & author Angela Ewell Hunt said ... she made the switch years ago ... does all her writing on her MAC.

Thanks go to many - my son Alex for forcing me to try the iPhone - it rocks. My ASPM friend Sharon Sanchez, Absolute Design of Tampa Bay for encouragement alway and my family; especially my husband Bob who has put up with a lot of my frustration during this ordeal.

APPLE is having a big sale - now is the time to make the switch!

"The purple wall needs to be painted!", Jan Whitlow, ASPM, IAHSP.

Although strong colors, purple even pink may be absolutely fine for living and your personalized decor' it is not right for selling. "How we live on our Homes and how we Sell them are two different things.", according to Barb Schwarz, The Creator of Home Staging®.

During a sale a Home becomes a House and hence a commodity for sale - it has to be packaged properly and then marketed. By neutralizing colors throughout the home it is proven you get more showings, more interest & more offers!!! One of the worse pitfalls in real estate listings today is leaving dated colors and old wallpaper in the home. It draws attention to things the Seller may not like about the home, while 100% of their attention should be on what they love about the property; how well maintained it is and the grand lifestyle portrayed by living there. Knowledge of buyer criteria and preparing the house accordingly brings more attention to your listings. This is followed by less time on the market, less marketing dollars invested and the highest market sale price. Tell me again why you are not using ASP Home Stagers to prepare all your listings for sale.

Telling sellers the truth about marketing & selling their home takes courage; it can be done in a manner as not to offend ... after all - REALTOR/BROKER/Stager/Seller all have the same goal ... Get It SOLD! ASP Professional Home Stagers all have learned Barb Schwarz's Home Staging Business Model. This IS the original Professional Home Staging Model and the Home Staging Industry Standard with all the necessary tools to deal with Seller Objections in a non confrontational manner and respect. Trust an ASP!

In times of remberance there most often is gratitude. What are you grateful for? In this current American muck of negativity let's all stop and reflect upon what is good about the American Way! My father was a WWII veteran and darn proud of his service. He "lived" his Army and passed on to his children great patriotism. Thank you, Dad!

I am of course grateful for our current troops that cannot be with family & friends this weekend as they are on foreign soil; I am grateful for the veterans that have served our great country over the last 233 years. America is great!! The AMERICAN WAY is not dead.

Frankly, I am not in favor of changing the American way. Yes, we can be excessive - big homes, big cars, bigger/better all the time. I do ask - is bigger/better always right? Probably not.

What is right about the American Way is our fight for freedom; our own as well as the freedom and human rights of others. Human rights must be defended as well as the right to chart each humans own course and choose personal paths.

This Memorial Day weekend let's refresh our minds to all that is good about America!! We exist because our founding fathers wanted freedom from government, personal choice and a better life. Thanks to them for providing thus. Let's celebrate freedom and the sacrifices made by our generations of veterans that have assurred us this legacy!

GOD BLESS AMERICA - GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS, SERVICE MEN & WOMEN

To be absolutely honest - there is not a house on the market today that will not benefit from Professional Home Staging ... all but the ones already "professionally" Staged.

In my market I have met hundreds of Realtors that are ready to Stage, "When I get an appropriate property." What? I have Staged properties from the luxury, multi-million dollar range all the way down to $70,000. ALL benefit!!

In Florida, where I am located there are many, many retirees. Upon their passing it is common to see properties placed on the market that with the remnants of a life - aka - what family & friends do not take. Some believe its better than nothing to leave a "staged" setting looking like the 60's - its not! It often can do more harm than good. Here's Why -

• Homes often looks sad
• Potential Buyers will talk about whats in there - not the home's features
• If the good stuff is taken often what is left is dated, bland and boring
• Reminds Buyers of their immortality - not usually a positive thing

Please check out these before & afters of a property @ Top of the World, Clearwater, FL that went into contract in under 60 days. The inventory of condominiums in our area is close to 4 years - its a pretty good sale time for a Staging Investment of $800!

Living Room Before

Living Room after

Guest Bedroom Before

Guest Bedroom After - looks much better with the beds made a two twind rather than a king.