Rhonda Wilson

Rhonda Wilson, CCSP(TM), Canadian Certified Staging Professional

Buyers, Sellers, Realtors(R), and Builders all come out on top when they work with us. Revealing Assets is talented, creative, resourceful, and has a keen eye for what the masses are looking for in a property-purchase-decision. Buyers who choose us to Stage their home for sale end up selling in about half the time, and make more money. Sellers who view the homes we Stage are delighted to find a property that immediately feels like home, and are easily able to see all of the existing architectural assets.

Realtors who choose to partner with us end up saving time and making more money. We take the burden of having to be the "bad guy" out of the equation for the Realtor. We eliminate any issues with clutter, de-personalizing, odours, the need for fresh paint or new floors, etc. We ensure that the property is showing in its best light so that the Realtor(R) can just enter and take photos, and commence showing immediately. Realtors already wear so many hats and have such an immense work-load with each client. Revealing Assets takes a big chunk of the load off for them, and ensures greater abundance for each Realtor.

Warning: BUYER BEWARE!! DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!

Home Staging is still an industry that is largely unregulated, which is why it is important that consumers know and/or research who they are hiring. Thus far, the leading authority across Canada and the U.S. is Certified Staging Professionals. They set the absolute bar when it comes to integrity, talent standards, track records, and up-to-date business practices. They provide the most intensive, comprehensive training in North America and are very highly regarded. Revealing Assets has been certified by Haverhill Institute of Home Staging and Re-Design. We have also been officially certified by Certified Staging Professionals, and carries the CSP designation. You can research the organization at www.canadianstagingprofessionals.com.

You can also browse through our website at www.revealingassets.ca.

Providing Exemplary Home Staging Services and De-cluttering Serv

The 2 Broad Diciplines within which we provide services are Home Staging and Decluttering.

Home Staging

First, and most importantly, Revealing Assets takes great pride in their up-to-the-minute understanding and awareness of Real Estate Market Trends and statistics for Edmonton, and its vast surrounding area. This is paramount to a Home Stager's success and certainly adds to their credibility and creativity of task. Real Estate is much like watching the Stock Exchange. It is an industry that is anything but static, and can be surprising and unpredictable. A Home Stager needs to be on top of the market numbers in order to quickly adapt to ever-changing target-markets. It is also imperative that the Home Stager has checked out all of their client's local competition, and what it is that each one of them are offering.

One statistic that far too few professionals in Real Estate pay any attention to, is the hard fact that 95-98% of current Home Buyers start their home search on the Internet. It may be harsh for us to say that many professionals seem to not be aware of this statistic, or that they aren't placing enough importance on it, but this truth is so evident to us at Revealing Assets. If it weren't true, we wouldn't be so blown away and absolutely mortified at the quality of the photographs still constantly being added to Seller's listings on the Internet. We see dark, cluttered, poorly composed photographs, and can even see the uncleanliness in the pictures. We are also continually seeing photographs put up for listings that very clearly have the family pet posing within the frame. Not good.

When potential buyers start their search for a home, they grab a coffee, get comfy, and sit down in front of their computer. They start browsing through Realtor.com for the MLS listings, enter in all of their specific parameters, and hit "Search". Now, hopefully they have lucked out, and have been specific enough, and maybe they actually won't get that lovely error message, "Sorry, Your Search Has Resulted in More than the allowed 500 Listings. Please refine your search parameters, and Try Again".

They get their search results, and they get their blank piece of paper ready along with a pen. They hand-write across the top of the paper, "Short List".

They scroll down to the first listing that catches their eye. Price-point is acceptable (maybe they are already qualified by their financial institution), location is great, and it says it has the proper number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The picture of the outside of the dwelling is also attracting their attention (thanks to proper curb appeal).

Their next step is to click on "More Details". They are excited, because there seems to be more than just 2 or 3 photos to browse through. So, they now click on "More Photos", mostly because they are able to see them in a larger size format that way. Poof, the picture box pops up. Ugh!! All the rooms have the lights turned out, and window coverings are closed. Oh, and what the heck? It is impossible to determine what room in the home that one is supposed to be. There seems to be an organ, many bookshelves (all different sizes and styles and all filled with trinkets), a dining room china cabinet, 4 different easy chairs, 2 loveseats, 1 couch, a really large coffee table, way too many lamps (none are on for the photo), oh, and what is that in the middle of that wall over there, oh, it is a fireplace. They can hardly tell it is a fireplace though because it is absolutely covered with papers, family photos, and souvenirs. Oh, wow, look at all of the family photos all over the walls.

The potential buyer has now only been able to focus on that one photo, and already they are tired of it. The clutter has overwhelmed them, and the lack of proper lighting has made a bad impression of the property.

They mouse up to the browser "Back" button, and start searching for another listing.

The hard fact is, the number of scheduled showings on a property is directly relative to the quality of the photographs taken right from the beginning. And, we are not just simply talking about great photo composition here. If the home is not showing in its best light, de-personalized, and decluttered PRIOR to photographing it for the marketing materialsfor listing, you simply are NOT reaching your target market. In fact, it is these listings that are the ones that seem to just sit and sit on the market, while other comparables are selling in 47-49 days right now. In fact, our last client's home had been on the market for exactly 3 months when we were called in. Let's look at this. That is 90 days. The property is only 3 years old, has a beautiful yard, has a garage, and is a beautiful, new neighborhood in St. Albert. The price point was also incredibly competitive. It had great curb appeal when we drove up, and the home is filled with many desireable finishing touches. Everything ended up coming right down to the terrible pictures on MLS. They didn't do the home justice at all. We went in, de-cluttered, depersonalized, and showcased and Staged the entire home using only items they had already within the home. We took final "After" photographs, sent a set to the homeowner, and a set to the Agent. The Agent immediately replaced the existing photos on MLS with the new ones, and he received an offer from the showing he scheduled 3 days later.

People are very visually driven. And the Internet has made it so that we do not have to leave our homes to thoroughly research all of our purchase options prior to actually speaking to any live human being.

So, our biggest suggestion to all Real Estate Agents out there who are just not seeming to get phone calls on one or more of their listings, is to take a look at the quality and composition of the photographs that are currently public on MLS.

Maybe the home is already beautifully Staged and Showcased, and the photos just need to be retaken with lights on and window coverings open in order to brighten up the spaces. Maybe the angles of the rooms in the photos just aren't taken from complimentary angles. Maybe the photos were taken at an ISO level that was too low.

In this case, we know you would be surprised at what a huge difference re-doing the photos will make.

Another point we want to make is that it is so important for us to get homeowners to understand that potential buyers, when viewing their property, are actually there because they are interested in purchasing the home, and that they are not actually there to view and/or purchase the belongings within the home. This is one of the hardest concepts to convince people of. Homeowners are very proud of their family photographs, their sport trophies, their collections, and their doilies. And if they harbor such intense love for their vast amounts of mementos, how the heck could other people not?

We have to be able to compassionately, yet firmly explain to the homeowner that in order for them to be able to move on to their next home, the next chapter in their lives, that they have to emotionally separate themselves from this home. They now have to look at their home as a product for sale. And, this product has to be able to appeal to every buyer that walks through the door.In order for the buyer to make a purchase decision, it is imperative that they are easily able to view all of the property features. "Stuff" causes detrimental distraction. In fact, "stuff" causes so much distraction in a lot of cases, that the buyer has a very hard time recollecting the actual floor plan, amount of floor space, type of lighting, or the quality of the paint on the walls. And, guess what? That buyer won't be back. Anything that causes more work for a home-buyer now-a-days is unacceptable. Instead of going to the trouble of scheduling another viewing, they will simply move onto the next listing on their short-list (yes, the short-list created from Internet photos).

Vacant/Empty Properties For Sale

Since we are on a roll with the fact that humans are visually driven, we need to address the benefits and importance of Staging empty properties on the market. We are not at all suggesting that we stuff a property full of designer furniture and accessories to the point where that is where the primary focus ends up resting. We are speaking to the pure fact that about 70% of the population tend to be spatially challenged to some degree. When we get into an empty space, unless there are any free-standing items in the room, we have no point-of-reference. Therefore, we have a very difficult time determining whether our belongings will fit into that space. This is very important when a potential buyer is viewing a property. We all know that the key to selling a property is creating an atmosphere that is conducive to persuading buyers to easily envision moving right in. We need to make a property feel like home to as many people as possible. We also have to remember, though, that a potential buyer was hit with their first impression of the property within the first 4-6 seconds of entering through the front door. That first impression serves to determine whether or not that buyer will consider making an offer, or at least looking further. So, if you are someone who doesn't like the idea of Staging the whole of a vacant property, what we suggest is at least Staging all of the main areas that are either seen from the door-way, or easiest to access from the door-way. At least this way, the buyer can envision whether or not the scale/size will work for them. And, the first 4-6 seconds are the most crucial. And, Staging empty spaces, truly, is not as pricey as people seem to assume. The labor time is less, and because the listing will spend up to half the time on the market, and sell for approximately 7-10% more money, the amount you invest in staging a property will ALWAYS end up being less than your first price reduction, GUARANTEED.

With all of that said, you do have to be sure that the Home Stager that you employ for the task at hand is credible, reputable, talented, knowledgeable, is CSP Certified, and, above all, has a very keen eye for how to best maximize available floor space and bring the attention of the buyer's eye to key features throughout a property.

We, Revealing Assets, are all of the above, and our passion lies in Showcasing properties so that they attract maximum market interest, sell in the shortest possible amount of time, and ensure the homeowner and Realtor make the most money possible. We ensure that properties are being exposed in the most attractive, positive, beneficial light. We focus on convincing all of our clients that calling Revealing Assets in should their first step, even before having the Realtor in for the official listing appointment. But, we also love being called in once it has been decided that the listing is not receiving an optimal amount of interest, or even if many people are coming to view, but they are not making offers for some reason.

Revealing Assets' bottom line is, our ultimate goal is to create Maximum profit in the Minimum amount of Time for ALL of our clients. What is our motivation, you ask? If we, Revealing Assets, successfully Stage the Property in question, and the Sale that results is Fruitful (Time Saved and Money Gained), then both the homeowner and the Realtor are happy campers. Happy campers tend to talk within their social and professional circles. Word-of-mouth advertising is not only the most economical form of advertising for a business, but it is also the most effective!! We also win!! People end up coming to us when they are selling their property because they heard, from the lady down the road, that Revealing Assets were great people to work with, provided high-quality workmanship, and created very tangible, quick results.

Decluttering

The other area in which we provide unparalleled services is the complicated, delicate, life-altering world of De-cluttering. Now, obviously, our clients seeking these services are not at all limited to just homeowners in the process of selling their homes. One would truly be alarmed to find out how many people in our lives have troublesome times within their homes due to a build-up of "stuff".

Our clients comes from absolutely all walks of life, and can even be your neighbor. "Clutter" is a derogatory term used to describe things in our home environments that seem to have taken on a life of their own. They creep in slowly over time, and become more and more controlling, and monopolize more and more of our living space. Clutter can be made up of absolutely anything, including a mixture of the following; Travel souvenirs, un-used gifts from people, Greeting cards, Relationship tokens, linens, furniture pieces, artwork, photographs/albums, audio materials, and the list goes on and one. And, YES, men do also end up falling victim to Clutter. Many people don't realize this as much because of the fact that men tend to collect items that are literally larger in size and in dollar value. Mens' piles of "things" also don't end up having the same appearance as womens' "things" because their respective "piles", even though the same size overall, do not appear as busy to the eye.

The issue with companies out there who offer "Decluttering" services is that they are most often Professional Organizers. Please understand here, I am not devaluing the incredible talent these people have. There is definitely a real demand for proficient organizers. But, people with true Clutter issues do NOT need their incredible piles of things simply organized. They need someone to come in and compassionately address the underlying emotional reasoning for the build-up in the first place. The stuff did not arrive there by accident, or all-of-a-sudden. These people need an empathetic ear, and a firm, yet kind, motivational hand. The "Clutter" HAS to be sorted, thoroughly assessed, then physically removed altogether. Too many times, we at Revealing Assets, receive calls from clients who have hired Professional Organizers or Cleaners to come in and help to address their clutter. What ends up happening is that a team of 3 or more are set loose on the home. The people hired attack the client's clutter with vigor, high energy, quick snap decisions, and a lot of times, decisions end up being made without consulting the client. These companies are not hired to address the underlying issues, the emotional attachment to things, or the psychological cycles the client may or may not experience throughout the process. There are so many deep emotional tidbits to factor into a de-cluttering process, and if ignored or simply unaddressed, we guarantee that the client will immediately fill up their home again to fill the void that is left when that company parts ways.

Revealing Assetsends up helping collectors, hoarders, shopaholics, and the emotionally attached. We deeply understand where all of these people are coming from, because Rhonda Wilson has actually undergone a lengthy, painful De-cluttering project of her very own, in her own home. But, she had to accomplish this back in the day when no one talked about it, when there were no resources for her to call on. She was raised in a single-parent home where her Father had to work 2-3 jobs at all times in order to raise her and her sister. So, needless to say, he just wasn't at home enough to worry about home cleanliness or orderliness. Because Rhonda had been raised in this environment, it was what she learned. Home is defined as safe-haven, love, comfort. So, because absolute chaos and clutter filled her home environment for her entire childhood, it was obvious why she sought to recreate this setting in her own homes as an adult. This equated Love for her. So, through counselling, massive amounts of research, endless amounts of writing, and continuing education courses including elements related to clutter and de-cluttering, she ended up with an incredibly revised, refined "To-Do" list that did nothing short of guaranteeing her success. She triumphantly completed her De-cluttering in her home, managed to salvage her personal relationships, and was officially, emotionally freed of the physiological, mental, and emotional constraints that her clutter had shackled her with.

Since the completion of her De-cluttering project, she has had a nagging and undying passion and need to help others accomplish this exact feat. She has further refined her instructional "Plan of Attack" , has taken even more training, and even teaches her unconventional approach in regular public workshops.

Realtors also benefit greatly from our De-cluttering Services. There are times when a potential listing client calls a Realtor into their home, they want to sell, but are unable to see that their home is entirely too full of belongings. The Realtor is then stuck in a situation where they have to explain to the client that they are not currently able to list their property as-is. So, then, they have to delicately let them know that just as soon as they "Eliminate" a large amount of the items filling their home, then they are welcome to call again and consider listing at that time.

This is especially tough for anyone. The problem here is that we, as humans, have a really hard time logically and reasonably looking at the inside of our own homes. It is just what we are used to seeing every day. But, when we go outside of our own home, we are all too quick to analyze others' homes and the state of them. But, in our own homes, our "clutter" becomes a fixture, a permanent part of the landscape, and almost an architectural feature on its own. It sounds ridiculous, but really think about that. Is there even a chair in the corner of your bedroom that habitually gathers our worn clothing at the end of a day? Well, we see it there every day, a few times, and it never changes. Guess what? That is "CLUTTER".

Realtors are able to refer these potential clients to us. We then go in, quickly and efficiently address their clutter with the client, remove all clutter from the property, discuss with the client in full detail the reasoning behind having to take care of this before they can even consider selling their home, and, in the end, we turn the client back over to the Realtor who can now simply come in, take all required measurements and photographs, and list the home. So, for Realtors, Revealing Assets can turn wasted time into actual listings, which then translates into more cash in the pocket for the Realtor. The most important thing Revealing Assets helps the client with here, is keeping them focused on their end goal. They are going through this process because they had made the decision to move on to a new home, make a huge life transition, and start over. We need to keep their eye on the goal, or the prize, and this serves as a large part of the motivation to participate and cooperate and achieve!!

The main concept here that Revealing Assetsremains so passionate about is that ridding oneself of the mental burden or weight that is Clutter is liberating, exhilarating, satisfying, and creates a chain-reaction of incredibly positive life changes. One's health improves almost immediately. This can be attributed to the fact that one can now actually get a quality sleep at night in their own home. Clutter causes racing thoughts, and creates in people a lack of regenerative sleep. Many health issues result from this. These people have a harder and harder time making it throughout their work-week. Then, with the weekend upon them, the only motivation they have is to catch up on sleep and rest in order to feel that they can make it through the following work-week. This, obviously, is problematic in trying to find the time and energy to even think about taking care of their clutter.

Client testimonials tell all about our Home Staging Services and

Revealing Assets does not believe in soliciting for Testimonials. We feel that they are far more meaningful when the client is moved, all on their own, to provide a statement regarding the impact of our services. We believe these are the TRUE Testimonials. Simply candid and honest with no sugar-coating.

Clients can feel pressured when asked to provide a Testimonial. They also feel there is a time-frame they should adhere to. It is then that Testimonials may not come completely from the heart.

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Here is the testimonial:

I had a home that had been on the market for 90 days. It was in a good price range and we had many showings, but no offers.

After Certified Staging Professionals staged the home, the home sold in 30 days. This was without a price reduction. The home also had some repair issues and the staging professionals pointed that out in their report for my seller. I had been recommending the seller fix a flooring issue for the previous 90 days. After hearing it from a third party too, the seller finally decided to do the work.

The seller repaired the floor, the home showed much larger and we sold the house.

Thank you CSP!

Jason Thomas BCom
Royal LePage Summit Realty
3228 Parsons Road (99 st)
Edmonton, AB

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Hello Susan!!!!

I wanted to drop you a quick line to Congratulate on the quick sale of your
home! Good Job!!
Now, you get to move into your new home!! I am so happy for you two!!

Thank you again for inviting me into your home and having me do the Staging
Guidance with you. You didn't need me at all, as you have an amazing eye
for detail, and for the Staging side of things.

All the best to you, and congrats again!!!

Sincerely,
Rhonda Wilson - Revealing Assets
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Rhonda;

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. We enjoyed meeting
you and appreciated your comments which made us feel confident that we were
ready to go on the market.

Susan

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Dear Rhonda.

Just wanted to thank you for the work and advice you gave us to prepare our home for sale. You made a remarkable difference in the interior appearance of the house. We also appreciated your promptness to our request for help.

We followed all of your instructions, had two showings three days after you came in, and we recieved an offer the next morning. We ACCEPTED!

Thanks again.

Val M.

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Testimonial for Revealing Assets:

Rhonda, we can't express in words what a difference you made in our home with the Decluttering.

I was a little afraid my husband would be alarmed when he got home, and he'd wonder where all of his things went. But, instead, he walked in the door, took a long deep breath, smiled, and thanked ME for all of the work I did. (he didn't know I hired someone at first...I should have just gone along with it, hey?) #1, if you knew my husband, you would know that he is never happy when he comes home from work, and #2, he doesn't smile that much.

We, as a family, are just way too busy and exhausted each day to even think about getting the house in order. Your help put some fire into my step, and you helped me sort through the reasons behind my hoarding issues.

Life inside this house is much more bearable now. I have a house again!!!

Thank you so much. I hope that others will hire you to help them too, so they can feel as good as I do.

Sincerly, Louise H.

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Dear Rhonda;

You left me a message asking me to get back to you about how I am feeling since you had come in and completed my Decluttering and helping me with my move.

Each time I head downstairs to the basement I feel content....imagine!

This move especially has had a lasting profound effect on me. Each space is contained with everything in its place. My storage space off the living room now has containers and is a pleasure to find what I need. Each closet is now organized. I even moved my willow chair upstairs so I can re-create my little meditation place again.

What I am finding is that with everything having ‘its own place' I am mindful to ‘put everything back in its own place'...............and not create chaos.

Being on the path to organization ended up for me a spiritual calm feeling as well........

Marilyn - Sherwood Park

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