Dawn Bach Thurman - Redesign & Staging Services

Picture this. You've arrived at a property with your buyers and you have a good feeling about this. It's got good curb appeal, the neighborhood is nice, the price is right for the area. You haven't seen the inside yet, but you saw the pics online. Not bad. You tell your clients you don't know what to expect either - that you're visiting for the first time too. You open the door and walk in. Everything seems nice, but it's a tad dark. So you turn the corner and flip on a switch in the kitchen.

Gasps of horror - an unadorned lightbulb hangs above, blinding you and everyone else who dares walk into the room. Your buyers scrunch up their eyes and turn away - it's like a splash of cold water in the face. Seeing spots, you think, "Sheesh - such a nice place - why would there be a bare light bulb anywhere but maybe a closet?"

Sound familiar? It's obvious what has happened - the seller has skedaddled. And with them went their favorite light fixtures. And curtains. And bathroom cabinets. Listing agents, don't let this happen to you! If your sellers have to move before their property is sold, it is to their benefit (and yours) to convince them to leave some of these key items (and others) behind. The minute they strip their home bare, they've entered the vacant home market. And there's nothing quite as bleak as entering a home and getting the bare light bulb treatment, especially after seeing listing photos filled with inviting furnishings.

Help your seller keep their house a viable contender once they move. Assuming the curtains fall anywhere between "nice" and "stunning," advise your seller to leave them behind! Window treatments are expensive, yes. But even if they've grown desperately attached to the color and fabric, your seller will have to dress completely new windows in their new home.

Further, convincing them to leave some furnishings behind is an economical way to help keep the home filled with life. With even just a few furnishings in place, a stager can enliven the interior and give a boost to the listing. And the place will be ready to show 24/7.

For more tips on selling and staging properties, contact a Certified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors for an affordable consultation. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020. www.eyetoeyeinteriors.com

You're meeting with your client for the first time and it goes something like this:

You: "So nice to meet you. Thanks for having me."

Your Seller: "Great to meet you too. Sorry the place is kind of a mess."

You: "Oh, it's alright - I understand."

But in the back of your mind, you're thinking, "Kind of a mess? Kind of a nightmare!" There are trophies on the mantle, magazines piled high and lace doilies everywhere. The stairwell is peppered with family photos from top to bottom. Figurines sit on every windowsill. There's a well-loved striped velour chair parked next to a gigantic TV taking up the better portion of what clearly was once a formal dining room.

You take the tour, then sit down and give your spiel. It goes over well and congratulations, the first hurdle is over. You've got the listing. The place has good bones - someone will buy it... eventually.

At this point, many realtors simply focus on talking with the homeowner about how to prepare for inspection. Making certain that the plumbing and electrical are up to par is key - no doubt. But you and I both know that buyers don't form their first impressions of a property by looking under the sink.

Your homeowner is proud of their home, their furnishings, their trophies, their wall of family photos - as they should be. They've worked hard to make the place uniquely theirs. So advising them that it needs a new look may not go over well.

How will you approach the topic of getting their place "ready" for showings when they think it already is?

Start by affirming them. Their home is well-loved. They've made many memories there. But now that they are selling, the focus shifts. Now, it's all about helping other people - prospective buyers - picture living there, creating their own memories.

The next step is to educate. Remember, your client relies on your expertise to help sell their property. You are the expert in the room. For many people, you are their sole source of information and advice about selling their home.

Luckily, many homeowners are at least aware of the concept of staging, thanks to the recent popularity of TV shows on the subject. But most don't realize that staging isn't just something seen on TV - it's a real life, attainable and affordable service available to anyone. And it can help make their place even more attractive to buyers.

Describe how it works - a professional stager will come in with an objective eye to rearrange furniture, artwork - often using the homeowner's existing furnishings. The process takes about a day and voila, the place is ready to be photographed for the listing. Be sure to take the time to paint the logistical picture for them. Unless you do, few people can imagine letting a stranger come in and move their stuff around. Which is why you'll also advise them how it will be worth the investment.

Both you and your client have the bottom line in mind. Staging can make all the difference, especially in a slow, saturated market. With your next listing, help your homeowner get a leg up on the competition and introduce them to the concept of staging. It just might be the key to your making a quicker sale at a better price.

For more tips on selling and staging properties, contact a Qualified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors for an affordable consultation. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020.

Your client is motivated to sell, but they're also swamped at work, stressed about moving, and just plain busy. The place just always feels like a mess. So they hire a staging professional and a personal organizer to help deal with the clutter. They've got a cleaning service coming in once a week. The place looks so great they joke about how they might consider staying. (And you're thinking... oh - no, you don't!) And now it's up to them to make sure the place is slick as a whistle for each showing. But how can you be sure when you turn that key that you won't find it looking like it did when you first met them? You know what I mean...

Magazines piled in the corner, bills on the table, food on the counter?

Well, for starters, their stager should have given them what I call the "pre-show checklist," personalized for their property. But if they don't have one, please feel free to pass this article along.

When your client wakes up in the morning, they should feel like they're staying in a swanky boutique hotel. The catch: there won't be a bill slipped under the door, but you (their realtor) might as well be the front desk with their wake up call. Only you're calling to say there's somebody in the driveway right now who wants to take a look. The price for living in the Pottery Barn catalog they used to call home? They're the housekeeping staff and they've got to keep it looking perfect, 24/7.

Their "pre-show checklist" will help save their sanity (and yours) and help give them the edge over their comps. The key is for the list to be prioritized and timed out so it can be done in an hour or less if they're home when you call - or before leaving the house each day:

1) At the very top of the list is "hide the clutter!" In drawers, under beds, just hide it!

2) Next, empty the garbage and anything else that might be causing a stink. (If there are pets, they should already have made arrangements for caging their dog, or putting their cat in a carrier and taking them out of the house with them for the showing.) Refrain from lighting incense or spraying air freshener unless it's absolutely necessary -prospective buyers will think it's a cover-up!

3) Next up, clean up the kitchen and bathroom. They're the biggest selling points for most buyers, so make them look perfect. Hide those pots and pans, and put away that cereal left out on top of the fridge. Bring out the guest towels, hide those toiletries and for goodness sake, sponge off that sink and commode.

4) Finally, shine, shine, shine. It only takes Windex and a few paper towels to get all reflective surfaces looking like new - sinks, shower knobs, mirrors, any stainless steel appliances.

5) On the way out the door, remember to flip on all the lights, take out the trash and look around as if you're that potential buyer.

For more tips on selling and staging property, contact a Qualified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors for an affordable consultation. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020.

You've heard it before - when the client gets ready to sell, you always recommend that they depersonalize. Take down the wedding photos, the baby pictures, the awards. Hide your PlayStation and Wii. And get that bicycle out of the kitchen. But don't stop there. Depersonalization goes beyond just taking yourself out of the visual picture.

What your client used to call home has just become another listing - one of many, many properties up for sale. So how will you help them stand out from the crowd? They might spend money fixing it up, getting it ready. They'll throw a new coat of paint on the walls. They'll invest in a professional stager and maybe an organizer to help de-clutter. But there's one improvement most people neglect to make and it's the least costly of them all. It's also arguably the hardest to-do on the list.

What can your client do to improve their chances of a quick sale that costs nothing?

Stop calling it "home." Really. Encourage your clients to remove the word from their vocabulary and from their mind. When they leave work at the end of the day, they'll head back "to the house." When they tell people they're selling, say their "place" is for sale. It may sounds crazy, but once they stop calling it their home, once they detach themselves from those four walls, something mystical happens. Call it the Law of Attraction, Zen, Fred, whatever name you want to give it - once you stop referring to your home as "home," buyers start appearing.

Ask any realtor - they'll swear they sell more property when the homeowner is out of town, on vacation (and hard to reach). When the homeowner is detached, distracted from the stress of selling - when they are far from "home," things begin to happen. So when they're getting ready to sell, have them move that bike out of the kitchen, take the photos off the mantle, and depersonalize their vocabulary too. It costs nothing to do and just might make all the difference.

For more tips on selling and staging property, contact a Qualified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors for an affordable consultation. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020.