Darlene Hall-Barrett

Buying your first home can be scary

10-20-10

I remember buying my first home. The papers were signed and there we were...home owners. I didn't sleep a wink that night. Now I couldn't just call a landlord to take care of the mainetenance or any problems that would arise. We were now the almighty landlords, so it was all on our shoulders. But once I wrapped my head around a good cup of tea the next morning and thought about all the pluses of owning a home—the freedom to change it as per your own style; pride of ownership; ability to sell and make a good return on investment—then, I realized the decision was the best decision I could've made!

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Darlene Hall-Barrett
Dressing Rooms

Darlene Hall-Barrett: Home Stager in Ottawa Hull, ON

Office: (613) 448-3945

Secondary: (613) 371-7582

WORKING WITH AGENTS

Agents and I have the same goal; to sell a client's home fast and at the highest return. I always check with agents to see what they've been telling the clients so that I can reiterate suggestions once I visit the home. The agent does not need to be present during the staging process.

In addition, since I am a stager and an interior decorator, I can be the one-stop shop for real estate agents' clients. For their clients wishing to sell, I'm the stager to help the house sell faster and for more money. And, for clients who have just purchased a home, I would be the interior decorator to help them add that personal look and feel to the home.

STAGING & THEN SOME

When staging a home, we work with what an owner has or bring in items as needed in order to set the stage more effectively. In some cases, when a house is empty, we will coordinate rental of furniture and accessories in order to make the home more sellable.

WHAT CLIENTS SAY ABOUT DRESSING ROOMS

When we decided to sell our house we brought in Darlene to help us make it look as good as possible. She came to our house and in a short time gave us a full list of recommendations. It took us very little time and work to implement them and she actually saved us some effort by letting us know we didn't really need to do some of the things we had thought of doing.

There were a number of the same model house selling in our neighbourhood—all of them for a lower price. Ours was the first to sell! We got full asking price, and the first person to see it bought it. The buyer actually remarked how much better our house was than all the others she had seen. For the little it cost to have Darlene in to stage our house, the return on investment was unbelievable!”
Rob and Nathalie Witham—Ottawa, Ontario