Anthea Click - Nashville Area Home Stager

When I talk with agents about staging I get very similar feedback. Yes, they believe staging does work, yes they know it helps to sell a house faster, but..........How do I educate my seller? How do I find a good stager? What are the stats to prove staging works?

How can we, as stagers, expect the Realtors to sell staging when they don't fully comprehend it themselves? I believe it boils down to one thing, education.

I am a firm believer in education. When I sold real estate myself I knew nothing about staging. There was one company in town that I was aware of and from what I heard they got great results. Beyond that I was ignorant to it. There were no classes to take to educate myself on how to properly merchandise a home. I learned all about negotiating contracts, fair housing regulations, client representation and how to sell myself, but nothing about making the listing as appealing as possible to attract the buyers. Sure, I knew to tell my clients to remove personal photographs, de-clutter, and neutralize but not much more beyond that.

I feel that is where most agents in Nashville are. With so many questions about staging, not knowing what to ask or knowing how to find a good stager is the reason more homes are not staged in the Nashville area. Television shows such as Designed to Sell, The Stagersand Stager Invasion have done wonders to educate the public about staging and how it can help sell a house much quicker. Now granted, we are still talking about Hollywood. No, we can't replace the counter tops with granite, paint the entire house, and purchase brand new furniture all for under $2,000. It's a little unrealistic, but definitely much better than these shows not airing at all. The public more often than not knows more about staging than the real estate experts.

So, how do we turn this around? How can we make real estate agents even more valuable in their client's eye?

Education! When Melissa Marro,a staging industry leader, contacted me about bringing the CSP Elite Agent Program to Nashville I was thrilled! Now there is a class agents can take to answer all those questions they have. How the staging industry got started, how it has evolved, how to find a good stager, the value staging can bring to the sell of a property, how to educate their clients and the list goes on and on.

No, this class is not about the agent staging themselves like other programs teach. How do you think the agent looks in the eyes of their client when they see them schlepping furniture, suggesting paint colors, and accessorizing? Is that what top agents really do? No! They are out there finding the buyers for the property - they leave the appeal to the experts on their team - the stager.

Nashville will experience the first CSP Elite Agent Program on August 5, 2009 from 8-5pm. I'm so excited for these agents who take this class. Not only will they be miles ahead of the competition, but they will preserve their client's equity and add dollars to their personal bottom line. I was always taught it was better to teach a man to fish than to give him one. This class is definately teaching the man to fish.

For more information or to register for the August 5th class visit www.cspelite.com or call 1-866-574-0565.

Our Staging Seminar: The Nuts and Bolts of Staging on Thursday, March 26, 2008 was a huge success. Four area stagers: Myself, Liz Jenkins of A Fresh Space, B Lucas Thrower of Interior Redesign and Home Staging, and Karen Jones of Jones Creative Home Staging came together to offer a free community seminar on staging.

B Lucas Thrower, Anthea Click, Karen Jones, Liz Jenkins

We offered DIY Tips and gave insight on painting, window treatments, fixtures, flooring(which was presented by Dave of Church Street Flooring), kitchens and bathrooms. With a packed house the next seminar is sure to bring in even more people interested in staging their homes.

The next seminar, Staging For Your Life: Redesigning Spaces is scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 6:00 - 7:30pm also at Church Street Flooring in Franklin.

To RSVP for the next event email aclick@fresh-perspectives.com with Seminar in the subject line.

Fresh Perspectives Property Merchandising Services specializies in staging vacant homes, model homes, and owner occupied properties for the Nashville area market. For more information on our services visit our website at www.fresh-perspectives.com or contact us at 615-465-8086.

Homeowners, Realtors, and Builders alike understand the value of staging a property in this current market. Long gone are the days of placing a sign in the yard, entering the information into the MLS and receiving an offer within 30 days. Home staging is becoming more accepted and new stagers are entering the industry daily. So how does a staging company compete? When everyone zigs, you must zag.

Fresh Perspectives has decided to zag by becoming a specialist in property merchandising. There is so much more to selling than making a property look great and appeal to buyers. Most stagers will stage a property then wait for the client to call to de-stage. Our philosophy is to take it a step further by actually teaming up with the agent to market the property.

Target the Buyer

Before Fresh Perspectives begins a staging project we define a target buyer. Do you know who will buy this property? Are we focusing on empty nesters, a family with small children, or a single in a hot and trendy loft? It's important to know who you are targeting so the property speaks to them. You will have much greater success rate when you focus on target, aim and fire vs. throwing out a net and hoping to catch something.

Professional Photography

The importance of professional photography is also a crucial factor. According to the National Association of Realtors, over 80% of homebuyers start their search online. If the photos of the property don't demand the buyer's attention, especially in this market, the buyer will move on to the next home even if the property may be exactly what they are looking for. Buying a home is an emotional decision and good photography grabs buyers by the heart and demands a closer inspection, thus creating more traffic and offers to the property. We bring in our dynamite professional photographer, Allison Hendrixson of Vertical Expressions. Allison has an amazing talent and can capture emotion even out of a plain white wall.

Lifestyle Tours and Videos

Getting the word out about a property is the key to getting it sold. Fresh Perspectives creates lifestyle tours and videos to do just that. Virtual tours are now an industry standard, but there's more to it than hardwood floors and granite countertops. The buyer wants to know how they are going to live in the home. It's important to note a buyer is not buying a home, they are buying a lifestyle. When we create a tour, we create the picture of the lifestyle. (Click here to see a sample tour). Along with the lifestyle tours we create videos and distribute them to YouTube and other video sharing sites.

Internet Presence

If over 80% of home buyers are surfing the Internet to find a home, doesn't it make sense to advertise the property where they will find it? Not only do we post the agent and property information on the Staged Homes For Sale page of our website, we also list the home on over 20 other real estate sites where homebuyers go to find properties. This is part of our focus, aim, fire philosophy to targeting potential homebuyers.

Drive Traffic

Out-of-the-box thinking drives traffic to view a property. We have been involved in unique events such as partnering with Simplicity Gourmet to host organic cooking shows, art shows, sponsored chocolate and coffee broker open houses, and community bike rides.

So the next time you need a property staged, do you want to hire a stager who makes the house pretty or a property merchandiser who becomes your marketing partner to get the listing sold?

Fresh Perspectives is a property merchandising company who specializes in zagging when everyone else is zigging. Contact us today at 615-465-8086 to get your property staged and sold or visit us at www.fresh-perspectives.com for more information.

How many times have you heard the old saying "If Momma's not happy, no one is happy"? Well, the saying also holds true for home buyers. Women make up to 91% of all home buying decisions according to the National Association of Home Builders. Targeting these decision makers only makes sense when trying to sell your home.

How She Shops

Men and women shop differently. When a man wants to buy a pair of jeans he goes into the store, heads directly to the rack, finds his size, pays the cashier, and back out the door he goes. When a woman needs a new pair of jeans she enters the store, passes by the kids department, picks up an outfit for Jane, sees a new tie for the husband (since he will definitely need a new one for the wedding they are attending this weekend), picks up a new collar for the dog, and then heads to the jeans department. She'll try on a half-dozen or so pairs and will find a couple new blouses and a few accessories to match. Men are hunters, women are gathers. We are just wired differently.

The same holds true when shopping for a new home. As long as there is a wall for his big screen and room for his recliner - it's perfect! She, on the other hand, is thinking of how the entire family will actually live in the home. Is there space for entertaining guests? Can she watch the kids play in the backyard while she is cooking dinner? Is there a quite corner where she can curl up and read a book?

What's Important to Her

There are four main areas that are important to the female home buyer. If you can target these, you will appeal to her desires and sell her on the property.

Entertaining

Women like to entertain. Open spaces and great traffic flow is important. French doors that lead out to a large deck or back patio will also fulfill that need.

Relaxation

Women need to relax. Coming home can actually cause a woman's blood pressure to rise. She has been out in the field all day and she has to come home to her second job. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids - her job never ends. A great relaxation zone where she can take a leisurely bubble bath, a corner nook to get away from it all and read a great book, or peaceful backyard retreat is what she desires.

Flex Space

Let's face it, with today's lifestyles we need rooms in our home that change purpose based upon our changing lives. An office that can change into a craft room, a playroom that can become a guest bedroom with the use of a Murphy bed, or closet space that can be converted into an elevator shaft is what today's woman is looking for. Give her options and she will be a happy home buyer.

Storage

There just never seems to be enough storage is a common theme among homeowners. Adding built- ins to closets, flooring off extra space in the attic, creating storage nooks under stairwells will give her the storage space she is so desperate for.

It Boils Down to Livability

It boils down to livability. She wants to know how her family will live and function in the home. If enough of her requirements match what you are selling, you will be scheduling a closing date very soon.

Fresh Perspectives specializes in vacant home staging, model home staging, and property redesign to appeal to the woman home buyer in the Nashville, TN market. For more information on staging your home to sell contact Anthea Click at 615-465-8086 or visit our website, fresh-perspectives.com.

I recently received a phone call from a homeowner who had her home on the market for 6 months with very little traffic. She had moved out of state and left her vacant home, thinking it would sell quickly. She called Fresh Perspectives to provide a bid to stage her home, hoping that staging would make the difference in selling the home.

As I pulled up to her home I was intrigued by the adorable historic home I was about to view. Most homes in this part of town are built in the early 1900's and have been completely renovated with hip, modern amenities or restored back to their original beauty. These homes have beautiful mill-work, tall ceilings, and original fireplaces in bedrooms, dining rooms, and sitting rooms. The only negatives are the chopped up rooms and the lack of the open, flowing floor-plans like the ones that are so popular today.

As I entered I began to see the challenges this home was facing. It certainly had all the beautiful mill-work, pocket doors, tall ceilings, and fireplaces that make these homes so appealing, but it also had a mix of contemporary (80's) fixtures and some bright, funky colors. It was very confusing for today's buyer. If the buyer wanted an originally restored home - they would be disappointed with all the bright colors and updated (but outdated) renovations. If the buyer wanted an older home with a modern touch - they were disappointed with the outdated fixtures and lack of flow. One room was true to the original time period - the next was not.

What to do? There were issues I knew any buyer would not be able to get past: some of the paint colors and the dated fixtures. We provided an honest assessment. Sure we could stage the home, but let's deal with the issues any buyer wouldn't get past, first! Neutralize the bright colors, update the dated 80's fixtures, and let's get this house scrubbed from top to bottom!

No matter how good a staging job we do, buyers still won't get past the bright lime green walls and the 80's Hollywood light fixtures - making this home a huge turn-off.

It's much better to have a neutral, clean vacant home then a staged home that is confusing and outdated.

Fresh Perspectives is a home staging company specializing in vacant home staging, model home staging, and property redesign for the Greater Nashville real estate community. For an honest assessment of your home contact us 615-465-8086 or www.fresh-perspectives.com.