Home Stager Karen Hubert

I am so happy to report that one of the agents I work with on a regular basis and have built a partnership with has won the RESA Realtor of the year award for 2011. Doug Folsetter from Remax Escarpment Realty Inc. in Hamilton Ontario. The winners of the 2011 RESA awards were announced at the 2011 RESA Convention in Las Vegas January 23, 2011.

Congratulations Doug!!!!!!! Way to support home staging as a valid addition to your business.

I had the opportunity to attend the Canadian Staging Professionals Conference in Las Vegas as an extra day after the Real Estate Staging Association Conference.

It was a fabulous day of people sharing their expertise.

Teresa Robertson of "Design to Go" winner of the CSP mentor of the year for 2010.  Teresa shared with the group her ideas "to help grow and manage a successful staging business."

Nairn Friemann, president of "Ingenuity & Pizzazz, Inc." shared "Mastering the Art of Difficult Conversations with sellers in 10 simple steps."

From the "Social Media Academy For Women".

Francine Allaire shared steps for "using Flip Video's and some simple scripts to increase your visibility on Social Media".

Forbes called Francine one of the "Top 20 Women for Entrepreneurs" to follow on Twitter for advice on business,marketing and technology.

Also from the "Social Media Academy For Women" :

Cindy Ratzlaff guides us through "the steps of using Twitter lists to increase your visibility on Twitter.

Lisa McKenzie guides us through "the steps of creating powerful, targeted Facebook ads."

Other guests included

Tara Savelle, owner of "Home on Display" shows us her "secret formula to securing lunch and learns in Real Estate Offices.

Kelly Ralph talks about team building in your business.

Jackson West of "Revealestate" and one of our own Activerain friends shows us "How to Write an Attention Grabbing Professional Bio."

Kimberley Seldon, well known interior designer spoke about the "Business of Design".  She has written a book and she did a book signing during the conference. 

I learned a lot from Kimberley and during her whole presentation I was sure she was talking about me. Highly motivating us to take care of the business part of home staging.  She says "80% business and 20% design".

Christine Rae, President of Canadian Staging Professionals had her sister, Lynne Corfield, speak to us again.  I have heard her speak 3 times now and she is always an inspiration.

Our keynote was Bodine Balasco - Focusing on "The Master Method for Creating Desired Results in Challenging Times".

I really enjoyed Bodine.  He is a magician as well as a wonderful speaker and presenter.

 Take a look at some of his presentation on this video.

 I enjoyed the conference very much and can't wait until the next one. I flew over the Grand Canyon via Dallas to Toronto.

The Real Estate Staging Association Annual Conference in Las Vegas was a huge success. The RESA conference was held in January and approximately 400 stagers from all over North America were there.

Although there were many hi-lights from the RESA conference event the top three for me were:

1. Jackson West from "Reveal Estate" home staging.

Jackson's presentation for the RESA conference was "How to Close More Sales and Raise Your Profits by Perfecting Client Proposals".
I learned a great deal and am now putting together a template for my own Client Proposal.

2. Christine Rae from "Certified Staging Professionals".

Christine is very passionate about going green and especially being green in your home staging business.
Some things Christine shared about the state of our water here on the planet was eye opening.

There is an organization called "One Drop". They are working hard around the world to make our water safe and to preserve our earths water supply.

To find out more and how you can help visit www.onedrop.org

3. Key-Note Speaker Matthew Finlason from "The Stagers" HGTV was very entertaining to listen to. He taught me to tell a story about who would be a buyer for a property. His humour was greatly appreciated.

A great time was had by all and I can't wait for next year.

To view the video of the RESA Home Staging Conference follow this link

RESA Conference Video

Thank you to all who shared. I took something away with me from everyone. I couldn't get enough. Thank you to the panel of experts for sharing their experiences and helping me to realize I am on the right track with my home staging business.

In one of my previous posts, I shared Hamilton/Halton Real Estate Staging Association Chapter's Charity of choice "Wall's of Hope".

Sera Mansueto, the founder of "Wall's of Hope" was being honoured by Debbie Travis as an unsung hero in Oakville for her generous and hard work in helping families in the Oakville area.

The show "All For One" was taped at the end of August and aired on October 31.

Many of our RESA chapter members were part of the 5 day project honouring Sera .

It was an exciting, exhausting, and educational 5 days.

Here are some pictures of some of our RESA Chapter members. You might recognize some of them.

Linda Graydon from "Soulscape Interiors" was chosen by Debbie Travis as the Design Crew Leader. It was a very stressful 5 days.

Igor from "Restaurant Makeover" was there to lend a hand and he taught Charlene from "Dezigner Digz" and I how to use a Nail Gun.

Here I am Karen Hubert from "Center Stage Design" being wired for sound by the crew. Debbie is checking out our work. The guys stole our nail gun so back to basics.

I am painting a trunk for one of Sera's daughters room. What do you think of this colour? Allison Roberts of "Burloak Home Staging and Decorating" gives Charlene a hand making the bed.

Anne Vernon from "Rooms 'n Blooms" gives Linda a hand. Luisa Giaitzis from "Absolute Simplicity" enjoys painting and Patrick Fornasari from "Studio Linea' was a big help during the project. All members of our Hamilton/Halton RESA Chapter. Thank you for giving of your time for someone very worthy.

Some carrying on with Debbie. Charlene, myself and Allison. Debbie thinks I am short.

The finished product.

The Reveal

Check out Debbie Travis's website to view the episode if you missed it. This was definitely a "stage it forward" project for the Hamilton/Halton RESA Chapter members.

Hamilton/Burlington Real Estate Staging Association October Chapter Meeting was a big success.

We had many in attendance and some very good presentations.

Linda Graydon shared some photos with the group of our "Wall's of Hope" project.

Linda also shared a slideshow of the "Debbie Travis" project some of us also participated in. Debbie Travis's new show is"All For One".

This is me listening intently to what Debbie is telling me.

Also during the meeting I shared the picture hanging tip I learned here on Activerain via Kym Tarr's blog post.

Laurie Carther from "Silklauer" Designs also shared a picture or mirror hanging tip.

Our guest speaker was Anthony Giaitzis from "Stoneridge Insurance Company". He is husband of Luisa Giaitzis who is one of our members.

He has come up with a RESA Group Insurance Plan for our Hamilton/Halton RESA Chapter stagers. Many of our stagers are not CSP's having access to an already great insurance plan. Many of our members are Haverhill, ISP, ASP, and Staging Divas.

Anthony hopes to offer this great deal to other RESA Chapters in Ontario in the hopes of getting the numbers needed for the group plan.

Our sponsor for our meeting was David Hills from "Signaids". He shared with us his business of Estate Mailboxes and glow in the dark house number plates. This service can also be offered through our businesses as a resell program. His giveaway was a number plate. Congratulations to Mara Snider who won this great prize.