Kathleen Stuart - (Let's wrap it up & sell it!)

I'm not exactly sure when I turned into a Geek-Wannabe but here I am. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that Home Staging would bring me to this point and ActiveRain members (Carolyn Wright, Bill Gassett and Renee Burrows to name just a few) get a lot of the blame/credit. The more I learn about Social Networking the deeper into the abyss I go.

It started innocently enough with the tease of a Free Website. Since I'd worked as an Admin for about 100 years and the majority of my software experience was self-taught, this was an exciting new challenge. After all, every business needs a website, right? It gives you credibility. Then there are all the ways to market yourself without actually leaving the comfort of home and at any time of day. Such a deal!

Unlike Realtors and avid fans of HGTV, when someone decides to sell their home, Staging it does not pop up on their mental radar. In order to market to these people they almost need to find you by accident and all sorts of people need me - they just don't know it!

Along came ActiveRain and the Daily Mail Drop. That's where I've learned the most about the almost unlimited number of places I can "expose myself". Facebook and Twitter are a given but then there's StumbleUpon, Ning, and Squidoo, just to name a few.

So there you have it. Thanks, ActiveRain for creating a monster! I have to stand up now. I think my legs are falling asleep.

Last week I had my first Vendor Booth Experience at the Tri-Cities Taste of Home Show. As per usual, it was another learning experience. Aside from the trip back home for an extension cord and duct tape, and a quick stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some fabric to cover the table (only sides were skirted) things went fairly well. I had enough time to revise my Booth Check-List and visit with other vendors.

It was a sell-out crowd with vendors lining the perimeter. I was ideally located in Booth #4 (between Pure Eire Organic Dairy and the Oasis School,) and everyone standing in line for food was a "captive audience". Although Home Staging is not generally associated with Cooking Demonstrations the audience was mostly women, long acknowledged as The Decision Makers. I wanted Brand exposure and got it.

Next vendor opportunities will be in October for the Tri-City Women's Expo and Regional Chamber Open for Business. Can't wait!

"I was born in Saginaw, Michigan”. Aside from being the opening line in a song sung by Lefty Frizzell, it’s the truth. I left in 1985 and over the years moved across the country one time zone at a time to where I currently reside in Richland, Washington.

Over the years Saginaw was the birthplace of other, much more famous people: Stevie Wonder, Serena Williams, S. Epatha Merkerson, Brian d'Arcy James, to name a few. From artists to musicians to football players to poets they call Saginaw their home town.

Last week I was back there due to a death in the family and it was painfully obvious just how long ago my childhood was.

In those days downtown Saginaw was a bustling place full of prosperous businesses, many of them located in beautiful buildings. More often than not we would see Mr. Peanut strolling along Genesee Street, a walking advertisement for Planters Peanuts. There were 3 “dime stores”, Woolworth’s, Kresge’s and Grant’s.

Among the large department stores were Winkleman’s, Weichmann’s, Lieberman’s, Heavenrich's and of course, Jacobson’s. Morley Brothers was one of the largest hardware stores in the Midwest and every Christmas people would flock to their windows to see the animated figurines in holiday settings.

The Temple Theater and its competitor, The Franklin Theater showed all the latest movies. The Temple also hosted a Christmas party every year for the children of General Motors employees, an event I thoroughly enjoyed.

At least some buildings still stand. The former Post Office is now the Castle Museum but Hoyt Library remains as it was intended.

The Bancroft Hotel, one of the finest hotels in the area, is now low-cost housing.

Seeing Saginaw now you would never guess just how vibrant it once was. When I was a child it was safe to walk the streets. Now Wikipedia states: “According to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics Saginaw has ranked as the number one most violent city in America from 2003 through September of 2008 when the most recent statistics were released. The ranking is based on violent crimes per person for cities with populations greater than 40,000. Included in the definition of violent crimes are murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.”

Now the department stores are gone and most of the buildings that housed them. Some business hang on tenaciously but for the most part, Saginaw seems to be a ghost town that has died a long and painful death.

Today is about enjoying a beautiful sunshiny drive so we decided to go to Dayton for lunch and a little light shopping. For the life of me, I don’t know why Papa Bear suggested it because he’d rather be staked to an anthill than shop but……there ya have it. (In this past year since my daughter, Lisa, has been living with us, we've somehow come to refer to ourselves as Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. Go figure.)

We had a great day and I got plenty of pictures along the way. This process is always somewhat aggravating for Papa Bear because I’m always yelling “stop here!” to which he generally replies “there’s a truck behind me”.

After lots of braking and backing up, we finally arrived at our destination, beautiful downtown Dayton. Papa, Mama and Baby were all starving so we strolled through town looking for someplace to have lunch.

Happily we found Skye Book & Brew, a charming little restaurant on Main Street and lunch was yummy. I ordered a BLT that must have had a half pound of B! Our waitress said they got a complaint once that there wasn’t enough bacon in the sandwich. NO MORE!

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking off lunch and checking out the historic buildings. Dayton is a charming little town. I can understand why Lewis & Clark came through here!

OK, we all know about home staging.....or do we? HGTV makes it all look so simple. The Stager comes to your house and in half an hour it rivals the Taj Mahal. Lemme tell ya folks it ain't that easy!

Let's take House #1. The owners have lived there for 20 years and take pride in every square foot. The house was 10 years old when they bought it and they've spent time and money on upgrading and repairs. They also taught their kids how to respect the home in which they live. These homes are a stager's dream. With some decluttering and removal of the personal pictures of the family, the home is ready for an Open House within a week or so and Martha Stewart is there taking notes.

Then we come to House #2. The owner is a contractor and they've lived there for 20 years. This is what greets you in the front hall. (The lady of the house had this painted by an artiste friend of her hairdresser.)

Since he works on houses all day nothing has been updated since it was built in 1973. He does, however, love to hunt and there are Bambi heads and a stuffed bear in the great room.

The goal of every stager is to draw attention to the positive features in a home. That's obviously harder in some homes than others but it is possible. Not everyone lives in a house that looks like a picture in Architectural Digest and not all Stagers have a warehouse full of high end furniture and a staff of worker bees. We do what we can to help the Realtor and the Homeowner achieve an acceptable offer in a reasonable amount of time.