Connie Tebyani, Platinum Home Staging Los Angeles to Santa Barbara

I'm currently working on a project that Janice Sutton threw my way (Thank you, Janice!) which involves another high end home in The Oaks, in Calabasas, CA. I am very familiar with this neighborhood, and have done several homes "behind the gates". Let me set the preverbal "stage" for you. The Oaks community is set in a beautiful, guard gated community that welcomes you with a water fountain featuring of a family of deer. It is the ONLY community in CA, which actually has a SECOND GATED community within the gated community - so I'm sure you catch my drift at the $$$ in this neighborhood.

Long story longer: This bachelor has what every bachelor has in his dining room - a POOL TABLE, of course! Well, his Broker suggested using a Stager to get his home up to par, since the exact same floor plan across the street is also for sale. (Thumbs up to him!) His Broker also suggested moving the pool table and making it back into a formal dining room. (no- duh!)

After talking with this home owner several times, we're 99% ready to move forward and I suggest this beautiful, handmade dining room set which seats 8. Everything in the home is Casa de Mexico, handmade, rich woods, terracotta tiles, etc. The dining room is 15' wide by 17' long, so this was my suggestion for a couple hundred bucks a month. Keep in mind, this is the ONLY piece of furniture we have to bring in for him, so this would be his ONLY furniture expense (besides the fact the set retails for over $8,000 - sorry the picture is a bit dark).

So flies in the Broker to save the day! His Broker has "a warehouse of furniture that he uses for staging that we can use for FREE!" - "Great!" I replied, "We can use what he has" - we do this every day, incorporate other pieces into the plan, besides it's only 1 room of the entire 6,000+ square feet of house - right?

Here's the kicker - THIS is the set that the Broker IS CURRENTLY USING in a house right down the street, which he is offering for us to use for free! How generous of him! Thankfully the Home Owner agreed that this set is a bit "weak"....I told him I'd rather leave the pool table where it is than to do his home that injustice...

By the way, this is the set in the house across the street.

That is why people hire experienced, Professional Home Stagers to STAGE homes, not just put furniture in a house....

The Dilemma:
A Teen boy who is a HUGE Star Wars fan but doesn't have anywhere to DISPLAY his collection. Yes, a teenager who actually is into collecting, but he also has 1 of everything to play with. (Mom used to work for Lucas Films ~ which doesn't hurt either). Keep in mind this is a boy who will soon be a teenager, so it needs to be something that can grown with him, but mom wanted to get the TV and video games out of the bedroom. Lastly, the room gets very warm due to the sun beating down on the windows all day, and not very good ventilation.

The Solution:
Floating wall shelves with ample enough space for all the collectables.
Completely new, reversible bedding.
TV is removed from room and replaced with a glass front storage unit for all the books, and top the room off with the COOLEST CEILING FAN EVER!

The cat is real, the dog is fake.

"Where'd the TV go?" you ask. That's the teen LOFT ~ next time!

OK, so we were recently invited by a Broker / Owner of several top producing local offices to present our Staging services and how our services could benefit his Team. Gladly, we accept the offer, and during our presentation I noticed what I'll call a "Power Couple" who I immediately recognized. They are VERY successful, top producers who we have been trying to "get in" with for what seems like years (OK, months, but it feels like years)

Any-who, immediately after our presentation I am immediately approached by Mr. Powercouple with the lead of, "We have a property right around the corner that's vacant that just recently came on the market. Would you have time after the meeting to swing by and take a look?"

Immediately in my head I'm doing the happy dance.

So after the meeting, the Assistant to Mr. & Mrs. Powercouple happily drives me over to the property and explains that it is actually the previous home to the mother of Mrs. Powercouple, who recently passed on. I do the usual, take measurements, take pictures, write a few notes, make a few mental ones and the assistant drives us back to the office. Within 24 hours we have a proposal at a DRASTICALLY reduced rate with all of our "to do's" as the property was in need of some repairs and upgrades for it to be competitive for the area is was located, as well as what we felt was a GREAT PRICE to actually stage the home. We follow up with them twice within the next week with no reply.

Once I finally do get a hold of Mr. Powercouple he eagerly states, "Well we would love to make this a showcase of your work to other Realtors and Brokers...this would be great advertising for your company...We're already losing money on the property..." at this point his voice begins to sound like the voice of Charlie Brown's Teacher "Whah-wha-whaaah, whaaaaaa...." is all I am hearing.

They wanted us to DO IT ALL FOR FREE!!!!!! Not just stage it for free, paint it for free, and upgrade it for free!!!!!

It harkens me back to a recent blog about Realtors or Developers dangling a carrot to trump up more work. I believe myself to be a smart and savvy entrepreneur and business person, as well as I've been told that I have a good fashion sense. Knowing that I don't own, nor would consider modeling a dunce cap,

so tell me - Do I have "chump" stamped on my forehead?

Thanks for letting me vent.

After recent posts about Appraisers who think you can stage using Photoshop, some REA's who "stage" with 10 cents worth of ribbon and are over whelmed to dedicate "a whole closet" in their homes to accessories, developers who want our trade "secrets" for free, etc.... I thought it would be fun to share what's really in our "arsenals" to stage.

We all have our warehouses or rooms (not just closets) dedicated to furniture, accessories, and the like -

so let's show them what it really take to STAGE and to
STAGE THE RIGHT WAY !!!!

Here's a glimpse of what is just in my briefcase that I carry with me, can you imagine what's in my warehouse?

(Business cards, Fabric samples, Wholesale Dist. Catalogs, full line of Behr paints, graph paper, measuring tape, etc and of course my digital camera - but I had to use it to take the picture)

Show us your tools of the trade!

What do you consider as networking?

net·work·ing [net-wur-king]
-noun 1. a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest

Now I challenge each and every one of us to read that again: a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.

Let's break this down into it's simplest form:

... a supportive system of sharing information...
Here on AR, we would all consider ourselves as "Networking" individuals: we read, we comment, we blog, we share ideas, our rants and raves. We have pictures (or in some cases an Avatar) of ourselves for others to recognize us, emails, number, links, groups, subscriptions, associations, etcetctec.
But is this really networking?

...a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups
I must tell you that I truly believe that "Networking" works on so many levels. Being Cyber-spaced or personal, this statement takes "Networking" to a whole new level: the sharing of information and services . How many of us can truly say that?!
Who helps out their fellow Realtor or Stager when they are over loaded or even ask for help?
Who refers their fellow associates when they cannot adequately service the client?

Or do we simply say "MINE-MINE-IT'S ALL MINE!" (envision Daffy-Duck diving into the cave of jewels and grasping the last pearl left)

... a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't our common interest truly the client?
Can you truly, whole heartedly, serve a client located 90 miles away?
Is your time, energy, and sanity worth all that extra travel time, traffic, not to mention the extra cost of gas?
Can a Stager or Realtor truly give exceptional service, BE THERE if something goes awry, or follow up with the client when it will take at least an hour and a half just to get there?

Admittedly I have been there MYSELF - asking MYSELF these very same questions. Kicking myself in the you-know-what, for not answering these questions honestly with MYSELF. I really only tasted true Networking for the first time over the past couple of days. Let me explain:

As a Stager in the greater Los Angeles area, I am receiving a greater number of requests for Staging in areas where I simply cannot adequately serve the customer. I'm talking areas 1-2 hours travel time (in GOOD traffic) just to have a consultation or estimate - process of elimination tells me my fellow Stagers are probably getting the same requests from where I am located. So I contacted a few Stagers in various areas: Orange County, Inland Empire, etc where we have been receiving an increased number of calls. Via email, I asked if these Stagers would like to have a "Partnership" of links through our websites, so that potential clients would have options found in their areas, and in kind, have a link to our website.

Mind you our calendar if FULL, and as much as we would LOVE to jump on every prospective client that calls us - honestly, it's just not feasible. So what do I do?
I "Networked" - with a capitol "N".
I referred one potential client to my "Partner" Orange County, and another to a new found "Partner" in Pasadena. Knowing that the CLIENTS will be taken care of gave me so much more satisfaction and piece of mind, than worrying about scheduling and spending 2 days driving from one property to another. Now I can truly focus on my current clients and give them the service they deserve.

Hopefully, more of us will do this to better serve our CLIENTS - just food for thought: don't eat too much though - it might give you a stomach ache.

www.PlatinumHomeStaging.com