Lori Donegan

It takes a smart home seller to realize that putting their home on the market is more than just popping a "For Sale" sign in the yard. It takes lots of work and preparation to put your property in it's best shape for showing.

It's a proven fact that once you have lived in a house for a few years--you can no longer see it objectively. There needs to be fresh "buyer's eyes" to show you how to present and emotionally connect with those coming to view your house. Most people think that surely anyone can see past my clutter and see how pretty my house really is! That is definitely NOT true. Clutter and too much furniture is very distracting to most people who enter, and statistics show that only 10% of home buyers can visualize and see past the clutter.

Here are some examples: This is a beautiful kitchen--anyone can see that, but there are things that distract you from seeing the real beauty. There are knives hanging on the backsplash, tons of spice jars on the hood, a breadbox, and other kitchen utensils, spices and too much distraction on display. There are also too many books in the island book nook. De-cluttering and turning on all the beautiful lights were a surefire way to get a great photo for this seller to advertise their most valuable asset--a spacious well appointed kitchen, with plenty of storage space.

#1 on your list of important things to do before putting your home on the market is: DE-CLUTTERING!!

Be smart and hire a professional to guide you in preparation to sell.

Call Ready 2 Stage Home Staging & Redesign--serving Southeast Tennessee--Athens, Cleveland, Sweetwater, Dayton, and all surrounding areas.

BEFORE AFTER

These photos are of home that was recently staged by Ready 2 Stage Home Staging & Redesign in Sweetwater, Tennessee. The home seller is also a Realtor and understands the importance of having a home properly prepared BEFORE putting it on the market. The home was prepared keeping the maximum ROI in mind and an offer was received within 8 days of listing. Negotiations were not finalized so the property is still for sale, but interested buyer's should act quickly.

Click the link below to view a flyer of this valuable property:

http://www.realestateshows.com/flyer.php?id=448057

Our most recent staging job was a bit of an experiment.

A Realtor had a new listing that needed a bit of help, but they couldn't afford a full-blown staging. The Realtor asked if we could do "Photo Staging"--bring in some accessories and stage JUST for the photos. She (The Realtor) also wanted to pay at closing. Having worked with her before and knowing that I could trust her, I thought that I would give it a try.

The week prior, I popped in to this little house for a quick 15 minute consultation to see what kind of accessories that I would need. These homesellers had made some great updates to their home and had fairly nice furnishings and accessories to work with.

The following week, after coming up with somewhat of a plan, I threw a few accessories into the READY 2 STAGE mobile and hit the road. We arrived at 11:00 a.m. and walked out at 1:00 p.m. They had completed MOST of the suggestions that I had left for them to have done before staging day, so it all went pretty smoothly. The results were beautiful and all of us were pleased. I wasn't entirely happy to remove the accessories that we had brought in, but we tried to leave it in the best showing shape possible.

The Realtor has now told me that within 3 days there were 6 showings and 1 offer on this place! And, by the way, the Realtor went ahead and penned me a check when the job was done. She was pretty confident that the closing would be soon.

What do you think of this idea?....I'm sure there will be some skeptics, but it was a fun and relatively easy job, and I truly believe that it will help educate home sellers and Realtors in this area and bring staging to the forefront a little bit more. Enjoy the pics!

Well, it happens every time! I try my best to take a photo of a beautifully staged bathroom, but I keep showing up in the picture myself.

This bathroom was especially challenging! Almost every wall was sporting a mirror. As it ends up, I found myself lying on the floor shooting upward--probably a good idea--you can get the beautiful light fixtures that way!!

I am finding bathroom photography to be the most challenging. Most of the bathrooms are so small that a decent picture of it is nearly impossible. You don't really want a picture of a toilet--all bathrooms have those.....you can't really stand in front of the vanity to take your picture because you will get a huge flash and your wonderful reflection.

Not a very attractive photo, but that's just about the best that you can do with a bathroom this size. Let's just face it small bathrooms are just that-- small bathrooms. Should you show them on the listing website? Everyone knows what a toilet looks like. I have decided that unless there is something spectacular about a small bathroom, that I should just leave it out of the photo line-up. What's your opinion?

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of setting up an information booth at our local "Pumpkintown Festival." The set-up fee for an information only booth was $25, so I thought--WHY NOT?? I have had a difficult time educating and getting the word out about staging in our little city, so I decided that this would be a great way to introduce Athens, Tennessee to READY 2 STAGE HOME STAGING & REDESIGN.

The early morning hours of set-up day were quite rainy. When we arrived at 9:00 a.m. to prepare, the streets were still a bit wet. October being a very unpredictable month weather-wise, I wasn't sure whether the day would require cold drinks or warm drinks--so I provided both. Bottles of water and cups of hot apple cider (both labeled with the R2S name--of course!) attracted many to help themselves to a drink, and watch the slide show of Before & After pics while they were there.

I also offered a FREE kid craft--bookmarks with a nice poem and a pumpkin to color were placed on a table at the side of our booth. This gave me a chance to talk to the parents while the kids were busy working! And I didn't forget the drawing for a FREE consultation--which provided me with names and e-mail addresses to add to my contact list!

Being at Pumpkintown was a lot of fun and I feel like I made some good contacts for my business. But, most of all I saw so many friends, family and acquaintances that I haven't visited with in a while. I encourage you to get out in your community and get yourself known, by participating in festivals and other community events.

Oh by the way, as we were loading up at the end, a lady walked by and offered me $20 for one of my pumpkin flower arrangements. So, there was nearly all of what I paid for my set-up fee! Go figure!!