Ryan Dressel, Sacramento Staging & Design

Check out this beauty! At this price it is not going to last very long on the market...Great Neighborhood. For more information & pictures please click the link below.

http://www.realestateshows.com/flyer.php?id=417691

Staging Your Home for a Quick Sale

by Ryan Dressel

Home Staging is the very best proven way to get top dollar for your home as you prepare it for sale. Having your home staged by a Professional Home Stager will aid in selling it faster and for more money!

Staging sets the scene throughout the entire house to create immediate buyer interest in your property. This leads to your home selling for the highest possible price in today's market. Remember, "The way you live in your home, and the way you market and sell your home are two different things."

It is very difficult for a homeowner to look at their home objectively, and if you can't look at something objectively then you cannot market it effectively. You've got one shot to make a great first impression.

Home staging isn't as expensive as you might think! First of all, forget what you have seen about home staging on HGTV. The television shows that depict home staging often have very little to do with the real world practice of preparing your home for sale. Staging your home is much less expensive than having to lower your asking price by 20 percent to 40 percent.

The first step to take is to make an impartial assessment of your home. Is it furnished? Does it look dated? Is it cluttered? Is it dirty? Does it have curb appeal? What does my back yard look like?

Most professional home stagers In the Northern California area, will typically offer to do a consultation that should cost between $100 and $500, depending on the size of the home. They will come to your home, spend about an hour with you, and prepare a document that will guide you, room by room, through what you need to do to prepare your home for sale.

Along with the consultation document, they will also give you a proposal of what it will cost for them (rather than you, the homeowner) to do the work.

If your budget does not allow a full staging, a professional home stager should work with what you can afford. Instead of doing the staging for you, they will act as a consultant to your project and will visit you several times in order to guide you through the staging. This will substantially reducing the staging fee.

On average, a complete full home staging for an occupied house should cost between $500 to $5,000, again depending on the size of the home and the full extent of what needs to be done.

If the house is unoccupied (whether it is new construction or simply vacant), the cost of the professional staging can be a little more costly, but remember a vacant home will not sell as fast and usually doesn't sell for top dollar.

If you have ever looked at a model home fully furnished and then went into the same model home unfurnished you understand completely why. You tend to spend less time in the un-staged home and tend to look for and see its faults.

When staging the home you will always want to invest in the main living areas: Kitchen, Living room(s), dining room(s) and Master bedroom and bath. These are the rooms that potential buyers will spend the most time in and critique the most. Don't forget the front and back yard. A potential buyer will drive right by your house if they don't like the what they see. Think curb appeal.

Emotion makes the biggest impact on a buyer! When we stage a home, we are creating an emotion that appeals to a broad group of people.

You will want to consider who your target market is? Whether it is a car, clothes or a house; we make purchases with emotion, we fall in love with it, we've got to have it, we imagine a better life by having it.

Outdated furniture, the incorrect placement of furniture and décor, outdated décor and personal items such as family photos, shampoo bottles in the shower, toothbrushes on the bathroom counter and especially dirty laundry laying around completely detracts from that positive emotion.

When finding a professional home stager in your area, you will want to look at their past work, ask to see their portfolio or check out their Web sites. Ensure that your stager is Certified and is licensed and insured. You want to make sure that your professional home stager is a full time stager and is available to you. You are not only buying their service, you are buying their expertise and personality.

Ryan Dressel is a successful and sought after home stager, having recently been featured on HGTV's The Big Reveal. He is the owner of Stage Right Designs and can be reached at 916-517-5710 or www.StageRightDesignLLC.com

Home Staging is the very best proven way to get top dollar for your home as you prepare it for sale. Having your home staged by a Professional Home Stager will aid in selling it faster and for more money! Staging sets the scene throughout the house to create immediate buyer interest in your property. This leads to your home selling for the highest possible price in today's market. Remember, "The way you live in your home, and the way you market and sell your home are two different things." It is very difficult for a homeowner to look at their home objectively, and if you can't look at something objectively then you cannot market it effectively. When you decide to sell your car you will more than likely get it detailed and keep it clean in order to get the best price. When you go on an interview for a new job, hopefully you take a shower and dress up. You put your best foot forward. You must do the same thing to your house. Not only keep it clean but have it staged. You've got one shot to make a great first impression.

Home staging isn't as expensive as you might think! First of all, forget what you have seen about home staging on HGTV. The television shows that depict home staging often have very little to do with the real world practice of preparing your home for sale. Staging your home is much less expensive than having to lower your asking price by 20% to 40%.

The first step to take is to make an impartial assessment of your home...

•· Is it furnished?

•· Does it look dated?

•· Is it cluttered?

•· Is it dirty?

•· Does it have curb appeal?

•· What does my back yard look like? What does my garage look like? My Closets, YIKES!

Most professional home stagers In the Northern California area, will typically offer to do a consultation that should cost between $100 and $500, depending on the size of the home. They will come to your home, spend about an hour with you, and prepare a document that will guide you, room by room, through what you need to do to prepare your home for sale. Along with the consultation document, they will also give you a proposal of what it will cost for them (rather than you, the homeowner) to do the work.

If your budget does not allow a full staging, a professional home stager should work with what you can afford. Instead of doing the staging for you, they will act as a consultant to your project and will visit you several times in order to guide you through the staging. This will substantially reducing the staging fee.

On average, a complete full home staging for an occupied house should cost between $500 to $5,000, again depending on the size of the home and the full extent of what needs to be done.

If the house is unoccupied (whether it is new construction or simply vacant), the cost of the professional staging can be a little more costly, but remember a vacant home will not sell as fast and usually doesn't sell for top dollar. If you have ever looked at a model home fully furnished and then went into the same model home unfurnished you understand completely why. You tend to spend less time in the un-staged home and tend to look for and see its faults. 90% of home buyers cannot envision scale and furniture placement. A Professional Home Stager can help tremendously in this area. Often, professional stagers are willing to do as much or as little of your home staging as you want. Most professional home stagers in our area have their own inventory of home furnishings, or they outsource to high-end furniture rental companies.

When staging the home you will always want to invest in the main living areas: Kitchen, Living room(s), dining room(s) and Master bedroom and bath. These are the rooms that potential buyers will spend the most time in and critique the most. Don't forget the front and back yard. These area's can often be forgotten. A potential buyer will drive right by your house if they don't like the what they see / curb appeal.

Emotion makes the biggest impact on a buyer! When we stage a home, we are creating an emotion that appeals to a broad group of people. You will want to consider who your target market is? Whether it is a car, clothes or a house; we make purchases with emotion, we fall in love with it, we've got to have it, we imagine a better life by having it. Outdated furniture, the incorrect placement of furniture & décor, outdated décor & personal items such as family photos, shampoo bottles in the shower, toothbrushes on the bathroom counter and especially dirty laundry laying around completely detracts from that positive emotion. We are not only selling a house, we are selling an emotion. You want a buyer to walk in the door and feel that they could live like this if they bought this house. The goal is multiple full price + offers in the first week. I have seen it happen time and time again. However, typically the home stager receives the "help me" phone call after the home has been on the market for months and isn't generating much excitement.

Every room including the back yard, front yard, closets, garages & pantry's must be staged right and look their best!! Potential buyers look at every room and everything. Would you buy a house if someone told you can't look in the closets or go into the garage?

When finding a professional home stager in your area, you will want to look at their past work, ask to see their portfolio or check out their websites. You want to make sure that your professional home stage is a full time stager and is available to you. Ask if they are a certified home stager. Also, consult with your realtor, some have stagers as part of their team or know of a stager that they have used in the past. Your Realtor & Stager should be able to work together positively and flawlessly in order to get the house sold. Don't make your decision completely on price, remember you get what you pay for. A professional home stager should be able to work within your budget and give you the very best fair price. After all, on average every $100 you spend on staging your home you get $349 return on investment. - 2007 National Association of Realtors. Like any other service you should like the stager and be comfortable working with them. You are not only buying their service, but you are buying their expertise and personality.

As a professional home stager I believe these items to be the most important:

1. At least consult with a stager, it is very difficult to look at the home you've lived in objectively. Your taste, as fabulous as they are, may not be the taste of potential buyers. And you won't be able to market it effectively.

2. Ensure that your stager & realtor have at least 20 great photos of the house and that the property is going to be marketed to its fullest potential. 80% of potential buyers will put together their "tour of homes" by looking at pictures on the internet first. The more the better. For example if there isn't a photo of the kitchen the buyer may think something is wrong with it. Curb appeal, that same 80% of potential buyers will then drive your neighborhood, if they don' like the way it looks from the outside, they will keep on driving. These are two important hurdles you must overcome just to get the buyer in the door.

3. Once you have the buyer in the door, the house needs to be 100% perfectly staged, at least the main living areas. It needs to be clean and spotless. I always tell my clients, "Nobody in their right mind lives like this, but you have to if you are serious about selling this house fast and for top dollar." Start packing now, it helps to eliminate the clutter and the unnecessary items.

4. You need to be able to leave your home within 15 to 20 minutes if a Realtor calls and wants to show the property. Make a list of quick "to do's" and have it handy for when you get that call. You have to be accommodating as difficult and as irritating as it can be, you are trying to sell the house.

5. Once the house is ready for the market, have open houses. Ask your stager to participate they may even be willing to share in the cost with the Realtor. Do an open house just for realtors. Make the open house fun and exciting, be different, have a BBQ, make it a party. Your Realtor & Stager should be able to help you.

Stage Right Design has found that staging offices and lobbies has increased our business by 40% in this tough market. This is a fantastic way to broaden your services base and branch out. Most companies are now concentrating on Marketing and nothing else. Step out of your home staging comfort zone and run like the wind...the same basic home staging rules apply to businesses as well. You may just find that there is an untapped market in your area. Check out our newest website www.officedesightherapy.com Places (your office / your lobby) that you entertain or meet potential clients must be up to date, clean & put together well.

When your Office is
Center Stage, it needs to
be Staged Right!!

<!-- --><!-- -->You only have one chance to make a good first impression and your potential client will make a judgment about your professionalism, competence and reliability by how your office, lobby and conference areas look. It is a reflection of your values and the value you can bring to your clients.

Stage Right Design will help you create a POSITIVE emotional connection by providing expert guidance on:

• Color & Texture
  
• Furniture placement
  
• Appealing to the 5 senses

Investing in your business environment is an investment in marketing because an office space that does not connect with your potential clients is selling your competition.

If your office is in need of some help, we will provide serious
Office Design Therapy!

Check out our newest website: www.officedesigntherapy.com

For those of you that may find this interesting. I strongly believe that it is very important for everyone to have somewhat of an understanding as to what is happening, as it effects everyone. Following is a concise piece on the Tax Credit portion of the 2009 Stimulus Plan.

The Stimulus Package's More Buyer-Friendly Tax Credit

By Kenneth R. Harney
Saturday, February 21, 2009; F01

Now that Congress has fixed a crucial flaw in last year's home-purchase tax credit, who will be able to make use of the new version? And what about timing: How long do buyers have to locate a house and close the deal?

These are just two of the flurry of questions surrounding the $8,000 housing credit for 2009 authorized by Congress's sprawling $787 billion stimulus plan. So here's a quick rundown on the credit and several other real-estate-related measures in the package.

Although the Senate version of the bill would have created a much more generous and costly tax credit -- up to $15,000 per purchase with no limitation to first-time buyers -- it was quickly rejected in the conference committee. Negotiators added $500 to last year's $7,500 credit and for the 2009 version lifted the requirement that it be paid back.

There's still widespread misunderstanding on the issue, but qualified purchasers who closed in 2008 will not benefit from the 2009 amendments. They're stuck with the old model, and will have to pay back the credit -- more precisely an interest-free loan from the government -- over the coming 15 years.

People who buy homes between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1 of this year may qualify for the $8,000, no-repayment credit. But they'll still have to pass most of the key eligibility tests imposed under the 2008 program.

For example, they must be "first-time" buyers under the 2008 definition: Either they have never owned a house before, or they haven't owned or co-owned one during the three years preceding the date they close on their 2009 purchase.

Carefully planning the timing of your closing could be worth thousands of dollars to you. Say you once owned a house but sold it on March 25, 2006. If you close on a house in 2009 but before March 25, you lose eligibility for the $8,000 credit. Push settlement back to March 26 or later -- anytime before Dec. 1, when the new credit program's eligibility period expires -- and you're $8,000 to the better.

As with the 2008 credit, there's a household income test, as well. The 2009 version phases out eligibility for the credit starting at $75,000 adjusted gross income for single taxpayers, and $150,000 for couples filing jointly. The 2009 program also removes last year's prohibition against purchases financed with state and local tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond programs, which are popular among moderate-income home buyers in many parts of the country. This year such loans won't eliminate your eligibility for the $8,000 credit.

Under the 2009 program, the house you buy must be used as your principal residence, not a second home or investment property. But that residence can take a wide variety of forms, including "houseboats, housetrailers, cooperative apartments, condominiums," among others, according to IRS rules.

Congressional sponsors of the revised tax credit program offered no projections of how many home sales are likely to be stimulated this year by the no-repayment feature, but the National Association of Realtors has weighed in with its own estimates: 300,000 more houses will sell during 2009 as a direct result of the credit. Add in the so-called "ripple effects" -- spending on furnishings, appliances, remodeling materials, brokerage commissions, moving costs, etc. -- and the economic jolt could be significant over a relatively short period.

Other sections of the stimulus package that haven't received much attention, but still could benefit large numbers of owners and buyers, include:

· An increase in the maximum mortgage amounts permitted for funding by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration -- essentially a rollback to 2008's high-cost-area limits, which range as high as $729,750 in the most expensive markets of California and portions of the East Coast such as metropolitan Washington. That's potentially important for all buyers -- not just first-timers -- in those areas because it should open the door to lower interest rates on the big loans they need to purchase even median-priced houses. The current high-cost-area limits top out at $625,500.

· Hefty increases and extensions for tax credits to stimulate "qualified energy efficiency improvements" in existing homes. The expanded credits cover improvements to air-conditioning systems, or natural gas and propane furnaces and water heaters.

· $2 billion in additional funds for local governments and nonprofit groups to enable them to acquire and renovate foreclosed and vacant dwellings that are depressing property values and raising crime rates in neighborhoods hit hard by the housing and mortgage messes.