Sharon Tara New Hampshire Home Stager

If you are selling in Rye Beach, NH - Do you still need home staging?

It was declared an "earthly paradise" by Captain John Smith in 1614, and the town of Rye, New Hampshire continues to live up to that description today.

Along Rye's majestic eight miles of coastline are some of the most beautiful and oldest homes on the Seacoast.

Location, Location, Location....right? With a location like Rye Beach, who needs home staging?

I was recently hired by a realtor to do a home staging consult for a seller who was under the impression that his "Rye location" was enough.

Not only had he overpriced the home, but it needed updating, cleaning and some major decluttering.

This seller didn't think he needed to make any of the improvements I suggested. He didn't think he needed to lower the price, as the Realtor suggested. He felt confident in his Rye Beach location being enough to attract buyers and didn't take my home staging suggestions seriously.

This was several months ago, and this seller has not seen much interest from buyers.

Rye Beach may be known as the Gold Coast of New Hampshire

and

Barron's Magazine may have named it one of the top twenty places in the world to retire,

but that doesn't mean you can put your house on the market, without making sure it is prepared to meet the expectations of potential buyers, and expect to get top dollar for it.

There are expectations to be met and today's buyers must be impressed.

Rye Beach is a very desireable place to call home, but is your home desireable to potential buyers?

Home staging will help sell your Hampton Meadows condo. It is not something most condo owners realize, but home staging is the marketing tool that sets you apart from your competition. Home staging is just what you need to make your home the most memorable and the most appealing.

Yes, Hampton Meadows is a beautiful community, close to the highway and beaches, but location and convenience alone won't be the deciding factor for buyers.

As with most condominium and townhouse communities, Hampton Meadows has multiple homes for sale at any given time. Homes are very similar in design and have identicle floor plans.

For many buyers, the details of the individual homes they tour within the community all seem to blur together by day's end.

This is where home staging can make all the difference.

For the most part, the homes for sale in Hampton Meadows are furnished and decorated in similar style. Just spend some time looking at the photos in MLS and you will see what I'm talking about. The majority of sellers, your competition, are not using home staging, so using it will give you the advantage.

Home staging will take your condo and set it on another playing field, and put it in a league of it's own.

The following photos are from a home in Hampton Meadows that was staged by Sharon Tara Transformations and was one of seven homes that all held an open house the same weekend.

This home, the only one to use a home stager, was the only one to receive an offer that weekend.

Seven homes had an Open House - One home got an offer and SOLD

Home Staging made the difference.

If you are selling a home in Hampton Meadows, consult with a professional home stager, prior to listing, to guarantee that your house is the one that buyers will remember.

What does home staging cost in Portsmouth New Hampshire? For many New Hampshire sellers the concept of home staging remains a fairly new concept, even though it has become very common in other parts of the country.

Even with all the television shows and media attention, there is still alot of misunderstanding when it comes to the subject.

Many sellers are under great financial stress and truly believe they can't afford this service. Home staging in New Hampshire is often perceived as expensive, and unfortunately, by some realtors, as unnecessary.

In many cases, the perceived definition of home staging is the problem.

The most common representation of home staging involves a total remodel - all new furniture and accessories brought in by a team of workers...costing thousands of dollars. Not helping this perception is that many, if not most, home stagers do not list prices for their services and if sellers have to inquire further to find out how much something costs, that traditionally translates into being expensive. Many people will just assume it is too expensive rather than ask price.

Home staging does not have to be expensive and there are levels of service to fit all budgets.

The way home stagers charge for their services varies. Some charge hourly, some by square footage, some have half day and full day rates.

What does home staging cost in Portsmouth, New Hampshire? Sharon Tara Transformations charges $150 for an initial consult, up to two hours. Each additional hour is $70. Basically, you receive a room-by-room walk through with suggestions for ways to improve the appearance and appeal of your house. Furniture placement is addressed and changes are made wherever possible along the way. Before and after photos are taken and photos are made available to the seller and/or agent for use in marketing.

There are many beautiful homes for sale in Portsmouth and the surrounding seacoast area. New Hampshire is not only a great place to raise a family, but a popular vacation destination.

If you plan to sell your home in Portsmouth, make sure to market it wisely. Consult with a professional home stager on it's preparation prior to listing. When you meet with Realtors, ask them if they work with a stager and visit their current listings and see what their MLS photos look like.

It is very frustrating to hear that a client "cannot afford" to stage and then watch as their price is reduced by $20,000 a few months later. Consider the mortgage payment, insurance, and utility payments that are adding up each month your house stays on the market when you are considering cost.

It's not whether you can afford to stage, it's whether you can afford NOT to stage.

For more information on preparing your Portsmouth, New Hampshire home for sale:

Selling Your New Hampshire Home Is A Team Sport

Good News: Home Staging Is Not A Common Practice In NH

Premature Listing Syndrome - NH Stager Cautions Home Sellers

It is not all bad news out there. There are houses selling, there are buyers buying. Many of the Realtors that I know are very busy, the busiest they have been in a long while. Others, are finding it difficult to survive. I have a hard time accepting when a Realtor blames the market and suggests another price reduction as the only option for their clients.

Please don't misunderstand, many times price reductions are warranted.

I'm certainly not saying all agents resort to this practice, but too many times cutting the price is suggested by agents who know no other way.

The key to their marketing plan is to reduce price rather than increase the perceived value of the property.

Many will reduce the price before a home staging consult is even considered. These realtors aren't familiar with what a staging consult involves. They may have a preconceived idea in their head, but no first hand experience with the process or it's value in today's market.

A Home Staging Consult is simply a walk-through of the property. Everything, in the professional opinion of the stager, that needs to be done is pointed out to the seller. The seller can take on the responsibility of preparing the home for sale based on the stagers advice or they can hire the stager to prepare the home for them. Either way, as long as the professional advice is followed, the house will stand a far better chance of finding a buyer without having to lower it's price.

Today's buyer wants move-in ready. A professional home staging consult will guarantee that your house shows well and is emotionally appealing to today's buyer.

Beware the Realtor whose only plan of action is to keep lowering the price!

It is yet another rainy day here on the Seacoast of New Hampshire. If you are one of the lucky ones to have chosen this week for your vacation, you have my sympathy. At this point, what can you do but make the best of it.

With a prediction of more rain throughout the week, I thought you could use some suggestions on things to do in the area.

1. The Mall is the obvious choice, but keep in mind that others will have the same idea. Malls and movie theaters will be crowded. That said, there are three malls in the area, The Fox Run Mall, The Mall of NH, and The Maine Mall.

2. Manchester If you head to the Mall of NH in Manchester, you could also visit the Currier Museum of Art and SEE Science Center.

3. Barrington For less traditional (and less crowded) shopping, visit The Christmas Dove in Barrington. A Christmas wonderland, it is one of the largest Christmas stores in the country. Across the street is Calef's Country Store, famous for their cheese, maple sugar products, gift shop, and country deli.

4. Dover Shopping on the Seacoast would not be complete without a visit to Salmon Falls Stoneware and Red's Shoe Barn in Dover. While there, you could also take the kids to The Childrens Museum of NH and The Woodman Institute.

Other historic and educational choices in the area include:

5. Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord

6. Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point in Rye

7. Albacore Submarine in Portsmouth

8. Kittery, Maine. In addition to all the outlet shopping, the granddaddy of shopping experiences on the Seacoast is Kittery Trading Post with three levels of the most extensive selection of outdoor recreational equipment, clothing and footwear in New England.

9. North Conway There's tons of outlet shopping at Settlers Green Outlet Village and White Mountain Outlets. One of my favorite stops, not to be missed, is Zeb's General Store.

North Conway is also home to New England's only indoor water park, Kahuna Laguna.

10. Local beaches You can still have fun at the beach when the weather isn't cooperating. The children will enjoy hunting for shells and driftwood and the boardwalk at Hampton Beach offers great atmosphere and lots of arcade fun.

11. Weirs Beach in Laconia Home to Funspot, the largest arcade in the world. They have over 500 games, indoor golf, bowling, bingo and even a tavern.

12. Day Spa

If a day at the arcades with the kids isn't your idea of "vacation" then maybe some spa time would be appealing to you.

Eight Winds Wellness Center & Spa in Hampton offers massage therapies and body treatments that will make you forget the rainy weather outside.

Don't let the weather ruin your vacation. Get creative and do something you otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to do. If you have children, the important thing to them is quality time with you...so make some memories!