Susan Peters - The Better it Looks the Better it Sells

About Susan

20 years ago I moved to Seattle and bought an old house that suffered from a "charmectomy". I rolled up my sleeves, opened my checkbook and undertook my first renovation project. By the time I finished, I had the home of my dreams and I found my career as a real estate agent. I've been actively involved in the Seattle market practicing real estate "by design" ever since.

"The better it looks...the better it sells" is more than just my tag line. In real estate as well as in life , you only get one chance to make a first impression. By staging my listings I have consistently been able to get top dollar for my clients in a matter of days instead of weeks or months.

Best of all I don't charge an additional fee for staging. My buyers also benefit greatly from my design experience. Go to http://www.susanpeters.com/ for hundreds of ideas for your own home.

The best of Susan's blog posts:

1. Botox for an Aging Front Door 6. How to Make a Big Impact While Spending Very Little $$
2. Steriods for Your Artwork 7. Kitchen Dragging Your Listing Down?
3. Window Treatments to the Rescue 8. Top Ten Reasons to Spank Your Listing Agent
4. $8 Window Treatments - No Kidding 9. There's a Cute House Buried Under Here Somewhere
5. Big Old Ugly Mirror 10. How Many Plates Can You Keep in the Air?

Susan Peters
"The Better it Looks ... The Better it Sells"
206.781.1724 direct
206.781.1855 fax
http://www.susanpeters.com/
http://mailto:susan@susanpeters.com

Areas of Expertise

In the last 20 years I have remodeled, redecorated and redesigned five properties of my own in addition to staging and listing 100s of properties for my clients. Making window treatments, retrofitting light fixtures, upholstering furniture and creating custom artwork are just a few of the skills I've mastered in the process. I've taken classes in color design, Feng Shui, furniture placement, landscaping, and interior design trends. When you hire me you get the expertise of an agent, staging specialist, designer, photo stylist and a copy writer. It's like hiring a small advertising agency. I live, eat and breath real estate design.

Testimonials

Letter of Reference
Susan Peters


Although this letter may be lengthy, it will be worth your time to read it. The difference that was made in the sale of my condo and the purchase of my new home was nothing short of amazing, due simply by letting my Realtor do what she loves to do and what she does best.

To start off, having Susan Peters as my Realtor netted me far more money than I would have made if I had tried to sell by myself. I’m not exaggerating here – I made at least $40,000 more on the sale of my condo than I expected to – and that was after paying her commission.

Before I spoke with Susan about pricing, I thought I would list my condo for $225,000 and I would have felt I’d done well if I had sold it for $215,000 since the comps for the type of condo in my complex showed a maximum sales price of $235,000 for a totally updated unit, which mine wasn’t. With Susan's expertise, my condo ended up selling for $269,990 – far beyond my expectations. And the purchase of my new home was as smooth and profitable as I could have wished for. Here’s my story:

I had found a house on my own that was perfect, but it was already “sold subject to inspection”. Although I had let go, Susan started watching the market continually and when the offer fell through a week later, she was on the phone to me with in hours of it reappearing on her active search. Due to her focus and fast action I got my offer accepted without having to compete with anyone else.

Next came the inspection period and that’s where having a good inspector's expertise was invaluable. He went through it with a fine tooth comb. Meanwhile, Susan offered her insight as to how I could make decorating changes for very little money. In addition to making the whole purchase process an easy one, her win-win negotiating style motivated the seller to complete many repairs and make a generous financial concession as well.

However, with the closing of escrow, it meant I had to get moved into my new house and have my condo ready to put on the market in 2 weeks. I couldn’t see how this was going to happen as I hadn’t packed a thing and I had done nothing to get my property ready for sale.

This is where Susan and her team became worth their weight in gold. First, my condo needed some repair work, new carpeting and repainting. Susan selected the perfect paint color and had a crew out to my house, working 12 hours each day over that weekend. They had the entire condo finished with everything completed, including the installation of new drapes throughout. All of the renovation and repairs were handled efficiently and economically. Susan knew exactly how to advise me as to what issues I needed to address and what I could leave alone, thus saving me thousands of dollars in repair and updating. My town house was now in top shape and looked brand new…a perfect blank canvas.

The next step was the staging. This was particularly important since I have very specific taste in antiques and Victorian accents, which appeals to a fairly narrow group of people. Two days later, after I was settled into my new house, Susan arrived at my condo with a moving van chocked full of furniture, artwork and accessories. She then transformed this empty space into a beautifully decorated home. Susan’s innate skill for being able to bring out the best in a home and make it appeal to a broad sector of the market is phenomenal. I couldn’t believe I had ever lived there or that it could look so stylish!

To complete the picture, she hired a professional photographer to shoot the listing photos. The virtual tour was amazing. This was the final touch that made all the difference between how my condo was presented on a real estate search.

There was just no comparison to my competition with their amateur photos and either no staging or little guidance in how to present their properties in the best light.

Susan had both pushed me a little to get my condo on the market before Memorial Day weekend, not because it would be a big weekend for traffic, but because of her experience she knew that after that weekend many more properties would be listed and they wanted mine to be one of the first to be considered. It worked! Exactly 10 days after I closed on my new house, my condo hit the market and within a week and a half I had received 3 offers. At the time my property was listed, there were 2 others in the complex which had been on the market for several weeks. Both were much larger units than mine and both had just dropped their asking price. My condo sold for more than either one and closed way before theirs did, thus saving me months of double house payments. I ended up netting so much more than I had dreamt of. As a result, I have been able to complete projects in my new home that I thought would be put off for years.

When it came to follow through, Susan was always available, no matter what. I never felt ignored or like I was “just another commission”. I was given the very best service I’ve ever had through these types of transactions and I’ve been through several of them with different agents.

To sum up my rather long-winded story, I cannot emphasize enough what a huge difference it made to use Susan rather than going it alone. It was tempting to check out the “Do it Yourself” or “Discount Broker” route and save what seemed like thousands of dollars in commission. I could not have been more incorrect. After all was said and done, I wouldn’t be living in my dream house and I would have lost far more money than I paid in commission. And believe me; she more than earned every penny of it, along with my deepest gratitude and appreciation. If you want to get the best result for your purchase and/or sale, I cannot recommend Susan and her team more highly. If you wish to speak with me in person regarding Susan Peters, please do not hesitate to call me – you’ll get a glowing and well-earned review!

Sincerely,

Lise Van Deusen
425-252-8096

"Susan's new program Instant Interiors is transformational! I now feel like I'm staying at my very own Four Seasons Resort! In just an afternoon Susan came in and quickly assessed my interior design style, current situation, and budget, and used that to create a space that supports my lifestyle.

She rolled up her sleeves and helped me to move existing furniture and curios, hang pictures, and re-arrange the built-in bookcase to get the most impact. Susan taught me how placement, location and color of the interior effects my life, using the principles of Feng Shui. She staged my home for living, to where our greatest assets were showcased, and the impact of a sofa waiting-for-reupholstering is minimized. At the end of the session I had a do-able list of projects complete with color palate, dimensions and model numbers for further improvements, everything from "drop this picture off for framing" to "I'll let you know when I see slipper chairs on sale".

She introduced me to types of furniture and lighting that would serve to create distinct spaces with harmonizing transitions where a thoughtless jumble of furniture existed before. The transformation so inspired me, I accomplished some long-dormant projects like wall-paper removal and interior painting! Now I'm excited to entertain, and to just come home to an oasis of pleasing comforts in a designerly composition at the end of the day." - Dr. Tolle Murphy

"Thank you so much for helping us with our house. I thoroughly enjoyed our work together. You're creative and practical and so much fun to have around! You give me confidence that I'm spending money on the right things in our house - not only things that I'll enjoy but will add value to the house. You have definitely found your calling!" -Susan Youngsman