Virginia Tatseos

The owner of this home is a pure genius.

He's taken a tired ranch and made it into a palace.

Have a look at what he started with. In this photo it's a two bedroom and one bath ranch

and this is what he finished with. It's now a 3 bedroom and 2 full bath.

The master suite is ,excuse the saying, "To Die For"

Yes, I'll give you time to go back and look that the photos again. It is the same house.

While you look at the tour, and I suggest that you look at it several times, you will see that what he has done.

My staging was the icing on the cake.

One of the reasons I like using Real Estate Shows is the way I can point the camera towards something that I really want attention paid to. I really wanted the master closets to show up well.

What I don't like about Real Estate Shows is the restriction on the number of photos.

I had more than 9 photos and less than 15 to create the show. So I had to add some that I normally wouldn't add. I'm not good enough with my photo editing to make changes that I would want to.

This home is currently on the market Jan 2011

Neither snow nor rain nor heat...

Bet you all thought this was a post about the post office. No it's a post about a Stager who had a call to stage two different vacant houses in time for today's open houses.

Normally that wouldn't be that difficult because I know many stagers who do 4-6 houses in a week. Those are stagers with really big crews and most likely better weather than we have in Michigan.

My business specializes in Estate Work Many of these homes have existing furniture, that I usually use to keep the costs down for the client.

I have enough furniture and accessories to stage a couple of homes in a simple fashion. By simple I mean not bringing in real heavy desks, bureaus and china cabinets. When I get those jobs rental furniture will be used.

We wanted to show the space of the rooms so buyers can get a basic idea of the house. They would be able to say that yes they love these houses and could live in them.

Both of these houses were built in the 1920s when space wasn't an issue. They were simply little houses with small rooms.

Another call came in. Someone needs there house de-staged now. The closing that had been delayed is now going to happen in two days.

This was wonderful new for the owners and it turned out to be great for me also. All three houses are within a couple of miles of each other.

My first appointment was to take my sister to her doctors appointment in the morning. Then it was off to the first house to de-stage the house and organize it. My mistake here was not to tour the other two houses that needed staging. I could have avoided a lot of work in the next couple of days by putting the staging items in two rooms. One room was for one house. The other room was for another house.

Then I toured the two houses to be staged.

It was arranged that ALL, this was a vacant house de-staging, my staging items were to be picked up and dropped off at house number one.

Other items that were needed were picked up at my home and taken to house #2.

Then it was off to the stores to buy bedding. My current stock was low.

The stores are empty. Tuesday Morning is closed until next Tuesday. Kohls had a very limited supply. Target was stripped of everything in the linen dept. I even went to Meijer.

Between Christmas shoppers and the January clearance sales the shelves were almost empty.

Friday, staging day,

The staging was complicated by White Out snow storm

This is snow that's blinding. Can't see 2 feet in front of you. It's great to see these on the news when you are comfortable in your home. Not when there is a time line to get things done.

Unloading my linens and accessories was a challenge. The owner didn't leave a snow shovel in either property or salt to melt the Now Ice. There wasn't the time to go home and get them so I just slipped and slided by way to the front door with my heavy boxes.

Of course, because of my poor planning, items I need in one house were in the other. Lots of trips back and forth in the snow.

Saturday the staging was finished and I look forward to the owners and realtors comments.

As soon as the photos are edited they will be posted.

Photographing a home that's been transformed or "Simply" staged is something that I really love.

I would never win an award for them but it just plain enjoyable to see the room from different angles. Many times when the photo are being reviewed, (TTL for digital cameras) we find that the camera has picked up something that the eye didn't see, or a bad reflection or just bad staging.

Today was 75 photos for one home.

Tonight I will edit and choose the best ones to send to the owner and IF the realtor is interested they will be for his MLS.

So how many photos is too many? No such thing now that we can store, edit and easily delete.

The house sits on a small lot that's approx. 35 X 60. Shooting the room and not the neighbors house sometimes can be difficult.

This is the 2nd Photo and we can still see the neighbors yard.

Thought this would be a good shot. Upon review I noticed the realtors papers under the bar stool

This is one that I debated using. I don't like the stairs in the shot.

The house would appear to narrow if I edited out the stairs.

This is why I take so many photos. Do you?

The estate sale is over and we can be very happy with the money you have made. Not only did it pay for all of our services but you have money to prepare the home for sale.

When we first spoke we discussed the items in the home that need attention. Things that would bring negative comments from potential buyers.

It's our job now to take away as much as that negativity as we can.

First we will bring in a home inspector. He will point out items that the potential buyers inspector may point out and try to beat you up in price.

It's always cheaper to take care of things first before a buyer comes in.

The inspector said that he found a small leak in the furnace and that it needs to be cleaned.

He pointed out that standard have changed and we need GFIs (Ground Fault Interrupters) near all water sources inside and out.

The means the kitchen, bathrooms, garage and outdoor plugs.

We know that we will be getting a electrician for a few things and know that he can take care of these GFIs.

The inspector also said that there are new requirement for crawl spaces. They must have a vapor barrier on the ground and the walls. This doesn't have to be done by a basement water proofing company and our contractors on site can take care of that.

We will update a few lights and fixtures and paint before we stage.

All of this should be done in a couple of weeks.

The good news is that there is still money left over.

My last two blogs have been about preparing a parent, or loved ones, home for sale.

Why not to throw things out before a professional can look through the home.

This story is not made up. It happened this past December. While you read this THINK about what else this person has hidden in the house and when she passes away she will need the services of Stage-Show-Sell.

Beverly Hills, Mi December 2010

A woman counted her cash that she has hidden in her pillow case. A stack of $100 and $50 were missing. She's figuring that was missing was just under $24,800. She knows that she had $50,000 in the 'secret' pillow case in October when she last checked her stash of cash.

The story is true. It was part of a police/crime report for December.

Now, not everyone has that much money laying around the house BUT do you know what your family has hidden.