About Maineville's Shepherds Run

When staging a house the right way, a good professional home stager will use important strategies that highlight certain selling features or will help detract unpleasant ones. I'm not talking about using 'trickery' so let's not go there...you'll see what I mean in a minute. It's important to understand that staging is not just throwing some furniture and decorations from the local Home Goods into rooms and calling it a day. There is much behind the scenes planning that goes into the staging process and good stagers are considering everything the property has to offer and using strategic methods to guide buyers eyes where they need to go.

I shared a success story last week "Rejected To SOLD! How Staging Helped This Frustrated Seller Sell In 17 Days After 20 Long Months On The Market". If you missed reading it, you might want to take a minute to read it now because I'm going to build on that story today and share some staging/photography strategies we used to help get the home sold quickly. Don't worry, I'll wait for you.

So... this particular house had one main feedback issue that kept coming up. Yep, "The yard's too small". This can be a pretty big obstacle to overcome, don't you think? It's not like you can change the size of your yard to make all those buyers happy. But one thing I did know is that this was a great house with so much to offer. Great selling features and an awesome neighborhood! (besides, not everyone needs a huge yard) How could our team use our staging and professional photography skills to show buyers that this was the home for them?

Here's how:

Staging Strategies

The only doorway leading to the backyard was sliding patio doors from the breakfast area. Without any furniture, I was afraid that buyer's attention was heading there where they were looking outside at an empty patio and neighboring homes and thinking the yard is way too small. With that impression sticking in their minds, the rest of the house didn't have much of a chance.

So what did we do?

Our objective was keeping more of the buyer's focus on what great features were inside the home esp. the kitchen and family area. We used the color RED to add an overall warm and inviting feel to the spaces.



We also added a tall floral arrangement to the set breakfast table. It also added the drama and scale needed to stop the focus from going right to the patio doors. It was probably a little bigger than I would normally use but I don't mind breaking a few rules if the objective is met and it helps get the house sold.

Photography Strategies
I snapped a few photos of the backyard and sent them to our professional real estate photographer Jenny before she came out to actually shoot the house. We discussed the issues that the seller had with the feedback and knew the importance of getting some creative angles that highlighted the patio, landscaping and fence. Jenny did not disappoint! I was so impressed with the way she was able to capture the 'lifestyle" of living in this home and neighborhhood.

I didn't even know this was in the neighborhood. Who wouldn't want to take a walk and spend some time here? And it was right down the street!

Are you preparing your home for Spring or currently have a house on the market? Curious to know what strategies could work to get your house sold quickly in 2010? It's easy to find out...just give us a call. We look forward to talking with you!

Happy Staging!

Happy New Year! If you've read my blog for awhile then you know that I LOVE sharing fantastic "happy ending" stories of sellers that were able to sell their homes using staging as their secret weapon. What better way to kick off 2010 then to share yet another success story to inspire and motivate you to get your home sold too!

If you are going to stage your home, you need to make sure that you are working with a professional stager that understands your property and will create a staging plan that is effective in getting your home sold.

Part of my job is working with sellers that are having a hard time selling their home. They call me frustrated and anxious. Tired of being in limbo and unable to move on, they vent to me. Many are paying two mortgages or renting a place out of state until the house sells. They've reduced the price more often than they'd like to remember and are on agent #2 or #3. Extremely stressful to say the least and my heart goes out to them.

Such was the case of a seller that called me back in October. She was discouraged and tired of dealing with a house that wasn't selling. It had been on the market for an unbelievable 20 months and 14 of those months it sat vacant. We talked in great length about her home and we met the following day at the property.



I had a good feeling about this house. I had reviewed it online and taken notes as the homeowner explained her frustration at how they had invested in many upgrades yet the house down the street that was smaller and less equipped sold before hers. I had a sneaking suspicion that I would find that this home (like so many others I've staged) was really a wonderful home that just wasn't appealing to buyers.


I was not surprised at what I found once I entered the home. It had a great floor plan with plenty of upgrades and amenities:

• 42" cabinets (that most homes in the area didn't have)
• Massive Master
• 2nd floor laundry
• Finished Basement.
• Cul de sac in a very desirable pool community just minutes from everything.

So why wasn't it selling? What were the buyer's saying after viewing the home?


"The yard is just too small"

Really? Well, it wasn't a huge yard but it was fenced and landscaped beautifully. Not everyone needs a big yard, right? This told me that buyers were seriously missing all the fabulous features inside. I imagined that they were walking straight in to the kitchen, looking around at "empty" and drawn to the patio doors to look outside where
they scanned the yard and proclaimed "Too Small". This was what buyers were remembering about this home.

I also observed that although there was a great floorplan, the empty house looked and felt pretty cold and dated. Dated? Yep. Those 90's contractor gold brass fixtures were really making this home feel older than it was. I suggested right away that the fixtures be upgraded to bronze that would still work well with the other "gold" (doorknobs/hinges) in the house.

The basement was amazing! Custom built-in's, a mini kitchen with built in seating and a fabulous bathroom with high end amenities. I kept thinking what a great area to entertain or hang out with the kids in! There was also a wood floor area that was great to set up an office or computer space. Since the "target buyer" would probably be a young couple with small children, this was the perfect space to get some work done while keeping an eye on the kids.

I was excited to stage this home! The only thing missing was showing buyers how they could live here and enjoy this wonderful home! This home had been overlooked by buyers long enough.

A week later, the homeowner had replaced the fixtures and our team came in working that magic and staged the home. Our photographer Jenny followed with professional photos (we include these with our full service stagings). The homeowner had decided to work with a new agent and it was then relisted.

Marketed aggressively by using staging and professional photography, the house was under contract in just 17 days! The second set of buyers that came through made the offer that the seller had been hoping for almost 2 years before! As you can imagine, our client was thrilled! They closed right before Christmas and what a wonderful gift that was! Better yet, 2010 is looking quite wonderful to our sellers! No more worry, no more financial stress after 20 months of it. They are SOLD! and they are moving on!

Check out this home's staging transformation:

(* More photos can be viewed on our Facebook Fan Page)

This is what our happy seller had to say about getting her home sold with staging:

"Our house was on the market for 20 months. The last 14 months it sat empty. Following numerous price reductions, we decided to try staging it as a last ditch effort before renting it out. After contacting a few staging companies, I felt very comfortable when I spoke to Teresa. .

After visiting our home, Teresa formed a plan and worked within our budget using most of her furniture and some of ours. The end result was a beautiful, comfortable home. On top of that, professional, high quality photos of the home were also included with the staging. An offer was made during our second showing while the buyers were walking thru our home. Our first showing also had positive feedback and the buyers were considering it, but they waited too long!

I've learned that price reductions don't make a home more sellable. But giving a buyer a glimpse of what their home and life style could look like, SELLS a home.

Thank you again for all your hard work and listening to all my worries and doubts!"

Marlene B.
Maineville, Ohio

Ready to get yours sold in 2010? Let's work together to make that happen!

Happy New Year!

NEXT TIME: Check back this week to learn about the staging & photography strategies we used to help overcome the negative feedback and grab buyer's attention that resulted in getting this home SOLD!

Staging & Photography Strategies That Sold This Cincinnati Home in 17 Days!