About Montreal Area, QC

Hi Everyone,

I really hope you can help. Home Harmony has signed up to do 2 trade shows this coming Fall. Double the fun ;o)

Aside from probably doing the obvious of setting up a small vignette and before and after pictures what would you suggest? What have you done that you would do again or what would you avoid doing again?

Although we have been Staging in Montreal for several years we have not had the opportunity to participate in a Trade Show. This one is called www.TheMakeOverShow.com and will have Exhibitors on hand to demonstrate their products and services for home, health and image makeovers. Sounds fun and interesting!

We're just not sure what we can do to make our positive impact on the crowd. Our services also include home organizing so any ideas you may have on this subject can be shared as well.

So, if you have the time to share your "Best of the Best" stories and ideas We would love to hear from you.

It's great to have this forum of professionals to draw knowledge from.

Thanks in advance,

Liz

In Quebec, mandatory forms are prescribed for the sale of residential real estate. The request for a Buyer's inspection is provided by a clause that our laws help define. Buyers and Sellers have to agree on, as part of the negotiating process, the number of days delay to allow the Buyer to complete the inspection and inspection report review.

Buyers should be careful when deciding on the delay to specify in an inspection condition when writing a Promise to Purchase. The delay should be long enough to allow for negotiations if repair work is identified during the inspection.

For example, if you request 7 days total in the inspection clause, the inspection is performed on day 5 and it takes 2 more days to receive the report, then, according to how the condition is written, your review time is finished. The 4 days mentioned that follow this delay are only there to provide a delay to advise the seller in writing to void the Promise to Purchase due to issue(s) discovered that may significantly reduce the value of the property.

Should a condition be identified that could potentially devalue the property, then the Buyer might want to engage a specialist to provide a deeper understanding of the problem and risk. To do so, the Seller must agree to provide an time extension to the Buyer. The Seller is not obliged to do so.

For this reason, a Buyer who has not negotiated enough time, at the outset, to investigate potential areas of concern risks the ability to understand a potential problem and the transaction may be at risk of failing. To reduce the possibility that this situation occurs, agents should be able to explain to both Sellers and the Buyers the ramifications of this clause before entering into a Promise to Purchase.

We have been Staging in the Montreal area as a team for the better part of 2 years and I myself much longer. We have advertised, blogged, campaigned door to door, done cold calls, conferences, networking, you name it we have tried it.

Just last week we got a call from a desperate Realtor to do a home consult and carry out the staging. The home in question had been her listing for 5 months and with the mandate ending soon she was desperate to sell this home. She herself had tried everything to get the owners to tidy up, fix up and spruce up the place but to no avail. The owners were overwhelmed with things to do and not knowing where to begin. With the Home Harmonys' plan now in place the order of "to do's" were getting done in a timely fashion.

Before Home Harmony's take over there were visits from other Realtors that literally could not get their clients over the threshold! Yup, that bad and the owner thought she was "keeping on top of things"

Well, it took 6 hours and 3 of Home Harmony's crew to pack up, relocate, re-design and stage this 4 bedroom home. Advertised as a "Staged Home" the Open house drew record numbers. Louise Garai, our associate on the South Shore arrived about an hour before hand to ensure the home was presentable. In the Realtors own words "this was the best open house ever!" There were comments from visitors on how other similarly priced houses in the area couldn't compare to this one ... the agent is anticipating that the home will sell this week with two offers from interested parties who visited on open house.

Needless to say the home owner is thrilled with the result and her comment " WHERE WERE YOU 5 MONTHS AGO?

Hopefully there will be a SOLD sign on this front lawn very soon.

Hi Again,

As per the requests here are the pictures of Home Harmony's new record.

Although not as upscale as some staging we have done, the changes made to this little bungalow were dramatic enough to get peoples attention ...

Only the rear wall has been painted in this room ... AMAZING isn't it.

Yes, Home Harmony has achieved a new personal record. In the 16 hours following the "Open House" the owners had 3 interested parties ... two of which were bidding for the home. In 3 days and 98% of asking the papers are signed and the new owners take possession by the middle of the month!

From the start of renovations (removing borders, painting, fixing broken tiles, changes fixtures ...etc) this house was prepared in 5 days. To show how versatile this staging set was, a young couple and a couple in there late 70's were the two interested parties. Amazing what some paint, furniture, accessories and creative Stagers can do.

Special thanks to Louise Garai for an outstanding job of managing the project and keeping it on track. To Michelle King for providing a good sense and vision to the project and getting us over a hump with a exactly what we needed when we needed it (great mirror) To our renovation man, Danny who made our project a priority and completed it in record time and to Lori Gardener for giving us an extra set of hands. THANKS TO ALL.

This is what Home Harmony's team work is all about ...