About Houston's Spring Branch

We Stage Ourselves, Why Not Stage our House? (Perspectives on Real Estate and More From a Home Staging Pro)

After reading Walethia Aquil’s blog about personal branding it occurred to me that Home Staging and Personal Branding (a.k.a. Self-Staging) are very similar. After all, when we present ourselves to the world in a real estate business capacity, aren’t we striving to appear warm and welcoming? Don’t we want to appear capable for the job? Isn’t our goal to be accepted and chosen? That is exactly what Home Staging does for a house.

In her very first point, Ms. Aquil writes, “Determine the "look" you want. Your physical appearance sends out a message. What message do you want to send?” Home Staging is no different. Choosing the right “look” for the house is critical and the appearance of the house definitely sends a message to buyers. If your house is jam packed with furniture, it will appear small. If the cabinets and closets are stuffed full, Buyers will believe there is not enough storage space.

Ms. Aquil goes on to explain that Personal Branding will “reflect your internal values” and we should “know that a good physical appearance is important to every aspect of your lifestyle.” Well of course a house’s appearance to buyers reflect value in that, if Staged properly, Buyers can see that the house is family friendly or is great for entertaining. As our personal appearance is important to personal lifestyle, a home’s appearance is important to every aspect of the sales process. Home Staging will cause buyers to connect emotionally with the house. Home Inspectors and Appraisers view staged homes as well cared for properties.

I could go on, but the point is that if you dress to be successful, why wouldn’t you do the same for your house in order to prepare for a successful sale. Personal Branding is about attracting clients that will choose you. Home Staging is about attracting a Buyer that will choose your or your client’s house. See what I mean, we stage ourselves, why not stage our house?

One more thing, in point 15, Ms. Aquil reminds us to “Invest time in creating an outstanding appearance. You may have to rise 30 minutes earlier.” It takes work to prepare ourselves to meet the world. We must invest both time and resources to present the image that will invite success. When preparing a house for sale, we must also invest time and resources, but by doing so we increase the odds of a successful sale! Want to know more, we should talk.

Wishing you a quick sale!

Kathy Strader, ASP

www.MemorialStagedHomes.com

Kathy@MemorialStagedHomes.com

SPRING BRANCH, TEXAS(Harris County). Spring Branch is in the Memorial Villages area of the western edge of Houston in west central Harris County. It began as a religious community settled by German farmers, many of whom owned dairies. The earliest settler was Karl Kolbe, who arrived from Germany in 1830 and settled on the banks of Spring Branch where it joined Buffalo Bayou, nine miles from Houston. In 1848 farmers cleared the surrounding forestland for farms and built St. Peter's United (Lutheran) Church with lumber set aside from one of three local sawmills on a site donated by the Bauer family, who owned the mill. The Spring Branch school district began with the Spring Branch School Society, sponsored by St. Peter's Church in 1856. The first public school was opened in 1889, and in 1905 the local white school had forty-nine pupils and one teacher and the local black school twenty pupils and one teacher. In the mid-1950s, when efforts to form a corporation known as Spring Branch failed, a group of affluent communities known as the Villages, including Hedwig Village, Bunker Hill, Piney Point, Hunter's Creek, Spring Valley, and Hillshire Village, were formed from the town and its surrounding area. In 1973 the Spring Branch Independent School District, which represented the six communities, had 40,200 students and 2,276 teachers. By the 1980s more than 80 percent of Spring Branch graduates continued their education at the university level.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Big Town, Big Money (The Business of Houston) (Houston: Cordovan Press, 1973). Hedwig Village Gazette, July 4, 1986.

Diana J. Kleiner

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/hrsrj.html (accessed March 14, 2008).