About Roanoke City County, VA

I hit the floor running this morning because I overslept a little. I did not get up until 5:45 and that is late for me. I started my day by emailing a couple of staging proposals that I had completed over the weekend and sending an email to a potential client, declining to do the work on his flip. We just did not see eye to eye on what needed to be done to get the property ready for the market. I am feeling much better now that is done.

Next I am off to Lowes. Once again buying paint and hardwood floor polish for another project. At 9:00 we are at the first project and we are ready to start painting but we are one person short because one of my team is sick. Thinks he may have shingles. I hope that is not the case because we really need him this week.

I head to the second project to work on the hardwood floors while the team members are painting. I need to try to get these floors shining before we deliver the furniture on Wednesday.



By 11:15 I am back with a paint brush in hand and we are adding the color and trim to the dining room and living room. We paint until 4:30.

The project is really starting to come together. Two of my team members are all smiles now that their day is coming to a close :). It's 5:30 and I am heading to the second project to put another coat of sealer on the floors.

On the way home I am listening to the 21 voice mail messages from today and trying to get back to everyone. There are even more emails to deal with once I get back home.

Well...it is 7:30 and it is time for a long, hot bath...a bite to eat and then back to the computer to finish reading emails, updating a few web sites, and working on my notes and Power Point presentation for the Social Media Marketing Workshop I am doing for the Vinton Chamber of Commerce in a few weeks.

So if you think staging sounds like a glamorous job...think again. It is hard, sweaty work. Most of the time I am covered in paint and my joints are aching from all the lifting and moving we do. With that being said...I do love my job.

Stay tuned ...tomorrow it is more painting, a photo shoot in Rocky Mount, and the final preparations to both homes before the furniture is delivered on Wednesday.

Typically our work weeks begin on Monday but this week we got an early start by working on Saturday because we have a full week ahead of us with 2 homes to unstage and 2 (possibly 3) vacant homes to stage.

The day started at Lowes at 7:30 picking out paint colors to tone down the bright colors in our current staging project. I decided on a soft beige for the Living Room and Dining Room, trimmed out in white. We will use a lighter color up the stairway to lighten the dark stairwell.

Dining Room Before:



Hallway and Stairwell:

Bedroom:



8 hours, 4 painters, and 2 coats of primmer later what a difference it makes to lighten things up a little:







We managed to get a lot accomplished. All walls have been primmed. The dining room and living room are just about finished with their color coat. Tomorrow we will paint the ceilings and trim and hopefully get a coat of color on the stairwell and upstairs bedroom.

I personally love bright colors but if you are considering selling your home, it's best to tone down those colors for the broadest market appeal.

People are always asking me about what I do. Although a lot of what I do is making homes look better for the market, my company also photographs virtual tours, provides staging consults, web design, web marketing, and training. We proudly represent some of the top REALTORS in Southwest and Central Virginia plus we work with businesses and organizations all over Virginia to improve their internet presence. I invite you follow our blog this week as we post updates daily so you can see first hand exactly what a week with Shows Great Home Staging and Web Solutions is really like.

I am amazed every day at the offers I am seeing on homes in our area. Offers of 20-30% off of list price are the norm rather than a rare oddity. The key difference is that I have yet to see one of these ridiculous offers accepted. What I do see is that sellers get their feelings hurt or get angry over the low offer and refuse to negotiate. It doesn't seem to matter that the home next door sold this year for 97% of list price......they still want to offer 25% off of what the recent comp sold for.

It seems to take losing 2-3 homes for the buyers to realize that we really do know what we are talking about. I wish the public would realize that CNN does not set home prices....the market does.

MLS # 744812 Offered At $123,950



If you have seen this home before...take a look at it now. It has been staged to sell by Shows Great Home Staging.

Wonderful remodeled home. New paint, Light fixtures, Beautiful refinished hardwood floors. Nicely redone kitchen & bath. New landscaping, New Shutters, New vinyl siding on addition. New mini blinds throughout. Walk up attic for storage.1st level laundry. Priced $3000 below appraisal.

To view more photos and information please go to:
http://www.singlepropertysites.com/display/?number=43210


For More Details Please Contact:
TAMMY RICKMAN
OLDE COLONY REALTY COMPANY
227 MAPLE STREET
VINTON, VA 24179
CELL - (540) 793-4141
TRICKMAN156@COX.NET