A recently wrote a post about someone that listed with another agent because I told her that her home needed to be staged. Envisioning all of her furniture in storage somewhere and one black chair in her living room, she passed on my advice.
Most often, when I recommend staging, I recommend that we use sellers existing furniture, we just position it differently to give things a cleaner look. Things like floral printed couches don’t photograph well, but a simple slip cover can make a HUGE difference. Your stuff, just cleaned up for photos.
Some things that need to be done to homes are obvious. If your home looks like this photo, then there is no way for anyone sitting at their computer in Illinois to have any idea what the room actually looks like. They would just know that you all have a lot of stuff. I’m not sure that is the message you want to sent to people when you are trying to sell a product…your house.
Here is a recent staging redesign that Margaret Oscilia with Creative Concepts and Contracting did for one of my clients. Now it might look like we used different furniture, but she just flip flopped the furniture in the family room and living room. Still the seller’s stuff, just cleaned up.
This seller had many beautiful items, but they just weren’t arranged in a way that would look good in a photograph.
So Margaret came in and worked her magic. Taking his items and rearranging them and then adding a few accents here and there. What we got, was a much cleaner, easier to photograph living room. The fact is that most people don’t have that decorator’s touch. It’s not a personal insult that your home doesn’t look like an HGTV show. Most people don’t have picture perfect homes. This is your home and you want to be comfortable in it.
If you are looking to sell a home in the Salem Oregon metro area, I highly recommend, at minimum, a staging consult with Margaret Oscilia which runs around $100 or so. She will come in and tell you what YOU can do to make your home look better for photos. A staging redesign is around $200+ depending on the size of the house and what is needed. It is money well spent and chances are you have furniture that will work just fine. Let her help you rearrange it so that your Salem Oregon real estate agent…which would be me by the way (okay, okay, shameless plug)…can help take good photos for your marketing materials. One of the most important things listing agents should do for clients is help you prepare your home for the real estate market place.
If pictures speak 1000 words, then I think the words buyers will be uttering are crystal clear… “I want that house.”
Earlier this year I “lost” a listing. That’s what we agents say when a home seller chooses to go with another company. I am a call it as I see it type of person, and with this seller I said the words “you home needs to be staged to sell. It won’t photograph well.” I said it because it was true. The sellers decided that they didn’t have time to stage and went with another agent. I lost.
The fact is that how we live in most cases means that our house is not ready
1) “Your open house is really just a networking party for me.” Is the number one thing that agents won’t tell you about selling your home. What I find interesting is that a real estate agent is the one saying they don’t work. So an agent is saying they don’t work, but agents won’t tell you they don’t work? Not really following the article’s logic there…BUT honestly, they really don’t work here in Salem Oregon all that well. Real estate agents do them because clients expect them, and yes it is a GREAT way for agents to gain new clients. For the record,
9) “My website is a dead end.” Personally, I think this is an odd one. Either you are hiring a tech savvy agent or you aren’t. Some prospects quivver when I start talking about property websites and mention the words Zillow or Trulia…when their eyes glaze over that is not the time to mention that my website is on page 1 of Google. They aren’t going to understand why that is important. You can’t talk tech with a client that doesn’t get tech. I think the author of the article was running out of things to say…
Their 2nd quarter sales volume has remained fairly steady through this recession. If you look at the 2nd quarter data for the decade you can see the nice bump during the bubble time. Now it looks deceptive, but Aumsville is so small that when a subdivision like Highberger Meadows goes in, it makes a huge difference in the real estate market. The new construction homes sold fairly well in this quarter. The prices are great for the size and amenities AND Aumsville qualifies for the USDA loans which is one of the very few 100% financing programs. Close to Salem, qualifies for 100% financing, has a nice new subdivision…what’s not to like and buyers seems to think so as well.
Home prices seem to have finally started correcting this quarter. A little late to the recession party, Silverton sellers seem to have gotten some motivation or gotten off the market. Silverton inventories had been insanely high, but in June the inventory was a decent 10.1 months. That is not a neutral market by any means but considering how high inventories have been there, this is good news.
The other good news beside the drop in inventory and price, is that unlike the
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Why do I love deal killers? They protect me, my buyers, and my sellers. It’s that whole misrepresentation and failure to disclose thing. Sellers, you know who you are, sometimes do those special DIY projects that are ”custom carpentry work.” Let’s face it, sellers sometimes do “weird fixes” to their home that make sense to the seller, but not to anyone else. Seller’s often forget about these fixes since they did them ten years ago and so they forget to put them on the disclosure form. It’s not their intent to misrepresent, they just forget. Deal killers can find these special gems, and start a dialogue between both sides.
3. Melina, I can name that house in 5 words…”The pukey apple cinnamon house.” ”Your home may not smell as good as you think it does.
5. Melina I can name that house in 5 words… “The bride of Chucky house.” If you are a collector…put them away. Nothing like walking into a home and seeing that huge boar’s head, knife collection, or doll collection looking at you. Remember that this is a product, and dead animals give many people the heebie jeebies and dolls…well have you seen Chucky? Box ‘em.




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