Get Real Estate Blog|Salem Oregon Homes|Relocation Guide

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.

It’s always hard when you are honest with people and they choose to go with someone that isn’t as clear about what needs to be done to bring the house to market as you. It happens.  She kept in contact with me because her house didn’t sell with this other Salem Oregon real estate agent.  We talked a lot about staging and she met with a local stager.  After meeting with her, she called and talked about how wonderful the stager was and what a difference it made in her house.

This seller said:  She worked with our existing furnishings and recommended purchasing a small number of items for a nominal cost,  less than $50.  The experience was enjoyable and fascinating as she involves the homeowner in trying out different arrangements, explaining what she is doing and what outcome she is looking for.  The change was dramatic and it’s hard to believe that our home could look this much better.

All she did was help her rearrange her furniture and put accents around her home.  Our home is our personal place to relax.  Turning your home into a product can seem like you are always having to be “on”, which is exactly what selling your house is about these days.

The fact is that how we live in most cases means that our house is not ready as a product for the market. As I look at the piles of laundry in my laundry room, I am sitting here writing a post instead. My house is not up for sale so I don’t have to try and appeal to anyone…except my own sanity…and today, the laundry is getting backed up.  Home sellers don’t have this luxury that I have.

The fact is that often times stagers can use your own furniture to make your home look better as a product.  It can be as simple as putting a slip cover on a floral printed couch to mute the colors in the room; reorganizing the mantle; or add that final touch to make it photograph well.

So for those of you that are worried to have someone come in your house and rearrange your stuff, just realize that staging…it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Stay tuned for my next post on staging with some before and after shots!

SmartMoney wrote a brief article the other day called “10 things your real estate broker won’t tell you.”

I just wanted to give my .005 cents worth about that article.

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, I told you that in May of 2008...Apparently SmartMoney does not consider me a real estate agent.

2) “My fees are negotiable.”  Consumer reports did an entire article about fees and who was most likely to negotiate.  I have a fee-for-service structure, so I am by nature negotiable, but it’s long been known that agents are negotiable.  (Told you that in August 2008)

3) “Think you’ve had no offers? Actually, there’ve been several.” In Oregon it violates the law to not present an offer.  Sometimes agents encourage sellers to not respond to an offer, if another one is potentially coming in, but most agents here locally do indeed present offers.

4) “I’m not obligated to keep my mouth shut for you.” Unfortunately this one has some truth to it.  Agents, even our local Salem Oregon area agents, are not always on top of talking about agency relationships.  Some time ago, I listed a house where the seller interviewed 5 agents.  He told me after he hired me that I was one of two that went over agency relationships with him.  Ouch.

5) “Sometimes I forget whose side I’m on.”  I don’t practice dual agency because I don’t like it.  I’m not a fan of it, and in fact Colorado has banned it.   While they argue that agent’s might not negotiate hard for a good deal because they are paid on commissions, but I don’t know any agent that wants to lose future referral business over $500 in a lower commission offering.

6) “I know zilch about zoning.”  Oregon has some strict zoning laws.  I personally have found our local city zoning folks very helpful when it comes to what a buyer can and can’t do with a property.  I do agree that you should be asking county folks what you can and can’t do and in fact, the contracts state it is the buyer’s responsibility to do any due diligence regarding zoning issues.

7) “I won’t let termites — or pesky inspectors — kill a deal.”  It’s unfortunate that the author of this article presents it like all agents are in cahoots with home inspectors.   I wrote a post called “Why I love my deal killer and you should too” back in July 2008.   There is at least one local company that I am aware of that allows home inspectors to pay to be on their preferred list, but most agents I know recommend inspectors because they think they are good at what they do.
“I sometimes forget I’m not a lawyer.” I have seen, on occasion, a poorly written addendum that needs some clarification, but honestly our Salem Oregon real estate agents for the most part, have average to excellent skills when it comes to paperwork.  I think part of that is that the OREF contract we use is really good.  Kudos to the attorneys for that.  We don’t have to deviate too much. Personally, I don’t think this complaint is all that true here.

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…

10) “You can probably do this without me.”  Shhh…I told you what you can do to sell your Salem Oregon home yourself in May 2008.

So maybe I don’t count as a real estate agent? ‘Cause I’m thinking I have talked about at least 5 of these things on my blog in 2008.    Maybe the authors of that SmartMoney article should spend a wee bit more time doing some research before they start generalizing about what real estate brokers tell their clients.

Bottom line folks…work with someone that you feel comfortable with, and if you don’t like them find someone you like better.