Mary Ann Benoit | Mary Ann Benoit-Northern Lights Home Staging and Design

Home Staging- What’s in it for you?

For most of us, our home is our biggest financial asset. When it’s time to sell and move on, we want to sell it for as much as possible and as quickly as possible. None of want to spend any more on the house we our selling…. None of us want to continue to pay a mortgage and taxes on a home sitting on the market or take a price reduction of thousands if it does not sell quickly. So why home stage? What’s in it for you? A small investment can potentially reap an increased sale price up to Read more […]

Home Staging a Must-Have Marketing Tool for Real Estate Agents

Bed and Breakfast design

Home staging expert Debra Gould receives countless email messages from real estate agents asking whether they should recommend that their clients hire a home stager. In Gould’s experience, she has found that real estate agents are hesitant to utilize the services of professional home stagers for three key reasons: They do not fully understand what a stager really does. They feel that they provide adequate advice to their clients regarding improvements needed for the home to sell. They Read more […]

5 Reasons You Need a Home Stager in a Slow Market

If you’re preparing to put your home on the market, there are a number of reasons that you can benefit from enlisting the services of a professional home stager. Here are the top 5 reasons: 1) To make your home stand out in a flooded marketplace In a slow real estate market, it’s not unusual to see several houses for sale on the same street. Buyers have less incentive to buy today because they know increased inventory means asking prices may go down even more tomorrow. Thus, home sellers Read more […]

Using Social Media Marketing to Sell Your House

A PICTURE’S WORTH A MILLION WORDS…& HOME BUYERS LOVE IT! There’s a lot of hype these days about the value of Social Media in promoting an event, an idea and; how about this – a home sale! And why not; social media reaches a larger and younger audience of home buyers. Its smart selling! If you are planning on selling a home, you are smart to use social media to capture the attention of potential home buyers. Include social media in your marketing arsenal for a faster home sale. Read more […]

Home Staging Aids Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

Home staging aids homeowners facing foreclosureForeclosure is an unpleasant topic, but one that some of us will have to deal with. According to home staging expert Debra Gould, the key to avoiding foreclosure is to be proactive. “If you know that you will have difficulty making your mortgage payments in the near future, contact your lender immediately,” Gould states. “Explain your situation politely and clearly, and ask if you can negotiate a modified mortgage payment plan. Don’t be embarrassed Read more […]

Top 5 Staging Tips for Home Sellers

Home stagers can make a number of small changes to a property that can dramatically shorten the time it spends on the real estate market while also increasing the final sales price. Home staging expert Debra Gould shares her five favorite tips for getting a house ready to sell: 1. Reduce drive-bys Imagine you’re a homebuyer on a house-hunting mission. Your real estate agent has ten properties to show you on a Saturday afternoon. When you drive up to what could be your dream home, you see a rusted-out Read more […]

Home Staging Means Buyers Shouldn’t Have to Stretch Their Imaginations

Home buyers have less imagination than you might think. That’s why home staging can make such a difference in the selling price of a home and the length of time it takes to sell. During the few minutes that homebuyers typically spend in a house, most of them aren’t able to look past ugly, crowded and disorganized rooms, or figure out that the missing dining room is actually masquerading as a family room. In a house with few bedrooms, most buyers won’t look past a desk and imagine a bed in Read more […]