How much money are you leaving on the table? Your Bed and Breakfast table in particular. Probably a lot more than you think!

In a previous article, I talked about how Home Staging Boosts Demand for Rental Properties. Whether you have a vacation rental like a Bed and Breakfast, or a longer term rental such as an apartment or home, home staging can help you get a higher rental price, increase your business, attract a higher quality renter and generate great photos for online advertising,  How much money are you leaving on the table without doing it? Why not up your game at your vacation rental for more money and better customers.

Are You Attracting Your Ideal Customers Now?

Let’s say you have a Bed and Breakfast. Your potential customers first stop is your website.  Do you have high quality photos that highlight why your Bed and Breakfast is unique, wonderful and the perfect place to stay? Does each room look inviting, comfortable and vacation worthy? Does it draw in your ideal customer and make an emotional connection? If not, you have lost them within a few seconds!

I did a little market research on how my customers selected my Bed and Breakfast. My research (I asked them) showed that most picked my place based on the lower price. My target market was couples that were interested in wildlife viewing, and wanted a little luxury and were willing to pay more for a  mid-high end Bed and Breakfast. My ideal customers were not the bargain hunters.  I decided I needed to make a change!

My goal was to make my place unique and beautiful, raise my prices, increase my bookings and attract guests with interests similar to mine so I could provide them with great customer service.

I knew home staging worked to sell houses fast and for more and to attract a particular target market  by using decorating to make an emotional connection with those buyers.

So, I transformed my Bed and Breakfast inside and out!

What do your Ideal Customers Want?

Ultimately, they are paying for you. Your establishment is a reflection of you and your unique and amazing self:) Yup, it is really not about your bedding and art and your price. But your decor reflects “you”, and having a beautiful establishment brings higher prices.

What did I have to offer that made me unique? I had been working as a wildlife biologist specializing in birds for many years, so my expertise was in wildlife viewing. Also, I was an artist, musician and dance instructor so could offer unique art in the room as well as private  lessons. And as a designer, I wanted my decor to reflect all this and be colorful, happy and artistic. I decorated the room using lots of color so that it was happy but relaxing, wildlife art, my personal art and interesting accents with a wildlife theme.

Decorating for Your Ideal Customer

I decorated the room using lots of color, wildlife art, my art and interesting accents with a wildlife theme. I replaced the bedding, pillows, art, table and chairs, slighting and painted the dresser. I also added an electric fireplace for ambience and heat.

I used colorful pottery, my own stained glassware and wildlife accents such as this woodpecker door knocker and bear drawer handles.

In the bathroom, I selected had this beautiful shower curtain made based on a famous painting about hummingbirds as my inspiration piece. I then remodeled the bathroom to harmonize with it.  I removed the wallpaper, put in vinyl laminate flooring, new baseboard molding, replaced the outdated vanity, installed a new light and faucet, painted the walls a beautiful green.

I had the exterior painted a cheery color that harmonized with the coastal landscape, and continued the bird theme by adding outdoor bird metal art at the eaves.

How Much Money was I leaving on the Table?

So was I able to increase my Bed and Breakfast income with home staging?  Yes I was!

I took great photos and updated my website. I raised my prices by $40 per night, my bookings increased by 200% and I was fully booked the entire season. The increased prices paid for all my costs for the Interior updates the first season, and my increases the second year paid for the exterior paint job. The home staging and design work increased my income by about $10,000 per year for the one room that I rent. For an establishment with more rooms, you could increase your profit.

Just as Important as Money

Just as important, I was able to attract the types of guests that I want.  I used the new photos to promote my website using social media advertising on Facebook and bookings are increasing every year!  Having guests that I enjoy in my home that enjoy me and what I offer make a huge difference in the experience.

Stop Leaving Money on Your Table

Are you ready to update your vacation rental for increased profits and to attract the guests you want?  Contact me for a home staging or color consultation today. I can also assist you with social media advertising or a website review after it is looking great!

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I was honored to be interviewed by Kris Bohman of Anchorage Advice Givers related to my business, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.  You can see the video and listen to the podcast here.

About Anchorage Advice Givers

Founder Kris Bohman, the host of the Anchorage Advice Givers Podcast and business owner himself, has an interest in meeting other smart business owners and fascinating entrepreneurs. When he started to reach out to these people he realized others needed to hear their stories too. These were experts in their respective fields, smart and intelligent, not to mention, many had discovered unique ways to impact the lives of their customers, clients and patients. So he asked, “Why not share these stories? Why not interview these people? Create a Podcast? Why not create a site where they could be posted and listened to?” With that, the concept for Anchorage Advice Givers was born…

“We Interview Anchorage Thought-Leaders To Bring Anchorage Residents The Best Advice From Our Community’s Brightest Minds”.

Kris Bohman, is the author and creator of: The Value Driven Approach To Sell Real Estate: A practical guide to protect yourself from Real Estate Greed & bank an extra $30,000 by thinking like the great Warren Buffett.

Press Release-Best of Houzz 2016 Customer Service Award

Northern Lights Home Staging and Design of Seward Alaska

Awarded Best of Houzz 2016

Over 35 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building,

Remodeling and Design Professionals in North America and Around the World

Seward, Alaska, January 13, 2016 – Northern Lights Home Staging and Design of Seward, Alaska has won “Best Of Customer Service” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. Northern Lights Home Staging and Design provides home staging, Interior Design and Social Media Marketing services for Anchorage, Seward and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Northern Lights Home Staging and Design was chosen by the more than 35 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 35 million monthly users on Houzz. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2015. Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award. A “Best Of Houzz 2016” badge will appear on winners’ profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.

“We all deserve to live in a home that is beautiful, functional and reflects our unique style. Our goal is to help you “make magic happen” in your home” says Mary Ann Benoit, President of Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

                   
“Anyone building, remodeling or decorating looks to Houzz for the most talented and service-oriented professionals” said Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing for Houzz. “We’re so pleased to recognize Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, voted one of our “Best of Houzz” professionals by our enormous community of homeowners and design enthusiasts actively remodeling and decorating their homes.”

Follow Northern Lights Home Staging and Design on Houzz at http://www.houzz.com/pro/northernlightsstagingalaska

About Northern Lights Home Staging and Design

Northern Lights Home staging and Design provides home staging services for both vacant and occupied homes to help home sellers highlight the best features of their home for sale and sell quickly and for top dollar. Once staged, they provide social media and video marketing on Facebook to enhance marketing of your for sale home. They also provide Interior Design, Decorating and Redesign services.   

About Houzz

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow and Tokyo. Houzz and the Houzz logo are registered trademarks of Houzz Inc. worldwide. For more information, visit houzz.com.

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Selling a house is stressful. Try these 6 house showing survival tips for life in the real estate market from Debra Gould, the “Staging Diva”.

Whether you’ve already put in a conditional offer on your dream home or you’re being forced to move for a job transfer, if your house is on the real estate market you’re probably hoping to sell fast for the most money possible.

Home staging is known to reduce the number of days a home spends on the market before it sells, but it can be very difficult to live in a home that must remain in showing condition at all times. This can add a lot of pressure to the already stressful process of selling your home.

Home staging expert Debra Gould shares the following house showing survival tips that will make it easier for you to maintain your beautifully staged home (and your sanity) until your investment in home staging results in a fast sale:

Get rid of the clutter

If this step wasn’t already taken care of when your house was staged, it’s the first thing you should do now. It’s much easier to maintain a clutter-free home than one that’s stuffed to the gills. Go through every closet and cubbyhole in your home and get rid of the things you never use and won’t be moving with you. Decide what you want to put in storage and do that as soon as you can.

Office- After Staging. Photo by Mary Ann Benoit, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design

Don’t even think about having a garage sale

If your house is currently on the market or will be listed anytime soon, do not even consider having a yard sale. You want to clear out your unwanted items before you put your home on the market. Nothing screams “desperate home seller” like a “garage sale” sign next to a “for sale” sign in your yard. You don’t want buyers to know you’re in a hurry to sell, so if you need to unload your extra stuff, put it in storage and sell it when you move to your new location. Better yet, donate it to charity.

Remove your valuables

You will never really know who is walking through your home during showings, so be sure to gather all your personal items and small valuables before the first open house. You can put them in storage or leave them with a trusted friend or family member while your house is on the market.

Create a new junk drawer

Get a basket or a box that you can use to store daily clutter, such as the day’s newspaper, magazines and other mail. When these items are restricted to one container, it will be easy to stash them away for last-minute showings.

Remove excess toys

Clear out most of the toys from your home and store them until you move. While your home is on the market, allow each child to have one basket of favorite items that can be neatly tucked away for showings. These items should not include toys or building sets with lots of small pieces that are time-consuming to collect and put away.

Let there be light

Before all showings, open the window coverings and turn on all the lights. You want your home to be shown in good lighting conditions so it seems bright and cheerful instead of dark and stuffy.

Hopefully these tips will help make things easier while your home is on the market. The good news is, if you worked with a professional home stager, it shouldn’t be long before the sold sign goes up in your lawn.

Northern Lights Home Staging and Design provides your local expertise in Alaska home staging, Interior Design and decorating for The Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage. Call (907)-362-0065 today or email us at info@northernlightsstaging.com. Visit us at https://northernlightsstaging.com.   

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with over 4,000 students worldwide. Gould is the author of four home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more, visit www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com

Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva^®, www.stagingdiva.com. © Copyright Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.

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Home Stagers Help Real Estate Agents Stop Wasting Their “Free Time

“As a real estate agent, you don’t make any money until a home sells, so it’s important for your clients’ homes to stand apart from competing properties. The longer you carry a listing, the more it costs you in marketing fees. Home staging can help differentiate your clients’ homes from the competition and speed up sales.

According to expert home stager Debra Gould, there’s another reason why staging is so crucial. “Approximately 80% of prospective buyers shop online before ever calling an agent to help them buy a home. Now that the public can access MLS listings and shop from the photos they see online, it’s even more critical for properties to show well in listing photographs. Otherwise, the agent won’t even get a request for a showing.

Staging makes all the difference in how rooms look both online and in the real world, and real estate agents are catching on to that. Many agents have begun offering to stage their clients’ homes themselves at no charge, hoping to attract more listings, which they can then sell faster and for a better price. This practice of staging listings for free just creates more problems for overworked and underpaid agents.

First of all, as a real estate agent, your time is money. While you’re donating your time to help your client rearrange their furniture, sort through their junk, choose the perfect paint color for their den and decide whether or not to move the baby’s crib out of the office, do you realize the significant amount of time and money you are wasting–not to mention the risk of offending your client and losing the listing altogether?

It’s time to do the math. If you list four properties this month and spend an average of four hours staging each of them, you have wasted sixteen hours, or two entire workdays. How many homes can you show in sixteen hours? You could have planned, advertised and attended five open houses in that amount of time.

When you’re in the business of selling real estate, your strengths are presumably finding and selling properties for your clients and negotiating the best deals for them. If you are personally staging your clients’ homes for free, those negotiation skills are being wasted on domestic disagreements over paint chips and furniture placement.

Savvy real estate agents are recommending that their clients consult with home stagers in order to draw attention to their listings and to sell their homes faster. This reduces or even eliminates the need for price reductions, which is a win-win outcome for all involved.”

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with over 4,000 students worldwide. Gould is the author of four home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more, visit www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com . Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva^®, www.stagingdiva.com. © Copyright Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.

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For more information on the value, time, cost  and process of home staging, get your free report,  FAQs for Realtors on Home Staging.

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Looking to get a great logo for your home staging or other business?

In 2014, I graduated from the Staging Diva Home Staging Training program and started my home staging and design business. The program offered a great step by step plan to set up and market a home staging business and loads of inspiration!  Some of the great advice from the program that would apply to any new business was to get a professional looking photo and logo,  to make a fantastic first impression with potential clients. Debra Gould, the “Staging Diva” mentioned an option of using 99designs.com to run a logo contest to develop a professional logo, which I tried with great success.

First, I wrote a creative brief describing my image, goals, target market and “who I am”. This helped me refine my own vision for my business.

Then, I supply pictures, documents, and design ideas to help the logo designers understand my vision. As an Interior Designer and home stager in Alaska, I love color and the natural beauty of Alaska’s landscapes and wanted to highlight that in my work. I wanted my finished work to inspire the same reaction people have when they see northern lights, which are most commonly described as “magical”. So my name, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, and tagline, “make magic happen” was born.

I gave the designers two ideas: one of a house surrounded by mountains with northern lights, and the second of viewing mountains and northern lights from inside a home looking out.

I selected a package stating how much I was willing to pay for my logo. The more you pay the more top quality designers may enter your contest from their marketplace of 950,000 designers.

I had 10 different designers submit logos. I provided feedback through a “star rating” or private message to help them refine the designs. After 3 days, I decided if there were any designs I liked and wanted to continue with the contest, or drop out and pay nothing. I selected my top 6 designers to continue working with. On day 7, I picked my winner.

A great feature is that you can run a “poll” any time of your favorite designs for your “target market”. The poll generates a link you can post on Facebook, Twitter or by email. Polls made my friends aware of my new business and they gave great feedback and enjoyed helping shape the logo for my new business.

My winning designer, “Youimage” from Italy developed a beautiful design and was great to work with! I love the way the window shutters are located so that you are viewing the northern lights as if you are standing outside and looking at them inside the house.

I spent a lot of time giving feedback to get what I wanted, and you can spend as much time as you choose. I received and reviewed 107 designs from designers from around the world. The experience gave me a great logo, helped me focus on the direction I want to take my business and provided an opportunity to engage my target market and advertise my new business.

If you are starting a new business or need a great logo for a project, give it a try!

My Online Services

Northern Lights Home Staging and Design offers a variety of online Interior Design, Home Staging and Color Consulting services. Check some of them out by clicking on the pictures or feel free to call if you are wondering how I might help you with your project.

 

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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 20% more and may help you sell 79% faster or more!  Much of the staging costs may potentially be written off on your taxes as advertising fees on your home sale.

What is Home Staging?

Home staging is a real estate service and powerful marketing strategy that prepares your house for successful sale by highlighting your home’s best features and minimizing its flaws. It helps buyers see the home’s true potential so they can visualize themselves living there.

How does it affect Buyer Perception?

Buyer’s perception of the location, price and condition of your house affect their desire to buy it. Home staging can influence the price and condition. Staging helps gets your house in the best condition, focusing on things that give you a good return on your investment. Staging also helps set and maintain your price at the top end of the range for similar houses on the market by making your house outshine the competition.

Does Home Staging Really Work?

The National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Staging noted the following based on a study of 49,000 real estate agents nationwide:

• Up to 71% of Realtors think staging increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer between 1-20%.
• 81% of Realtors think it helps buyers to visualize the property as a future home.

In the examples below, this house sold the first day on the market for full asking price after home staging. The way it looked before staging, I seriously doubt this would have happened.

Do staged homes really sell Faster?

In 2011, the Real Estate Staging Association conducted 2 studies.

• In study #1, 174 vacant and occupied homes (not staged) were put on the market. They were on the market an average of 156 days. These same homes were then staged and relisted and sold on an average of 42 days. The staged homes spent 114 days (4 months) less time on the market!
• In study #2, 126 vacant and occupied homes (not staged) were put on the market. They were on the market an average of 273 days. These same homes were then staged and relisted and sold on an average of 60 days. The staged homes spent 213 days (7 months) less time on the market!
• The study shows it does not benefit you to list the property first to see if it will sell ….then stage. In this study, the staged homes sold 79% faster. 

Do Staged homes really sell for more?

• In the 2011 Home Sale Maximizer Survey of 600 real estate agents nationwide found that 80% recommend homeowners invest in staging prior to selling. The return on investment is nearly 300%.
•  Up to 71% of Realtors think staging increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer between 1-20%.

How Much Money are You Leaving on the Table?

Consider that you could be leaving up to 20% on the final sales price of your home on the table without staging, and the cost of staging is usually less than 1%.  And if your house is on the market a while, your first price reduction will likely be $5000-$15000. Will you also be paying a mortgage and taxes too?

Home staging works in a buyers or seller’s market

Regardless of the market, you want to make the most money possible on your home sale. Your home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. Home staging helps you get the most for your home in either a buyers’ or seller’s market.

Buyers’ Market- Lots of houses on the market 

When there are lots of homes on the market, buyers are more choosy and they can take their time before deciding to buy.  There is more competition. Staging helps make your house outshine the competition and helps you sell faster so you won’t lose money with a price reduction while potentially still paying mortgage costs and taxes for every month the house is on the market.

Seller’s Market- Few Houses on the market

When there are few houses on the market, sellers often think, why should I invest any money in staging, repairs etc. when I should be able to sell it quickly? Because you can make more money on your house if you do! Staging can offer a better starting price, multiple offers, and higher than list offers. There will always be a range of prices for similar houses on the market based on their condition and how well they show. The better your home shows, the more it will sell for. Staging can help put your house on the top end of the price range for similar houses. If your house is the most appealing and there are few houses on the market, you can generate a “bidding war” and get even more for your house.

Who pays for staging?

The National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Staging noted the following regarding staging costs nationwide:

• 62% of Seller’s agent offers the home staging service to sellers
• 39% of Sellers pay before listing the home

Personally, I think the seller should pay for the staging. They have the most to gain from their investment and it is a good idea for them to hire the best professional stager they can. If the cost of staging is left to the realtor, they may look for the cheapest, but not necessarily most effective stager.

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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:

1. They do not fully understand what a stager really does.
2. They feel that they provide adequate advice to their clients regarding improvements needed for the home to sell.
3. They are afraid that by recommending a home stager they will be expected to pay for the services.

A professional home stager will look at your client’s home through the eyes of a highly critical buyer and make recommendations that will create the best first impression for potential buyers. A stager’s services allow a home to stand out from the crowd, and that benefits both the seller and real estate agent. It is a clear win-win situation.

If your listings show well, it reflects well on your professionalism and helps your clients sell more quickly and for a higher dollar.

Keep in mind that it is your name on the sign that is on the front lawn, and people driving by notice whether your listings say “SOLD” or whether they sit for a long period of time.

It’s your reputation on the line.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be known in your market for always having listings that show well? Other agents will more likely show your listings over others, and clients looking for a listing agent will seek to be listed with you.

Turning your listings more quickly results in less hassle and higher profits for you.

You know what it’s like to be stuck with a weak listing. Your clients call you daily to ask why it hasn’t sold, when you’ll be running another ad or when your next open house is scheduled.

You know the issue isn’t how many ads you run, but how badly the house shows. If you have run out of ideas of changes to make, or you simply do not want to discuss other options that you feel might upset your clients, you can have a home stager address issues you may not feel comfortable discussing with your clients. This will relieve the huge drain on your time, energy and pocketbook!

Home stagers, or real estate stagers as they’re also called, tackle sensitive topics like odor problems and ugly decor in a diplomatic way. And if the husband and wife can’t agree on anything, wouldn’t you rather have a stager get in the middle rather than you? After all, you don’t want to jeopardize your listing by taking sides. Home stagers broach these subjects and consult with your client, and you get a better listing without having to face an uncomfortable conversation with your client.

Home stagers free your time to focus on what you do best.

Yes, you might offer de-cluttering or repair suggestions, but do you go into the same level of detail that a stager would? And more importantly, should that be how you’re spending your time when your real money is made getting and turning your listings?

Stagers can take over the worry of getting a home showing-ready, and can do it on time for your photography and agent open house. Imagine how nice it would be to show up for your open house knowing that all you have to do is open the door and everything else will be perfect!

But who pays for it?

Some agents pay for a home staging consultation as part of the service they offer homeowners when they accept a new listing. However, homeowners and home stagers should not necessarily expect real estate agents to pick up the tab for a home staging consultation.

Just because you recommend home staging does not mean you have to pay for it, in the same way that you wouldn’t be expected to pay for a real estate lawyer or home inspector recommended to a client.

Homeowners who pay for the initial consultation themselves are more receptive to what the home stager recommends. Homeowners who only bring in a stager because the agent is paying are less likely to act on many of the stager’s recommendations. They’re just “playing along.” For them, it’s free advice, so they don’t necessarily value it.

Home staging makes a huge difference in the presentation of a home. And for agents, this translates into homes that sell more quickly and for higher amounts. It’s only common sense that more buyers will be attracted to a fabulously presented home and be willing to pay more for it.”

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is President of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate and uses her expertise to train others worldwide. Visit her at www.stagingdiva.com  and www.sixelements.com  Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva^®, www.stagingdiva.com. © Copyright Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.

Northern Lights Home Staging and Design is your local expert in home staging, Interior Design and Redesign.  

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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 are trapped in their non-selling houses for longer. To avoid this scenario, you must make your home stand out from the competition. Home staging offers a way to end this costly inconvenience because staged homes have been proven to sell faster.

2) To preserve your equity

A home stager is a light at the end of the tunnel for a desperate home seller being told constantly by their real estate agent that they need to lower their price to attract buyers. If a home doesn’t show well, often these price reductions, which eat right into an owner’s equity, don’t have the desired effect anyway. The house continues to sit on the market, while the anxious seller copes with the lack of interest in his listing and contemplates how much money he’ll lose when the house finally does sell. An investment in home staging always costs less than another price reduction, which is money right out of your pocket.

3) To meet the deadline for a conditional offer on another house

In a hot market, buyers usually have to present unconditional offers to get the properties they want. A slower market brings a return to offers that are conditional upon the sale of a buyer’s existing home. If you’ve fallen in love with a new home but you have to sell your old one by a certain date in order to avoid nullifying your offer, staging provides a way to speed up the selling process so you won’t lose out on your dream home.

4) To increase the number of showings on your property

There was a time when buyers and sellers were totally dependent on real estate agents. Those days are gone. Approximately 80% of prospective buyers shop online before ever calling an agent. Now that the public can access MLS listings and shop from the photos they see online, it’s even more critical for your property to show well in listing photographs. Otherwise, your agent won’t even get a request for a house showing.

Staging makes all the difference in how rooms look both online and in the real world. Savvy real estate agents are recommending staging to their clients as a way to draw attention to their listings and to sell homes faster.

5) To avoid paying commissions

In a slower market and a tougher economy, a growing number of home sellers want to avoid the average 6% commission they’ll have to pay their real estate agents when they sell their homes. With an increasing number of websites and services available to assist the “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) market, this option becomes even more appealing for sellers. Home stagers can offer the support and objective eye to these sellers who need to prepare their homes and make their photos stand out online. After all, the cost of staging is small compared to the commissions they’re saving.

For all these reasons and more, home stagers are a beacon of hope for beleaguered home sellers trying to get the most money when they sell and trying to sell their property as fast as possible.

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with over 4,000 students worldwide. Gould is the author of four home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more, visit www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com. Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva^®, www.stagingdiva.com. © Copyright Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.

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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. And for sellers who will use the For-Sale-By-Owner strategy; social media is a must.

If social media is not your thing, find someone who is skilled in using Facebook. As the seller, you can provide the other key elements of packaging your home sale and see that it is part of your social media marketing. Doing this will positively shape home buyer perceptions and emotions; those psychological triggers that prompt buyers to make you on offer on their future home!

MARKETING TOOLS FOR HOME SELLERS

• Professional home staging by an expert home stager with real estate knowledge
• Professional photos of the inside and outside of a property for use on the Internet, in social media & on marketing flyers
• A real estate “listing” (agent’s advertisement) which accurately describes the home’s features
• A “Facebook Page” that home sellers can capitalize on to do the following;
• Capture the “essence” of your home through photos, video and messages
• Promote your home sale through Face Book “Ads” so a larger audience is aware of your sale. Target your home buyers using location, age, income, demographics, and more.
• Send “invitations” or advertise your home sale “events,” such as an Open House
• Create and post videos or virtual tours of the interior and exterior of your home that highlights property features. A video helps make the home come alive for home buyers.

Facebook Pages, ads & videos offer powerful marketing photos, messages and information to home buyers that they won’t see in a typical real estate agent property listing (the Multiple Listing Service, or the MLS).

Together, these additional photos, videos and messages can portray the “essence” of what makes your property stand out from other properties (your competitors) with authentic marketing highlighting the best your house has to offer….something you as the owner know more about than anyone else!

Use links to these Facebook Pages, Ads, Events and videos in real estate listings, For-Sale-By-Owner websites, yard signs & flyers, marketing brochures, online Pay-Per-Click ads (PPC), newspaper ads and emails. Link them to other social media sites such as Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus to expand your advertising even more.

Call 907-362-0065 to launch your home sale with my social media tools and services. I can create a great Facebook page and video that captures the ‘essence” of your home for sale and do social media marketing of your page. Combine this with my home staging services and you will have a winning combination to sell your home fast and for more!

 

Purchase an Online Home Staging Service

Click on the pictures below to learn more or purchase a service. Feel free if you have questions and would like to discuss what would be best for you.

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