In a recent article, Buying a Fixer-Upper: Tips for First-Time Home buyers by guest blogger Ray Flynn of the DIYGuys, we learned how to manage the buying process for a “fixer upper”, where to buy, setting a budget, what repair or design projects to tackle first, and creating curb appeal. We considered whether to stay or sell once your house is all fixed up.  Did you decide to sell? How can you sell your fixer upper fast and get the highest price for all your hard work and investment

Do Your Research

With any home you put on the market, there is a range of prices for similar homes and you want to be able to list at the high end of that range and sell fast so you don’t have any price reductions. Give yourself the best chance for success by using professional home staging and avoiding mistakes many home sellers make that cause a house not to sell quickly.

Make an Emotional Connection with Buyers

The key to selling fast and for the highest price is making an emotional connection with buyers so they can envision themselves living in your for-sale home.

Avoid selling the house “vacant”.  It is hard for any buyer to make an emotional connection with an empty house. They look a little sad and lonely! Buyers have a hard time visualizing how big the rooms are (they often look smaller with nothing in them to give a sense of scale), if their belongings will fit, how to arrange furniture and the purpose of different rooms. Without furniture and other things in the rooms, there is nothing to focus on except potential flaws. Were your “fixer-upper” skills perfect? Even the pros can make mistakes.

Use Color to Increase Your Selling Price

If you still have painting to do before selling, this is a great time to consider paint colors, inside and out. Did you know that studies show the right paint colors in the right rooms attract buyers and can increase the sales price? The wrong colors can also reduce the price buyers are willing to pay. Why? Color affects emotion and buyers buy on emotion!  For the price of a cup of good coffee, this report gives you specific color recommendations to help sell your house for up to $10,000 more.

Get my guide to Top Paint Colors for a Speedy and Profitable Home Sale to learn more.

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Appeal to Your Target Market

Who is your target market? Is it a young family with children that are interested in your location near schools? A single professional? A retired couple? Look at who lives in your current neighborhood or is moving in, check on Zillow to see how close the house is to different schools and what rating they have. Your house should be decorated or “staged” to appeal to that target market. For example, to appeal to a young family with children, at least one bedroom should be decorated as a child’s room.

Build a Great Home Selling Team

The best way to sell your house fast and for more is to compile a great team to help you.  This includes a realtor, home stager and photographer. Just like you are the expert in converting a home that needed help into a thing of beauty, a good realtor is a marketing and negotiating expert to make sure your house is seen by buyers nad you get the best price. A home stager is an expert at getting buyers to want to see and then fall in love with your house. A real estate photographer is the expert at getting amazing photos that will attract buyers online and get them in your door. See my guide on how to build this team and find the right experts to help you.

A great home stager can help you build your team. Get a consultation with a professional home stager and ideally have them stage it for you. They can give you paint color recommendations, stage it to appeal to your target market and give you tips for living in the home if needed while it is for sale. They can even use your existing furnishings and belongings to stage it and save you money on furniture and other rental fees if you plan to live in the home while it is listed. They can recommend a professional photographer to take photos of your beautifully staged home to attract buyers online and give you tips to prepare for your photoshoot. They can also recommend good realtors if you do not have one yet.

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Create Great Curb Appeal

As Ray mentioned in the previous article, make sure you have great curb appeal. You may outshine your competition online with great photos and get buyers to the property, but without great curb appeal they will just drive by and never make it inside to see your beautiful “fixer upper”.

Spending a little money on home staging and great photos before listing will help you sell fast and for more, cost less than your first price reduction if the house sits on the market and will be a lot less stressful!

Preparing for your Home Sale

The best tip I can give you is to get a professional home staging and color consultation to prepare for your sale. It can make all the difference in your final sales. price.

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Why not try using black and white as your main colors in your Interior Design? It will make the rest of your colors really pop! Forget the gray; go for high contrast and drama! Whether your room is light and airy with white walls or dark and moody with dark charcoal walls, you will create a dramatic room sure to make a statement.

Using black and white is a timeless classic, gives a modern look and can satisfy your love of color or your desire to have little color while creating a beautiful space.

Why does it work? Because of the high contrast! Alone, black and white bring the ultimate contrast with each other. Any color you bring in against either the black or white creates high contrast. For the boldest design, use saturated bold colors such as jewel tones as accents. Bring in pops of color in your accessories, art or a colorful accent chair. These are also easy to switch out over time to give lots of variety in your design when you are ready for a change.

Create a beautiful focal point with an amazing rug or wall art and build the rest of your room design around your focal point. Take a cue from the style of the rug or art to build the rest of the room. For example, a Moroccan rug is a great start to build a bohemian style or global style room. Find a rug or art that has some black and white in it, to help pull everything else together.

For example, in the mood board below, I used the Moroccan rug as a the focal point to create a global or Bohemian style Interior Design with a modern twist. I used some the ethnic pillows, the chandelier and the lamps to add to the global/Bohemian vibe. I selected a modern abstract painting with lots of color to add that pop of vibrant color I wanted to contrast with the black and white. From the colors in the art, I selected two modern comfortable chairs in the red color from the art, and the accent bowl for the table to pull out the beautiful the blue in the art. I selected simple modern coffee and end tables with black finishes and marble tops in black and white. I loved the black and white abstract art, so simple and clean to use on the adjacent wall and coordinate with the modern touch both pieces of art bring to the room. And finally, when I saw the dancer within the black circles, I thought it would be the perfect accessory piece. Being a dancer myself, I am partial to dancer art! In any case, it expresses joy, which I hope is what you feel when you see this room!

If you like some of the pieces in this design, you can click on the picture to go to a pin I created on Pinterest which links to most of the products I used. Click on the picture or here to find out more about the items. While you are on Pinterest, feel free to check out other great ideas and additional products for your black and white design in my Interior Design and Home Staging Products I Love board. Follow me on Pinterest to get great ideas each month.

If you would like help pulling together a dramatic room, globally inspired or Bohemian style Interior Design in your home, feel free to contact me and we can work together in person or online using Edesign to create the perfect space for you!

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Wondering what your Global Design Style is? Take the quiz and find out!

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Click on the picture to find out more about the best training class on color available, the Four Pillars of Color!.

Online, in another state, far, far away, I saw this listing for a house for sale. It is the perfect example of how not to sell your house!  If you don’t want to sell fast or for more, follow this advice!

1. Make sure every room is so cluttered with objects and décor that buyers are totally distracted with your stuff and can’t see past it to the house!

2. Make sure it does not appeal to the greatest number of buyers by making the colors and décor so personal that it only appeals to people with taste just like you.

3. Overwhelm buyers with colors and patterns.

4. Put too much furniture in every room so the house feels small, regardless of how big it is.

5, Add as many personal photos as possible so buyers are distracted by who lives in the house now rather than envisioning it as their house.

6.  Keep the decor dark and heavy, rather than light and airy, clean and modern.

7.  Increase your price to 60 times more than the estimated value of similar homes.

While “Zestimates” are often wrong and can be off quite a bit, they are usually not off by 29 million dollars!

Zestimate:  $613,051

Price / Tax History

For more information on why your house may not sell, see my recent article “Why Your House Won’t Sell”.

To have a quick and profitable sale, make sure your house is easy for buyers to fall in love with and visualize themselves living there. To make that happen, make sure it is clean, move in ready, well maintained, light, airy, modern, decluttered, inviting and warm yet not too personal, priced right, and marketed well. Don’t forget curb appeal. Grab buyer’s attention with great photos and a reasonable price, get them to the front door with great curb appeal, and get them to fall in love with it once they are inside.

A professional home stager can help you make it all happen and increase your sales price with professional staging.

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Give her the gift of a beautiful home this year with  a Mother’s Day gift certificate for an Interior Design or color consultation from Nothern Lights Home Staging and Design. Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful Mothers out there!

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Ever wondered what life as a home stager is like?

How I Became a Home Stager

Many years ago I got a degree in Interior Design, and although I used it on some jobs and always loved it, my life took a different path and I became a wildlife biologist. Three years ago, I decided I wanted to start some type of creative business. Working for the government as a scientist was not exactly feeding my creative spirit!  One day when taking one of those fun quizzes on Facebook, called “What is your true profession”, the answer I received was “designer”.  I started playing the “what if” game in my head, wondering what my life would have been like if I had stuck with Interior Design as a career. And then I thought, why not now?  I decided it would be the focus of my new business, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

While researching how to start a design business, I came across information on home staging. I really knew nothing about it and the whole concept of decorating a house to sell sounded fascinating. I thought it would be a great aspect of a design business.

Home Staging Training

After researching various home staging courses, I decided to take Debra Gould’s Staging Diva course because it seemed to be the most focused on how to successfully run a home staging business, rather than just teaching how to decorate. And I am so glad I did!

The course was fantastic and I continue to stay connected with Debra and other stagers from the class through coaching and conference calls. Part of the journey I love is the wonderful generosity, community and friendships I developed with this group of amazing creative people. Some have taken me under their wing and served as mentors when I was just getting started, and others I continue to collaborate with, developing products, articles and brainstorming ideas to make our businesses better.

Life as a Home Stager

After starting Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, I found my life as a home stager is fun and rewarding, and it feeds my creative soul with the great benefit of helping others. I love walking through a house during a home staging consultation, and on the fly determining all the things that can transform the house, make it look beautiful, connect emotionally with buyers, and help my clients. It is like an improvisational home staging dance. I also love staging vacant homes, where I have a blank slate and can do whatever I want! I love working with occupied homes, where I can see the story of the home owner, and bring out the beauty that is there by bringing a fresh eye, highlighting the important things the house wants to show. When you listen, the house speaks to you and tells you what makes it special. I love it when I am done with the staging and the home seller says “Wow, I wish we had been living like this all along…maybe we shouldn’t sell”!

Unexpected Benefits of Becoming a Home Stager

And there were some totally unexpected benefits as well. I have another business, a bed and breakfast which I started in 2002.  Once I started learning how home staging is an amazing a marketing tool that connects with buyers, I wondered if I could apply the same concepts to my bed and breakfast. I did some experimenting and found that it at least doubled my bookings and income and helped me attract my ideal customers. It transformed my business. And, doing this added a specialty niche for my staging business to help others with vacation rental properties with home staging.

From my home staging course, I learned or was inspired to learn all kinds of new things including designing my own word press websites, creating video for advertising, how to write a blog and create a newsletter, how to publish articles for magazines and do radio interviews. I also was inspired to continue my education and become a color expert and strategist, and add color consulting to my list of services. The home staging training opened so many doors to learning that helped me in numerous aspects of my life. And I think it is just the beginning!

It all gives me joy. And like any business, while there are times when business can be slow or clients can be difficult, it is all worth it and I am so happy this is what I am doing. If you are someone that has wondered about being a home stager, I say, GO FOR IT!

Call 907-362-0065 today

 info@northernlightsstaging.com

Northern Lights Home Staging and Design of Seward Alaska Awarded Best of Houzz 2017

Over 35 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals in North America and Around the World

Seward, Alaska, January 17, 2017 – 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 in South-Central Alaska including Anchorage, Seward and the Kenai Peninsula. 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 2016. Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award. A “Best Of Houzz 2017” 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                                                    

“We’re so pleased to award Best of Houzz 2017 to this incredible group of talented and customer-focused professionals, including Northern Lights Home Staging and Design,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing for Houzz. “Each of these businesses was singled out for recognition by our community of homeowners and design enthusiasts for helping to turn their home improvement dreams into reality.”

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

About Northern Lights Home Staging and Design

Mary Ann Benoit, is the foremost home stager in south-central Alaska, and provides an award winning, versatile, and unique one-stop shop for home staging, Interior Design and social media advertising  services for homes and vacation rental properties.

Customers and colleagues describe her as “the best at what she does” and her work as “stellar”, “fantastic”,” amazing”, “innovative”, “prompt and professional”.  Known for giving “above and beyond service”, being a “delight to work with” and “a great coach and mentor”,  “hiring Mary Ann is more than worth every dollar and led us to success, and a new future.”

The only home stager in south central Alaska with training as a home stager and with a degree in Interior Design,  Mary Ann is a highly gifted leader in her field, providing premier home staging of vacant, occupied and vacation rental properties as well as social media marketing to make your property outshine the competition online. She is an expert at helping the average homeowner sell their home profitably so they can move on quickly and with less stress to their next adventure.

She provides diverse and unique Interior Design and Redesign services for clients looking for an affordable way to update and upgrade their space using primarily what they already have.  When you grow and change in your life, but your house hasn’t, Mary Ann can bring new life to your home so it works for you and tells your story!  She provides interior consultations, home face-lifts, space planning, color consulting, home styling, personal shopping, digital photos and video and virtual consultations nationwide.

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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We hope you enjoy this article and podcast on Anchorage Advice Givers about Mary Ann Benoit and Northern Lights Home Staging and Design. Learn about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and to start your own home staging and design business.

Mary Ann, the foremost home stager in south-central Alaska, provides an award winning, versatile, and unique one-stop shop for home staging, Interior Design, Edesign and color consulting for homes and vacation rental properties.

Learn more about Mary Ann  on her About Me page or see her full biography here.

View the full video interview with Mary Ann  here.

Meet Mary Ann Benoit, Owner of Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, and Arctic Paradise B&B. Mary Ann was/is an artist and a scientist before she became an entrepreneur. She has been an artist since childhood and today she designs and sells one of a kind jewelry and stained glass. Mary Ann is also a performing artist in both music and dance. As a scientist, she pursued a career as a wildlife biologist for the last 30+ years based on her love for animals.

Mary Ann became an entrepreneur in 2001 in addition to her work as a biologist and artist.  Her first business was Arctic Paradise Bed & Breakfast, Jewelry and Stained Glass in Seward, Alaska, The business continues to run smoothly and is very successful. Her second and current business is the Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

What does Northern Lights Home Staging and Design offer?

In simple terms, home staging is decorating and preparing a home to sell. Staging helps buyers to get connected with home emotionally so they see themselves living there, which helps the home sell faster and for more money.

Challenging factor:

Some homeowners and realtors worry about spending money on staging because they think of it as a cost, rather than an investment which will help them sell their home faster (saving them money) and for more money.  Staging increases the value of the house generally 1-20% and usually only requires 0.5% to1% of the home’s value to complete the staging process. Cutting costs through partial staging or not having it done by a professional affects the end result and hurts the home seller.

Love for the business:

She loves to see “the magic happen” when she transforms the house so beautifully during staging.  This gives her a lot of personal satisfaction and appeals to her creative spirit.  Some home owners don’t want to move after seeing their beautifully staged home! Mary Ann loves it when homeowners and buyers love the way the house looks.

What is Your Global Design Style? Find out!

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Mary Ann Benoit of Northern Lights Home Staging and Design was honored to be interviewed by Kris Bohman of Anchorage Advice Givers on her experiences as an entrepreneur, and as a home stager, starting and running Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

The interview gives insight on why she is passionate about home staging and design. It also provides some great advice if you are interested in starting your own business, whatever that may be. See the interview below.

If you would like to listen to the audio recording, check out the podcast.

Mary Ann Benoit is the leading home stager in south-central Alaska and is the only home stager in south-central Alaska trained as a professional home stager and with a degree in Interior Design. She is also a Certified Color Expert. Customers and colleagues describe her as “the best at what she does” and her work as “stellar,” “fantastic,” ”amazing,” “innovative,” “prompt and professional.”  She is known for giving “above and beyond service,” being a “delight to work with,” and “a great coach and mentor.”  “Hiring Mary Ann is more than worth every dollar and led us to success, and a new future.” To find our more about Mary Ann Benoit, check out the About Me page.

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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