marketing tool for real estate | Northern Lights Home Staging and Design

FAQs for Home Sellers on Home Staging

What you need to know about cost, time, value, and how home staging leads to a faster sale. What is Home Staging? What is home staging? Home Staging is a marketing tool that uses decorating to show off a home’s best features while downplaying its flaws. Done right, staging creates an emotional connection between home and buyer, leading to a faster sale at maximum value. Is staging just for vacant homes? Home staging is for all homes, occupied Read more [...]

Market Research- The Key to Successful Home Staging

Market research is the first thing you should do before developing a plan for staging your house if you want to make top dollar on your home sale. I know, market research sounds boring. Why should you care? Market research can tell you the price range that similar houses are selling for, to give you an idea of the low and high end you could list your house for. You want to be on the high end of course! It is all based on what kind of shape the house is in, how much maintenance needs to be done, Read more [...]

Build your home selling team- Part 2- Find a Great Realtor

If you are getting ready to sell your home, its time to gather the key members of your home selling team to help you prepare for a successful home sale. That team includes a professional home stager, a great real estate photographer and a Realtor with your best interests as their number one priority! How do you find the best people for your home selling team? In Part 1, I discussed how to find a great home stager. Now, lets discuss how to find a great Realtor. Here is some advice from two Read more [...]

Ready to Sell: How to Get and Keep Your Home Clean

Selling your home is no easy feat. But before you can juggle offers, nail negotiations, and work on closing, you have to get your home ready for the market. Staging your house is one of the most important parts of the sales process. By making sure your property is at its best for a photoshoot, you increase your chances of finding a buyer willing to pay a great price.Here are some tips for getting your home clean and tidy for listing: Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash Decluttering Read more [...]

Does your Vacation Rental Stand Out From the Crowd Online?

Does your Vacation Rental Stand Out From the Crowd Online? My vacation rental, Arctic Paradise B&B, is in Seward, Alaska, a place that is unbelievably beautiful and everyone wants to come on their once in a lifetime Alaska vacation.

And so, our market here is saturated with Bed and Breakfasts and other vacation rentals. The season here is about 100 days, so if you have a rental, you want to make sure it is booked every one of those days!

“The market here has become so saturated” Read more […]

Dear Real Estate Agent, Don’t be Scared

When it comes to home staging, you may be scared it will cost too much, you will offend your client by recommending it and possibly lose the listing. You may be worried it will take too long and you want to get the home listed as soon as possible. You also may be scared to recommend it and that it may not work. OK, all kidding aside, you may not be “scared”, but maybe apprehensive or you are just not convinced it is the way to go. Please consider the following.

According to Debra Gould, “The Read more […]

Selling Your Fixer-Upper: Tips to Sell Fast and For More

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 Read more [...]

My Top Ten Home Staging Tips

Here are my top ten home staging tips to help you appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers so you can sell fast and for the price you want.
Get a Home Staging Consultation with a Professional Home Stager
First, get an “objective” idea of how buyers may view your house. We all have problem areas that we no longer “see” because we live with them every day. Also, consider who your likely “buyer” is and what they want. A consultation with a professional home stager and Read more […]

What Does the Color of Your House Say About You?

What does the color of your house say about you? The exterior of your house is what the world sees. And, it is what you see every day. Does it reflect your personality? Does it make you happy? Is it inviting to guests or customers if you have a home based business? If you are selling, is it attractive to buyers? Your house sends a message to others and tells your secrets about who you are.

When it comes time to paint the exterior, you have a lot of options and some limitations you need to consider.
Limitations Read more […]

Staging the Stager’s House

One of my favorite home staging jobs was when I staged another home stagers house. What??? Yes, even home stagers can benefit from home staging when selling their house! Why? Two reasons:

One of the most valuable aspects of home staging is getting that objective view of your for-sale home that a home stager can give you. When you live in a house every day, it is easy to no longer see that pile of stuff in the corner, notice the smell of cat litter or notice that squeaky door. Even home stagers Read more […]