Another Rave Review for Feels Like Home Interiors Staging Services

Another Rave Review for Feels Like Home Interiors

I'm always delighted to hear from my clients how our home staging services helped them.  I just received this from Meryl Neiman, REALTOR® with Howard Hanna in their Squirrel Hill Office: 

"It has been a pleasure working with Mary to help my clients sell their home. Although their house was already in good condition, Mary's suggestions made the property truly stand out in a competitive market. She has a wonderful eye for detail and a genuine knack for knowing what buyers are looking for in a home.


My clients want advice that is concrete, practical, and easy to implement. Mary is on the mark in all these areas and she is very budget conscious as well, which everyone appreciates. I was so impressed with Mary and the impact her advice had on the presentation of my clients' home that I decided to offer her Strategy Session free to all my sellers. In today's market, buyers want homes that are move-in ready and HGTV pretty. I would not hesitate to recommend Mary to help your home shine."

~ Meryl Neiman, Howard Hanna, Squirrel Hill Office
   http://www.picturingpittsburgh.com/

Professional Staging Advice ~ A Smart Way to Avoid Costly Price Reductions When Selling Your Home

The number of homes for sale making price reductions has increased for the third month in row to 26% according to statistics just released by Trulia.com and reported in REALTOR® Magazine.   This news is not too surprising given the current market conditions.  But you can help avoid becoming part of this undesirable statistic. 

What is an important way to help avoid having to make costly price reductions when selling your home?  Of course your house needs to be properly priced to begin with and your Realtor® will be a huge source of advice on that decision.  And, in addition to proper pricing, it is essential that you make sure your home is properly prepared for sale so that it presents as well as possible to potential buyers. 

What is the best way to make sure your house maximizes its potential when selling?  Get advice and assistance from a home staging professional.  A home staging expert will help you take a fresh look at your home through the buyer's eyes.  A stager's goal is to help you sell in the least time for the highest possible price.  How great to have someone in your corner wanting to make you money and reduce your stress level. 
 
Want to get the biggest bang for your staging investment?  Consult with a Home Staging Expert before your house hits the market.  Remember, you only get one chance to be a fresh listing.  When buyers view a home that is "move-in ready" and makes an emotional connection with them, they will be more motivated to act.  They will be concerned that other buyers will likely be making solid offers on this hot new listing and they will be motivated to move quickly to make your house their home. 

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Looking to sell your house in the Pittsburgh, PA area successfully? Feels Like Home Interiors helps you maximize your home's potential. For more information, contact us at mary@feelslikehomeinteriors.com .

Sooner or Later? A Key Question for Savvy Sellers

Lately, I have been working with a number of clients who decided to seek my professional staging advice--AFTER a stretch of time on the market with no offers and little interest. 

I am happy to work with these smart sellers and Realtors(r) who now understand first hand that they need to package their home properly for a successful sale. We make key changes to the interior and exterior of the home that result in an increase of traffic and finally some genuine interest from buyers.

But I always wish they had called me sooner--long BEFORE the house hit the market.

Why?

Because despite the fact that the changes we make will do great things to help their home appeal to buyers, they can never get those crucial first weeks as a fresh listing back again. Savvy sellers will always get the biggest bang for their staging investment by properly preparing the home BEFORE they list their house.

Sellers often tell me they want to “test the waters” first and if they don’t sell, then they will call me for a Stage to Sell! Strategy Session. But this is a very costly decision by the seller. By the time they realize their “test the waters” strategy isn’t going to work, they have usually have had to drop their price once or twice by many thousands of dollars.

You only get one chance to be a fresh listing on the market. Be smart and invest wisely with both your time and your money in order to assure that you take full advantage of your house’s big debut.
 
 

 

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Looking to sell your house successfully?  Feels Like Home Interiors helps you maximize your home's potential.   For more information, contact us at mary@feelslikehomeinteriors.com.

Real Estate Staging Association Releases 2009 Staging Stats

The Real Estate Staging Association's (RESA) 2009 Home Staging Statistics Report

126 vacant and occupied homes previously on the market sat on average 263 days unsold--this is about 9 months! Those same homes were professionally staged and sold in an average of 60 days ~ 78% less time on the market after staging!

284 vacant and occupied homes that were staged before they went on the market ~ sold in just 40.5 days on average with staging--significantly quicker than the 9 months plus average for unstaged properties.

Professional Home Staging continues to be one of the smartest investments a savvy home seller can make!

Download the complete RESA report here.

Top 10 Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Pittsburgh PA Realtors--#7: Staging Brings You Referral Business

Your “ideal” new listing client—one that is excited to list with you because you have been highly recommended to them by someone whose opinion they value and trust.

What is one great source of these “dream” listing clients? Home Staging can generate this “ideal” referral business for you.

Here are three key ways:

· If you are assisting your current listing clients in getting professional home staging help as they prepare their home for the market, these clients will likely be delighted with both your efforts and their resulting quick sale for a good price. These clients will be happily passing your name onto their friends and family.

· People looking at listings are often ones who will soon be selling their home. If your listings are well-staged, these potential listing clients will be impressed with how well your listings show and be more likely to seek you out when they need a listing agent.

· Stagers who know you value staging and the presentation of your properties will recommend you. As staging has become more common in the preparation process, homeowners are using a home stager before they contact a realtor. And these savvy sellers often ask their home stager to recommend a good realtor who will do an excellent job of marketing their property. The stagers you have a strong working relationship with will refer their clients to you.

So clearly, making a professional home stager part of your strategy for preparing and marketing your properties can ultimately bring you referred business. And many of these referred listings will be your “dream” clients—ones that understand the value of preparing their homes before they hit the MLS.

Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Pittsburgh, PA Real Estate Agents-Staging Benefit #4: Staging MAKES You Money

In this Top Ten List of why home staging pays off for Realtors®, we've already seen:



Reason #1: Staging Saves Time
Reason #2: Staging Brings Traffic
Reason #3: Staging Saves Money



And now we're ready for the next reason Home Staging pays off for Savvy Realtors® - Reason #4: Staging SAVES You Money or "Show Me the Money! - Part 2".

When your staged homes sell for more, you make more - it's just that simple. And staged homes have been shown over and over to sell at higher prices. According to the National Association of Realtors, staged homes sell for 7 - 11% more than non-staged homes.

And when you combine this with the fact that staged homes sell faster and therefore reduce your marketing costs, you understand that, financially speaking, using home staging is a true double-bonus for you as a realtor.







Ok, now for the big question. You're saving money and you're making money thanks to having staged listings. But who's paying for all this staging?

Many savvy Realtors® now include a professional staging consultation for their listing clients. If you choose to offer this service to your listing clients, this small investment will:

1. serve as a great value-added service that sets you apart from other agents (stay tuned for more on this benefit)



2. be deductible as a cost of doing business or marketing expense (consult with your accountant for details)



3. more than pay for itself through both savings and earnings (as already explained).

Another option is to explain the value of staging to your clients and provide them with contact information and marketing materials for the staging professional you recommend and the seller pays the stager for a consultation.

Any hands-on staging services are usually paid for by the home seller since they are the ones who will realize the greatest direct gains from staging. This investment by the seller also helps ensure their commitment to the transformation process.

As a savvy Realtor® looking to continue growing your business, can you afford not to make home staging part of your success strategy?

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Up next in the Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off For Savvy Pittsburgh PA Realtors

Reason #5: Staging Helps You Handle Touchy Topics.

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A savvy home seller or Realtor® in the Pittsburgh area? Looking for expert home staging assistance getting a property ready to show to its best potential so you can sell quickly and maximize your profit? Please visit Feels Like Home Interiors to find out more about how our home staging services can make a difference for your home or listings.

Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Pittsburgh PA Real Estate Agents-Staging Benefit #3: Professional Home Staging Saves You Money

Now we're ready to talk about Professional Home Staging and your all-important bottom-line.

You know--"Show me the Money!"

Reason #3: Professional Home Staging SAVES You Money

Selling homes for a living can be a lucrative business (and hopefully is for you!). But as you know (and we all wish sellers better understood), there are a lot of expenses involved in listing and marketing homes.

And these days more than ever, we need ways to cut expenses while still providing clients with exceptional service. While some of your listing costs are one-time expenses many others (print ads, direct mail, flyers, open houses and of course, the value of the long hours required for you to do this on-going marketing) get higher and higher the longer you carry a listing.

So how do you minimize your marketing costs for your listings and still provide the highest level of service to your clients? You sell your listings more quickly. And what is a great way to accomplish that? Professional Home Staging!

According to statistics released by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) for 2008, vacant homes spent 85% less time on the market and occupied homes spent 89% less time on the market after staging. And a National Association of Realtors survey found that staged homes sell 49% faster.

So Reason #3 is a "key" bottom-line benefit for you as a Realtor® to use home staging:

Stage your listings and they will sell faster. and bottom-line, you will have MORE MONEY left in your wallet.

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Ok, saving money is nice, but making more money is even better. Stay tuned for the next post in this series, Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Pittsburgh PA Real Estate Agents- Reason #4: Professional Home Staging Makes You Money.

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And just in case you missed the first two key reasons for Professional Home Staging:

Reason #1: Staging Saves You Time

Reason #2: Staging Increases Traffic For Your Listings

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A savvy home seller or Realtor® in the Pittsburgh area? Looking for expert home staging assistance getting a property ready to show to its best potential so you can sell quickly and maximize your profit? Please visit Feels Like Home Interiors to find out more about how our home staging services can make a difference for your home or listings.

Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Pittsburgh PA Real Estate Agents--Reason #2: Staging Increases Traffic for Your Listings

Welcome to the second installment in my series of Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Real Estate Agents. The first post covered how professional home staging saves you precious time. Now for Staging Benefit #2.

Staging Benefit #2: Professional Home Staging Increases Traffic To Your Listings

While traffic on the freeway is literally a pain in the rear, traffic through your listings is absolutely crucial to your selling success. So how do you drive traffic to your listings and get prospective buyers walking through the door?

You start by making the best of your online presentation. These days approximately 90% of buyers start their home search online. And you have only a few short seconds to pique their interest or your chance to sell to them will pass with the simple click of their mouse.

• Cluttered house-CLICK!

• Outdated house-CLICK!

• Confusing house-CLICK!

In order to avoid the "click" and make a potential buyer's "must see" list, you need to make sure your listings look terrific in both MLS photos and virtual tours. What is the best way to ensure your listings look as good as possible online so they will drive traffic to your listings?

Professional Home Staging will be crucial to your selling success.

Uncluttered and Staged Kitchen--Schedule a Showing!

Updated and Staged Entry--Schedule a Showing!

Clearly Defined Dining and Sun Rooms--Schedule a Showing!

Effective home staging will address issues like flow, function, space, clutter, cleanliness, style, odor and animal issues, and curb appeal. A professional home stager will make sure the property appeals to the broadest range of buyers and that its best features are clearly highlighted while minimizing any challenges.

Real estate selling is one time when traffic is a very good thing. The more traffic, the more likely the listing will sell, and sell quickly. It's like the line from the movie Field of Dreams, "Build it and they will come." With professional home staging, Stage it and they will come--and they will buy!

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Stay tuned for the next installment in Top Ten Reasons Home Staging Pays Off for Savvy Real Estate Agents-Staging Benefit #3: Professional Home Staging Makes You Money.

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A savvy seller or Realtor® in the Pittsburgh area looking for expert home staging assistance getting a property ready to show to its best potential? Please visit Feels Like Home Interiors to find out more about how our home staging services can make a difference for your home or listings.