This month we fell in love with this gorgeous black sequined cushion… We just had to purchase it!
Archive for the ‘Home Staging’ Category
Love This Cushion!
Friday, July 24th, 2009Cant’ Afford to move – Why not Redesign your home???
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009Recent statistics show that in the current uncertain economic climate homeowners are holding off buying a new home and choosing instead to stay in their existing home. However their initial desire for a change of lifestyle is still there. 
I have found that with most of the clients I have worked with to Stage their home before selling that when the transformation is finished they love the new look so much that they most often say “I should have made these changes years ago” or “this is just how I pictured living here could have been”. I once commented to a client when my house presentation was complete, that they had a beautiful view from their back patio and they must have spent many nights watching the sunset with a glass of wine. I was amazed when she replied that they had never sat out there!
We tend to live in our houses for some time and often live with features, styles and looks that we are not completely happy with. But for some reason, the longer we stay the less likely we are to see the opportunity that exists in our property. But it is possible to have the home you’ve always wanted using what you have with a redesign instead of a move.
Redesign is the art of using a homeowners existing furniture, rugs, wall art and then using a change in paint colour, new furnishings or even artwork to create the look you want. This investment in your property increases the value of your home and should you then decide to sell in the future, you are greater prepared should you decide to go to market. 
Hiring a professional to redesign your home eliminates the stress of decision making which can be so overwhelming for some people that they don’t know where to start. They can help transform your home by re-organizing what you have (sometimes using it in different ways), helping you let go of items you no longer need and perhaps improve the lighting and colours. Often an entire house is transformed just by moving furniture around between the rooms!
So maybe instead of moving you could redesign!
Home Makeover- 2 reasons sellers don’t makeover their properties…but should!
Wednesday, June 24th, 20091. We don’t have time for a Home Makeover
If you have time to sell you home, then you have time to do a home makeover and style it for sale. Statistics prove that homes that haven’t been styled to sell usually sell for a lower price, proving that homeowners who put money into presenting their home get back the money they spent plus more! No one can guarantee your result, but fail to complete a home makeover and you’re less likely to get the price you’re asking for and your house is bound to stay on the market for longer. Time is money!
2. I can’t afford it
Your house is the largest asset you will probably ever own. Can you afford not to spend some money to present your house at its best with a home makeover? You want to secure the most money on the sale of your home and to sell it in the shortest amount of time. The longer a house sits on the market, the lower its sale prices goes and in the meantime you still have to pay your mortgage, council rates and household expenses. It may even mean you loose out on the dream house that you have already signed up for because you couldn’t settle on yours in time. Don’t risk selling “as is”. You don’t want to leave money on the table for the buyer – you want to get top dollar. Marketing a house in its best light with a Home Makeover is universally recognised as crucial to getting the highest profit for you, the seller.
Home Staging
Home Staging is a proven real estate strategy in USA and UK and is now getting popular in Australia. Surveys on professionally staged homes compared to homes sold “as is” show an average increase in sale price of 6.9% and a 50% shorter time on the market.
I recently interviewed South Australia’s Number 1 Real Estate Agent, Anthony Toop and asked him about the benefits of using a professional house staging service
“So often it just isn’t understood how important home presentation is. But, the good news is it’s changing and a professionally presented home is becoming the bench mark. It is a case of look your best or you’ll miss the best!”
The small investment involved in a professional house stager, can tap into the hidden profits achievable for your home. Houses to Impress can take all the hassle out of preparing your house for sale. Making a small investment with Houses to Impress will ensure your success. Houses To Impress specialise in having an eye for colour, style and design – especially on a small budget. They can even do the shopping for you or organise repairs and maintenance.
Selling Your Home - “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words”
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009We have all heard this phrase before but how does it relate to selling your home? For anyone who has been through this process you will know that it is a lot of hard work getting your house ready for sale. I know from my own personal experience of renovating homes and putting them back on the market that when the house is finally ready, you want to showcase it to the world and sell it for the highest price.
A large proportion of buyers searching for a new home these days use the internet as their primary source of searching for the perfect home. If you have ever fallen in love, you know the process starts with a subtle seduction. Your property needs to instigate the romance with wonderful pictures so it stands out from the crowd to buyers who browse the multiple listing services on the internet.
I’m happy to say that I am great at staging a house for sale but a professional photographer I’m not. As you can see from a lot of my before photos on my website, the quality of some of my photos are not great. That’s because I took most of them! But the after photos look fantastic because I had a professional real estate photographer shoot the final photos.
In these times when selling your home can be a very slow process, you need every advantage you can get over your competition and sadly just when you need this service the most I have heard that a lot of real estate agents are not using their professional photographers anymore. They believe they are saving save the vendor a few dollars and instead take their own trusty point and shoot camera to the property and take the photos themselves!!
You want your For Sale house photos to reflect the great staging and showcasing work you have done and the features your house offers to potential buyers. You want those buyers to jump out of their comfy computer chair, and make a beeline to see your home before they miss out!
Take my advice when selling your home and don’t take shortcuts with your photos. Hire a professional to get professional results.
Organised - It’s De-lightful, it’s De-Lovely, It’s De-cluttered
Friday, June 19th, 2009Clutter is the Number 1 problem my Home Staging clients battle. It’s not a problem exclusive to people getting prepared to sell their homes. Even I struggle to keep my house uncluttered! In the real world not many of us manage to keep our house free of clutter, organised and looking like a page out of a glossy magazine 24/7.
Decluttering to move is very different from decluttering to live. When you declutter to live, presumably everything has a place, and all you do is make sure that everything is in its place. When you declutter for a move you take everything out except the necessary furniture and accessories.
Many of my clients are faced with the same dilemma but on a larger scale. They have committed to sell their home and I come in and tell them they have to clean up their clutter and get organised pronto before they even think about any other improvements! I explain to them that decluttering is an essential part of preparing your house for sale, and is virtually cost free.
Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional it is vital you get organised and declutter before putting your home on the market. Not only will your eventual move be easier but you will create an open, spacious and simplified look that buyers will love. Clutter eats equity and you will be rewarded two fold when you start to declutter:-
• You will make money when you sell your old items (garage sale or EBay)
• You will make more money by selling a spacious home, and as obvious as this seems, a buyer will naturally be drawn to and pay more for a home that feels like it has extra space rather then one that is chock-full to the ceiling with stuff.
Make it a manageable project
There are four simple options for each possession in your home Ditch it, Keep it, Store it, Sell it. Firstly you will need to get organised with garbage bags and carry bags for the ditch it pile, boxes for the Store it and sell it piles and don’t forget your masking tape and a permanent marker.
Divide your clutter into 4 categories:-
Ditch It: Garbage bags for the rubbish, Carry bags for the give aways – These are the items you are going to throw out or give away, once you get started on this process it will become easier to let go.
Keep It: These are the items that will remain in your home during the sales process. Keep this to a minimum and they had better be ones that either add decorative value to your home or ones you can simply not live without over the next few months.
Store It: Boxes – These are all of your possessions that will be moving to your new house e.g. memorabilia, photos, excess furniture and clothing. These are the items that need to be packed away prior to your house going on the market.
Sell It: Boxes – These are the items that could be of value to someone else. Hold a garage sale and put some items on EBay - these types of sales can surprisingly generate a large wad of cash.
These steps will get you moving towards having an organised home and an organised life. Your home is a mirror of you and how your life works, so as you simplify your home, you simplify your life!
Sell Your House In A Slow Real Estate Market.
Monday, June 15th, 2009In the current real estate market there are more sellers than buyers and houses have gone from being on the market for an average of 42 days a year ago to an incredible average of 120 days or more! So how do you sell your house in a slow real estate market??
While it is typical for real estate agents to say, “Drop your price” (which is money right out of the home seller’s pocket) I can say, “Let me show you how I can help buyers fall in love with your house so they’ll want to buy now.”
Which message do you find more appealing?I realised very early on in my real estate investing career that a well presented house made a huge difference to the amount of profit I made – in fact I made thousands extra because of the effort I put into presenting my renovated houses for sale.
Home staging is a relatively new concept for sellers in the Australian real estate market but it is fast becoming the way of the future especially if you want to sell your house in a slow market. I recently interviewed Australia’s No 1 Real Estate Agent, Anthony Toop of Toop & Toop for my up and coming book. When I asked him about the importance of home staging he said:-
“When I started in this business the home presentation industry did not exist. Nobody was doing it, it was unheard of. Over time the good real estate agents began taking the initiative. When it first penetrated the public’s consciousness on a professional level it was thought of as a luxury. Today it has become a standard operating procedure for houses being prepared for sale. It is a genuine growth industry as people have realised it has added value to the user. In short, it is a necessary part of optimising your return out of a property sale.”
Now more than ever Vendors need specialised help to sell their house faster and for more and staging is a surefire way to give your home a competitive edge over other properties on the market. House Staging will help you sell your house in any market.
Get more information on how you can sell your house for the best sale price in this market - Go to Houses To Impress and sign up for my free report on Top Home Staging Secrets to help sell your house.