Monday, December 5, 2011

Pottery Barn Inspiration

They say that Imitation is the best form of flattery and I hope that is true.  I "Luv, Luv, Luv" the Pottery Barn Catalog.  I tend to save them and refer to them for design and creative inspiration. 

This Christmas season,  I wanted to use a more "natural" decor theme in our holiday decorations.  We live on wooded acreage and I have an abundance of natural resources in the way of pines, cedars and magnolias to "shop" and create one of a kind wreaths and floral arrangements. 


{via Pottery Barn site}
 Pottery Barn had this photo of a front entrance with Christmas decor and I found myself drawn to it. I "Luv" the natural elements but the pewter pitchers on that red front door really speak to me. 

Years ago, my mother gave me some tarnished pewter wine goblets (we "luv" tarnished things) and I've never been able to find a use for them, so they've been packed away for about 10 years.  Light Bulb moment! 

Saturday, I shopped for greenery in the woods, and Sunday I made 2 front door hangings as our Christmas "Wreaths". 

On the front of their Holiday Catalog, they have a stack of Holiday pillows tied with some red jute webbing, normally used for upholstering chairs. I ordered some last week and used it to make bows and as garland for our Christmas tree.

Close up



Front Door Pic
 Now, I know that I need to replace the striped door mat or add another to create balance, but I'm EXTRA pleased with the results.  The only thing I purchased was the jute webbing...I already had the rest.  You know....Use What You Have Decorating....I practice what I preach. 

I'd love to see what you're working on for Christmas!  Want to share?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Target Market....What Does That Mean In Real Estate?

As business owners, we are constantly hearing about target markets and how to direct our advertising towards attracting buyers for our goods or services. Information from survey results are compiled, reviewed and those results are then passed on to us. It's about appealing to the buyer of our products.

Knowing who our "target market" is while trying to sell a house is just as important to the home seller as it is to all these businesses that have products or services to sell.

As a home seller, this means that you are going to have to think about who your buyer will be when marketing your house. What age group are they? Are they empty nesters, new parents or families with teenagers? What will they expect to see when they come to view the property and will it be something that they desire?

Let's say your house is 15 years old. The kitchen appliances, cabinets, countertops and lighting is dated compared to what a buyer will see in an newer house. Your bathroom is 15 years old. The flooring, vanity and fixtures are dated compared to the competition.

Could your furniture be showing some wear and tear and look dated? Probably, but your thinking "A buyer is going to be purchasing our house, not our furniture. Why should that matter?"

It matters because, the "Target Market" for your property is probably around 30 to 40 years old, has a family that needs room to roam and if they see a house and the furniture looks like their parents or grandparents furniture, they can't get excited about making this their new home. They need to see that their young, hip style of life will work in a 15 year old house. I call this the "Pottery Barn" generation. This is a style of decorating that a 30ish age buyer likes and can relate too and they can't relate to a house that looks like their parents house.

Studies show, 90% of buyers cannot visualize the potential of a space with the current home owners taste and belongings. It shouldn't matter, but it does. However, if they visit a house that is 15 years old that has been updated through the years and has current style furnishings and accessories, they will get excited about it and most likely, this will be the house that they choose to purchase. This house was marketed with the "target market" (buyer) in mind.


Thursday, September 15, 2011

House Hunting and Children's Story...What do they have in common?

Remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? One chair was too small, the next chair was too big and the last chair was JUST RIGHT! Buying a home is a lot like that.


For example, Mr. & Mrs. Buyer are relocating to another town with a job transfer. They have sold their previous property, have money for a down payment, closing cost, moving expenses and have the required amount of reserve money that the mortgage company has required for unexpected emergencies.

There are 3 houses on their list of houses to consider in the area where they want to live

House A: Fixer-Upper.  Needs repairs, updating and an over-all "facelift", however, meets their needs as far as size, location and school district. It's going to require time, expense and expertise that Mr. & Mrs. Buyer doesn't have.

House B: Beautifully Decorated !  and located just down the street from House A, has been professionally decorated for the current home owner. The rooms have been painted and wallpapered in the home sellers favorite colors, the children's rooms have beautiful murals painted on the walls with princesses and favorite super heroes . The flooring, all though beautiful, is light in color and the buyers have 3 teenagers and 2 dogs. To make the house work for Mr. & Mrs. Buyers family, everything will need to be changed to go with their current furnishings and families needs. The house will need to be repainted, new flooring installed and the children's bedrooms will have to be changed to suit their teen age children. Again, another property that will require time and expense that The Buyers do not have.

House C: Properly Staged with a Buyer In Mind!  It's in the same neighborhood as Houses A & B , it has been professionally prepared and showcased to appeal to a broader amount of buyers. The walls are freshly painted with neutral colors that will go with Mr. & Mrs. Buyers current furnishings, the flooring is family and pet friendly, everything from the countertops, to lighting and bathroom fixtures has been updated to current styles. The family can move right in and begin their life in a new town without having to do one thing to this house.

The message of this story is to understand that whether your house needs updating and repairing, or has been beautifully decorated and it should be in an issue of House Beautiful, they both require the same amount of work for a buyer to make it their own . Someone is going to have to spend time and money to make them ready for a buyer to move right in. If you CAN find a buyer that is willing to make the needed changes, the offer will be much lower than it would have cost you to make the changes yourself.

So, go ahead and save yourself the frustration of low ball offers or too much time on the market and make your property "JUST RIGHT" for a buyer.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Replacing And Updating


How many times have agents heard this before?....


"I know my carpet, countertops and fixtures are dated and need replacing, but I'll just give the buyer credit for that. Anyway, how do I know that I will be making the right replacement choices for the next owner?"

Back in the good ole days, when real estate was selling like hot cakes, all that was required to attract a buyer was to have a clean and neat house. To say that real estate has changed over the last 4 years is an understatement. Now, we're all talking about "staging" and updating our houses in order to get them sold. As a seller, it's difficult to wrap your head around the fact that you may have to spend some money in order to sell your property. You're seeing dollars signs being subtracted from your bottom line.

If you are thinking this.... what do you think a buyer is thinking? If they see that light fixtures, carpet, etc need to be replaced, all they see are dollar signs rolling around in their head.

By the time a buyer has paid the down payment, closing cost and moving expenses, there usually isn't any money left to spend on updating a property. "However, the house down the street has a similar plan and it's already been updated......let buy that one! We can move right in"!

The days of "I'll just give them credit for the updates" are over. If you CAN find a buyer that is willing to make the changes, they are usually looking for a "good deal" and will make a low ball offer to compensate for the expenses of updating. The offer will be much lower than it would have cost you to make the changes yourself. You lose!

As for making the correct replacement choices.....talk to your agent or have a staging consultation to get the advice needed to make the right choice. A home staging consultation is usually around $150 - $275.

Why risk having your house sit on the market while other updated houses around you are selling?

For more information on updating your property, contact

Nan Johnston

Southern Staging & Redesign

nan@southern-staging.com

www.southern-staging.com

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Vacant Staging - How it works


I get a great many inquiries about staging vacant houses and how it works. These inquiries can be either from real estate agents or home owners that have vacant property and are considering having the property staged so that it will show better.

Most people think that you just put a few pieces of furniture in a house and some hand towels in the bathrooms and that's all it's about. Well, it 's a good bit more than that.

It's usually a 4 step process starting with an initial consultation with a home staging professional reviewing the home, taking photos, drawing diagrams and taking measurements on every detail needed to complete the job. This is when budget and goals are discussed with the home owner.

Once the home owner decides to proceed, the professional consultant meets with a furniture rental company with which they have a good and reliable working relationship and design a plan. Then the pieces that best suits the home and the sellers budget are chosen. Most furniture rental companies require a 2-3 month minimum rental contract and the monthly rental fee is paid directly to the rental company

This is where most people think that the job ends ......not so. The day that the furniture is to arrive at the property, the consultant and their assistants meet the rental movers and direct where all of the pieces are to be placed. The consultant then starts adding tons of additional accessories in the form of bed linens, wall art, plants, trees, table decor, pillows, throws, light furniture, knick knacks and materials. These touches create the emotions, the feelings of the house and what turns the house into a home. This is where the professional home staging consultant shines, creating the emotional connection points that draws a buyer into a room so that they will linger a little bit longer and begin to start imagining this as their home. A monthly rental fee of the accessories is paid to the staging company.



A few days before the house is to close in escrow, the home stager meets the furniture rental company again and spends the day de-staging the home.

What all this boils down to in dollars in cents is a staging service fee, a monthly furniture and accessory rental fee. The cost is usually anywhere from 1/2 to 2% of the asking price and based on the size of the house and number of rooms that are to be staged.

This is usually the place where the owner suffers from sticker shock, but be reminded, *statistics show that homes that were on the market without staging, on average took 9 months to sell (across the country). Those same owners had their homes professionally staged and they sold, on average within 2 months. WOW! That's 9 months vs 2 months!

This is an investment in selling your house, not an expense. Making extra mortgage payments while the house sits on the market....that's and expense.

You may want to go over the formula below, to  figure out if you can "afford" to stage or not;
Mortgage + expenses (utilities etc.) = Monthly expenses
Monthly expenses X 9 months (avg. time un-staged) = Cost to list house un-staged
Savings: Expenses X 7 months (average time on market reduced) – staging fee = Savings if you stage your house first!

Note: If you have a price reduction you can also add that into the loss you are taking by listing a property un-staged.

Let us help you sell your vacant property faster and for more money with professional home staging.

www.southern-staging.com 770-251-0608 home/office


*study conducted by Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

No Lookers? Could it be technology?


You've had your house on the market for months and have had a few showings and now.....nothing. What has happened?

Let's face it, technology has taken over the world. Facebook and Twitter are how the current generations are receiving their information. Most young buyers are being notified by phones, tablets and email, whenever there is a new listing available that meets their criteria. The first thing that they are going to do is look at the online photos.

To learn what others are seeing, go online and take a look at how the property is being viewed. Is there a virtual tour that takes too long to upload? It could be that there are photos, but is it possible that they need improvement, or there aren't enough photos for them to get excited about? If buyers don't see amazing images, they won't even put it on their list of properties to view. With over 90% of home buyers researching online before ever making an appointment to go view properties, having GREAT photos is crucial to driving buyer traffic to a listing.

If you are disappointed in the lack of showings for your listed property, talk with your agent. It could be that you need to update photos. You may want to consider consulting a home stager, before, to take every advantage of having your property in photo ready condition.

Don't let technology send your potential buyers down the street to the competition.

For more information of having a photo ready property, consult

Nan Johnston

Southern Staging & Redesign

www.southern-staging.com

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Make Laundry Rooms Look Like A Fun Place To Be!

I tell my clients to make their laundry rooms look like they are a fun place to be.  These are some great inspiration photos for everyone....selling house or not.


Thursday, March 31, 2011

Make Rooms Pop With Spring Colors

Check out HGTV's Idea site for great photos on the Hot Spring Colors.


Not the best colors on walls for selling. Bold colors reflect the home seller's taste and buyers know that "someone" is going to have to paint. 


Better use of latest color trends when selling. Add the color in your accessories and they can move with you when you sell!


Thursday, March 24, 2011

Another 'Use What You Have' Idea!

A few years ago I need some shelving in one of the small bedrooms for kids toys, etc.  The room is too small for a bed, dresser, chair and a free standing set of shelves, so hanging shelves was the way to go. 

E (husband) had some old wooden water skies ( he  used as a youngster) that were laying around, obviously not being used, since he had promoted to a fiber glass one.  I decided to use these for my shelves and with the help of my nephews, Ham & Eggs (twins) we shopped for brackets and came home and installed them. 



I think that turned out GREAT and everyone comments about my clever idea. 


These storage jars are left over plastic mixed nut containers from BJ's.  Aren't they just perfect for holding little cars, crayons and wooden puzzle pieces? 


Now that "Ham & Eggs" are "too cool for Aunt Nan", this room has become my grandson's room. 
Look at that cute little wooden "blue" fire truck that he built with his Cousin Josh.  And my favorite items of all are ....


his cute 'lil' cowboy boots.  LOVE IT! (singing) 

This project reminds me of the skateboards that you see in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog.  Only I would use metal L brackets to hang those up. 

What kind of projects have you got spinning around in your head?


Friday, February 4, 2011

Put on your "Buying Eyes"

It sounds like a song, doesn't it? However, every home seller needs to....put on their buying eyes. How do you do this?

Begin at the curb. If you were a buyer, what would you see? A nicely manicured lawn that looks as if it has been carefully tended or unruly flower beds, un-finished projects or children's toys scattered all over the lawn?

Now, walk through your front door. Most home owners seldom do this. Are there cobwebs all around the light fixtures and front door? Check the door bell ringer. It's often broken and most owners don't know it, because they never use the front door.

Once in the entrance area, what do you see as a "buyer"? Is every room that you can see from the front entrance, a different color? What grabs your attention? What gives a feeling of home?

Stand in the doorway of each room and ask yourself, how do you think a buyer will feel about this room? Will they be distracted by your collections, personal photos and decor? Is the room dark or light and bright? Will a buyer see dated furniture, fixtures and accessories? Neat and organized sellers are viewed as taking care of a home. The opposite is also true. Old and dated furnishings in a new home still make the home appear dated.

As a seller, it's easy to ask, why can't a buyer see beyond my furniture and possessions? The truth is that only 10% of buyers can see past current home owners decor and visualize what the space could be like for them. That means that 90% CAN NOT see beyond the owners decor and condition of the house. They CAN NOT imagine living in the space, because they are distracted by the sellers personal taste and belongings.

It is difficult for a seller to be objective about their own property. A good home stager can help a seller disassociate them from their home and see it from the eyes of a potential buyer. So, put on your "buying eyes" and let's get that house SOLD!

for more information about staging a home to sell, contact...

Nan Johnston

Southern Staging & Redesign

www.southern-staging.com

www.facebook.com/southern.staging