It’s a Fact! Vacant homes take a much longer time to sell because:
Buyers see it as a gamble and are not willing to risk their hard earned money on something they can’t envision…
They don’t know how their furniture/stuff will fit in this empty space.
They will notice the flaws and work to be done. They focus on the negatives.
Bradbury Family Room Before Staging
What home staging does:
It puts the buyer’s mind at ease. With proper furniture placement, they understand how their own furniture may or may not fit the space.
When fully staged, the house will feel like a ‘home’ to them.
The WOW factor is undeniable! When they see how beautiful it can be, they are willing to make an offer, hoping to buy the house before someone else does.
Besides, when a house is empty, what else is there to look at?
Staging a house will reduce its time on the market by upwards of 90%. Most homeowners prefer a quick sale. Home staging will draw the attention of the buyer through awesome online photos. In turn, the buyer will ask for a viewing. Satisfied, they will make an offer… often times, above the asking price!
Remember: less time on the market = more money in your pocket!
If you want to avoid the carrying cost of owning two properties.
If you want the largest return on investment.
If you understand the benefit of home staging and are motivated to sell.
Your answer is just an email or phone call away!
Are your online listing photos magazine worthy? Are they creating a stir with home buyers? You may have hired a professional photographer to take the shots but if you or the homeowners have ‘staged’ the property yourselves, then would you consider it to be a professional looking job? Chances are, and you may not even realize it, but… no. A professional home stager will make the space look magazine worthy because she/he has that critical eye and knows what/how to adjust for the camera lens. Home staging involves updating the artwork, décor items, and possible repositioning, removal, or replacement of furniture. Today’s buyer isn’t interested in purchasing ‘Grandma’s house’ and that look will not bring traffic through the front door. Question: How many adult children do you know who will take hand-me-down items from the family? Answer: Very few. Why?: Because it’s just not their style.
Online photos alone, as professional as they may be, will not attract today’s buyer. This is the misguided premise of many a real estate agent… ‘I’ll just send my photographer over, and Bob’s your uncle’. Uh… no. If you want your listings to sell fast you will include, at the very least, a home staging consultation as part of your service. You may even want to go further than that and pay for part, or all of the staging. This will justify your commission upon the sale of the home.
Partnering with a home stager will:
Create a reputation as serious about getting top dollar for your clients
Show that you are the expert in today’s housing market
Bring you more clients when they see your staged listings
Produce quicker sales, allowing you to move to your next listing that much sooner
Increase your overall profit margin!
And who wouldn’t want all of the above to reflect on them?
If…
– you have a future listing or one that currently isn’t selling in the Durham Region or in the (eastern) Greater Toronto Area,
– you don’t have or haven’t used a home stager before,
– you’re losing clients to realtors who do offer home staging,
…then please give us a call at 905-683-9136.
Many people are afflicted with one or all of the above maladies… are you one of them? Do you feel dumbfounded with all of the choices out there when it comes to selecting paint colours, decor, style of furnishings, etc.? Well, you are not alone!
With so many choices in fabrics, patterns, colours, and styles, one can get confused… overwhelmed. You may feel anxious, wanting to have the perfect home to enjoy and to show off to family and friends, but whenever you attempt to decorate, it never seems to work out, and you can’t understand why. You’ve watched all of those HGTV designer shows and thought that you too could put a look together… but something just isn’t right, and you don’t know what it is. It may drive you crazy so you give up. Well have no fear, Groovy Chick Redesign and Home Staging is here!
Let’s begin with a simple in-home consultation and learn a little bit about you, your likes and dislikes. We’ll consider the things that you have and see what could stay or should be removed from the space. We will talk about where you see yourself in 2, 5, 10 years down the road. Will you be up-sizing, down-sizing, remodelling, selling, etc.? Once that is established, we’ll devise a plan that will work for you and your home.
Groovy Chick Redesign and Home Staging is able to secure designer discounts at preferred vendors that will benefit you, the client. Many a home seller has told us, “I wish I knew about this service years ago. I just love my house now and am sad to have to sell it!” That doesn’t have to happen. So, let’s the begin the transformation by forming a relationship! Give us a call or send us an email. We would love to help you!
Designed to sell or decorated to stay sunroom sofa
Have you ever diagnosed your own ailments? If you have, would you then represent yourself in court, prescribe yourself drugs, do a root canal, or massage therapy, etc. on yourself? Of course you wouldn’t… you couldn’t. You would go to the specialist in a particular field to make things better… right?
The same can be said for getting your home ready to sell. You should be looking to a professional home stager who will show you the best way to ‘market’ your house (appeal to the majority of buyers) to sell quickly and for more money. It could be as simple as a two hour consultation, or involve a partial (for an occupied house) or complete (for a vacant property) home staging .
You, as the homeowner, are too close to ‘your stuff’… whereas a home stager is not. They will give you an honest third party opinion, and show you what does or doesn’t appeal to today’s buyers. Don’t be afraid… a consultation is not an attack on you or your lifestyle but will open your eyes to the selling potential of the home. The majority of today’s buyers are not interested in nor can they afford to make upgrades. If a property looks tired, dated, or old it will not appeal to them. They have to feel excited about it, want to see it again, and to purchase it.
Think of it this way… you are getting ready to go out on a date. You shower, put on your best outfit (or go out and buy a new one), make sure that no hair is out of place, that you smell fresh and your teeth are clean. You want to be asked to go on a second date, better yet… a commitment to the future. See where this is going?
Now… you’re getting your house ready for the real estate market. You’ll clean, paint, purge, declutter, depersonalize, and update the look. You want your home to attract those buyers, to get them to purchase it and to offer much more money for it…right? The bottom line is this, whatever negatives a buyer sees will be directly related to what kind of offer they will make. If they believe the homeowner to be negligible, lazy, or out of touch, they will offer much less money. Why? Because they believe that they will have to spend a lot of money to get that desired look. However, most first time buyers are cash poor. They don’t have the extra funds to make those changes and will look elsewhere to find their perfect home.
Fact: For every dollar that a homeowner invests in getting the house ready to sell will generate $3-5 in profit above asking price.
Example A: House is listed for $800K, with $20K spent on improvements (including staging) and sells for $890K in two weeks time. That’s a profit of $70K.
Example B: Same house goes on the market with no upgrades or changes. Furniture is old, carpeting is stained, paint colours are different in every room, kitchen is dated, etc. It sits on the market with little or no interest. Price is reduced by $20K but still no good offers. Best offer is $70K below asking. If the homeowner must sell, they take the offer. If they don’t have to sell, they take it off the market and either make improvements and try it again or don’t bother. If they take the low-ball offer, the homeowner will have lost $90K from the original list price. That’s a difference of -$160K… ouch!
If you live in the Toronto area, Groovy Chick Redesign and Home Staging can help you. Please give us a call at 905-683-9136 or email us at catherine@groovychickdesign.com
Our homes are designed to sell, decorated to stay!
Groovy Chick Decorates Durham 