Be Aggressive! Be, Be Aggressive!

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Sara Garden

I was never a cheerleader. I was a pom-pom girl and while I didn’t cheer, I still remember this chant from my high school glory days.

For home owners who are serious about selling and need to do it fast – being aggressive is a necessity. How can you be aggressive you may ask? After all, I’m obviously not talking about yelling, doing high kicks or shaking your pom-poms. I am talking about shaking your money-maker though, and in this case, your money-maker is the preparation and packaging of your home..

There are 3 aggressive steps that are absolutely critical: Continue reading →

Don’t Paint it White!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Sara Garden

Somehow word has gotten out that white is a good color to paint when selling your home. Unless you live in a light filled contemporary home, full of windows and on a beach or in an uber modern abode, this could not be further from the truth. Simply put, when it comes to selling, white walls are not your friend.

True, a neutral color is a must when it comes to staging – the key word is color. The house should feel light and bright, yet warm and comfortable. White is cold. White spaces feel stark and they don’t complement most furniture and accessories. White walls will not generate the desired response in your buyers, but many colors will. Choosing a color when selling is completely different from choosing a color when you decorate your home to live. You want to remove your personality from the home so that the new buyers can imagine themselves living there. But you don’t want the house to have NO personality, i.e. white walls, you want it to have a neutral personality – one that could work with all different styles, tastes and colors of furniture. Think Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware or Crate & Barrel when choosing a paint color. Notice how the strong colors are typically in the amazing accessories?

Soft tans and beiges work well as can Continue reading →

What Home Staging Isn’t…

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Sara Garden

We’ve talked before about what home staging is – properly preparing your house to meet your home selling goals. Home staging makes your home appealing to your target buyer and packages your product a step above your competition to bring in the offers.

But let’s talk for a moment about what home staging isn’t. For your consideration, my top ten:

Home staging is not decorating – home staging is about packaging your home for the target buyer.
Home staging is not plastic food on the counter, wine glasses next to the bathtub or cookies in the oven– these old staging tricks are tired and ineffective.

Continue reading →

What is Home Staging?

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Sara Garden

So what is home staging?

A lot of sellers have no idea what home staging is or why they would need it. Home staging originated in the 1970’s but has become increasingly popular in the last 5 to 7 years. According to Wikipedia home staging is defined as,

“the act of preparing a private residence for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to make a home appealing to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property more swiftly and for more money. Staging techniques focus on improving a property’s appeal by transforming it into a welcoming, attractive product that anyone might want.”