I take a lot of pride in running a business that centers on giving each job my personalized attention and the best of my skills. In running a business that, no matter the length of the sale, the client is satisfied because we did everything we could to propel them to success. In running a business that is primarily referral based.

It is hard to describe the elated joy of getting a referral: of being called by someone who had friend or family recommend you, or by an agent who has seen the success of staging. But recently I experienced something that was equally exciting and a first time for me: a call from a client who had decided to hire me based solely on my online presence. It was a good reminder of how important blogging is to connect with potential clients.

Here are some of the pictures from the staging:

To check out the listing click here.

Part of the job of a Stager is to understand the potential demographic for the home and the nieghborhood, and stage in a way that will make the home appealing to a wide veriaty of potential buyers. I’ve blogged before about the different ways of staging for different target buyers.

But sometimes when I stage a home that is so versatile I’m very curious what kind of person or people will move in. Especially in the case of homes like the 3235 SW RIDGE DR, which have the location and layout to make so many different types of people happy living there.

A spacious 3 bed and 2 bath, this home could be great for a family; it is walking distance from Jackson Middle school, and near Stephenson Elementary, and Wilson High School.

Or perhaps for the older student, this home is a quick bike ride to both Lewis and Clark, and the PCC Sylvania Campus.

Or maybe for a dog lover, with its backyard and quick walk to the popular Maricuara Natural Area, the wooded wetland in SW Portland.

…whoever ends up making this their home, I know that they will be very happy : )

Do you want your home to sell quickly?

Yes. Of course…but not at a loss of profit to you. The fact is, even when a home is priced exactly where it should be and for every penny it is worth, sometimes homes sit on the market overlooked by potential buyers. Staging helps you reach out to those buyers, highlighting the selling features of a home and showing why it’s worth the price tag.

This home was a blast, we did the painting, carpeting and staging. It sold in two days!

Click for more pics.

Just a quick update post. The sale went great; we sold about 75% of everything we had out. Thanks for coming everyone and for all the support. If you missed out we will probably have another sale in 6 months time or so, once we’ve reorganized our inventory, and settled into our new location.

Also, here are some pics from another recent staging that sold in two days:

This home had been on the market for several months, but sold on the first day after staging. One of the things I wanted to focus on with these before and afters are how much well placed accessories help highlight the key (and selling) features in a home.

BEFORE AND AFTER:

In oregon where the rain is plentiful, and nautral lighting in a home a necessity, bay windows in the kitchen can be a valuable selling point. Adding some plants quickly draws attention to this feature.

It’s amazing what some frame of reference furniture and accessories can do to help a potential buyer gauge the space and functionality of a room. This room felt much smaller before the staging.

: )

Home Stager selling off excess inventory:

• Art, bedding, chairs, sofas, curtains, decorative pillows and more!
• All of these have been used for staging only, so very little wear
• Rain or shine, all indoor shopping.

1812 N Culumbia Blvd #B1

9am – 5pm             Saturday (2/25)

10am – 4pm          Sunday (2/26)

 Cash only, and you must be able to transport your purchase upon buying it.

Sofas – $150-$225

 Art: $5-$25

Comforters: $25 (never been slept in!)

Chairs: $20-$50

Not used to posting pictures like this…and no this isn’t my most recent staging  ; )

These pictures are from storage. Owning all our own inventory and the wide variety that allows us to stage for different types of homes and demographics means that we have enough furniture to, well, fill a warehouse.  Some big jobs that we have had recently, as well as the growth of our business over that last few years made us decide to move. We’re taking over more square footage and reorganizing to better customize our inventory.

 Reorganizing has been equal parts high stress, and breath-of-fresh-air refreshing. The work involved is well worth the results and I’m looking forward to having a new space and a bit of a new start. Once I’m through with this we’re planning on having a moving sale to help move out some of the furniture that we don’t use as often, and make way for some new staging furniture that better fits with the changing trends and wants of the NW home buyer. I’ll keep you guys posted when we set a date for the sale, I’m hoping to be done with all this within the next few weeks : )

And good luck to anyone else out there who is starting on their Spring Cleaning early, we can do it!

Thinking of selling your home? Decluttering and cleaning is the first step to do.  As a stager I have written many blogs about the benefits of staging (here, here, here), and the ASP statistics above shows this as well… but today I want to talk about the part I highlighted.

That’s right, an average of 872% increase in return simply for cleaning and decluttering.

Now I know that decluttering can seem like a daunting task, but you will already have to go through everything to pack, so why not start early? Instead of looking at your home as a whole, break down the process room by room. Organize your things into 4 piles: Keep, Donate, Trash, Maybe (it’s a lot less stressful when you allow yourself the time to decide on items, and the more you sort through the easier it is to let go of things). As items are moved for organizing, it is easy to begin to deep clean hard to get areas.

It is also important to figure out what pace works best for you. Some people prefer to dedicate a few hours a day of work room by room, till they have organized their home. While others prefer to spend a long weekend intensively organizing a cleaning, and get it done as quickly as possible (I’m one of those prefer to power through and get it over with).

It is always surprising to me how many listings one can see posted online, where there hasn’t even been basic tiding done. So, if you are thinking about selling your home, think about the additonal $2,000 you could be making just by decluttering and cleaning : )

Quick update on some recent stagings:

126 SE 52nd Ave

 1713 SE 55th Ave.

Both homes have already sold!

I know that I have talked before about the way staging helps a potential buyer not only gauge the layout and functionality of each room better, but also bond with the home. This isn’t about manipulating the viewer, or hiding a home’s flaws, it is about showing off the attributes, and making a house (or in this case condo) feel like a home.

Which brings me to an interesting situation that has been happening at the K-Station eco condos I’ve been staging for. As you can see from the example on the right, the condos have the same layout. Despite this, so far the buyers have only wanted to buy the staged unit. So, after a sale we have had to destage everything, and then move it all over to another condo (with the same layout).

It really goes to show how much staging can help personalize a home, and let the buyer bond with it.