Atlanta Georgia Home Staging : April 2008

Most buyers lack vision and as a result, an open floor plan can be made even tougher for them. 

Here we have a dining room/living room combination.  This is what the room looks like before it was professionally staged: 

Now here's the room "after" staging:

As you can see, we used warm colors to further engage the buyer and so that it appeals to a wide variety of buyers. 

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Home Staging Atlanta offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

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About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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Many of my home staging prospects here in Atlanta (and I suspect it's no different across the country) call with the following concerns:

• Buyers lack vision. 
• My home is unfortunately no different than the other hundred thousand across the city.
• There's a particular room in my house that buyers can't envision how to use.
• The buyers can't connect to my home on an emotional level.

When we're faced with these challenges, it's important to address them. 

I recently staged a new construction home where the agents had gathered to help decide the "purpose" of the room.  And yes, even the agents were left guessing. 

Here's the room while it was under construction:

So... let's pretend for a second that you're a prospective buyer and you're viewing this room.  The room, by the way, is located just off the kitchen.  Is it a study? Dining room? Family room?  The builder envisioned the room as a study.  The agents, given the floor plan on this level, thought it best to be used as a dining room.  I agreed.

Here's the picture after staging:

Here's what we accomplished:

• We created warmth and made the room inviting
• We created a solution for the prospective buyers on how they could use this space
• We gave them a reason to linger longer

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Home Staging Atlanta offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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I honestly don't know who's more excited; me, the sales manager, the builder or the owner of the development.  The week after I had staged the home, I received a call stating that the model had sold as had 3 others.  Another week later they had 5 additional homes under contract.  Suffice it to say that we're all extremely happy!

Here are a few afters.  I'm still awaiting the pictures from the professional photographer and will replace these pictures with those shots.

In the photo below, the love-seat needs to be re-angled.  The cleaners had come in to re-do the floors and moved it.   The TV, by the way, is from Props by IDM.  It weighs less than 2 lbs and was perfect for the home.

Bedroom in the loft (these are 4 story town homes located in Camp Creek Village):

Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC, offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

With pad and paper I went to work planning and designing a plan for this vacant home.  I had some time (approximately 3 weeks) to select the furniture and accessories.  However, that was in between other staging jobs so... it always seemed I was pressed for time.  It was the 2nd model home I've staged for them.  The first staged home sold 9 of them in two weeks (more on that in a separate blog).

Here's the master bedroom.  As you can see, it was still under construction at the time I took this photo.  That's the sales manager pictured below.  He had interviewed 4 other stagers for this project.  He's a great guy and we shared many laughs.

Now here's the master bedroom after staging. 

The grand opening was yesterday.  I'll write an update as soon as I receive the feedback.

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Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC, offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

Months ago I had received a phone call from an agent by the name of Kirsten Conover with Prudential Georgia.  She had just acquired the listing she mentions below, which as she states, was on the market for 2 years.  Kirsten wanted to have me see the home first-hand to gain insight on what changes the homeowner could make to assist the buyers.  With the bid accepted, we forged ahead with the staging and had the house under contract in two weeks! 

So, without further delay, here's the quick interview:

1)  How long have you been a Realtor?  Going into my third full-time year 

2)  How often have you used a professional staging company to stage one of your listings?  Not often enough--I'm now using one whenever I have a vacant house and/or when a non-vacant house requires it.

3)  In your selection of a staging professional, what criteria did you use?  A good recommendation came first of course, and Kathy Nielsen came highly recommended  by several agents in my office.  After that, once I start working with someone, communication and a quick response to emails and/or phone calls (within reason, of course) is key, and I know I'll have that with Kathy.

4)  How best would you describe the impact home staging can have on a vacant property?  I think the feedback I got on one of my vacant new home listings says it best.  The buyer's agent has shown the buyer several new homes that day, and she had said:  another new home with lots of rooms, nice features, beige walls...they're all starting to run together in my head".    I think staging gives the home a warmth and personality impossible in a vacant home, makes it appear more high-end than it actually may be, and helps the buyers imagine themselves in the home.  We all know that vacant homes sell for 8-10% less than furnished homes, and the case in point was my listing that had been on sale for two years with another agent--once we staged it, we had an offer the first day it went onto FMLS and it was under contract 2 weeks later.

 5)  After staging, did the feedback you received on the showings differ?  If so, how?  Like night and day...just like a show on HGTV, people who've seen the home before staging feel like it's a different house once it's staged. 

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Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC, offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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You ready?

Here are two pictures side by side (I wanted to make this a little easier to look at so placed them side by side).  Yes, the quality of the picture is different so... that's not one of the things that's changed.

Good luck!

UPDATE:  Congratulations to Karen Dempsky for having correctly guessed that these are two different homes.

The one on the left, featured in the blog Buyers Are Getting Ready... went under contract after staging in 6 weeks.  With the closing happening on the 30th, the builder wanted the 2nd home (located right next door) staged.  We made the move today. 

And yes, the prize is a Venti Mocha Frappuccino (or whatever you'd like), Karen.

Thanks everyone for playing.

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About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

For this room it took a can of paint; gorgeous bedding and accessories.

Here's the room before staging:  Note:  While I love the color green, this particular shade clashed with the carpet.  The difference was so noticeable that it was a complete distraction.

Now here's the room "after" staging:

And because I love this bedding, I got down on my knees and took this angle:

FYI - the bedding came from Ashley Furniture.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC, offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and investors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

And in no particular order, here they are:

• After you staged the home, we received a contract.  And... I haven't even put the listing in MLS! 
• We don't have just one offer, we have three. 
• We have a bidding war and all are over the asking price.
• The buyer wants to purchase all the items in the home.
• I've been in real estate for 17 years and had never used a home stager before.  Now, I wouldn't take a listing without it being staged.
• I'm so thrilled with how the home looked and the success we've had that I've passed your name to all the agents within my office.
• Your viewed as an expert in your field and I'd like to interview you for an upcoming article.
• The feedback from those who have viewed the home has been stellar.

The number one objective for every home stager is the same as the seller's and the agents and that is to sell the home more quickly.  The best compliment ever comes in the form of two words: HOME SOLD!

Stagers - Let's ADD to the list.  I love reading about the impact staging can have on a home almost as much as I love seeing before and after pictures.

Kathy

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About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

Seven days after I had staged the townhome I received a call from the sales manager for the development telling me that the model home had sold.  There was excitement in his voice and I could just tell that he had more news.  He quickly added "And, Kathy, we're under contract with 4 of the 5 units since you staged the home just 7 days ago."  There are only 5 completed with another 15 underway.

And yes, it beats my wildest expectations.  I knew the home looked beautiful and offered prospective buyers with a warm and inviting home in which they could envision living in.  However, did I expect 4 to go under contract in 7 days?  No.  But I'm thrilled for them. 

As with all of my projects, I place a great deal of time and effort into the design plan for the home.  This project was a little different in-that in addition to the accessories, I had the great pleasure of selecting the furniture the builder would purchase. 

Here's the home, prior to staging.  As you can see, the room, at this point, had no carpet nor had they finished the painting.

And after staging (see below).  The style of the home Is Mediterranean.

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Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC, offers affordable solutions in getting your home ready for the market.  Serving home sellers, agents, builders and inventors, they have the experience, skills and inventory to help make your home and/or listing stand-out from the others on the market.

With their extensive portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the expertise and knowledge on what it takes to make a home shine.  Need furniture and accessories?  No problem.  Their specialties are with vacant homes and model home staging.

For a free no-obligation appointment, contact them today.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a RESA 2010 Home Stager of the Year Finalists is  a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly.  Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392.  Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. To view examples of their before and after pictures, visit their portfolio at Home Staging Atlanta Gallery.

 

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PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...