I have stress the importance of staging to my Sellers ALWAYS. Read on about my Client, Sarah and the success we had when she staged her unit for sale........
Condo Living: Spiffed Up For a Sale
YOUR CONDO SITS by a Metro station, and has two huge bathrooms and a great dishwasher. It's going to be a breeze to sell it, right? Maybe not. Besides the housing slump, sellers have to consider how their pads look and feel to potential buyers before putting up a "For Sale" sign.
That's why they're often hiring stagers. These design pros come in and organize, decorate and sometimes clean a property to make it look better to house-hunters. "Real estate is all about marketing," says Lyric Turner, a professional stager. "If you have $7,000 to invest in your property, you could renovate a bathroom or maybe refinish hardwood floors. But with the same money, you could also stage a three-bedroom house. It affects the entire property, not just one room. It's a total overhaul makeover."
Turner owns Red House Staging and Interiors in D.C. and is an accredited staging professional. She says staging gives sellers some control over the stressful experience of putting their pads on the market. "Three things come into play when you're selling your home," says Turner. "Two of them you have control over; the third is the market. You can control the price, and you can control how it looks. The agents help you determine the correct price. You are responsible for how it looks," Turner says.
For those not sold on the idea of spending money to have someone redecorate a house they're ready to leave, consider this: Stagedhomes.com, a Web site for the industry, claims the average time a U.S. property that hasn't been staged stays on the market is 161 days. Staged homes spend an average of 33 days or less on the market.
That's what happened for 38-year-old Sarah Watkins, who owns U Street's Caramel Boutique. She tried to sell her vacant, sans-furniture 1,060-square-foot condo near the shop in 2005. But after a few months with no nibbles, she decided to rent the place out. Two years later, in September 2007, she was ready to try again.
"I talked to my agent about staging because I was desperate to sell," Watkins says. She hired Turner's company to assist. She suggested Watkins move most of her own furniture back into the empty space. Then Turner worked her magic, creating a more neutral feel to appeal to a wider range of potential buyers. "She strategically placed things in the kitchen," says Watkins. "There was a space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, and she put objects up there to make it feel more spacious." Other tricks included arranging furniture in ways that made the rooms look brighter and roomier.
In her new place across the street, Watkins says, "I lived with [nothing but] my futon and a chair for about five weeks, but it was worth it." Watkins had an offer on her one-bedroom condo within two weeks. She sold it for the asking price of $449,000, and says she would ante up for a stager again. "Staging shows the buyer the potential," says Watkins. "When you walk into a vacant space, you can't always see the possibilities."Stagers can also change the look and feel of still-occupied properties. "People are looking to put their own dreams into your home," says Realtor Steve Bachman of RE/MAX Gateway in Chantilly. "They're not buying your hobbies and photos."
Staging neutralizes a space, helping folks at an open house envision themselves living there someday. When showing clients a very lived-in property, Bachman tells customers: "'When these folks leave, all of this stuff will be gone.' But if you stage it so people don't have to make that mental leap, that's much better."
Such quickie makeovers don't have to cost a whole mortgage payment, either. One can just go for an in-home consultation with a stager (typically $150 to $250 per hour). In an occupied house, a stager will make suggestions, perhaps recommending removing personal belongings or giving options for furniture placement for better flow. Often sellers take it from there, doing the work themselves.
Other times, sellers hire a stager to complete the whole project, which can cost more, depending on many factors. In a vacant space, pros may recommend furniture rental, which can add thousands of dollars to the bill. But sellers almost always recoup that money at the settlement table. A 2003 survey by HomeGain.com (an industry Web site) claims that sellers who stage will see an average return on investment of 343 percent.
Watkins spent about $1,800 to stage her place. "It was more money I was putting out to sell it, but it sold, instead of me paying the mortgage while it stayed vacant," she says.Many real estate agents believe so strongly in staging that they will bring a stager in as part of their selling package. If sellers shy away from the expense, some agents are willing to work the cost into their contract so that owners don't pay until closing.
Sometimes staging is simply about de-cluttering. Stager Laura Caron, who owns Positively Simplified, a residential organizing company in Burke, Va., says like many things in life, presentation is everything. "You don't want to open the linen closet and see dishes in there. That sends the message that there is not enough room in the kitchen," she says.
"I tell people that whenever a buyer opens the door, it needs to look like a store," says Caron, who says staging something as small as a closet goes a long way toward luring potential buyers. "When closets are beautifully colorized, with nothing on the floor and everything sorted in length order, it sends a powerful message."
But there is such a thing as cleaning up your place too much before trying to unload it. Turner says kitchens are a good example.
There's been something driven into people about decluttering counter tops, and then they look too vacant. There's nothing left to catch the eye. Often, I tell people to add stuff back into the kitchen, like a decorative bowl or some nice cookbooks."
And what about those makeover TV shows like "Flip This House" and "Get It Sold" (see page 3)? Can they teach you how to DIY? Maybe. "I watch 'em all the time," says Realtor Lance Horsley of Long & Foster in D.C. "But being able to translate it into your own space is a different thing." Horsley says staging helps sellers hide a property's flaws and accent its strong points, which can be tough to do. "I think we can learn something from them, but I can't watch a program and then go back and redo my house."
Some people hire stagers even if they aren't selling. They may just like the clean look it produces or yearn to live in a house as fresh and uncluttered as a Pottery Barn catalog. Turner says stagers often offer consultations to homeowners who have no intention of selling, but she warns, "The way you live in a home and the way you stage a home you're trying to sell are very different. Everything that is there in a staging is for decor, and that's not a practical way to live."
But she agrees there are ideas to take away from a stager, like how to minimize clutter, make a better traffic flow or create spa-like baths or colorful kitchens. No matter why they consult stagers, homeowners who use stagers should be prepared to take the advice they're given. Turner says nothing is worse than a reluctant client.
"All I'm asking people to do is invest a little bit of money, maybe buy some new bedding, throw pillows and candles," she says. "I tell them to look at staging as an investment. You'll get to keep these things when you're done and take them to your new home."
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Written by (Washington Post) Express contributor Lynn Thorne
Photos courtesy Red House Staging
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
DC defies home-price drop
As a constant advocate of DC and the great real estate investment opportunities here, this article from today’s (March 26th, 2008) The Washington Times reinforces the great financial benefits AND stability of purchasing in the District. What a GREAT place to live!!!!!
Article published Mar 26, 2008-The Washington Times
D.C. defies home-price drop
By Gary Emerling
The District has bucked a nationwide trend of rapidly falling home prices — the latest evidence that the city is faring better than its suburban counterparts during a national economic downturn. Home prices in the District rose by 6.4 percent in the past year, while prices in other major jurisdictions dropped dramatically, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. The outer suburb of Prince William County saw the biggest price drop of 25.7 percent. The successful housing market is one reason for the District's relatively firm financial footing, which officials also attribute to fiscal discipline and a strong commercial tax base. And while other jurisdictions increased taxes or raided state savings to close budget deficits in the midst of a struggling national economy, the District has emerged as among the more fiscally responsible local governments in the region.
Stephen Dinan: McCain supports limited federal aid in solving economic woes
Buying or selling in the greater D.C. area? Check out TWT's Home Guide"That was something that would not have been looked at with [anything] other than laughter years ago," said D.C. Council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat and chairman of the council's Committee on Finance and Revenue. Development projects like the Verizon Center, the new baseball stadium and the Washington Convention Center have helped anchor a commercial property tax base that serves as a "huge element of stability" for the city, said Robert Ebel, the District's deputy chief financial officer for revenue analysis. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, who helmed the development of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's fiscal 2009 budget proposal, said it was such "targeted investments that have contributed to this being a vibrant city and an interesting city" that people want to come to and live in. "That's probably why we'll do well during the economic downturn," he said. "But we can't rest on that assumption." Mr. Fenty's $9.4 billion budget for fiscal 2009 contains $5.66 billion in local, nonfederal funding that is only a 1 percent increase from the amount he proposed in last year's spending plan. Mr. Fenty, a Democrat, said the spending plan is "fiscally conservative" and the city's financial state is a far cry from the 1990s, when the District teetered on the brink of insolvency and was placed under a financial control board by Congress. "Who would've thunk it 13 years ago when the city was $500 million or so in the red?" Mr. Fenty said when introducing the second spending plan of his mayoral term. In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, signed a $1.4 billion tax increase into law late last year to help close the state's budget shortfall. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, proposed dipping into the state's savings to help cover a $339 million shortfall in the budget that runs through June 30, as well as a $1 billion revenue adjustment in the $78 billion biennial budget he proposed in December. The effects of the slowing national economy and statewide budget cuts also have contributed to struggles by local jurisdictions to stay in the black: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, a Democrat, has proposed job cuts and an 8.3 percent property-tax increase to help close a budget gap that now sits at $297 million. Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democrat, aims to close a $121.6 million deficit through a hiring freeze on all non-public-safety positions and increases in the county's recordation and income taxes. And Fairfax County, facing a $120 million deficit, plans to cut salaries in government agencies and increase fees imposed on residents to help trim its budget gap. Ed Lazere, director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, said the District deserves credit for making one-time expenditures with its budgetary surpluses, while Maryland has been victimized in part by having to make up for tax cuts implemented under Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat. Mr. Lazere also said tax revenues haven't dropped as dramatically in the District as they have in Maryland and Virginia, and that the city is fortunate because it is not as reliant on the real estate market as the suburbs. "A big piece of it is that we're just fortunate," Mr. Lazere said. "I wouldn't say that we've been fiscally irresponsible, but I wouldn't say we've been particularly fiscally responsible either." The city's major tax revenues — made up of the real property tax, the general sales tax, the individual income tax, business income taxes and taxes on real estate transactions — grew by nearly 15 percent between fiscal 2006 and 2007, according to budget documents. The growth rates are projected to slow to only 3.3 percent and 6.2 percent in fiscal 2008 and 2009, respectively. But Mr. Tangherlini said the District still has benefited from its efforts to cap the tax rate on residential assessments, a strong economy in years past and a blunted impact from the national economic struggles. "If you look at the continued investment in the real estate market, where the cranes are still swinging, it's pretty much in the District of Columbia," Mr. Tangherlini said. "That's going to cushion us from a tax standpoint." The District's position also is unique from states and other localities because of its relationship with Congress, which requires the city to prove that its budget is balanced four years into the future, and its function as both a state and local government. "Property tax[es] are a third of our revenues. States don't have that. Income tax is a third of our revenues, and local governments don't have that," Mr. Ebel said. Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey noted that Virginia is different than the District and said Mr. Kaine was fiscally responsible in making his budget cuts. "I am not an economist, but it strikes me as D.C. is a city and Virginia is state," Mr. Hickey said. "[Virginia] has urban, suburban and large urban areas. ... They are different kinds of things." Mr. Ebel said the District's tax revenues are potentially vulnerable if the national economy continues to slow and the stock market takes a hit. But he said the city is finally on equal financial footing with its suburban counterparts. "I don't think we in D.C. want to be smug that somehow we're better than our neighbors," Mr. Ebel said. "But we're just as good as our neighbors."
Article published Mar 26, 2008-The Washington Times
D.C. defies home-price drop
By Gary Emerling
The District has bucked a nationwide trend of rapidly falling home prices — the latest evidence that the city is faring better than its suburban counterparts during a national economic downturn. Home prices in the District rose by 6.4 percent in the past year, while prices in other major jurisdictions dropped dramatically, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. The outer suburb of Prince William County saw the biggest price drop of 25.7 percent. The successful housing market is one reason for the District's relatively firm financial footing, which officials also attribute to fiscal discipline and a strong commercial tax base. And while other jurisdictions increased taxes or raided state savings to close budget deficits in the midst of a struggling national economy, the District has emerged as among the more fiscally responsible local governments in the region.
Stephen Dinan: McCain supports limited federal aid in solving economic woes
Buying or selling in the greater D.C. area? Check out TWT's Home Guide"That was something that would not have been looked at with [anything] other than laughter years ago," said D.C. Council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat and chairman of the council's Committee on Finance and Revenue. Development projects like the Verizon Center, the new baseball stadium and the Washington Convention Center have helped anchor a commercial property tax base that serves as a "huge element of stability" for the city, said Robert Ebel, the District's deputy chief financial officer for revenue analysis. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, who helmed the development of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's fiscal 2009 budget proposal, said it was such "targeted investments that have contributed to this being a vibrant city and an interesting city" that people want to come to and live in. "That's probably why we'll do well during the economic downturn," he said. "But we can't rest on that assumption." Mr. Fenty's $9.4 billion budget for fiscal 2009 contains $5.66 billion in local, nonfederal funding that is only a 1 percent increase from the amount he proposed in last year's spending plan. Mr. Fenty, a Democrat, said the spending plan is "fiscally conservative" and the city's financial state is a far cry from the 1990s, when the District teetered on the brink of insolvency and was placed under a financial control board by Congress. "Who would've thunk it 13 years ago when the city was $500 million or so in the red?" Mr. Fenty said when introducing the second spending plan of his mayoral term. In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, signed a $1.4 billion tax increase into law late last year to help close the state's budget shortfall. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, proposed dipping into the state's savings to help cover a $339 million shortfall in the budget that runs through June 30, as well as a $1 billion revenue adjustment in the $78 billion biennial budget he proposed in December. The effects of the slowing national economy and statewide budget cuts also have contributed to struggles by local jurisdictions to stay in the black: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, a Democrat, has proposed job cuts and an 8.3 percent property-tax increase to help close a budget gap that now sits at $297 million. Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democrat, aims to close a $121.6 million deficit through a hiring freeze on all non-public-safety positions and increases in the county's recordation and income taxes. And Fairfax County, facing a $120 million deficit, plans to cut salaries in government agencies and increase fees imposed on residents to help trim its budget gap. Ed Lazere, director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, said the District deserves credit for making one-time expenditures with its budgetary surpluses, while Maryland has been victimized in part by having to make up for tax cuts implemented under Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat. Mr. Lazere also said tax revenues haven't dropped as dramatically in the District as they have in Maryland and Virginia, and that the city is fortunate because it is not as reliant on the real estate market as the suburbs. "A big piece of it is that we're just fortunate," Mr. Lazere said. "I wouldn't say that we've been fiscally irresponsible, but I wouldn't say we've been particularly fiscally responsible either." The city's major tax revenues — made up of the real property tax, the general sales tax, the individual income tax, business income taxes and taxes on real estate transactions — grew by nearly 15 percent between fiscal 2006 and 2007, according to budget documents. The growth rates are projected to slow to only 3.3 percent and 6.2 percent in fiscal 2008 and 2009, respectively. But Mr. Tangherlini said the District still has benefited from its efforts to cap the tax rate on residential assessments, a strong economy in years past and a blunted impact from the national economic struggles. "If you look at the continued investment in the real estate market, where the cranes are still swinging, it's pretty much in the District of Columbia," Mr. Tangherlini said. "That's going to cushion us from a tax standpoint." The District's position also is unique from states and other localities because of its relationship with Congress, which requires the city to prove that its budget is balanced four years into the future, and its function as both a state and local government. "Property tax[es] are a third of our revenues. States don't have that. Income tax is a third of our revenues, and local governments don't have that," Mr. Ebel said. Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey noted that Virginia is different than the District and said Mr. Kaine was fiscally responsible in making his budget cuts. "I am not an economist, but it strikes me as D.C. is a city and Virginia is state," Mr. Hickey said. "[Virginia] has urban, suburban and large urban areas. ... They are different kinds of things." Mr. Ebel said the District's tax revenues are potentially vulnerable if the national economy continues to slow and the stock market takes a hit. But he said the city is finally on equal financial footing with its suburban counterparts. "I don't think we in D.C. want to be smug that somehow we're better than our neighbors," Mr. Ebel said. "But we're just as good as our neighbors."
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Decorate for SPRING!!!!
WOW! The DC real estate market has really gotten busy the past few weeks. Okay so it is not “officially” spring; who cares?! The “spring market”, the busiest of all the seasons for real estate really got into the swing of things early this year. I am sure this makes many Sellers and Real Estate Agents happy! If you are getting ready to sell or you just want to “freshen” up your home, here are some simple tips from Lowes:
9 HOT HOME DECORATING TIPS
1. Color your world. You can change the look of
a room in a matter of hours with paint, and we’re
not just talking about the walls. Ceilings, trim,
and chair rails can be punched up, and there are
many faux finishing techniques that are perfect
for the do-it-yourselfer. Visit Lowe’s online paint
project center http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=HomeDecor/paintProjCtr_index.html for ideas.
2. Update window treatments. If your windows
need a makeover, lighten them up with simple
drapery panels. Lowe’s has a collection of drapes,
blinds, shades and swags in the latest colors and
fabrics. Now you can order special order window
treatments online by clicking here: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=Promos/WindowTreatments.html&rn=RightNavFiles/no
3. Rearrange the furniture. Create a new look
without spending a dime! Map things out on paper
before you start moving pieces around, especially
the heavy ones.
4. Re-purpose a room. Do you have a living
room or extra bedroom that’s not being fully
utilized? Turn it into an office, gym, media room or
playroom for the kids.
5. Accessorize! Little details can make a big
impact. If your current accessories have lost
their luster, replace them with decorative books,
candles, and interesting pieces that reflect your
personality and hobbies.
6. Don’t forget the floors. Nothing beats the smell
of fresh carpet, to give your home that “new
house” feel. Believe it or not, shag carpeting is
making a comeback!
Visit your local Lowe’s to see what’s hot in floor
coverings for the home. And, when you purchase
any special order carpet, Lowe’s offers installation
for the entire house for just $199.
7. New countertops can transform a kitchen or
bath, without having to remodel the entire room.
And you don’t have to spend a fortune: affordable
laminates now come in styles that look amazingly
close to real granite, marble and quartz.
8. Think spring. Add fresh cut flowers and new
house plants to green up your living spaces, and
remind you that spring is on its way!
9. Decorative molding can add instant
glamour to any room, and it’s easier to install
than most people think. Lowe’s offers a free
step-by-step project guide to install your own
molding http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/InstMld.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)