Get A Goode Start Decorating

It’s almost spring and the time of year that you may be considering whether or not to put your home on the market. If you’re one of those homeowners, I’m sure you’ve been thinking about your options. Unless homes in your area are selling fast and furious, home sellers today need to seriously consider staging their home to get a quick sale and a high return on your investment. Today’s real estate market is uncertain, so you want your home to stand out from the rest! Hiring a professional home stager would be a very good investment to ensure that your home will show well and appeal to a prospective buyers. So, unless you have some training in real estate property staging, I encourage hiring a professional home stager. What’s the difference between a home stager and interior decorator? Interior decorators decorate to please the home owner’s taste; home stager’s decorate to please a prospective buyer’s taste. Decorating to sell your home will help and selling vacant homes will need ...

The term, “Home staging” is being used more and more these days. Just tune into the HGTV and you’ll see a bevy of shows about staging and house hunting. But for many homeowners who don’t watch the shows, “home staging” is a relatively new term. In previous years, it was left up to the homeowner to prepare their home for showings. Although some real estate agents are knowledgable and can advise the homeowners about home staging, most agents are experts in the field of selling and closing, not home design. Agents generally know what factors can help sell a home, but they don't have time to assist the homeowners in what can be a long process in getting their homes into selling condition. Professional home stagers are experts in the art of preparing a home for resale. They can help eliminate clutter, arrange (or remove) furniture, assist in enhancing curb appeal and help the house look welcoming. With the assistance of a professional home stager, your house can make a positive ...

It's almost fall and the race to buy a new home is on! If you're a homebuyer, you definately are on a house-hunting mission! If you and your real estate agent do "drive bys," you've probably eliminated a few properties based on their exterior appearance - including broken railings, children's toys in the yard or an unmowed lawn. Curb appeal is so important to the prospective homebuyer. It could mean the difference between a "sale" and "no sale." If you are the home seller, here are some recommendations to keep your home in pristine condition and appeal to the prospective homebuyer's "drive by": 1. Make sure that your lawn is freshly cut and that leaves in your lawn are raked. If winter has set in, please make sure that the snow has been shoveled in the driveway and on walk-ways and sidewalks. 2. Your home's entryway should be attractive and welcoming. Consider a potted plant by the entrance, repaint the door...

Moving is one of the most stressful times in your life, and if you are trying to sell your house during the summer months when your kids are at home, you may feel like pulling your hair out, strand by strand. Especially if you're trying to stay ahead of the of the toy clutter. Well, I have a few suggestions that may help you wage attack on the toys and win! 1. Try to keep a box for the toys for each child in your house. I'd like to suggest that you keep the rest in storage or alternate the toys (in storage) if your house is on the market for more than a few weeks. 2. Try to limit the games or building toys with small pieces to ones with large pieces. This will facilitate the daily clean-up. 3. Limit toys that are large and have lots of parts - such as kitchen sets and kid's furniture - suggest that you keep those in storage since they may distract the potential buyer and prevent them from envisioning themselves living in your home. 4. In the front yard, keep outdoor to...

There can be many different reasons for downsizing – but moving is probably the most common. Well, I’m not moving, but the older I get the more I get annoyed at all the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. Does this sound familiar to you? In the past, I would move to a different home every four years. And every time I moved, I would sort through my stuff, donating lots of bags to the Salvation Army, Purple Heart and Goodwill. As you can tell, my love of shopping for clothes, shoes and decorative items has always gotten me in trouble. However, now that I’ve been living in the same house for the past five years, my “stuff” has been multiplying exponentially. Not only is the crawl space under the house filled up completely, but we now have a garage that has no more extra room – especially for a car. And it's migrating to my two spare bedrooms and the closets are bulging at the seams. I'm really tired of the piles which seem to grow on a weekly basis. And even more frus...

If you have decided to sell your home, you probably are trying to prepare your home to sell in this slow market. Here are five reasons a professional home stager can help you sell your home: 1. Outshine your competition. The real estate market is still slow. Most homes will sit on the market for months because there are so many homes for prospective buyers to consider. Today, there is so little incentive for buyers so, as home owner, you need to stand out from the rest! Consider hiring a home stager/ real estate stager to evaluate your home and give you an objective point of view with their recommendations on how your property can outshine the rest. Recently, my clients spent less than $500 to have me stage their home. I helped them declutter, used most of their belongings and added accessories for punch. Their condo received two contracts in 10 days and sold for more than the asking price. The feedback from these prospective buyers was very complimentary, while their neighbor's co...