Rockland Home Staging

I think some times homeowners and realtors do not want to use home stagers because their homes / listings will never look like the ones in the glossy home staging brochures.

Not every home is a $1.7 town home with and elevator and spa like bathroom. In fact most of my business comes from your average home in the burbs that requires some tweaking. A lot of the time we are working with an extremely limited budget and the goal is not perfection - it is cozy, or quaint, or realistically just a lot better than it was before.  Given an unlimited budget any home can be transformed, I like to see what can be accomplished for little or no money. 

I don't often post pictures of this kind of work because they are not shocking, or spa like or dramatic. They are reality.

The following before and after photos were taken on the same day after staging the home for with a $0.0 budget. The homeowners paid for half day staging services. I think we made some dramatic differences.

*Photography note - I was not planning on using these pics for my portfolio so I was not careful about the angles the rooms were shot from.  

It seems there are home staging companies popping up all over the place and it can be confusing to sort through all the new start up companies.  When choosing a home staging professional to stage your home or to refer if you are a realtor there are several factors that you need to take into consideration. 

• Small businesses need to be registered with the state, most Home Staging Companies are registered as an LLC, Limited Liability Corporation or they may have a Corporation or Sole Proprietorship.


• Home Stagers, like all business owners need to have insurance.  In my area Realtors will not refer any individual or company that does not have insurance.  It is just good business practice.
  

• Many home stagers have a list of preferred vendors that they frequently work with.  These third party contractors may include; painters, electricians, carpenters, and other tradesmen.  It is important to make sure that all the contractors the home staging company is referring are licensed and insured also.

• Home Staging companies should have a professional looking website with information that will be helpful to Realtors and Homeowners alike.  When 85% of homeowners are beginning their search online, stagers also need to be available online.

• You should also ask to see a portfolio of the stager's work.  Not all stagers are created equal.  It is important to view their work before referring them.  Their work may be beautiful and compliment your marketing plan perfectly or may have a style that does not work with your vision. 
  

• It is also important to interview the Home Staging company in person to discuss how they handle sensitive subjects like offensive odors, pets, clutter and emotional attachment etc.  When you refer a business it reflects back on you.  Make sure your home stager has a similar outlook on getting homes ready for sale. 
  

• Ask for references from past clients and realtors that have worked with the stager. 

It is important that Realtors and Homeowners have a comfortable and professional relationship with their Home Staging Company.  If you are not currently working with a particular stager you can interview several companies to find the person will fit your needs.

If you are looking for a Home Staging professional in Rockland County NY or Bergen County NJ schedule an appointment with Rockland Home Staging LLC today - we take the guesswork out of getting your home ready for sale.  

I have been using my Real Estate Shows before and after show as a sidebar widget for some time now. It plays in mini version right in my sidebar on the right hand side of my blog under my picture. I have been asked by several people how I got my tiny RES widget so I figured I'd write up a tutorial.

1. Go to your AR homepage and click on MY SETTINGS. You will see your blog title then blog description.

2. In the blog description paste the following code wherever you want your RES widget to appear.

<embed bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="scale" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.realestateshows.com/show/player.swf" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" flashvars="flashshowid=XXXXXX&baseurl=http://www.realestateshows.com&mode=embed" height="200" wmode="transparent" quality="high" width="220"></embed>  

3. In the code after the word 'Flashshowid= I have six XXXXXXX this is a place holder for the six digit code of your show. So open up your RES management page and look up the six digit code for the show you want to use as a widget. Replace the x's with your 6 digit code.

4. Now hit update and view your blog. You should see your super cool teeny tiny RES show widget complete with music and all. It is really the coolest thing since sliced bread.

*When you are done please post a link to your blog in the comments so we can all see your sidebar widget.  I'd love to see them!!!

Wow, a four step tutorial - I think that is a new record!

A note about the HTML code. You can't just take the HTML code provided to you by RES because I did have to make some modifications to the code to resize and scale it. So copy the above code exactly or else your show will not look right.

OK you are ready - go ahead and try it now, it's so easy. You know you want to....... Still afraid of HTML code? This is the perfect place to start. There are only 4 steps!!!! If anyone has any problems you can send me an email and I'll walk you through it.

Here is a RES I made recently for a Local Shop:

I don't know if every individual or family has a personal code of ethics, but in my family it is easy. I tell the kids whenever you are in a situation and you are not sure that you are doing the right thing or making the right choice just think to yourself, "Would I do this in front of Gramdma?" or "Would Poppy be proud of me?" If the answer is yes then chances are you are good to go.

I started doing this years ago while trying to instill a moral compass in my young children. I wanted something real, that they could easily relate to.

I think that if people think about it deep down we all know when we are stepping across the line, but is is easy to rationalize all the reasons that this behavior is acceptable. Maybe everyone else is doing it, maybe it is even "technically" legal, or maybe you are just going to take a change that you won't get caught.

My questions is; Why risk your personal integrity?

This little process is with me all the time. I honestly use it as a life guideline in my business and personal life. I think if everyone had an easy to follow code of ethics then people would not get into situations where there personal integrity may be compromised.

Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises once said in a college commencement speech:

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them work, family, health, friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four balls family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.

Imagine what life, your family, office, Active Rain and the entire world would put these simple principals into practice.

So I'm asking you now - wherever you are - whatever it is, "Would you do it in front of your Grandma?"

This townhome is very modern so I staged it with a spa-like relaxing look.  I chose a very neutral color palate of cream and sage.     I did not want to take away from the high end fixtures and granate, only to enhance them.  

I'd like to thank Kathy Nielsen  of Home Staging Atlanta for posting her fantastic towel folding secrets on her blog  Towel Ideas for Stagers. Displaying towels has not been one of my favorite staging tasks but I think I'm getting it!  

Maureen Henry, Rockland Home Staging.  

There has been a lot of discussion about links recently.  I think if we all take some simple steps we can really help each other out.  It is a common practice on Active Rain to link other people in our blogs, it is good blogging etiquette.  If you are writing about something that was inspired by another AR member it is good blogging practice to link back to the person or to their original blog.  Makes sense, right?

I am proposing that we just take this simple practice on small step further.  I was reading FRANK LL0SA, Virginia Real Estate's blog about Project Link for Charity! .  Frank is donating money to charity for every link he receives.  You can read more about that on Frank's blog.  I think it is a great idea. 

What I am proposing is LINK LOVE for the sake of love or etiquette.  Whenever you link someone in your blog why not take an extra two seconds and link their website.  I just did this above when I mentioned Frank.  Virginia Real Estate goes directly back to his website.  *look for more link love in the rest of the blog.

If you go to the AR search feature and type in your name you will probably see the many people have referenced you in their blogs. Just think, if every person that ever mentioned you gave a link to your website you would be in Google heaven. Searching your name is a great thing to do anyway. Sometimes people write a great blog about you and for one reason or another you never find it. Or conversely maybe you've stepped on someone's toes and they are blowing up the net with hate blogs about you.  Either way, it is nice to know.  (The phrase "blowing up" is a colloquialism I learned from my pal Marci Toliver,* Fresh Eye Designs.) 

OK so how do you put this into practice.  First you should always use the AR search feature before blogging.  Read more about that here. Now that you know what you are going to write about and you have decided who to link in your blog you are all set.  Not sure how to use the link feature on AR, you can check out  Kristal Kraft,* Denver Real Estate's tutorial on linking How to Create a Link.  There are all sorts of handy tutorials on the very bottom of KK's profile.  You should check them all out.  

Now the last thing you need to remember is that blogs containing Links need to be public in order for the links to count.  I think that is right - SEO experts can chime in on that in the comments.  One other note about comments.  Links left in comments do not count for SEO or anything else for that matter, so there is no point in spamming people with your link in comments.  It is also poor blogging etiquette.  

Rockland Home Staging recently staged a colonial in Rockland County NY where the kitchen was just not working. It was very neutral but it looked washed out.  The cabinets are that bleached wood that is almost pink and the walls were painted a pail peach.  It really wasn't such a bad color but it did nothing for the room.

I decided to break one of the most sacred home staging rules and paint the kitchen RED.

We chose a really warm rusty red.  We only painted two of the walls, near the cabinets red.  We painted the others a really nice putty color then accented that wall with some artwork that had the red in it.  We also tidied the place up and installed new stainless steal cabinet hardware.  The old hardware was brass with a white center.  It really gave this tired kitchen a fresh new look. 

The home has been on the market for over 6 months.  Once the staging was completed they got an offer within 2 weeks.  Sometimes you just have to break the rules to do the right thing.  

I'm sure you've all heard of fantasy football teams, I've heard of them, I'm not exactly sure how it works but I thought I'd put a spin on the concept and create an Active Rain Fantasy Real Estate Office.

First thing any great office needs is a few top agents, the big dogs, the sharks. These real estate agents get it, the total package: great marketing, staging, photography, blogging, local content, great personalities. These guys have it ALL.

So here's my starting lineup. (OK I know I'm mixing sports metaphors here but it is a fantasy team) First up we have:

Kristal Kraft,                FRANK LL0SA                 George Tallabas              Sarah Cooper                   Bryant Tutas
Denver Real Estate     Virginia Real Estate         Idaho Real Estate        WV Real Estate              Florida Real Estate

I decided to assemble an all male staging crew. (Why, you may ask? You can pick a reason: I love a man that can lift heavy things, they are really there for the eye candy factor or these three have mad skills). You can visit their websites and decide for yourselves.

Craig Schiller                                  James Frazier                               Jackson West
Real Estaging                                  A Defined Design                          Reveal Estate

Every great office needs a photography and feature tour staff. Did you know that you may loose 45% of potential buyers if your listing photos and curb appeal are not working. You can read more about that here. But then come back.

Here are my top pics:

Cheryl Johnson                                    Bryce Mohan                                          Jeff Turner
Bob Taylor Properties                           WA Custom Photography                          Real Estate Shows

Every Super Office need a couple of financial wizards to help turn our dreams info reality. I've recruited two Rock Stars of the financial world. Now all we need is a fantastic web design so we will be found by the major search engines. You need a good web designer that specializes in Real Estate web design. Here is my go to guy:

             

Brad Andersohn                 Nima Rezvan                          Win Singleton                        Brad Carroll
The Escrow Guy               Home Loan Consultant             Summit Web Design               Real Estate Web Designer

That pretty much rounds out my Fantasy office. Where do Marci and I fit in this virtual Real Estate Giant, well that's easy, I'm the ARFO CEO. And Marci is the VP. Hey It's my fantasy right? You want to be SEO? Create your own imaginary company.

Maureen Henry                                      Marci Toliver
Rockland Home Staging                         Fresh Eye Designs

Want to join the team. Please outline your strengths in 50 words or less in the comments. We will consider all applicants!

Want to nominate your favorite AR member as a candidate please fell free!

UPDATE: I just came up with a new name for our Fantasy Company. If this company is going to be as big as I think we need a better name.

ACTIVE REALTY - Turn your real estate dreams into reality.

BTW - We just enlisted the help of a hot, young web designer, Brad Carroll He is pretty new to AR but already making quiet a splash. My advice - Subscribe and learn.

I'd like to think my bud, Cheryl Johnson for writing up the directions to INLINE FRAMING. There are many times when we link other websites to our blogs. The problem is that people may click on that link and get lost for half that day. So rather than sending out a search party you can try the inline framing feature. You'll have to refer back to Cheryl's blog for directions.

So for your viewing pleasure I've framed my website below. As Marci Toliver would say, "Please feel free to peruse our website." The coolest part is that all the links actually work! Thanks Cheryl.