From Staging To Selling

For years, I have tried to put into words what makes me different from other Realtors and my most recent listing gave me the opportunity to showcase what that is.

My listings create an experience. My goal is always to make the buyer love the way they feel so much when they walk into one of my listings that they don’t want to leave… it results in a huge buyer interest, multiple offerers, and higher than average sales price.

You might think, what’s the big deal?? Buyers can envision what my house would look like with different paint, a different kitchen, different furniture…….but the truth is, most people can’t. I have spent the last 13 years of my career touring homes with buyers. Here’s what happens.

When a home is prepared for sale - painted a neutral color, updated to be appealing to the most likely buyer, and staged to show how the space could be used - buyers love it. Buyers love how they feel in the home and can ENVISION LIVING THERE!!! Buying a home is a financial decision, a practical decision but also a deeply emotional decision. Loving how you feel in a space is key. These are the homes that, if priced correctly, get multiple offers which is how you end up going way over list price and getting contracts with very few, if any, contingencies.

When a home is not prepared for sale - the owner’s personal belongings everywhere (it’s very clearly someone else’s house), very taste specific (dark paint for instance) and furniture that doesn’t tell the story of how one might live in this house people don’t know what to make of it. And what I hear most often is - I don’t like it.

I say - well why don’t you like it? I don’t know. I just don’t like it they say. Even with my almost 2 decades of design and staging experience sometimes it’s difficult to help people see the potential in a home. If they don’t like how they feel, very often there’s no talking them out of it.

This is why I have always been so adamant that my seller clients take home preparation before listing seriously. With every new listing, I schedule a specific home preparation meeting where we discuss everything that needs to happen in order to get the home “show ready”. I recommend paint colors, kitchen and bathroom refreshes, new carpet, and other inexpensive updates that will maximize the sales price without spending a lot of money. When you work with me I also provide my secret list of incredible local contractors and vendors to ensure things are done quickly and right.

The next phase of course is staging. Staging tells the story about how the potential buyer would live in the house. Being able to see how life might look in a potential home is SO IMPORTANT. Where would I sit and watch TV in the evening, where would I work, how would I entertain and what kind of retreat/sanctuary does this home provide from busy life in the DMV.

Recently, through our soccer-loving kids - I became friends with an interior designer named Quintece Hill-Mattauszek, owner of Studio Q Designs. We instantly hit it off - bonding over raising 2 crazy boys, working for ourselves, and managing our creative energy. I began brainstorming ways that she and I could work together. A recent listing of mine - a 4-level Clarendon model in Fairlington - was the perfect opportunity!

Quintece and I met at the property and discussed the pluses and minuses of this home and how we would tell its story. After our meeting, she agreed to stage it! I was so thrilled to see what an interior designer vs. stager would do with the property and I was not disappointed. She was meticulous in her measurement taking and then maximizing the potential of this home by gathering materials from her secret interior designer sources and making the home look simply amazing. Not only that but the items used to stage this property were all available for sale with an accompanying price list! Please take a moment to view the gallery below.

After one weekend on the market, we received 4 offers and sold the home for a much higher price than my clients anticipated (updated price coming soon!). In other words - it worked again. Potential buyers poured into the home. 30 groups of people came through our 2 hours (masks, one at a time) open house. My clients had 4 fantastic offers and just had to pick the best one.

During the project, Quintece and I had an impromptu and very fun conversation on IGTV about the design process and she asks me to join her to answer some real estate questions. It was so fun to chat and the video can be found by clicking here.

For more information about how I can help you sell you prepare your home for sale AND help you maximize your return feel free to email me anytime!