Home Staging NJ Luxury Real Estate

Those who say, "home staging doesn't make sense for properties below $100,000" will have those homes languish on the market unsold, racking up costs and eroding profit.  You are better off spending a little money to illustrate the potential of a property UP FRONT so that it sells immediately and for top dollar!  Seriously. 

Those who say, "home staging doesn't make sense for properties below $100,000" fall into 2 camps:

Camp #1 -- People who don't understand what staging is

• Staging is simply illustrating what a property can be used for - family life, bachelor pad, couple's nest - and more
• Staging techniques can be applied using what a current occupant already has, and rearranging things for the best views, best photos for MLS, best flow for showing
• Staging can mean bringing in rental furniture to show room size, demonstrate lifestyle and create a warm, fuzzy feeling of "ah, now this is home!"

Camp #2 - People who think we are in yesterday's real estate market

Oh, how I wish they were right!  But they're not.  Today, there are a ton of homes for sale, lots of foreclosures, lots of rehabbed REO homes, rehabs a plenty.  If you want yours to stand out, you have to make it be the "Best in Show'.  Best way to do that is through staging principles:

• Mint condition
• Colorful and fun
• Certified Pre-owned, if you can get a home warranty for the appliances, etc.
• Showing buyers how the space in each room works - what fits, what works, what just feels right.

Those who say, "home staging doesn't make sense for properties below $100,000" are being penny-wise, pound-foolish.  Let me ask you a question -

•1.     What are your monthly carrying costs?

•2.     How much will you lower your price if the property just sits there un-shown, and with no offers?

What if I told you that staging can cost as little as $300 if it's just working with what the homeowner has and up to $3,500 for a small home's-worth of rented furniture and accessories... for THREE MONTHS!!!  How much was your first price reduction again?

Those who say, "home staging doesn't make sense for properties below $100,000", gonna lose their shirt.

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It doesn't have to get that far... Please contact any one of the excellent stagers here on Active Rain. Search by state, county adn then city to find the one that's closest to you. If you're in New Jersey, I hope you'll want to find me - Juliet Johnson at http://www.JulietJohnsonStaging.com - (973) 477-7000.

So read the first email this morning.  One of my dearest friends, very busy,prolific, successful wealth management and retirement planner.

Here's the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/garden/20dressing.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

Its title is actually "Setting the Stage, Offstage..." and it's about how Broadway actors decorate their dressing rooms.  It's jolly good fun... but it's not really what I think of as staging.  Or is it?  What do you all think?

The job of educating the consumer, aka our closest friends, we still have ways to go.  These small steps are killing my feet! 

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Juliet Johnson Staging could stage houses like this, but doesn't.  We merchandise high end homes, as part of our program of Home Staging NJ, to appeal to the broadest number of folks as possible.

It was gray this morning and cold.  Still, I was up early, excited about the day.  I was taking a client to the plant wholesaler to buy materiale for thier new realty office.  This was the view walking in.

Then, as we looked around, the choices.... we are always sorely starved of lush greens in winter.  It's sad how one gets accustomed to it after al while.  Then you walk into a greenhouse.  The smell, the moist air, the color.......

For luscious greens, colorful plants and to tune up your home with some lush vegetation, please call Juliet Johnson Staging at (973) 477-7000.

Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with Werner Berger, the eldest North American to have climbed all Seven Summits.  He stood on top of Mount Everest at the age of 70!

 "Werner, how long does it really take for someone to enact a change in their behavior?"  I say, wondering if it'll be the 21 days one usually hears about or what.

"Well, actually, the single biggest mistake people make is trying to do it all at once.  When I climbed Everest, it took weeks, not because of the distance, but in order to get our bodies used to the change in altitude, so that we could make the final assault."

He says they trek to Base Camp and sleep there a while.  Then they go to level 1, sleep overnight and go back to Base.  The next time up, they'll maybe do 1 and 2 but will then return.  Only after a while, when in peak physical condition, well acclimated will they make the push to go all the way.  And for some reason, they climb the final stretch at night.  Don't know why.

What a great metaphor for anyone trying to get in shape, learn a new way of eating, grow from a one-man consultant/salesperson to the leader of a multi-million-dollar producing team!  And for stagers, in particular, as a new industry. We will grow.  We will gain recognition and credibility.  Our fees will be where they need to be to make a living in this profession.  But we will need to take small steps and acclimate to each change in altitude.

There will always be people who "break out" of the pack, and who try to take a run at the top, individually.  We must support them, encourage them, and recognize that they are (intentionally or not) preparing the way for all who come after. No one person gets there without sherpas, guides and inspiration.

As an industry, we need to stop the in-fighting: the squabbling about who's trained and who isn't.  We need to recognize those we anoint as our leaders and offer them our support, our encouragement and enthusiasm.  All those of you who wonder what gives Kate Hart the right to anoint Select Stagers, or speak for us as an industry, should realize that we voted her Stager of the Year.  We created her platform for Home Goods, (et al) and we empowered her.  And we were right to do so.

We all have long appreciated her style, her skill and her voice.  It is churlish therefore for anyone NOT to go over to Home Goods' website and comment on her blog.  Wish her well.  And when it's your turn to be Guest Blogger, we all will do it for you, too.

As to the "Select Stager" title -- my understanding is that there is a review panel participating stagers will be asked to go through.  Who comprises that panel is unclear at this time, but you can be assured, with Kate, it will be a bold, creative and colorful choice.

I am impressed, unnerved and totally skeptical about her mission to advertise to consumers.  Any direct contact I've had from consumers, in my own staging practice, has been "less than optimal", shall we say.  I prefer to work with and through realtors.  I know them, I respect them, I've been one of them, it's a smaller, controllable universe to market to and when I partner with them, we work together for the benefit of the home/property owner with usually splendid results.  But that doesn't mean there isn't a better way.  So, if Kate thinks she's got a formula to crack the code marketing direct to consumers, I say, bring it on, babe, and let me help you in any way I can.

And I mean that for all of you.  Anyone who has an idea for a better, simpler, sleeker way to build a staging business... bring it on.  Bring it in small steps, that we can try on, acclimate to and master.  Let us grow, individually and together.  Let us Meet at the Top, and let us help one another... every step of the way.

http://openhouse.homegoods.com/

Hi Friends -

Swirling around my world of late has been the whole notion of audio on websites. How we would use it, etc. Does it really make things more personal?  I decided to try it on my own website....

It sounds fun, and makes it less of a shock, I think, when I pick up the phone and have a thick British accent.  The recording isn't perfect,  (So much for being the One Take Wonder!!) but I've kept it in order to make it sound real... not a voice over professional but an ernest home stager simply telling her story.

It's not the cheapest gadget in the world - it's $30 a month, but every time someone signs up via your link, you get a $10/month referral fee.  With only 3 people, it's free and then all you're paying for is phone time.  That costs $0.14/minute approx, so you get just over 6 minutes for $1.00.  You can say quite a lot in 6 minutes, try it.  (Especially if one is un-interrupted, husband-o-mine!!)

As to uses:-

Realtors can

• add an explanation to their flyers and emails about the listing,
• they can announce anything special they want a prospective buyer to know
• Price changes
• Handle a recurring objection upfront
• Have the property's stager explain how the house can work, it's flex points, it's potential, it's livability

For everyone , these audio-bytes

• enliven copy, and emphasize all the right bits without caps and italics, etc.
• make the contact personal
• add some fun and zest
• stand out in a crowd

There'll be more.  Whaddya think?  Cool, eh? Just think how much more personal your emails, announcement, flyers can be?

>

Here's a recording I did of the title copy in this RES show for a Mission house that just sold... in 35 DOM... for $2.8.... in this market.... can you believe it ... ye-es, I walk on water...er-hum....

Click here to sign up. There's a 21 day free trial.

Juliet Johnson Staging does quite nicely in person, staging houses for sale in New Jersey.

I have it set to play when clicked but you can make the sound go off as the page loads!. It's terribly clever, if a little annoying if you go back to the page often! 

Hi Friends,

If you read my last post on Foreclosures, you already know that when a bank reclaims a property through Foreclosure, they pay a hauler to come in, clean out the place and throw the stuff away.  I have asked if we can intercept this stuff on the way to the dump and see if it can't be used for the greater good... or at the very least see if we can't re-purpose the stuff in order to help a number of folks on a number of different fronts.

My contact, James, and I want to share what we've got so far with you all tonight on a web-radio program.  Hopefully, together we'll lay out the facts, and then next week, we'll broadcast our plan.  I have calls in to Habitat (at the local level) and we'll see how we can make this work in the most efficient way possible.  We want the most amount of GOOD WILL we can muster.  Remember we are only doing this to be part of the solution... not to profit by someone else's distress.

If you want to listen in, and/or call in (it's a free service, so I believe we can have only 5 people call in at once!!

James told me that today he cleaned out a house with 4 plasma-screen tvs and a brand new LR set!

Join us, will you?  I know it's late for East Coasters, but everyone else...

....

Hey, if this site is easy to work, what about each of us having our own local shows for local sellers and buyers... imagine what we can do with it......

So now that we have the standard staging stuff out of the way, in part 1, let's drill down and look at what the "new construction" really means to a buyer.

At the recent International Home Builder's Show in Orlando, FL, a panel of experts discussed the following "wants" surveyed consumers are looking for in a brand new house:

1.   A home that accommodates a modern lifestyle. The most important part of that home is the place where family and friends gather, the kitchen and the family room.

2.   A home that is flexible for their future needs. Half of the readers on the panel under the age of 43 said they were going to need a dedicated office at home in the coming years, as more anticipate working full-time from the house. One-third of the baby boomers on the panel said they anticipated that their house would have to accommodate an aging parent who would move in in the future, and one-quarter said their house would likely have to handle the return of an adult child.

3.   A house that is "special for me." There has been a proliferation of specialty spaces within homes where hobbies and activities take place, and those spaces need organization and storage. Laundry rooms, mud rooms, family rooms and kitchens are all important areas where special touches can go a long way in personalizing the space: built-ins in the family room, restaurant-style cooking equipment in the kitchen, mud rooms with organizational centers and laundry rooms with fold-away ironing boards among them.

4.   Green options.

Most of this we realtors & stagers already knew. (though I would debate how serious any American is on Green Options, myself included, compared to the Europeans!)  As with all information, it is in its application that it becomes worthwhile.  How do we apply this into the brick and mortar, pre-owned structure we're attempting to market?

Here's my thoughts - in tips 5 - 9 - and let's see if you agree with me....

Tip 5 - Illustrate the Modern Lifestyle

Whenever asked to illustrate the "Modern Lifestyle", I think of open floor plans, flex-use spaces, uninterrupted pathways etc.  However, the bottom line is that  most families live in the Kitchen and Family Room.  These 2 rooms have to feel connected, and if not absolutely contiguous (i.e. they share a common wall) then move the rooms around until they do.  Connected by color, open (take the door between off) thematic (keep it generic, people... now is NOT the time to indulge your inner flamingo) and intention.

Think about how we all really LIVE... we eat, we talk, we play, we compute, we self-clean and go to bed. Take out washing and sleeping and where do we do the majority of all that?  The Kitchen-Family Room, I would guess.

In smaller houses, put the DR at one end of the LR, like an appartment, and make over the Dining Room as a Family Room.  It's extreme, and I can hear the young female buyer wistfully murmure "I've always wanted a Formal Dining Room"... the truth is, guys, you aren't going to use it.

In larger homes, make sure that the FR is opne, light, bright, and the most inviting space there is.  If you can only afford to paint one room, do the FR.  Make sure the sofas are soft, comfy, with thick, luscious throws and soft, cosy pillows.  Add items that say "snuggle, read, play, revel, savor "  You want to illustrate a life of quiet, unfettered J O Y"

We need to give our buyers rooms and spaces that can accomodate the way those buyers want to live.  We're a creative lot, we stagers, we can do this, and we must if we are to maximize the opportunity of the sale (there's a mouthful, huh?!!)

Tip 6 -Outdoor Living Spaces

Let's stay on lifestyle.

Outdoor spaces.  Any place outside that you can entertain, enjoy the sun, read the paper... I'm not sure how many people have time to do this, but it seems to be how everyone sees themselves living in an ideal world.  

The fundamental impact here is adding square footage of livable space to the home.  To add a patio, nook on gravel with bench, pergola... is a lot less expense than an addition, and yet it gives you more places to go "be" in the home.  Open grass is great if the home is in an area where families with grade school kids live.  However, if you're in a move-up zone, your teens only want to be outside to sunbathe (or worse!) Start carving up that lawn into livable sections of additional, livable square feet.

Tip 7 - Flex Spaces -- Offices vs. BRS

We've people say they want a home office.  We've had that for a while, and it's easy to designate a table as a desk on each floor.  The need for an adult child to return home...oh please, no!!  I can see a parent coming for an extended stay... what are they really asking for?  A BR that can be seperated from teh rest of the house?  Sounds like an opportunity over the garage. 

A 1st floor bedroom?  That's what's here at 194 Long Hill Drive, Short Hills, NJ -- a home being marketed at the moment.  It's hard to make these spaces look like both alternatives: a lovely big coffered ceiling'd master, or a coffered ceiling's library with full bath replet with soaking tub and twin sinks!  Inevitably one compromises, and hope the buyer can see that either one is possible.

The takeaway lesson from here, the message not to miss, I think, is that you show an upstairs bedroom as a flex office-BR always.  Even in a 3 BR home.  My mother used to have a table that unfolded into a single bed, with springs, quite comfortable.  Amazing that the day has come when I really am missing that thing!!

And call it that on the floorplan.  (another tip: realtors, always label the floorplan with "/" so that the buyer takes away the options in writing.  You've told them, for sure, but it will remind them when they review the floorplan at a later discussion.)

Tip 8 - Special Spaces

This is a 50's bar in a basement that we re-purposed as a kid's ice-cream parlor.  Since it was next to playroom, it made sense.  Since the playroom was in the basement, this incented our guys to go down there.   (This home took awhile to sell because the kitchen was yet to be done.  People loved it, and thought it charming, but until it was the category leader at its price, no-one wanted to take it on.)

Special Spaces.  A gift-wrapping center.  A corner designated "Creation Station" with all of the paints, crayons, Playdoh  (.....aaaaagh, don't get me started there....a stager's living DEATH....that stuff gets trodden into everything!) The Appreciation Chair (more to come on that, another day), the sewing machine.  The advantage with an owner-occupied home is that all the stuff is already in the home to create these micro-dens for hobbies.  Basics, like a Mud Room, space to iron, "organization center"...show 'em off if you've got 'em.  If not, that's why the people want to move, no?  In vacants, we have to suggest them wtih pieces we're charging out per item.  It's a trade-off, but one that clearly speaks to what the buyer themselves state they want.  

Tip 9 - The  Green Card

This is very simple.

Play up anything green, energy saving, state of the art.  Even if it's only a garbage disposal unit, it's an asset, an investment, an "upgrade"...

Remember the market we're in.  You're competing against new construction - where upgrades and brandy-new are the stock in trade.  Play it back.  Replace appliances, shower heads, faucets... anything cruddy, moldy, scratched, etc.

I'm not sure it's ethical to simply switch out the front of an appliance.  It's an excellent cost savings, but is it honest?  If the thing works perfectly then maybe it's a design decision, but if the dishwasher oozes foam no matter what the cover, the decent thing to do is replace it.  (Don't give me a credit a closing... I'll try and take $5K off the price!)

Conclusion

In the end, can it be done?  Sure. Do you have what people want, priced correctly?  Only you and your realtor know the answer to that one, but chances are, with these 9 tips in hand, you can compete favorably and successfully.  At least, now that you know what buyers are looking for, you know the game you're in.  Now that you're in it, you can win it. 

God speed!

©Juliet Johnson Staging.  All rights reserved.

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For these, and more stratgies to sell your home, you can pre-register for your copy of 'The Home Seller's Playbook' at www.julietjohnsonstaging.com.

Not the fabric guy, the Real Estate/ Enlightened Wealth institutue Leader. THAT Robert Allen.

Last weekend, I went out to Mark Victor Hansen's MegaBook Marketing Conference for lots of reasons. The main one being - should I self publish, or see if I could interest a publisher in creating my book on staging for me. More on that some other time, but the exciting moment was when I had a chance to chat with Robert Allen.

You all know Robert Allen... author of 'No Money Down', 'Multiple Streams of Income' ''The One Minute Millionaire'?  Just the nicest, sweetest, kindest man who has forgotten more about real estate marketing than I'll ever learn!  What a BRILLIANT man this is.  AND.... even better... though he hadn't heard the term "staging" he was enchanted by it, and thought that all of his "investors" should know about it and do it!!  A colleague was listening in to our conversation and asked if she could put it all on tape.  (She thought I would never believe it the next day and would he mind?)  This then is our conversation... not a long one... but a goodie, don't you think?

If ever there was a time for staging, that time is NOW!!

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Starstruck Juliet Johnson can be found at www.JulietJohnsonStaging.com, and in Northern New Jersey where her firm serves the luxury real estate markets of Essex, Union and Morris counties.

So many homes for sale today have been lived in.  They're fine.  They keep the rain out, there's places for everyone to be, keep stuff, do stuff and be together.  But, they're not new.  They're "pre-owned",  "lived-in",  and "worn" to varying degrees.  How then can these venerable structures retain their value and compete with new construction?

Here is Part 1 of an article I've been working on for a bit now.  The whole article is a bit long for a single blog, so today we'll have Tips 1 - 4.  In part 2, I'll review the survey presented at last month's International Home Builder's Show in Orlando, FL, where a panel of experts discussed what consumers say they are looking for in a brand new house, and then incorporate those "wants" into tips 5 - 9.

Tip 1 -   Lighting

 The biggest "tangible" difference you can make to approximate new construction is to add lighting.  Lots of it. 

Especially recessed lighting.  That says new construction to me faster than anything else.

I like the idea that came up in a previous post - of changing out the switchplates for a crisp new look  - yet wonder if it's ethical to get the electrician in to replace all the thin button switches to the 1" panel ones?  It's looks like then you've updated the wiring, but have you?

I think if you want top dollar in this and indeed any market, you should add recessed lighting.

Tip 2 - Mint Condition

   

If a brand new home is all new, it is essentially in Mint Condition.  An owner-occupied house can also be put into mint condition:

Fresh paint,  Refinished (or Buffed Up) Floors, everything in  like-new or "triple-mint condition" as I often see in listings.

In addition, as we all know and repeat ad infinitum,  you can do a lot to oust that "pre-owned" sense once the whole house is clean, very clean, sparklingly CLEAN!!

A freshly shampooed, or newly installed carpet can have paper or plastic runners/pathways down.  This not only directs the flow, and order of how the home gets shown, but also clearly suggests that there is something on the floor worth preserving!

More and more, I'm having to remind sellers to bleach the grout, or even re-grout (in bathrooms and kitchens.)  Sellers, you need to Kaboom everything in sight, and replace anything seriously moldy, chipped and disintegrating.

Tip 3 - SMELL

All homes have a smell.  New homes, like new cars, have a very distinct, attractive aroma.  What is it? I'm thinking it has to be a combination of paint, varnish, sawdust.... but if I paint my nails near a cedar-scented candle I can't get close!!  (An A.P.B. to Inventors... if you can bottle New Car, can you take a crack at New House?) 

All occupied homes have a certain smell, too.  Usually not the nicest.  Consider shampooing the rugs and carpets, steam cleaning the curtains and opening up the windows for fresh air.  The Fabreze 7 Day Program is hugely effective - I recommend it.  Always have a can on hand to run round your house with it as you're turning on lights, just prior to a showing.

Tip 4 - Certified Pre-owned

                          It worked for Lexus.  Then BMW, Mercedes and now it's so standard there's an auto industry acronym - CPO.  "Can I interest you in a CPO?"  (And we all thought CPO stood for Certified Professional Organizer....)

Some realty offices offer an inexpensive home warranty program.  This is a great way of assuring the buyer that all the equipment is in fine working order and if not, it's covered by insurance.  The risk shifts to the seller and the buyer feels more at ease.

You can extend your current warranties on appliances and offer that as an incentive to the buyer.  This again shifts the risk and ameliorates the anxiety.

Any brand new appliance should have its sticker still on with the energy savings, etc. but more on that in Part 2.

We have had good success with these tactics and other staging principles, here in the $1 - 3 million niche of homes in North Central New Jersey.  Stay tuned for Part 2....

....where I'll review the list of "wants" people are asking for in new homes, as identified at last month's International Builders' Show in Florida.  Then I'll answer those wants with tips 5 - 9. 

© Juliet Johnson Staging