Story of a Staged Silk Purse & a Sow's Ear

(Scroll down for Video Show) While home staging CAN turn a "sow's ear" of a home into a beautiful and easily sellable "silk purse", there still is only so much staging can do to improve a home's appeal to potential buyers. Sometimes a house that is for sale, even if it is priced right, has quality construction, or uses the most expensive and luxurious finishes... just can't be helped with staging.

CASE IN POINT: Above is an exterior shot of an absolutely beautiful 3/4 of a million dollar Chicago area home that was built well over 1 1/2 years ago... and has not sold. In fact, 17 months after it had NOT sold, the builder hired one of the finest and MOST savvy Realtors I know. The new Realtor called in Real Estaging with the hopes that if we created a beautiful view on the inside it would help counter the house's "problem" that was keeping the house from being sold.

Actually, except for the fact that this spec home was vacant, it really had no other problems of its own. However, was keeping it from being sold WAS quite obvious when we first visited this listing. Even before we ever entered the property, we knew exactly WHY the house wasn't selling. The problem was the neighbor's house and the fact that the yard looked like a pig sty. It didn't help that the home was filled with windows that overlooked the neighboring property.

Both the Realtor and I tried to advise the builder, BEFORE staging the interior, that it would be best to put up a privacy fence to help block the view of the neighboring property. While advice like might risk our chance of getting a staging job, I knew this would be the BEST option... the views out the living room, office and great room windows were/are that bad.

How bad is the actual view out the windows of the neighbors property? Well, below is a quick 30 second video tour of the home and the neighboring property it looks out on.


(Click HERE to view the Video Show if the show does not appear above.)

When I first spoke with the builder he was well aware of the problem (in fact he had installed cellular shades on that side of the house) with the neighboring view. To him the fence option was financially or legistacally not feasible at the time. To install a new privacy fence meant that the newly poured driveway, that sat RIGHT on the lot line, would have to be totally removed. The expense to remove the existing driveway, install a new fence and then reinstall a new driveway would total well over $10,000. The builder hoped investing in real estate staging would do the trick. So we staged the property... it looked fantastic and the builder was quite pleased.

Well, this past week we de-staged it and unfortunately it still had not sold. So I guess this puts a new slant on an old saying... "you can't sell a silk purse when it SITS next to a sow's ear."

Me

New Bern High School Football Team is recognized

Today the 2007 4-a state football champions were honored with a parade and a pep rally. The parade began at the Police station on George Street and ended at Union Point where proclamations from Mayor Tom Bayliss and County Commissioner Renee Sisk were read and presented to the team. State Senator Jean Preston read and presented a letter of congratulations from the North Carolina State Senate. After the presentations a pep rally was held and the NBHS cheerleaders and the NBHS band put on a wonderful show. We wish the players the best as they move forward with their lives and hope they all continue futhering their education.

Good time to buy Real Estate

Despite all the national news about how bad the housing market is I believe it is a great time to buy a home in the New Bern area. Home prices have stabilize and are certainly more reasonable than they were a year and a half ago, and interest rates are very attractive. I have always felt it was a mistake to listen to the gloom and doom media. Frankly, the market had to adjust some as prices were rising faster than they could be sustained. Don't listen to the prophets of doom, if you are in the market for a home buy one. Check out my website www.newbern-nc.info for all the information you need on Real Estate in the New Bern area.

New Bern History

New Bern has a very unique and storied history and the older I get the more interested I am becoming in not only the history of New Bern but of North Carolina as well. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it is because the older I become the more I feel like I am a part of history myself. I guess one of the advantages of growing older is that I can remember things from 50 years ago. Yikes! thats scary.

With the 300th aniversity of the founding of New Bern just around the corner there will certainly be some interesting facts surface regarding early New Bern and I look forward to learning more about the colonial capital of North Carolina. If you would like to learn a little more about early New Bern go to my website at http://www.newbern-nc.info/ . Please let me know what you think and if you have any information on this subject that you would like to share with me please do so.

Home Staging Gets a Red Eye in Chicago

"You can rent movies. You can rent an apartment. If you live or work in a street-parking desert, you can even rent a space for your ride. So why not add luxury to that list?" This is what Kyra Kyles wrote the introduction to her cover story in last weeks Red Eye Newspaper. (For those of you that don't know what a "Red Eye" is... well it is the hip urban free daily newspaper published by the Tribune Corporation here in Chicago.)

The article, entitled "Rent An Image" looked at some of the interesting luxury items that are available to rent in Chicago-land. Well, I have to admit I never considered the props we have available as ubber LUXURY items, like the Austin Martin automobiles and the Prada handbags the article spoke of. But Kyra who interviewed Real Estaging for a side bar story entitled "Go ahead and rent that furniture", (Click on image on lwft to enlarge) pointed out the fact that props can be rented to help you sell your home for more money (Click on image at left to read it). Besides making homes look more appealing, staging has helped sellers make more money when they RAISED the asking price. as well as help to sell homes faster... and considering "time is money" staging a home should be a considered in this current market.

Most home seller's think that staging props are rented for use ONLY in and for vacant property sales. Seller's don't know that some home stager's can also rent just the right piece or pieces to finish off the look and appeal of their property as they live there while it on the market. The main advantage of renting is the fact that the seller need not spend the time to shop for decorative items or spend full retail prices to buy those items. The other VERY important advantage of using a stager's props is the fact that a stager knows to use pieces that are UNDERSTATED. When selling your home, your house needs to be the star, not the stuff in it. Experienced stagers know how to create a "put together look" with out our stuff ending up being a beautiful distraction.

So thanks Red Eye... your unique story angle helps to make another fine point about home staging.

Me


PS: If you would like to see an entire PDF sample of Chicago's Red Eye Newspaper... CLICK HERE.

The Incredible New Bern Bears

This was your classic David and Goliath story. Going into the state 4A championship Saturday night, Charlotte Independence had won 7 straight state championships. Talk about being an underdog. I think the only folks in the state that thought New Bern had a chance to win were the players and the coachs. It is common knowledge that Charlotte Independence is a football factory of sorts. They recuit players outside of their district and draw from a talent pool of over 1 million. The New Bern Bears draw from perhaps 40 thousand. Despite getting behind 14 to 0 early in the first quarter the Bears never gave up hope. History was made last night. David aka Bears, won their first state championship.

WOW! THANKS... this Home Staging Blog is a "MUST READ"

The authors over at Future of Real Estate and Loans recently posted a list of blogs they feel are "MUST READS".

They write "there’s a ton of excellent mortgage and real estate blogs out there – way too many to list, in fact. But for a unique spin on the market as well as perspective that makes sense to anyone interested in real estate anywhere, there are some blogs that really are masters of their niche."

Home Staging Rants & Ravings is definitely in good company. To see the entire list, click here to read 11 Must Read Daily Real Estate Blogs.

THANKS GUYS! The recognition is appreciated.