July: Chapter, Realtor, Homeowner....sweet give-away...Saltwater Kisses!
Nothing says "summer" like cotton candy and watermelon kisses...fresh from the shore!
Nothing says "summer" like cotton candy and watermelon kisses...fresh from the shore!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
NARdiGras 2010
Stagedhomes.com is proud to announce that Barb Schwarz, CEO and Creator of Staging®, once again will be a featured speaker at the annual convention of the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR’s annual convention, NARdiGras 2010, is scheduled for November 5 through 8, 2010, and Schwarz’ presentation will take place on Sunday Nov 7, 2010, from 3:30 p.m.to 5 p.m. 
During her presentation From Staging to Pricing to Getting it Sold!, Schwarz will share hot Staging ideas and tips, listing presentation key points and how to better price a Staged Listing to sell too. She will discuss how REALTORS® can handle sellers’ objections and how to positively educate sellers on what agent and Stagers really do as they work for the seller. “Too many agents assume the sellers know, but the truth is that the public does not know what we do,” said Schwarz. “It has to be verbal and very visual.”
This year, Schwarz celebrates 25 years as Certified Professional Speaker. Since 1972, Schwarz has educated Realtors®, Home Stagers® and the public on Home Staging®.
As a seasoned speaker and top real estate producer, Schwarz has logged over 18,000 hours on the speaker’s platform. To date, over a million REALTORS® have attended her various programs, including her one-day program How to List and Sell Residential Real Estate Successfully. Having traveled 40 weeks each year, she’s been a featured speaker at almost all National Association of Realtors® conventions, state Realtor® conventions as well as all major real estate franchise conventions.
Her gift for speaking and ability to educate, motivate and entertain was recognized by the National Speakers Association in 1990 when they awarded her the coveted designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), earned by less than 250 speakers worldwide. Barb Schwarz is a leader, an innovator, and a truly gifted speaker who shares the wisdom of her personal triumphs. Those who experience Schwarz are always struck by her incredible energy as well as the practical substance of her programs. Schwarz is also the author of seven books, including the recently published Staging To Sell: The Secret To Selling Homes In A Down Market.
Barb is the creator of “Staging To Sell and Staging To Live” ® concepts and she holds the Federally Registered Trademark from the US and Canadian Governments on Stage®. Barb invented the Home Staging concept and industry when she entered the world of real estate as an agent in Bellevue, WA, in the early 70’s. Nearly 40 years later, Schwarz has repeatedly been acknowledged as being among the top 50 most influential women in the real estate industry. To date over 21,000 have participated in the accredited ASP® Course and Designation for Realtors® and Stagers. Schwarz is the Founder and Chairwoman of ‘The International Association of Home Staging Professionals®,” and the Founder and Director of ‘The Staging University®.”
Schwarz is also the founder and CEO of Stagedhomes.com, the internationally recognized leader in the Home Staging Industry because of the Home Staging educational trainings of the ASP® Course and Designation, the Stagedhomes.com Home Staging Directory where the public finds ASP® Real Estate Agents and ASP® Stagers to list and Stage® their homes, and the Stagedhomes.com Staged Homes portal which lists homes that are Staged for sale.
During her presentation From Staging to Pricing to Getting it Sold!, Schwarz will share hot Staging ideas and tips, listing presentation key points and how to better price a Staged Listing to sell too. She will discuss how REALTORS® can handle sellers’ objections and how to positively educate sellers on what agent and Stagers really do as they work for the seller. “Too many agents assume the sellers know, but the truth is that the public does not know what we do,” said Schwarz. “It has to be verbal and very visual.”
This year, Schwarz celebrates 25 years as Certified Professional Speaker. Since 1972, Schwarz has educated Realtors®, Home Stagers® and the public on Home Staging®.
As a seasoned speaker and top real estate producer, Schwarz has logged over 18,000 hours on the speaker’s platform. To date, over a million REALTORS® have attended her various programs, including her one-day program How to List and Sell Residential Real Estate Successfully. Having traveled 40 weeks each year, she’s been a featured speaker at almost all National Association of Realtors® conventions, state Realtor® conventions as well as all major real estate franchise conventions.
Her gift for speaking and ability to educate, motivate and entertain was recognized by the National Speakers Association in 1990 when they awarded her the coveted designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), earned by less than 250 speakers worldwide. Barb Schwarz is a leader, an innovator, and a truly gifted speaker who shares the wisdom of her personal triumphs. Those who experience Schwarz are always struck by her incredible energy as well as the practical substance of her programs. Schwarz is also the author of seven books, including the recently published Staging To Sell: The Secret To Selling Homes In A Down Market.
Barb is the creator of “Staging To Sell and Staging To Live” ® concepts and she holds the Federally Registered Trademark from the US and Canadian Governments on Stage®. Barb invented the Home Staging concept and industry when she entered the world of real estate as an agent in Bellevue, WA, in the early 70’s. Nearly 40 years later, Schwarz has repeatedly been acknowledged as being among the top 50 most influential women in the real estate industry. To date over 21,000 have participated in the accredited ASP® Course and Designation for Realtors® and Stagers. Schwarz is the Founder and Chairwoman of ‘The International Association of Home Staging Professionals®,” and the Founder and Director of ‘The Staging University®.”
Schwarz is also the founder and CEO of Stagedhomes.com, the internationally recognized leader in the Home Staging Industry because of the Home Staging educational trainings of the ASP® Course and Designation, the Stagedhomes.com Home Staging Directory where the public finds ASP® Real Estate Agents and ASP® Stagers to list and Stage® their homes, and the Stagedhomes.com Staged Homes portal which lists homes that are Staged for sale.
As I reflect on the events of the day, I am humbled on just how blessed I am:
- It was just about a year ago that I was re-introduced to professional Home Staging. I was having lunch with my dear friend, Eleanor. Among other topics of conversation, she asked if I had ever considered a career in Home Staging. I had remembered seeing something about that in the paper years ago. It had caught my eye then, but at the time life circumstances were such that a career was out of the question. But now the time was right!
- Jump ahead a year..I am a professional ASP Home Stager. I have been personally trained by Barb Schwarz, the creator of Home Staging. Barb's tireless energy and enthusiasm is nothing less than inspirational.
- I am on the Board of the Seattle Chapter of International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP)...Patty Bonnell, President, and Ede Bookstein, Ethic and Education Chair, have mentored and encouraged me...and I am privileged to call these talented women not only colleagues, but friends.
- I am involved in a profession I love! Home Staging completes me in so many areas of my life while providing an opening for hope for the unknowns of tomorrow...Blue Ribbon Staging Auburn, WA .
On so many levels, ASP Home Staging found me just when I needed it most! If you are a realtor, or a home owner in the market to list your home for sale, Home Staging may very well be just what YOU are looking for!
If you want to sell your home for the highest dollar amount possible while being on the market for the shortest amount of time possible, let ASP Home Staging find YOU, just when you need it most!
I welcome the opportunity to ASP Stage your home and help move you closer to your dream:
Visit me : https://www.stagedhomes.com/featured/featured_old.php?asp=27308
Saturday, July 10, 2010
"After" Photos
Summer has come to Washington!
Along with fields of ripe berries, ice cream trucks joyfully ringing the bells as they tour our neighborhood, and the smell of sun tan lotion...it's legitimately sandal season!
Along with fields of ripe berries, ice cream trucks joyfully ringing the bells as they tour our neighborhood, and the smell of sun tan lotion...it's legitimately sandal season!
Sandal season is so much prettier with a pedicure!
It's Saturday morning, and the first order of my day is a trip to the salon.
On my drive home, I pondered my situation:
In a basket under the sink in my bathroom, I have my own nail care station complete with bottles of polish, cuticle cream, brushes, files and toe separators. I already own everything I need to apply polish to nails...and if polish on the nails is the intent, then why would I choose to spend three hours in a salon on a beautiful Saturday morning to pay someone else to paint my nails?
I have an artistic eye for these kinds of things. I know my way around a color wheel and a beauty counter. I know good work when I see it. In the end I come to the conclusion that I am able to do them "good enough". While they may be "good enough" for me, any one looking at my "polished" nails would have quite a different opinion of my results.
How can I get such drastically different results? It's a basic reality that though I use the same tools, read articles and own books on nail techniques, and even work from the same expert hints...I lack the expertise to gain the same results.
It's Saturday morning, and the first order of my day is a trip to the salon.
On my drive home, I pondered my situation:
In a basket under the sink in my bathroom, I have my own nail care station complete with bottles of polish, cuticle cream, brushes, files and toe separators. I already own everything I need to apply polish to nails...and if polish on the nails is the intent, then why would I choose to spend three hours in a salon on a beautiful Saturday morning to pay someone else to paint my nails?
I have an artistic eye for these kinds of things. I know my way around a color wheel and a beauty counter. I know good work when I see it. In the end I come to the conclusion that I am able to do them "good enough". While they may be "good enough" for me, any one looking at my "polished" nails would have quite a different opinion of my results.
How can I get such drastically different results? It's a basic reality that though I use the same tools, read articles and own books on nail techniques, and even work from the same expert hints...I lack the expertise to gain the same results.
These comments are not so different from the comments we hear from Sellers / Realtors who opt not to have a professional ASP Staging of a home before listing on the market. There seems to often be a wife, sister, or girlfriend who has an "eye" for this kind of thing, afterall they watch all the HGTV shows on home staging. What they are really saying is they believe they can present the house "good enough", but just like my toes..."good enough" isn't necessarily "Good!"
The investment in having your house professionally staged by an ASP Home Staging Professional prior to listing with your agent is always going to be less than the first reduction on your listing when it sits in the market...days, weeks, or months. It may help you to make your decision to Stage or not to Stage when you ask your agent when and how much the initial reduction will be. (Yiikes...How much?)
Since "a picture is worth a thousand words", it's really the "AFTER" photos that will be your Buyers first impression of your house. They don't care what it looked like "before," they are here NOW.
When it comes to making the offer, buyers won't care how much "stuff" you took out, or how much time you spent getting your product ready for sale.
It won't matter to buyers how long this has been your home, or how difficult it may be for you to be selling this chapter of your life.
Buyers are in the market to buy their "home". If your house doesn't capture their hearts, they will move on down the aisle to find one that does.
Price is generally the first filter for the buyer. Price is the ingredient that will get them to your door step. In today's virtual market, that "door step" may very well be a visit to the web listing via a googled address and not through your agent at all.
The buyer's first visual, emotional impression will be the "After" photos on your web listing and posted brochure.
The second emotional impression will be the "feeling" that they get when they tour through the house.
Buying a home is an emotional decision. You want buyers to fall in love with your house and see it as their home.
You will never know how many Would-have-been Buyers walked away from your house without ever opening your front door because "good enough" wasn't "GOOD!"
Give yourself every benefit possible! You are selling every room in your house, be sure to maximize every viewing and ASP Stage EVERY room!
Since "a picture is worth a thousand words", it's really the "AFTER" photos that will be your Buyers first impression of your house. They don't care what it looked like "before," they are here NOW.
When it comes to making the offer, buyers won't care how much "stuff" you took out, or how much time you spent getting your product ready for sale.
It won't matter to buyers how long this has been your home, or how difficult it may be for you to be selling this chapter of your life.
Buyers are in the market to buy their "home". If your house doesn't capture their hearts, they will move on down the aisle to find one that does.
Price is generally the first filter for the buyer. Price is the ingredient that will get them to your door step. In today's virtual market, that "door step" may very well be a visit to the web listing via a googled address and not through your agent at all.
The buyer's first visual, emotional impression will be the "After" photos on your web listing and posted brochure.
The second emotional impression will be the "feeling" that they get when they tour through the house.
Buying a home is an emotional decision. You want buyers to fall in love with your house and see it as their home.
You will never know how many Would-have-been Buyers walked away from your house without ever opening your front door because "good enough" wasn't "GOOD!"
Give yourself every benefit possible! You are selling every room in your house, be sure to maximize every viewing and ASP Stage EVERY room!
...As for my morning at the salon, yes, I staged all my nails and had a manicure too!
You'll have to trust me on this one, no one wants to see my "before" shots!
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