May Newsletter ‘08

April 30, 2008 by becky.

Staging is truely amazing. Homes that get professional staging continue to get sold quickly. One recent sale was an empty home that was staged with just accessories. After sitting on the market 7 months without one offer, the homeowner hired another agent who believes in staging. Accessories, art and greenery went in and agents everywhere were happy to show such a charming house to their clients. The increased activity brought an acceptable offer to homeowners who were competing with the neighborhood builder’s discounted new homes. The first offer came within days and the second offer, the one that was accepted, came not long after that. Several of the other sold houses are described in the article that was started in the March blog…WEBSITE PHOTOS. You will find it compelling. 

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~The May certification class is filled. There are a few openings still in the June 5-day class. June 16th - 20th.  You can now pay your deposit online. The “Payment Options” link is on the “class” page. www.transform-us.com. 

~Our next One-day Staging Seminar will be Wednesday, May 21st at the Queens Harbour Yacht and Country Club. The time is 9:30am to 3:30pm. The seminar will include a continental breakfast and a fabulous lunch. We cover some of the topics from the certification class.
1. Furniture Arranging
2. Before/After Pictures
3. Choosing and Understanding Color
4. Accessory Placement
5. Staging Tips Often Overlooked by Agents
6. How to Stage an Empty Home

Also included: Speaker’s notes, a Benjamin Moore chart of the most popular colors and a graph paper note and sketch pad.

This $500. class is $250 for the general public. We offer a special price to agents and designers of $125. If you have a group of two or more, e-mail for special pricing.
becky@beckyharmon.com

If you are considering the certification class, the one-day seminar is a good way to check it out. The investment will be rebated back to you if you sign up for the extended class. Sign up now online. www.transform-us.com and go to the “Class” page and click on “Class Payment Options”.

~If you’d like to come but have scheduling conflicts or you are in another city—check out our new One-Day Staging Seminar on DVD. See details below the testimonials…

Here are some reviews from the most recent seminar attendees—

“We’re always told that if we attend a training seminar of any kind and learn just one thing, it was well worth it. However, in your class, I learned a whole new wealth of information that I will be able to incorporate into my daily real estate business and my personal life as well.
The day went by so fast. I enjoyed everything in and about the staging class. Obviously IT WORKS!
Thanks Again !”
Pat Conrad,
Watson Realty Corp.

“I had a great time and I learned several key things that will help me personally and professionally. You are a great teacher who obviously enjoys her job. Your enthusiasm is contagious!”
Best Regards,
Patti Namey, Watson Realty, Broker Associate

~The One-Day Staging Class DVD is available NOW.

If you are unable to attend the one-day staging seminar (perhaps you are out-of-town or just busy), the seminar can come to you. We have a professionally produced one hour DVD of the class with all the demos for $125. It includes all the “Before and After” photos and the popular segment called Staging Tips (even your agent doesn’t know about). We include a list with our favorite, frequently-used paint colors. It will be sent out within 2 days. You can order it by e-mailing becky@beckyharmon.com.

Also Available to ship now—
*A  DVD of an actual Transformations staging/redesign produced by Creation Studios. It can be used by professionals to do presentations. The before and after shots are spectacular. With this DVD, you can illustrate the benefits of this service to your clients. $35. plus Shipping and Handling Go to the website www.transform-us.com then go to the “Class” page and click on “Online Class/DVD”.

WEBSITE PHOTOS (This article will appear soon in the Florida Times-Union)

WEB PRESENCE + HOME STAGING = A LIGHTNING FAST SALE

Announcement to Homesellers:If you are unhappy with the number of times your home is getting shown, I have good news and bad news—

*The good news - More than 80% of the home-buying public looks at listings online before making an appointment to actually see a house.

*The bad news - More than 80% of the home-buying public looks at listings online before making an appointment to actually see a house.

It is good news if you have great photos and bad news if you don’t. If your home is not model-ready, you are not going to get great photos.

Home staging, a growing trend in real estate, will ensure that your home looks like a professionally designed model home. Listen to these stories—

*Transformations Staging and Redesign staged a $900,000. house in a popular gated neighborhood - before the scheduled virtual tour was filmed and the Web site photos were taken. A tall palm pointed to the cedar-lined ceiling and the marine-blue color scheme was repeated throughout the house. A coastal theme seemed appropriate for this Ponte Vedra home. Becky Harmon of Transformations describes the result, “The homeowner had three offers within FIVE days of putting pictures and the virtual tour online - two for full price. One man drove all night from another state to see it. A fourth offer was in the works.” *Sandy Miller of Watson Realty tells another Web photo success story: “I put the house in the MLS on Monday. They received an offer Tuesday after just one showing and on the market less than 24 hours! The house looked so cute and I honestly believe that it would not have gotten the offer if it had not been staged! The fact that the sellers got the showing (from the pics online) and an offer within hours of the viewing is AMAZING.”

Video tours, a popular real estate marketing trend, are giving home sellers an alternative to the traditional virtual tour. A video tour is more like actually being there according to Tami Keener of Queens Harbour Real Estate. “Video tours give buyers a more realistic picture of the house. You don’t get the feeling that you are looking through thick eyeglasses.”

The reasons for adding video tours to your marketing plans are compelling. Agents and home sellers everywhere take notice: According to video streaming firm Real Network— people stay at Web sites that use video 78 percent longer. A professional Web presence is critical today. It will compliment traditional methods of property marketing.

Alan Kelley of First Beach Productions says, “We help clients with every stage of the video production process: shooting, editing, script writing, graphics and narration. That includes distribution on DVD, the internet or TV. We offer agents a variety of options. Our least expensive tour is $165. which has no narration. The type of tour we do for Queen’s Harbour Real Estate runs $350. which includes narration, a DVD and an online compatible version. 

Grant and Lori Tarbox in Queens Harbour closed recently on their nearly 3,400. sq.ft. home after 7 weeks on the market. The average time for homes in this price range to be on the market is more like 7 months. That is about 75% faster.

“I am a big proponent of staging and Web site presence,” remarked Tarbox. “In this highly-competitive market, you need every advantage.”

Queens Harbour Real Estate hired Transformations to stage the Tarbox house before the photos and video tour. A caramel wall color was chosen for most of the house. Lots of art and accessories were removed and the remaining ones were repositioned. All accents except the ones that supported the color scheme came out and plants went in.  To see the video tour of this house, go to http://www.firstbeachproductions.com/1525hpd.html. You can also e-mail becky@beckyharmon.com and it will be sent to you.

It’s time for home sellers and agents everywhere to realize what an indispensable value professional staging and a good Web site presence can be to the selling process. What potential buyers might be surfing the Web right at this moment, hoping a picture or video tour is going to whisper to them: “Here I am. Buy me?”
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Alan Kelly of First Beach Productions has more than two decades of experience producing TV stories including more than a dozen writing and producing stories for some of the nation’s top network affiliates.  He can be reached at www.firstbeachproductions.com or alan@firstbeachproductions.com.

FROM THE HEART

I attended a “Who Moved My Cheese” conference in March.  I thought it might help my two sisters who joined me at the day-long event.  

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! I got a much needed ”wake-up call” in some areas of my life. Each speaker challenged us to periodically reevaluate where we are and adjust to changing conditions. I suppose we all need to take time out to let others inspire and motivate us.

As a trainer in the staging/redesign industry, I work with many individuals who have reassessed their career path and made changes.  Home-based businesses make sense right now in the light of the gas crises. All real estate professionals should be realigning their goals and marketing plans to be on the cutting edge of today’s changing landscape.

Sit down with a pad of paper a make a short list of goals in each of these areas:

*Career *Relationships *Health *Dreams

Put a deadline on each catagory. And the most important thing—

I encourage you all to get an accountability partner and meet regularly. If your dreams don’t sufficiently motivate you, guilt and pressure from a friend/co-worker will. This strategy works, I promise you.

I wish you all success.

Till next time—

“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” Wayne Gretzky

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