Introduction to Home Staging

Does your home have a façade only a homeowner could love? Selling a home can be an emotional experience, and people can lack objectivity when it comes to their own abode. Presenting a home in its best light is always important, but it’s imperative in our current competitive real estate market.

Professional advice and assistance can make the difference between “Wow!” and “Whaaa?” – a recent industry study found that staged homes sold for 6.9 percent more than homes that were not staged. Another study compared listing times before and after staging.

Homes that had first been offered for sale without staging were on the market an average of 4.5 months; the same homes sold within a week, on average, after being staged.

Below are 7 tips to ‘setting the stage’ and making your home more appealing to buyers:

1. Thoroughly clean from top to bottom, especially kitchens and baths.

A dirty house an immediate buyer turn-off. The two most important areas are the kitchen and the bathrooms. If you have not deep cleaned all counter and tile surfaces to a spotless condition, you stand the chance of having the buyers walk right back out the door.

2. De-clutter the entire house.

Clutter makes it extremely hard for the buyers to visualize moving into your home. The disorganization affects the buyer’s ability to focus on your home and they will most likely overlook your key selling features. In addition, clutter has the affect of making your home appear smaller than it is as the “open” feeling is gone.

3. Remove the personal memorabilia.

People are generally curious and when you want them to notice the beautiful entryway they may be focused on all the family pictures on the piano or all the “stuff” stuck to the front of your refrigerator. Your objective is to change the view of your home from “lived in” to “ready to move in.”

4. Neutralize inside and out.

The best way to present a home is for the wall colors to be painted a neutral color. This goes for the outside as well – a loud or non-neutral color may just keep the buyers from even stopping to see the inside.

5. Let the sun shine in with spotless windows.

Nothing is more distracting to a buyer than to be looking at a view through a dirty window. What you don’t see is often more important that what you do see.

6. Make your pets go away.

While your pets are a loving member of your family, for the buyers their presence, food and boxes are generally a turn-off. Every trace of their presence should be removed so, once again, the buyers are not distracted from the prime objective – viewing your home in the best possible light.

7. Add curb appeal.

A healthy, neat, trimmed and well maintained yard and flower beds are the keys to getting the buyers up to the front door. A well-maintained exterior translates to a well maintained home in the mind of the buyer.

Irene Gaffigan
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/making-your-home-more-appealing-to-buyers-672313.html

If you are planning on selling your home fast, in the current real estate market, it is important to be aware of the necessity of hiring the services of a real estate agent. A real estate agent, due to his expertise, can help you make a profit, by closing the deal to your benefit. Selling the house by yourself can make you vulnerable to the repeated reality of incurring losses. This happens for a number of reasons, the first being that you may not possess the adequate knowledge pertaining to this field and secondly, you may be unaware of the legalities involved in the process.

In addition, hiring the services of a real estate agency will ensure that most of the realtors who are a part of the MLS list will take notice of your home. Almost 90% of all the potential buyers utilize the services of agents to guide them during their search for new homes. It is profitable to hire an experienced and well-established professional, since he is capable of guiding you through the whole procedure. The assistance and services of the real estate agent is extremely important if you wish to sell your home fast, in any part of the world. An agent having a minimum experience of 5 years can help you strike a highly profitable deal.

How can a Real Estate Agent sell your Home fast for you?

Once you have established rapport with a particular agent, one whom you trust and rely on, give him the responsibility of informing you about the current market trend and position. Compare prices and decide on an ideal quotation for your home and property. This will provide you with a more realistic approach to the procedure at hand. It is advisable to set a slightly lower price for your home, a price that is lower than that of other similar houses in your neighborhood.

The agent should be fully equipped to present you with picture comparisons of similar properties that are also available in your area, from the local MLS office. Often, a prospective buyer will examine your home in just a few minutes and the price of the house is rarely discussed. However, prior to visiting the house, your agent briefs the buyer about the probable price for the house. A real estate agent provides information and advice on any renovations or changes that your house might have to undergo, in order to make your property seem more appealing and worthy of the price. This procedure of allowing for changes in the exterior as well as interior of the house is referred to as staging the house.

In addition, a real estate agent can also prescribe certain changes, like the factors that may be responsible for discouraging potential buyers from buying the property. A smooth and constant flow of potential customers is a healthy indication that your home is priced reasonably. Your home is displayed to prospective buyers regularly by the real estate agents. They are also responsible for pricing your home, depending on the current market situation.
Attempting to sell your home fast does require a lot of patience. However, with constant monitoring of the market, everything flows smoothly. Not only do the real estate agents ensure that you receive the most lucrative deals, but they also take on the responsibility of handling all the legal documents and liaisons involved in the process.

Kris Koonar
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/selling-your-home-fast-with-real-estate-agents-86875.html

Determining your Home Decorating style can be difficult, especially if you have never decorated anything before. However, with a careful examination of your personality, your color and hue preferences, and geometric shapes that you find pleasant, you can quickly begin to shape your use of furniutre and decorating personality.

The home décor you choose will reflect the things that you find pleasant in other aspects of your life. If you think back to when you were in school, you probably had a favorite subject. If you preferred math, you will probably prefer to decorate with clear, concise lines that imitate geometric shapes and can be measured in real numbers. However, if math wasn’t such a pleasant experience for you but you loved art class, you may like the more abstract, flowing type of design, with intricate weavings or carvings and delicate drawings and images.

Modern furnishings tend to be quite geometric, while the neo-classical furniture style takes into account the need for a contemporary design while still being compelled to love the ornate and robust. Neo-classical integrates the two cultures into one decorating style that can please those who are torn.

Home décor also reflects your moods and coloration. For example, if you tend to be an energetic person who never sits still, is always on the go, and has a need for adventure, the colors in your home will be bright and motivating – reds and deep purples, bright blues and sunny yellows. On the other hand, if you are laid back and tend to go with the flow, your decorating style will reflect this with choices of pastels, like delicate pinks, pale blues, and mellow yellows. Still another may be artistic and introverted, causing dark colors to appear, with black trim or navy blue décor. For those who love nature, the home décor will bring nature inside, with browns and greens, as well as floral motifs and oceanic designs.

Of course, you also have to take into account the size of the areas that are being decorated. For example, dark colors can be detrimental to the perception of an already small room, making it seem as though it is going to close in on you and even causing claustrophobia. You can open up a room like this by using light colors or at least backing off a shade or two to lighten your dark tones.

When you begin to consider all the aspects of your personality and your color and design preferences, your ideas for each room in the house will quickly start to take shape in your mind. Jot down your thoughts and save them because you can’t do everything at once, and you may want to come back to that thought later.

Lynn Weissman
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/home-decorating-style-do-you-have-it-138944.html

And how many hours should one study while doing CS, as my friend told me 8-9 hours

Hi CS is a wonderful Professional Course

You can visit www.icsi.edu – Click on Student on left side, than click on CS Course Regular – Brochur and you can get the same in Pdf form and can save it and have a look for eligibility, different stages, subjects etc

I have done CS simultanelously with my Gradulation i.e. I have joined after HSC. If you like theory subjects and you are more efficient in it than pls go for it

How much years it will take – that depends on various factors like – In how many attempts you clear your exams, you appear for all groups together or for single group (if you appear for single group it will take more time ) etc

There are various other trainings and articleship to be completed for becoming Authorised CS i.e. having your membership with ICSI

You also have to Study hard. What you friend told is right but if you are studying from starting than slowly slowly increse you time limits and dont do overstudy also

Trust me today without education there is no value……..graduation is to not at all enough. Whatever professional course you will do whether CA,CS, ICWA, MBA everything will require your time and Hard work so decide accordingly coz you are going to invest your Years in it so once you start reach at your Manzil

In professional exams there are many fellows who gets fluncked and than they leave one course and go for another. Pls even in your life circumstances comes than dont give it up complete it till the end and trust your self and have confirdence

If you have any further query pls post the same and ALL THE BEST

I have the option of staging my home (bringing furniture into my home solely for the purpose of making it look like a dream home) OR leaving it completely vacant as I will be moved out of my home when it’s on the market.

I would like to hear your responses as if you were house-hunting. Would you rather go into a home that is staged (with someone else’s design taste) or would you rather see a future home empty and using your own imagination as to where your things will go?
Maybe this will make a difference in your answer. My home is a townhouse that is less than 1000 sq ft.

I _am_ house-hunting right now, and lean towards your leaving it empty.

My favourite place today had small rooms, and I’m forced to admit that because it’s empty, they don’t look nearly so small.

I’ve been turned off to silly extent by places full of furniture I dislike.

‘Staged’ homes always look a bit weird to me. If I see the everyday what-not of real people, it _can_ be useful — ‘ah, and I suppose we’d keep our (etc) in that spot, too’ — but when I walk into a furnished model home, I’m just irritated by the staging (and often spend too much time looking at what I dislike about it rather than what I like about the house); it’s the antithesis of the notion of baking a pie to make things ‘homey,’

And, while an actual pie baking would suggest this as well, visibly spending that much to fancy it up would make me wonder how desperate the seller was.

With an empty house, I’m also inclined to think that moving in will be easier. And that things are presented honestly, and that nothing will change — the beat-up part of the floor isn’t being covered with a strategically placed sofa, and said sofa isn’t going to dent the wall on its way out.

Even with ‘professionally’ furnished places, I haven’t seen decor I liked in the houses I’ve looked in. The odds of your/a designer’s dream being a house-hunter’s are extremely low, I think.

i have read the twilight series and the first 3 books in house of night, no i haven’t read evernight or stargazer. i own stargazer, found out there was a first one, now im wating for it. and if you know what Suck It Up, i dont want stuff like that. Pure love, some angst, a little fluff here and there. you get my point.
i have read vampire diaries

L.J.Smith-Vampires, Shapeshifters, Witches, Werewolves.
Night World Series- There are 3 volumes to it.

Mari Mancussi-Vampires
*Boys that Bite, Stake that!, and Girls that Growl. Another coming out soon.

P.C and Kristen Cast-VAmpires
*Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, Hunted, and soon to come Tempted.

Melissa De La Cruz-VAmpires
*Blue Bloods, Masquerade, and Revalations, The Van Alen Legacy.

Richelle Mead-VAmpires
* Vampire Academy, Frost bite, and Shadow kiss, she has another coming out soon.

Melissa Marr-Faeries
*Wicked Lovely, and Inkexchange.

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes -Shapeshifters/
*Hawksong, Snakecharm, Falcondance, wolf Cry, Wyvrienhail.

Lisa Schroder-Ghost
I heart you, you haunt me.

Daniel Waters-Zombies
*Generation Dead series.

Charlaine Harris-Vampires
* Sookie Stackhouse Novels/ The Southern Vampire mysteries- Dead until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone.

Ellen Schriebier- Vampires
Vampire Kisses

Unknown Authors-Vampires
Sucks to be me.
City of Bones.

if you want a summary of any of the books, message me.

EDIT: The Sookie Stackhouse novels, are what the show True Blood is based off of, but just like books that are turned into movies, it’s a lot different, so if you don’t like the series the book is a bit different, But the show is amazing, and so are the books!!!<3

Hope I helped.

…find them.
I love home staging, I do it as a hobby, with no structure or formal training. I wanted to take a course and was wondering it it would be worth it. I see all these offers for home staging courses but I am trying to weed out the good vs the hype.

Home Staging Resource

A very complete course that includes all of the needed forms as well as an optional marketing module to help you market your services. Their own Certification is included.

Probably the best of the Home Staging Courses if you have the budget to invest this kind of money to get started. However, unless you do have an unlimited budget, you do not need to start at this level.

Cost: $945 for Basic Home Staging Course + $495 for Marketing Solutions module

Home Staging Experts

One of my friends took this Home Staging Course and liked it although she had to come to me for some extra help with the forms she needed and advice on how to market her services. The course did seem to offer quite a bit of good information on what is needed to properly prepare a home for sale and includes more instruction on the techniques and philosophies of interior decorating than most other courses.

Cost: $299.00 for home study course and $99 a year registration fee

Home Staging Training Group

This is an excellent "getting started" home staging course. It does not go into all of the detail on the mechanics of Interior Decorating as some of the more expensive courses but does cover all of the information a person needs to do a proper job of home staging and does include a complete portfolio of needed forms as well as very good advice on how to market your business with a minimum of personal effort.

You may want to consider one of the more in-depth home Staging Courses at a later date, after you have some profits coming in but I have two friends that are running very nice Home Staging businesses with only this training.

Cost: $47.00 home study course and comes with an almost unheard of Money Back Guarantee

See more on
http://homestagingcoursesreview.com/
www.homestagingsuccess.com/

I have a great cat that I took in from a neglective home. He is a white mainecoon. We removed all of the mats. His fur has grown back in and is brushed often. I would like to know what kind of Feline shampoo/conditioner works good for oily flattenned fur so he can be even more comfortable. I am hoping to be able to fluff him up a little better.

Well first off, you should NEVER brush a longhaired cat. Brushes do very little to remove the loose hairs of the undercoat and can pull out and break the topcoat hairs. You should be COMBING the coat and doing so at least every other day all year long. A comb will gently remove the loose hairs of the undercoat and leave the topcoat intact. This is the type of comb to use http://www.fidoandfelixpetcare.co.uk/img/products/finecoarsecomb.jpg Most pet stores don’t have them in the Cats section since most pet stores don’t have a clue about grooming longhaired cats. You’ll find them in the Dogs section. I prefer this one from Bamboo as the teeth rotate and they’re very long so it even works great on my Persian’s coat whose fur is VERY long http://www.superpetstore.com/images/Bamboo-Rotating-Medium-Coarse-Tooth-Comb-RP-DAM810004.jpg

For degreasing believe it or not the best thing to use is GOOP hand cleaner! Persian breeders/owners use this in their show baths to get the coat as fluffy as possible. You start off with a dry, well-combed coat and use as much of the GOOP as needed to completely cover the coat. Gently squeeze it in – don’t rub – as you’ll end up tangling the coat. Wait 5 minutes, then rinse the cat.

If the coat was REALLY greasy – from outside dirt or just lack of grooming – you can then follow with a shampoo with Dawn or Ivory dish soap. This will further degrease the coat.

For the regular shampoo ShoSno would be perfect. This one’s a great whitening shampoo and I swear by it. It’s VERY low sudsing so it’s really easy to rinse out. I haven’t seen it at pet stores, though. I buy mine online http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&pf_id=2540

Last step after you’ve rinsed the coat well is one more rinse with a 1/3 cup vinegar mixed in. This will break down any remaining soap residue in the coat.

When you bathe the cat do so in a sink – not the tub. MUCH easier on your back plus with a sink you can fill it about half way for the final and "float" the coat – slosh water around and under the individual hairs so the cat’s fur floats – showing it’s free of soap residue.

I need some ideas for decorating. Can anyone show me some? If there is such things.
imparicial: I said Home Decorating not some underage sk@nks in bikins

http://www.homesandgardens.com/
http://www.livingetc.com/
http://www.dulux.co.uk/inspiration/index.jsp

Do you look around your house and feel unsettled? Can you relax in your home without always feeling like you have to tidy up? Are you constantly looking for items you’ve misplaced?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to reduce the clutter in your life and get organized. If your house is on the market, reducing clutter is the first step in staging a home for sale. After all, you’re selling a product and you want it to look its best. If you’re not selling, getting organized will just make you feel better, more relaxed and content with your surroundings. It will give you the feeling of being in control of your world. Life’s events will not feel so haphazard and random.

I can honestly say, I enjoyed my last home the most when it was up for sale. Everything was so clean and I was never apprehensive about letting friends see behind closed bedroom or closet doors.

Getting organized in all areas of your life will make you a happier person. Today, let’s start with your house and see how you can reduce clutter, step by step.

Kitchen:

Countertops are valuable work areas, don’t fill them up with things you don’t use on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but I hate preparing a meal in a messy kitchen.

Find a spot for everything so you’ll know where to look for it.

Organize items in your drawers and cupboards with dividers. You may want to store your utensils in a caddy instead of trying to make them fit in a tray.

Use shelf hooks to hang measuring cups, and install pull outs to get to the back of your cupboards.

The kitchen seems to be the easiest place to dump your mail, purse or other personal items. Each day, make a habit of clearing off the counters by the time you’re ready to sit down for dinner.

Get rid of items you have duplicates of, or that are rarely used. Store those once-a-year items such as canning pots or Christmas cookie tins on a shelf in the basement or the back of a cabinet.

The Dreaded Mudroom:

Line a wall with shelves with coordinating baskets to hold all your stuff. Label the baskets so that you know where to look. Neither you or your friends should enter a room that looks like it’s been hit by a hurricane.

Assign a basket to hold things you don’t want to forget as you rush out the door, such as letters to be mailed, grocery lists, library books or school packs.

Get decorative hooks to hang coats, hats, keys, purses, dog leashes, etc.

Find an easy way to keep all the shoes in one place. If you have a bench, you may want to store them underneath on a tray. The wire mesh, tiered stands also work well.

The Family Room:

Consider how the room is used by all family members and plan the best ways to organize based on this. For instance, in addition to TV watching, this may also be the area for video game play or doing crafts. Find a cupboard or storage solution for all your activities.

Just as in the mudroom, line shelves with labelled storage baskets or boxes to hide your video games, movies, magazines, etc. Go through your magazines, keeping only one or two issues. Rip out pages you want to keep and store in a separate file.

Sneaky storage containers can be hidden behind a couch or big chair. Large hampers or baskets are attractive and store toys nicely. Coffee tables or ottomans with lift tops are also great for hiding stuff.

The Bedroom

Get a laundry hamper that should be filled with that day’s laundry by the end of every day.

Store seasonal clothing in clear plastic boxes under the bed. They work even better if they have wheels.

Blank walls are perfect for shelves for all those smaller items that soon overflow from nightstands.

If the same items are being piled up each week, you need to create a permanent home for them.

In kid’s rooms, use labeled baskets, hooks or wooden cubbies, installed at their height, to store items. They’ll put their things away if it’s easy to do.

Give them a place to do what they enjoy. Create activity centers such as a craft table with storage for glue, scissors, paper, etc. If they enjoy painting; set up an easel with paints, paper and drawing books nearby so that everything is ready to go when they are, and equally easy to put away.

Make sure your children understand where things go so that they can be responsible for tidy up.

The Bathroom

Tidy your linen closet and medicine cabinet for expired or unused items.

Store similar items in small baskets in your drawers. For instance, a make-up basket, first-aid, hair products, etc.

Where you’re not using baskets, use acrylic separators to keep items in place.

Place a roll of paper towels, a container of treated cleaning wipes and toilet cleaner in every bathroom for quick clean-ups.

Lauren Kline
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/get-organized-and-feel-great-748098.html