CSD HOME STAGING-K.Hubert

Peter Ciurczak

Edison, NJ

This is the news you've been waiting for!!!  From a Realtor's lips, you'll want to comment on this blog post. 

http://activerain.com/blogsview/732480/Staging-helps-in-more-ways-than-just-selling-a-home

THIS is Peter Ciurczak, from Edison, New Jersey.  He is a Realtor who says that staging helps in more ways than just selling a home...WOW!  We like this!  He has noticed that sellers who come to his open houses talk about how nice the homes look and then he has the opportunity to tell them about his services, including home staging and he's getting more listings and making more money.  THIS is NEWS.  THIS is something you all have been wanting to hear from a Realtor, right?  SO, perhaps you want to take this blog and show it to your target Realtors.  The point is that there are many added benefits of staging that are as important as the actual staging as it relates to their client's satisfaction, their client's equity upon sale and the future of their marketing plan.  Stagers, go get'm. 

 

 

In this example, I would like to demonstrate the critical importance of furniture placement when selling a home.

On viewing listings on the MLS, buyers will not place your listing on their "Must See List" if your photos do not show the space and scale of a room properly. Placing the furniture in a way that is not a distraction to the room is a very important part of marketing a home.

The before and after photos show how well placed furniture actually makes the room look larger. And in Real Estate, we are always selling space and light. The two most sought after features in any property.

Now buyers can see how they could have their family and friends over for dinner and fabulous get togethers.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) the Trade Association for Professional Home Stagers has announced that November is Home Staging Awareness Month.  RESA along with IRIS and ASHSR are National Co-Sponsors of Home Staging Awareness Month  During Home Staging Awareness Month the popular "Stage it Forward" (SIF) Round Table Meetings will be taking place all over North America. SIF originated from a powerful internet blogging community that is hosted by Real Estate Blogging website called Active Rain. These meetings will focus on the Staging Industry, creating standards, ethics and the wants and needs of the Professional Stager. You ALL can have a voice in creating standards and choosing the direction you want your industry to take. A RESA/SIF Roundtable is scheduled in Northern Californias East Bay on November 5th.  This event is OPEN TO ANY AND ALL HOME STAGERS regardless of experience, education, affiliation or accreditation. You do not have to be the member of any organization to attend. All professional home stagers are welcome to join us as we discuss moving the home staging industry forward. Here are the details: Where:  Brook Furniture Rental, 1777 Bothelo Drive Suite 101, Walnut Creek  Date:                     Wednesday November 5, 2008 Time:                     11:30 AM - 1:00 pm social hour and networking          1:- 2:00 PM   Please click here to sign up Contact Cathy Lee for information or to cancel at 925.351.6118 www.cldesignservices.com or Edith at 925.287.4490at Brook Furniture Rentals.  Happy Staging!  Cathy Lee   Cathy Lee is owner of www.CLDesignServices.com a professional home staging company service the San Francisco Bay Area.  We strive to keep our clients, Realtors and many prospective home buyers' best interest in mind with every staging.  Contact Cathy Lee for your complimentary quote today at 925.351.6118.

Public service announcement: Fake food used in home staging is not fit for human consumption! It has no nutritional or caloric value. It does not taste very good. You should not try to eat it.

Photo of a fake pear used in a recent home staging in Arcadia, CA.

Yes, those are human bite marks. They are adult human bite marks. The adult human who bit into this pear did not understand that it was a fake pear, even after they bit into it the first time. They tried to bite into it more than once. Apparently, they thought it just wasn't ripe and they put it back in the bowl with the rest of the fake pears.

Fake pears and fake food in general have no caloric or nutritional value. You should not try to eat it.

I never thought I would have to write those words...

*Fake Food Is Not Fit For Human Consumption* Copyright 2008 Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved.

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Call Michelle Minch at Moving Mountains Design Home Staging (626)441-8975 or visit our Los Angeles Home Staging website to learn more about our excellent results with home staging. Don't settle for second best: Choose the Home Staging company with the experience and skill to get you home sold faster and for a better price.

Going Beyond Customer Service

While taking a break from an intense day of antiquing, my friends and I ducked into a quaint coffee shop to rest our weary bones. We each decided to order chai lattes - a black spiced tea with a coat of foam on top. The barista asked if we would like cinnamon and chocolate in the tea and, before I could raise an objection (chocolate in tea?), one of my friends responded affirmatively for all of us.

A few moments later the lattes were ready and we were summoned to the counter to pick up our fancy drinks. As I approached the counter, I was delighted to see that on top of the white foam, the barista had drawn an outline of a beautiful flower in chocolate syrup. Imagine that! It was the first time I ever felt that five dollars was actually a bargain for a cup of tea!
                                                           
That simple flower was something the three of us talked about while we drank our tea, after we left the coffee house, while we shopped, and then several times over the next few weeks. It cost the store practically nothing and took very little time, but it was a charming surprise. For such a small effort, those chocolate flowers made a great impact.

That experience got me thinking. What is my chocolate flower? What is it that I can give to my clients that is unexpected, that is more than I promise, that is a pleasant surprise?

After thinking about it for quite some time, I came upon the realization that there is not one perfect answer. Each of my clients may require a different chocolate flower. And each stager and designer may have their own unique chocolate flowers. But to qualify as a chocolate flower, a product or service must have these two qualities:

- It must be something the customer will like,
        and
- It must be unexpected / more than promised

I don't know where I first heard it said, but I always like to follow the rule:
"Under-promise and Over-deliver"

Your chocolate flower is part of the over-delivering.

As consumers and designers, we have the opportunity to interact with numerous businesses daily. Doesn't it feel great when companies provide exceptional service - going above and beyond what was expected? (Order several yards of fabric and the mill sends a memo sample for our client file; Buy new tires and the car comes back washed.)

Let's talk about some ways to serve chocolate flowers:

• At the completion of a design project, give your client a board with samples of all their paints, fabrics, and trims attached, so that they can bring it with them while shopping for coordinating items.
  
• If you are designing a baby's room, make a diaper bag out of leftover fabric scraps.
  
• While you are up on the 16-foot ladder installing a window treatment, dust the chandelier, clean the window, or replace a light bulb.

The Benefits of Chocolate

For about two cents and thirty seconds of time, that coffee shop received the benefit of some powerful word-of-mouth marketing with much more impact than any advertising could have accomplished. I told at least thirty people about the special service I received, and those people told others. I even heard that some friends were discussing it when I wasn't around. Now I'm writing about it!

Can you imagine such publicity? Would that kind of chatter impact your business in a positive way? Could community gossip about your fabulous, unbelievable service add to your bottom line?

Of course, the answers to these questions are yes! As designers and business owners, it is up to us to create our own chocolate flowers - to find ways to go beyond what is expected of us. It can be the difference between a customer who is satisfied and one who is overwhelmed by the exemplary service and professionalism of her designer. Chocolate flowers are one of the most effective marketing tools at our disposal, and the best part about it is that it costs practically nothing to provide.

What Chocolate Flowers do you provide?  Stagers?  Realtors?  Share your chocolate!