Greetings!
Do you have a newsletter you send to clients periodically, but are constantly looking for and struggling with content to fill it up? Well, I would be happy to provide you with content for that newsletter. I was recently invited to become a regular columnist for a NYC-based real estate agent's monthly newsletter. My first column featured no-cost ways to improve your home for sale.
You can either have me write a regular column or provide you with content on an as-needed basis. Please contact me and let me know if you need my help.
Warmest regards,
Donna M. Dazzo, President
Designed to Appeal
P.S. In preparation for the Fall selling season, I am once again offering my semi-annual Special on Home Staging Consultations. See the coupon at the bottom of this newsletter. Offer expires August 31, 2009, so schedule your consultation right away! |
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The "But I Can Do This Myself" Syndrome
Recently I met a real estate agent when I was shopping for paint colors at the local Benjamin Moore supplier.
In chatting with the agent about his business, he told me he does the stagings himself. So I decided to go online to see what his listings looked like.
I was surprised at what I saw, to put it kindly. Photos were clearly taken by the agent with a camera not using a wide angle lens so that half of the room was missing from the photo.
Also, there was an exercise bike right in front of the nightstand in a shot of the bedroom, indicating to the seller that there was insufficient space in the home. The main photo of another listing was an unattractive window view of another building's facade. A bathroom photo showed a cardboard box of tissues on the toilet as the only decor.
Ask yourself these questions the next time you want to stage your own listing, whether occupied or vacant:
- Do I want to spend hours deciding optimal placement of furniture and shopping for accessories?
- Am I comfortable recommending paint colors to my client?
- Do I know how to get a vacant home fully furnished and accessorized?
- Do I have the design and decorating expertise of a professional home stager?
- Do I want to tell my clients to get rid of furniture, family photos, pet odors, etc.?
- Is this how I want to be spending my time instead of marketing my client's listing?
Designed to Appeal's expertise is partnering with real estate agents as a member of the marketing team to get the listing sold. So contact us when you are ready to go on a listing appointment, as well as to obtain the following useful tools to use when talking with clients about staging:
- Script to be used with occupied home sellers
- Frequently Asked Questions/Objection Busters
- Statistics on staging and how it helps
Next month I'll discuss the homeowner who thinks he can stage the home himself and how you can address these situations. |
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Market Overview:
New York, NY
While prices are still decreasing, things may be looking up. The number of homes on the market and the days on the market have both decreased.
According to Prudential Douglas Elliman, for the quarter ended 6/30/09:
- The median sales price for all homes (new developments and re-sales) was $835,700 down 14.3% from the prior three months and down 18.5% from same time last year
- The average sales price per square foot was $1,064, a decrease of 16% from the prior quarter and the same time last year.
- The number of sales was down 28% from the prior quarter and a sharp 50% from the same quarter last year
- There are 9,378 homes for sale, down 10% from the prior quarter and down 8.7% from the 2nd quarter 2008.
- Days on the market was 162, up 20% from 2nd quarter 2008, but down 5% from its peak earlier this year.
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Tips and Tricks of the Trade
When selling a home, it is very important that it be light and bright. Buyers do not respond well to dark spaces. Here are a few tips and tricks to brighten up your home:
- Remove screens from windows - this lets more of the natural light through
- Wash the windows - seems to be common sense, but you'd be surprised at what a difference it makes!
- Remove awnings from windows and over doors
- Replace drapes with sheers where possible - sheers provide warmth and softness to a room but still let the light show through
- Swap out low wattage bulbs for higher wattage ones
- Keep all lights turned on during an open house or showings
- Use uplighting in dark corners - either a tall floor lamp called a torchiere or a can light placed on the floor
- Use neutral paint colors on the walls
- Brighten up dark furnishings with throw pillows in a bright color
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...the return on investment when selling a home for the following Top Home Improvements?
- Clean and declutter: 580%
- Lighten and brighten: 370%
- Staging: 350%
- Landscape front/back yards: 320%
This is according to a 2007 HomeGain survey of over 2,000 real estate agents nationwide.
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Market Overview: The East End
According to George R. Simpson, President of Suffolk Research Service, Inc., the real estate market on the East End of Long Island is showing strong signs that a market turnaround has happened in the 2nd quarter of 2009.
Mr. Simpson reported that all three of the market indicators - Median Price, Unit Sales, and Dollar Volume of Sales - showed a turnaround in the 2nd quarter of 2009.
Median price grew by 2.4%, dollar sales increased by more than 32% and unit sales increased by 34% in the 2nd quarter of 2009 compared to the 1st quarter of 2009.
However, the Median Price of single family residences for East End Real Estate decreased 19.7% from $735,000 in 2nd quarter 2008 to $590,000 for 2nd quarter of 2009 -- (Median Price is the middle price when all houses sold are listed in order of price).
Median Prices for single family homes have declined in the 2nd Qtr 2009 from 2nd Qtr 2008 in all the towns on the East End to...
- $760,000 in Southampton (down 14.7%)
- $950,000 in East Hampton (down 5%)
- $355,000 in Riverhead (down 13.6%)
- $855,000 in Shelter Island (down 24.3%)
- $450,000 in Southold (down 13.6%)
Also, Dollar Volume of Sales for all the towns on the East End declined 54% in the 2nd quarter of this year compared to the same quarter last year. |
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Recently I did a Home Staging Consultation for the owner of a lovely bayfront cottage on the North Fork of Long Island. While the views were great, the interior needed decluttering, painting and some updating. The outside needed some TLC to make it more appealing.
So, I detailed everything the homeowner needed to do to turn this cottage into a charming retreat that buyers could imagine themselves living in.
Despite the fact that the owner was in her early 80s, she said she didn't need my help to implement any of the plan and did it all herself or found her own contractors to do it for her.
Here are a few before and after pictures the real estate agent sent to me:
BEFORE
 AFTER
Here's what the real estate agent had to say after the consultation and staging was completed:
"Just a note to thank you for your help in staging Ms. Miller's bayfront home in East Marion. She totally followed through on your advice, and rearranged, removed, covered, and repainted many things. She even removed the overgrown cedars in the front of the home, and replaced them with hydrangea. What a team - you and she! A few weeks ago, I had another public open house, and it was amazing and gratifying to hear the appreciative remarks... about the view and attractive features of the home. I had not heard these kinds of statements at open houses prior to the staging. Thank you for your professional services."
Sincerely,
Pamela L. Paynter
Brown Harris Stevens
Greenport, Long Island
Click here for more information and to schedule a Home Staging Consultation | |
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