The Fall Real Estate Market is Kicking Off - Home Stagers, Are You Ready?

Now that we're into September, while the weather may be cooling down, the fall real estate market is heating up! There couldn't be a better time to take a good look at your home staging business and make sure your image is polished to perfection for the (potentially) busy months ahead.
Have you been in the business long enough that you don't feel you need to do anything different? What a shame! All home stagers should do a bit of maintenance on their businesses regularly no matter how long they've been in the industry.
The following is a classic 5-point "Are you ready?" list to help you prepare for the fall real estate market whether you're a new or more seasoned home stager:
1. What are you wearing? No, I won't get into wearing white after Labor Day here, but you should go through your wardrobe and make sure you have some appropriate, fashionable items from last fall that are not out of date and that still fit. Make sure your shoes are in good shape and your jackets have been dry-cleaned. You should invest in a few new pieces now as well to help get you through another season. Treat yourself to a new hair cut. Besides giving yourself a new look for fall, you'll feel great and get an instant confidence boost.
2. Spend some time on your website. If you're like most people who have a website, it's never going to be finished, and it shouldn't be! You should constantly be adding new content and updating your photos and testimonials. As your business evolves your website will too. If you don't have a website, how are homeowners going to find you? Graduates of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program are given the option of adding their profile to an exclusive Directory of Home Stagers. It acts as an instant web presence and allows homeowners and Realtors® to find an expert home stager in their city very easily.
3. How current is your portfolio? If you've been busy and haven't had time to update your portfolio with all the great before and after shots you've taken over the summer don't put it off any longer. With fall being such a hot time for homeowners to list their properties you can't afford to have a home staging portfolio that's less than perfect.
4. Are your marketing materials current? When did you last give your marketing materials a facelift? Do you think it's time? Did you get some cheap business cards when you first started your business and feel ready to upgrade to something nicer? Has any of your contact information changed? When you have your business cards all ready to go, you have to use them in order for them to do you any good! Get out and network. If you haven't already, join your local Chamber of Commerce or referral group and start getting connected.
5. Do you have a plan? Do you have a marketing plan for your home staging business? You don't have to invest 40 hours creating a big fancy marketing plan. Spend focused time at your computer or sitting down with a pen and paper to make a list of marketing goals along with a list of specific steps you will take to reach those goals. The more specific you are the better, and keep it simple so that you will take action rather than feeling overwhelmed. Fall is the perfect time to do this. Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business includes a handy list of inexpensive marketing tactics you can start using right away.
So, are you ready? Because ready or not, the fall real estate market is creeping up behind you! Don't make the mistake of staying in your comfort zone. Try something different in your marketing or add something new to your website. Make sure you're at the top of your game for this season and you will be rewarded for your efforts!.By Debra Gould

Inexpensively Staging Your Home For a Quick Sale

Staging a home can be a lucrative task, if done correctly. However do not feel discouraged if you do not have enough funds in the bank to cover a full on home renovation. Home staging is a technique used to make a house on the market look more appealing to buyers. Staging makes the potential buyer envision living in the space. The buyers will be under the impression that they are in control but, quite the opposite is true. With playing up the key features and downplaying the not so complementary features in the home all work to your advantage and work to put the exact image you want the prospective buyers to perceive of your home.
The most inexpensive thing you can do is paint. Painting the walls with a neutral color scheme is not only visually relaxing and warms up the interior, painting in a neutral color scheme emanates a sense of luxury. That luxury came to you at the mere price of a few cans of paint at the local Home Depot. Not a bad exchange at all.
Cleaning a filthy worn carpet is a money saving strategy most home sellers overlook. Just because a carpet is worn and torn, does not mean it can't be revived back into the beauty it was in its previous years. Stripping flooring and re-staining is generally a cost effective alternative to an all out extravagant purchase of a brand new floor for the entire home. Why spend thousands more on something when you will not be living there. You may be influenced to think that replacing flooring in your home will boost the appraisal price that is true and false. It may or may not boost your appraisal price, that is a gamble you will have to take. Let's say it does boost your appraisal price, fantastic. However, the bottom line is you will not get 100% return on this investment. So therefore it is not profitable and not worth your effort.
Make a cramped floor plan look open. Play with the placement of your furniture until you get a seating arrangement that flows from one space to another. Nothing can hurt a sale as bad as clutter and buyers being under the impression that the property is lacking in space. This is crucial to selling your home, and requires no investment. Lastly make sure everything is clean. At an open house, tidy just won't cut it. Buyers will notice the spider web at the far back corner of your attic, they will notice the chipped paint on your windowsill, and they will even notice the oil splatters on your kitchen stove. Buyers are like food critics, at an open house they feel it is their right and duty to criticize the home, its condition, the home owner's cleanliness, and the maintenance that is put into the property. Combining all of the inexpensive staging techniques will make for a faster more profitable home sale.By Jazmin Espinal