Home Staging
Success Stories

Featured Case Study for July 2007

Sold for asking price after 4 days on market. Listed: July 23, 2007 Offer: July 27, 2007 (at asking price!)

Click here to read the detailed case study and see before and after pictures for July 2007.

House had a great location but was very dated, with no upgrades for 13 years.

The house is 30+ years old and despite its great curb appeal (park-like yard/grounds ) beautiful classic southern exterior, the interior - if left un-staged - would have greatly disappointed buyers.

Curb appeal is not enough to sell house smart in today's market. House sellers need much more to get an offer.

The family that owned this house understood investing the time and money in updating the outdated fixtures, repainting the walls in a fresher neutral paint, replacing the old/worn carpeting and playing up the QUALITY materials used to build their older home... would create Buyer appeal. It worked - fast!

Featured Case Study for June 2007

When Downsizing, the 7 steps to sell house smart^TM are essential to sell for the most money in the shortest time period.

Click here to read the Downsizing detailed case study and see before and after pictures for June 2007.

Featured Case Study for April 2007

We successfully implemented the 7 steps to sell house smart with an "ugly ducking" house recently featured in a newspaper article.

Built in 1995 with 2775 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 and one half baths, this house languished on the market 6 months with no offers. The sellers had already moved out of state and were stuck paying 2 mortgages. With great architectural features, the sale-blocking challenges addressed all 7 steps to sell house smart. That is where we came in, with our team of real estate service professionals.

After taking the house off of the market for 1 month and implementing the 7 steps to sell house smart, the house was re-listed and received an offer (very close to asking price) within 20 days!

Here is a summary of the costs for the market prep of this house:

Fix it First Services

$300 - professional window washing, inside & outside plus light fixtures.

$250 - paint front door (plus cost of new hardware).

$300 - paint closets.

$6,000 - neutralize: remove layers of wallpaper in kithen (from walls and ceiling) and re-paint walls of kithchen, dining room, hallways and large bonus room.

$600 - miscellaneous general repairs.

Replacements

$3,500 - replaced carpet throughout house excluding existing hardwood in dining room and replaced hardwood in kitchen.

$400 - replaced lighting, including dining room chandelier.

Replacements - Bathroom

$1,600 - replaced cultured marble bathroom vanity tops, because the sinks (an inseparable part of the counter top), had begun to crack around the drain due to the harsh chemicals contained in grocery store brand cleaners used over a period of years.

$600 - replaced bathroom faucets, also damaged due to the harsh chemicals contained in grocery store brand cleaners.

Replacements - Kitchen

$400 - replaced kitchen sink and faucet with new stainless steel.

$1,500 - replaced functional though aged original appliance with stainless steel oven/stove top, microwave and dishwasher.

$2,250 - removed worn/peeling vinyl floor in kitchen and replaced with hardwood, virtually matching the existing hardwood floor in dining room.

$4,000 - replaced discolored laminate kitchen counters with granite (using odd size/scrap granite at a significant discount!)

Additional Case Studies: real homes (and owners) that sold house smart!

This section is under construction. But here is a sneak peak at the first occupied house we staged in Tennessee. Click here to see the detailed case study and before & after pictures for McKays Mill 1.

Vacants

Vacant houses (whether new construction or formerly occcupied) statistically stay on the market longer, with lower selling prices, when shown empty. But you do not have to fully furnishing a vacant, either. Here are some examples of successfully staged vacants: Click here to see the detailed case study and before & after picturesfor Carlisle 1.