Spring is Here!

Spring means 2 important things to home sellers on the central coast!

1. The rains have come and watered the weeds, and now the sun is shining and making every weed in sight take ahold of your yard! So get the weeds under control before your house is hiding behind a jungle of weeds.
2. Spring is a rare time in real estate when potential buyers have a renewed faith in the real estate market, if you are a seller.... don't miss it!

Staging for Spring!

We just got back from the Las Vegas Market and Furniture Show! Yippee- good fun was had by all and we got tons of great new ideas and stuff! Its hard to focus on Spring while its still raining, but get ready for the spring selling season! I firmly believe that this spring staging is going to be crucial to stand out from the crowd in this crazy market! Here are some quick tips for successful spring selling 2009:

• Depersonalize (as always)!
• keep the chill off your house, turn the heat on so that its not chilly when buyers enter to view your home.
• make sure that your home is priced right for your neighborhood, even the best stager can't fix - way over priced!
• Keep the rain and mud outside.
• Remember staging is all about selling, its not about high fashion - make your house look great- in a warm, neutral way, not decorator specific!
• In this tough market- get real with your budget for staging, landscaping and repairs!
• Pre-plan for success and you should see results!

New stuff headed our way!

I am off to the LA Gift Show to pick up new goodies for home staging! I will be back next week with new toys for decorating the homes of the central coast! I look forward to sharing with all of you great new gadgets and tricks for making your home look its best when you are selling!

Home Staging on a tight budget

I hear a lot these days that home staging is too expensive and my house doesn't warrant the expense!

Let me first dispel the first part of that myth: home staging costs too much. If you use the right stager, it can be done on a VERY tight budget. Maybe as little as $100 if you have some good stuff to work with. Of course you can always spend $5,000, but in many cases that isn't necessary. YOU set the ground rules and the budget, and a smart home stager can work within your budget, as well as prioritize for you the most important places to spend those dollars.

The second part of the myth: my house doesn't warrant the expense of home staging. If you look at the simple math of letting your home sit on the market for 2 or 3 extra months and make 1 or 2 more price reductions, you have probably already lost $10,000 with those 2 options alone. Most price reductions in most markets around the country today are going to be at least $5,000 and even 1 extra month of mortgage to pay will probably run at least $1,000. As compared to maybe $500 worth of home staging for a furnished home and about $1,000-1,500 for a vacant home. That is not even taking into consideration that if your home is looking its best, buyers will probably ask for less money off and fewer repairs than if you list the home in its current state.

Great home stagers have lots of tricks up their sleeve about how to make your home look great with a few easy trade secrets that can really help your home look its best! Plus home staging is now a tax write off, just like realtor fees, it is considered part of the expense of selling your home! I urge you to at least call a home stager and get a quote before you list your home, most stagers should give you a quote free of charge, no strings attached. So why not see if having a professional make your home look its best is a possibility for you?

Guest Blogging!

I have been asked to be a guest blogger for a real estate blogger that lives in my area. So for my debut next Monday, check out his blog link! http://www.slocountyhomes.com/real_estate_weblog.htm

I will be sharing my real estate and staging insight now with my readers as well as with his! I hope you will check out his blog too! He has been blogging about the local real estate market since 2003! Who knew there were blogs in 2003?

I will be blogging there every other Monday!

Top 10 Reasons to hire a home stager

1. You want it to sell quickly!
2. You want it to sell for top dollar!
3. You want your house to look great before the Realtors see it.
4. Your nose doesn't work well in your own home and you want it to smell nice before it hits the market
5. You want someone to do the cleaning for you.
6. Their are lots of unfinished decorating projects you don't have time to finish.
7. Your house has lots of tiny boo boos that buyers will hate.
8. Your house is decorated very personally and you love it and hate to change it.
9. You have to move out right away and don't have time to worry about it.

And # 10. You only have one chance to make a great first impression on buyers and you want your house to stand out from the crowd!

For help in Templeton, Paso Robles, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo or the rest of the Central Coast please call Light, Bright and Airy Home Staging and visit our website @ http://www.lightbrightandairy.com/

recent observations

Great News! I am headed to a trade show to pick up some new staging fun in Las Vegas! Hopefully that means lots of new ideas and lots of great savings I can pass on! This is a one of a kind home decorating show unique to Las Vegas, so keep your fingers crossed that we will come home with lots of great new resources and ideas!

Staging your house to sell or redecorating to keep, both require you to be budget conscious and go for a timeless appeal. There are so many great ways to maximize the house you live in and love without breaking the bank, let us take the time to show you how!

Here are some quick tips from recent observations!
-Wallpaper is out!
-Things that sparkle (counter tops and mirrors with gold flecks) are out!
-Colored coke bottle glass window panels are out!

Some easy cheats:
-remove wallpaper and paint with neutral colors: tans and browns, whites, blues and greens.
-new counter tops transform a kitchen or bath, you can even leave the shower enclosure outdated to save money, but fix the counter tops!
-coke bottle glass can be removed and replaced with smooth painted wood, glass or plexi-glass panels, all for a more modern look, for very inexpensive!
-Another great idea to obscure an unsightly cupboard with a glass insert is to frost the glass to hide the contents. Easily done with roll on or spray on window frost.

For local help in our area of the Central Coast of California please contact us through our website: http://www.lightbrightandairy.com/ or everywhere else you can get our insight through a virtual staging service from http://www.staginginabox.com/ Good luck to you in making the most of your home!

Your house only gets one chance to make a strong first impression on buyers! Make the most of it!