Staging Tips

 

If you’re getting your home ready to sell, STAGE IT!  Staging always puts a home in its best light, showcasing its strong points and down playing its not so strong points. 

I believe it’s always best to hire a staging professional.  Whether someone is living in your home or if it’s vacant, a staging professional can give you the advice you need to make your home looks it’s best to the masses.  You can opt to just get a Staging Consultation (very affordable) and do all the work yourself, or you can have the stager do it all for you (more affordable than you think – get an estimate).  Or if your budget is non-existent here are a few tips your can do completely on your own.

1.  De-clutter!  If you have piles of anything, go through it and throw away what you don’t want, pack up what you can live without and keep only what you need, but put it away – out of sight.

2.  Remove and pack most of your family photos.  I do not believe you need to remove all of your photos.  I think it’s nice to see some happy family photos, but just a small few.  If you have several photos out people fell like they are intruding.  They can feel uncomfortable and spend much less time in your home.

3.  Remove and pack any collections you may have.  Again, collections can be distracting.  Either they are impressed and spend more time looking at your collection than the house or they don’t like your collection, find it distracting and just leave. 

4.  Deep clean your home.  Nothing is a bigger turn off than a dirty home.  Make sure your kitchen and bathrooms sparkle.  If you’re too busy to clean, hire someone to come in and do a thorough cleaning before you put your home on the market.

5.  Minimize the toys.  Whether the prospective buyers have kids or not, they will not want to see toys all over the place.  Go through the toys, give some away, throw some away and pack up as many as you can.  People will only see toys everywhere and not your home.  People without kids will only see a mess and people with kids will see that your home doesn’t have enough storage.

6.  Clean and clear out your closets.  Go through your clothes, throw some away, give some away and pack up whatever you don’t need now.  When people open up your closets they are looking to see how much storage is in the house, and if they are jam packed people think “there isn’t enough storage in this house”.

7.  Curb appeal.  The front of your home is the first thing a potential buyer sees and if it’s full of debris, un-kept, needs maintenance or new plants ~ they might not even go into your home.  Again, remove any clutter, toys, or personal items, fix or repair necessary items (paint, fix broken items, replace light bulbs, etc).  If you have any sick plants, dead plants or just a blank dirt area – plant new easy care plants. Hire a gardener or ask for help at your local nursey.  Last but not least, put out a new “Welcome” mat.

8.  If your home is full of furniture, please consider getting a storage unit.  Don’t take away everything, just take away extra furiture.  For example, in a living area you’ll want to keep a seating arrangement (sofa, loveseat and or chairs) coffee and end table, lamps, art and a few accessories.  We don’t want wall to wall furniture. We want to see some wall space.  This is just another way to minimize and make your home look bigger and it’s best.

There is a theme here.  De-clutter, minimize and neutralize! The goal is to make your home look its best to everyone who walks in the door.  We want each person to be able to envision their stuff in the home, because that’s a sign that they are looking at the bones of the house and not your stuff … plus it’s a buying sign!  They just may make an offer.

These are just a few general suggestions, but each home may have its own special needs.  Do what you can on your own or hire a professional Stager to do it for you.

Lowes even has a list of things you can do to stage your home. 

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

Fixed Rate & ARM’s this week.

According to Inman News, fixed rate mortgages are more expensive this week.

30-year fixed rate mortgages climbed from about 6.34% (last week) to about 6.42% (this week) and 15-year fixed rate climbed from about 5.98% (last week) to about 6.09% (this week).  But keep in mind that two months ago fixed rate mortgages were about 6.75%.  All in all, rates are down.

ARM’s (Adjustable rate mortgages) went down this week from 6.21% (last week) to 6.15% (this week).

Voted “The Best” Real Estate Office

 

The votes have been cast and Hometown GMAC Real Estate won “The Best” Real Estate office in Pleasanton!  What an honnor!  I do have to admit we have a great group of people at Hometown GMAC Real Estate.  I am proud to be a Real Estate Agent at “The Best” Real Estate office in town.

 If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, or if you’d just like to get a FREE no obligation Market Analysis from “The Best”, give me a call!  925-998-7747

Thanks for making us “The Best”!

Jill Denton

Realtor

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

Furniture on an angle?

 

I’ve seen so many Interior Redesigners who always place furniture on an angle. We’ve seen it again and again and again on HGTV ~ I’m sick of it!  Don’t get me wrong, I like furniture on an angle sometimes, just not all the time, because it doesn’t always work well.  I don’t think you should place your furniture on an angle just because you’ve seen it done on TV so many times, do it for a good reason:

 

- Because the room has an unusual layout that requires creative arrangement.

- To draw attention to something or something else in the room.

- To create better traffic flow.

- To make a small room look bigger.

- Because it looks good.

- Just because you’re board and want a change.

I recently did an Interior Redesign on a family room.  The room was on the small side, and it only had three walls.  One wall held the large entertainment center that couldn’t fit on any other wall, the second wall had a large low window and the last wall had a large window like opening into the dining room.

In the before picture, you can see that the sofa was placed below the opening to the dining room, because the entertainment center could only fit on one wall (across from the sofa) and the high back sofa would block the great view if placed in front of the window.  The down side to the sofa being on the dining room opening wall it wasn’t very conversational, it looked just okay, but it made for easy access for the kids to climb up onto the opening.

BEFORE:

 

Let’s talk about the room.  The sofa would really only work two ways in this room.  One where it is, but it wasn’t conversational, looked just ok and it was climbable, or two “On an angle”.  We opted for the angle because it made the arrangement much more inviting and conversational, based on a few facts:  only three walls in the room, the view, the entertainment center, plus the fact that we wanted to keep the climbing to a minimum.

AFTER:

The room really came to life on an angle.  It will be only better once the homeowner gets some wall art and accessories. Anyway, the angle works with the layout of the room, it looks good and it’s funtional!  If you look at the before photo closely, you’ll see the two side chairs, but they we placed unconversationally, you walked into the back of one of them before. Now they can see the TV, enjoy the view and welcome their guests. So, here’s one example of furniture placed on an angle that worked!

Do a little searching, looks at some magazines,  Lowes even offers some tips on how to arrange a room.  Don’t be afraid, If you want to try angling a piece of furniture in your home, go for it.  If you like it – GREAT! If not, you can always move it back.

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

Open House Check List

As a Realtor and professional Stager, part of my job is to advise homeowners on things to do to make their home look it’s best to buyers.  The key word here is buyers.  When I stage a home (occupied or vacant) my goal is to make the home look it’s best to the masses.  I enhance the overall structure and floorplan of the home.  I showcase the good features and downplay the not so great features. If occupied, I suggest that the homeowner remove “personal” items like family photos, collections, trophy’s,etc.  When these things are in a home a potential buyer is looking at – they either pay more attention to your personal items than the home (Oh, look at that collections of…) or with all of the personal items out, they feel like they are intruding in YOUR home.  Thus, they look briefly and leave quickly. And we don’t want that to happen!

Hiring a professional stager is a great investment in helping to sell your home quicker and for more money!  Staging really works! Whether it’s a simple staging consultation and the homeowners do all the work themselves, a fully staged home or something in between, I highly recommend that you STAGE THAT HOME!!!

Realtor Magazine interviewed and video taped some homes/rooms before and after 2 hours of staging with a budget of $250 dollars. It’s amasing how just rearranging the furture or moving/removing a few items or spending a few dollars can make a HUGE difffence.

Here are a view suggestions from HGTV on the things you can do to prepare your home for an Open House with this OPEN HOUSE CHECK LIST.

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

FOMC Meeting Today

 In a nutshell, here’s what happened:

The Fed Funds rate is the rate the banks charge each other for overnight funds - it moved from 5.25% down to 4.75%.

The Discount rate is the rate the Fed reserve chanrges banks to borrow overnight - it moved from 5.75 to 5.25%.

Anticipated FOMC Meeting

Today we find the yield on the 10-yr up to 4.49% ahead of tomorrow’s much anticipated FOMC meeting. The market expects the Fed to cut the official funds target rate by at least 25 basis points (the first since June 2003): the futures market is trading at a 100% likelihood of a 25 bp cut but only a 10% likelihood of a 50 basis point cut.

Mortgage Rates

Fe Fi FAUX Fum

Do you like faux painting?

I have to admit, I am a fan of fauxing painting.  I also believe it can be overdone.  I mean, don’t faux every room it your house, but a room or two can be very nice.

Nowadays, you can go to just about any home store and they’ll have how to videos, instructions, paint, glaze, tools of the trade and even some cheater tools (they work, but they are not as good as the real thing).  In any case, if you have the time and are feeling creative, go ahead and give it a shot. 

I actually find fauxing to be a great way to release some creative energy.  I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but stick figures are as good as I get.  But when I faux, it’s like I’m Picasso or Da Vinchi. I guess I’m lucky, because the first time I fauxed it came out great.  It’s funny because we think practice makes perfect, but I think when it comes to a BASIC faux, the key is no structure, no pattern, no rhyme, no reason … and that makes the most creative and attractive faux to me.  Unlike those rooms we’ve all seen where someone has taken a sea sponge and just dabbed it all over the room – YUK! 

There are many different styles of faux painting and it could take years to become an expert with all the different styles.

If you want to give it a shot, but you’re afraid, go to a home store and get a piece (poster size) of wall board, add a little spray on texture and go to town.  Practice, try different techniques until you’re confident to move to a whole wall.  Even if the wall doesn’t come out the way you want, you can jsut paint over it!

 A few keys to success:

- Painting the base coat is the hardest and most boring part.

- Remember, no patterns, no structure – use several different movements to create the look.

-  Do a 3 x 3 (ish) size space at a time.

- Be sure to smooth all brush, sponge or what ever stokes to give it a more realistic look.

- It’s also important to smooth out the edges of the (3×3) space you’re currently working on.  This makes the transisition between the current and the last and the next space you’ll be working on.

- Stand back and look at your work – often. Then before it’s dry you can take a little paint away or add a little bit more.

- It’s a good idea to have a spray bottle with water in it, in case you need to smooth something out.  Just spray lightly and then take whatever tool you are using and smooth it out. Notice there’s a lot of smoothing.

- You can add more glaze and/or water to thin/lighten the faux color. Do this in the beginning and write down your recipe.  1 cup paint, 1 cup glaze and 1/4 cup water … or what ever.  I’ve used a brand called McClosky.  It’s paint and glaze premixed.  (Mocha is one of my favorite colors) anyway, I’ve used it right out of the container, I’ve added glaze and I’ve added water.  Use your practice board to find the right shade for you.

- A base coat and one color glaze can look fantastic, but don’t be afraid to add a third color as an accent.

For me the key is to be creative, don’t follow any patterns when you apply the faux paint.  Move your arm in a circle, up and down, smooth, dab, rub, smooth, zip zag, smooth. More paint here, less over there and smooth.

Give it a try, the worst thing that could happen is that you’ll have to paint it again, or hire a professional. Let me know how it goes.

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

How to arrange furniture in a rectangular shaped room

If you have a rectangular shaped room and you don’t know how to arrange your furnishings, you are not alone! It’s a very common problem and actually fairly simple to fix.  I do a lot of one day Interior Redesigns and a lot of the homes have a rectangular shaped which are difficult for most to come up with a furniture arrangement that looks good, feels good and is funtional.

Here’s what you need to do.  You need to visually divide the room into two sections.  One section (the main area) should take up about 3/4 ’s of the room, and the secondary area will take up the remaining 1/4 of the room.  For example:

 

In this example, we have a typical seating area around the TV.  If we had used the entire space for watching TV, the room would have had some “bad seats”, it wouldn’t be conversational, and it would probably feel uncomfortable.  By adding a secondary seating area (this could also be a table a chairs, a game area, a reading nook, a computer area, etc) the primary section is comfortable and functional; as well as, the secondary area.

Here are a few other things to also keep in mind where Redesigning a room.  Scale. For example: don’t big a large piece of art over a small table.  The scale is wrong.  Traffic flow.  Be sure to consider the flow of traffic through the room – where you do and don’t want traffic is key to a good floorplan. Keep the architecture or focal point of the room in mind before and during your redesign so you can enjoy afterwards.

 You can do this on your own or call in an Interior Redesigner to do it for you!

Jill Denton ~ Hometown GMAC Real Estate and Changing Spaces Interior Redesign & Staging

Staging

As a Realtor, I sit open houses, usually for 3 hours.  Open houses can actually be fun, if you have a lot of people come to visit.  The more the merrier!  I mean it!  So next time you see an open house sign, don’t hesitate, go on in, we love the company!

I bring that up because recently I sat an open house for another Realtor, it was slow and I was bored. So … since I’m also an Interior Redesigner and Stager, I walked through the home imagining what I would do to the home to make it look it’s best.  (Staged homes look better, typically sell faster and for more money!) About 4 weeks later the home was still on the market and they asked me to stage the home, because staged homes (say it with me) typically sell faster and for more money!

That’s what I did this afternoon.  I staged that home.  The homeowners had already moved out and I provided furniture and accessories for a few rooms.  I love staging.  It’s so fun to watch the transformation and even more fun when homes (say it with me) sell faster and for more money.

Here’s a before and after photo of the family room:

As you can see, we started with a clean slate, added the sofa, rug, dining table and chairs, tables, accent piece, ligthing, art and accessories and … ta da!