My Philosophy...

Clutter is messy and stressful! Whether you're planning to sell your home to get a fast house Sale or rejuvinating an Investment Property I can help you create an environment that will be relaxing, inviting, appealing, and organized. We'll work with a few feng-shui concepts and proven real estate "tricks" to enhance the positive features of your home and downplay the negative. Just like the way we dress for success. It's about merchandising and selling an idea or concept about your home that suggests "buy me." The trendy name is "staging" using a theater analogy. By any name, it's one thing to talk about, but most people find it very hard to do.

Here's the truth. Once you put your home on the market, no one will politely suggest that you remove the stinky kitty litter box from the mudroom, and they won't work up the nerve to tell you the faux painting technique you "perfected" in your bedroom looks ...not good!. Your family lives there, so they don't "see it" anymore, and your friends want to continue to be your friends. Are you with me?

Even your real estate agent will keep quiet in order to extend the "honeymoon phase" of your relationship. Instead, three weeks into your listing, when you'll get nervous and ask for the truth, your realtor will suggest you lower the asking price. Knowing that hungry agents are waiting to call you as soon as your listing expires, he or she will not want to risk offending you. I've been a rebel and I've told my sellers the truth - as gently as I could. Conversations have gone like this: "Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I know you have busy lives and you have a lot of stuff, but the buyers fear that you can't possibly be ready to move by the date they need to move in", or "the buyers need a large garage for their two cars, but with your garage is so full of sports gear, bikes, and boxes- they can't imagine parking their cars there." SO... THEY'RE CONTINUING THEIR SEARCH. Ouch.

In my earnest zeal to improve the "showability" of my listings, I've been known to vacuum entire houses, fold laundry, put toys away, wash dishes, hide huge bags of trash placed at the end of the driveway in my car, open windows & flap my arms to encourage an exchange of air, roll up offensive girly posters/excessive refrigerator magnets/wet towels on the bathroom floor, clean toilets, remove hair from sinks, empty clumpy kitty litter (and dog do-do on the carpet!) - all in a matter of a few minutes prior to a "showing." Whew! And it doesn't stop there. Once I even helped a seller steam and scrape stubborn wallpaper off her dining room walls and then paint it. For free! You would think all of my effort would 1) inspire loyalty and, 2) reinforce my pep talks about making their home look as presentable as possible in order to ACHIEVE OUR DESIRED GOAL AND SELL THE HOUSE, right? Not true. Some sellers don't see the need for all this effort; simply because they think their house looks fine the way it is.

But don't worry, I'm still as enthusiastic as ever about helping you prepare your home to sell faster and for more money. I just made a small shift in my approach, in that I won't remove unsightly wallpaper for free and hide trash in my car. (Never say never!)  However, I'm very willing to offer easy, helpful practical suggestions to make your properties POP.

The key is to ask for help BEFORE you put your property on the market. Because once you list, the first 3 weeks on the market are CRUCIAL to grabbing all the buyers who are searching for a home on the market. The truth is, right now there are a lot of condos and houses just like your's, so you've got to make grab their attention, make a positive impression, and earn their business.

One final message. Keeping your home in a "show-worthy" state while it's on the market is inconvenient and can be exhausting. (Even if you have someone like me running around like Annette Bening in American Beauty!) If you do the work now and eliminate two thirds of the clutter and streamline your belongings, maintaining the order will be SO MUCH EASIER. You'll love your house again and your positive energy and pride of ownership will touch everyone who enters. What's your next step? Call the movers!

Need some help?