How to Benefit from Christmas Decorations

Having a home for sale over the Christmas season can be challenging for both the vendor and the agents involved. Schedules are busier, there are more social get-togethers, and other stressors such as financial demands are running high.

Many people bring out an abundance of decorations collected over years or even generations. This means boxes come out of storage and that clutter-free minimalist or elegant look that we worked so hard to achieve starts to disappear.

Not everyone celebrates Christmas but the majority of buyers expect to see some Christmas decorations in homes they are viewing.

T’is the season but be careful that the attention is not overwhelmingly on the seasonal items. Keep everything to scale – in small homes and condos use less. Every room does not have to have Christmas decorations. 

When a house is for sale less really is more even at Christmas.

It is a very emotional time for some and sentimental time for most.

You can benefit from these sentiments by creating a warm glowing seasonal environment that prospective buyers will want – think Christmas card cozy…not a Hoarders TV Christmas special.

Help prospective buyers envision themselves in your vendor’s home.

Here are 4 tips of what to avoid.

1.    Too many outdoor Christmas lights

2.    Too many interior decorations

3.    Inflatable outdoor characters

4.    Too many Christmas presents

When your house is for sale less really is more.

So Deck the Halls…but in moderation and you will

help prospective buyers envision themselves in your vendor’s home

in a most positive light.

Here are 2 more pictures that I had to include :)

If you have some please send them to me - I love this stuff!

Check out the whisk in the tree and the utensils in the garland!

This midtown home has Christmas decor mixed with swans and summer planters...

Do contemporary, nicely decorated homes need staging?

They may not require furniture rentals and accessories but they usually need a Home Review Consultation.

I am in homes every week that are beautifully decorated, well appointed and even stunning. However they are not necessarily Styled to Sell. In fact the vendors often have to ‘dial back’ on accessories and furniture.

Potential buyers are negatively affected in 2 ways:

1.    They have a hard time envisioning themselves in the home.

2.    They can be distracted by too many items and a house with really nice stuff is like a window shopping trip

Thanks to HGTV, reasonable prices at stores like Homesense, an influx of retailers such as West Elm and Crate and Barrel, and many on-line picture based sites and social media, it’s fairly easy for most people to decorate.

And many homeowners love ‘nesting’ and entertaining at home – it’s really what homeowners are supposed to do!

That doesn’t mean the home is ready for selling.

Most serious buyers don’t want to feel like they are walking through a house wares store – they want to see the lifestyle of their dreams but not too much stuff. What’s too much? That is what a Home Review Consultation tells you.

Home Stagers also address room flow and furniture configuration.

Even beautiful furniture can hinder showing a room’s full potential if configured incorrectly. 

A Home Review Consultation takes 90 minutes and you get a full report in To-List format, paint colour suggestions if required, along with general tips when selling a home. At Regroup we also tell our clients to call anytime, text or email pictures of items they intend to buy and just generally contact us if they need help when selling.

How the heck does the furniture rental process work?

How does this process work? What’s involved? Who pays?

Most homeowners have never been involved with furniture rentals and even many seasoned agents have never dealt with it.

When we at Regroup talk about renting furniture we usually mean the larger items such as sofas and chairs, dining sets, large carpets, bistro sets, beds etc.

At Regroup we will work with what a homeowner has whenever we can.

This means furniture rental can involve complete rooms or partial rooms or just one impactful piece.

Here how it works.

First, we come to the property to do a consult or a needs assessment. We also discuss budget and this is when we create a vision for the space. We keep in mind the budget, target market and the all-important photos.
Every home and home owner is different and each staging scenario is unique.

Next we do all the work  -deciding what pieces should be ordered & ordering them, receiving the furniture at the home, furniture configuration and even once the home is sold we make arrangements for pick up.

The rental is based on a one-month period and must be paid for before delivery by the client (homeowner or agent). If an extension is required most rental companies charge either 20% less for the second month or will pro-rate. 

Payment? We have worked with agents who pay 100% of staging costs, agents who pay for up to a certain amount with the vendor paying the balance and sometimes vendors foot the whole bill. Usually agents pay for our initial consult or needs assessment fee when there is one.

There you have it - the mystery of renting furniture is solved!

See below for a mix of rented furniture, vendor furniture and a mix of the two.

Rented Furniture

Rented Furniture  

Rented Furniture

Vendor's Furniture

A Mix of Rental & Vendor's

A Mix of Rental & Vendor's

1.9 MILLION Reasons to Stage a Vacant Home

This home sat vacant on the market for several months.

Then, we Styled it to Sell and it did! For......you guessed it, $1.9 mil

It has high end finishes, large windows and an ultra modern feel but the rooms looked small. The master bedroom seemed especially undersized and underwhelming.

Once furniture was put in, each room seemed larger and had a distinct purpose. It was clear there was more than enough space for several pieces of suitable furniture in the Master – it was transformed into luxury and elegance.

The main living area, kitchen and office were furnished with iconic pieces and pops of funky yellow.( A big trend this year!) 

We had tapped into the target buyer preferences and styled accordingly. 

It worked - within a few days the home was SOLD.

    Have a look at some pictures.....

 

 Accessories

 Thanks for looking & I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love Letters To Regroup (Unsolicited)

Testimonials are better than a big box of valentine chocolates.
And those unsolicited ones make every business owner's heart flutter!

Here are a few of ours: (100% Unsolicited....)

Hi Patricia,

You came to give us staging recommendations a few weeks ago.

I want to take the opportunity to thank you so much for all your advice. It took us a few weeks to get the house ready, and we finally listed it this past week and sold it in 4 days! You deserve so much credit for that! While it was time consuming to move all our stuff to my parents backyard and set up a bedroom in the basement on top of other little things, the speed at which it sold and the price we received for it was well worth the effort. In fact, we had a 4 offer bidding war and sold over list price! Thank you for your keen eye and natural talent in home decor.

Kindest regards,

MC (Vendor)

“People couldn’t picture themselves living in the house until you staged it and brought it back to life.” Remax Agent,

“They stayed up all night and did what you told them to do. We have an offer. I owe you." Main St Realty Broker

“Fantabulistic!! I had to make up a word for how great it looks. Many thanks.” PSR Agent

"I absolutely love it!"  Royal Le Page Agent

 "Hi Patricia,

Last year you gave us staging advice and we ended up selling our home in 2 days. We had 3 offers and sold for over our asking price. But more than all that, I loved the way the house looked when I followed your advice. You mentioned you would also come to our new home. Can you come and tell me about paint colors in our new home. I want the same touches all over again. Please call me."

MK ( Vendor)

Worth Every Penny! 
Royal Le Page Agent

 

In an email:

“Thank you, Thank you , Thank you. I can’t believe it’s our condo”

Next email:

“ Thank you Thank you. We never would have sold so fast without your help”

N J  Vendor

In a letter to an agent:

"Also, thanks for sending Patricia and Maddy over. They worked wonders with our place and were so great to deal with. They were staging while we were working outside and they made sure everything went smoothly. I definitely want to have them give me suggestions for our new home. I'm so glad they were part of your service"

A & S, Vendors

Once Upon a Time.....

...long long ago (October) there was a handsome young real estate agent who wanted to use Regroup to stage a condo. The condo was a scary, empty place with no furniture. (Read: a vacant condo in North York) The young agent had a partner on this deal who was a frightening ogre with fiery breath who said “NO STAGING” (really he was just an old school type agent). So the young agent had to postpone using our services.

Then on a bright and sunny day about a month later the young agent called Regroup and said ‘I have listed another empty scary condo and want you to stage it right away. We need you to rescue the vendor.’ (Read: vacant condo in boutique building on Davisville)

So Regroup used their magic and transformed the scary empty condo into a showpiece that would win over the heart of a buyer.

A young maiden saw the condo and bought it! (In fact it sold in under a week, with multiple offers, in December.)

Now the frightening ogre saw what Regroup magic could do and he said to the handsome young agent “Ok, let’s get Regroup to do magic on our North York condo listing”. Suddenly the frightening ogre changed into a kind and wise businessman.

So we did our magic on the North York condo and what happened next…?

Will it sell fast so the handsome young agent, the wise businessman, and Regroup can live happily ever after?

Stay tuned!

Happy 2014 From Maddy & Patricia