Los Angeles Home Staging Info

Home Staging In Arcadia - New Construction Luxury Home

This week we staged a very beautiful new construction, luxury home at 408 N. Altura Rd., Arcadia, CA 91007. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, and yes, we staged every single room! Staging a house this large takes a lot of planning, skill and a very large inventory of appropriate furniture, artwork and accessories. I love staging big, beautiful homes in Arcadia because once we are done staging, I get to take big, beautiful staging photos of the home. I provide the listing agent of every home we stage with gorgeous home staging photos that really highlight the home's architectural features and floor-plan. Click here to see more photos of this beautiful Arcadia home.

Here's the listing notes:

Located in the most desirable part of Arcadia, this is a rare Brand New Custom Ranch style home in the north part of Arcadia. This ranch style home built home by local developer Bowden Development, offers 5 bedrooms with 2 suites downstairs, , 5 1/2 total baths, library/office with coffered ceilings, formal living room, formal dining room, large gourmet kitchen, open family room. The kitchen features custom cabinetry, over sized center island with built in professional appliances, professional range with pot filler, and separate fry room with built in. This 5 bedroom suite home also features a luxurious Home Theatre room with special black light effect star ceiling. Additional features include 2 suites downstairs, panic room in the Master Bdrm, separate laundry room 3 car garage, and a relaxing lush backyard.

Additionally, this new construction luxury estate has marble floors in the entry, wide plank walnut hardwood floors, a walk in pantry, close circuit security system (with cameras), a wet bar, a walk-in pantry, a butler's pantry, downstairs and upstairs master suites, a balcony off the upstairs master, all other bedrooms are ensuite, an eat-in kitchen, and much more. Everything about this house is the finest quality (including the home stager:o)

If you are a luxury home builder or real estate investor in Arcadia and would like more information about Arcadia home staging, please contact Michelle Minch at Moving Mountains Design (626)385-8852.

We are experts in Arcadia real estate marketing, and cater to the tastes of Arcadia home buyers.

This home is currently listed at $2,388,000. MLS# 12043600 . Contact Robert Ho, Long Dragon Realty for more information (626)614-8888

Moving Mountains Designs works with real estate investors,  bank asset managers and mortgage asset managers to sell their real estate assets or property. We will stage your assets cost-effectively to make them appealing to the greatest number of buyers. Staged homes sell faster and for a higher price. In addition, staging may help lower carrying costs – the less time your assets are on the market, the less you will have to spend on monthly maintenance, property taxes, insurance and utilities.We are experienced working with investors, property managers, asset managers and banks. Call Michelle Minch today (626)385-8852 to learn how we can help you sell your listings faster and for a higher price. We know what makes homes sell!™
Originally posted on my Los Angeles Home Staging Website

I am frequently asked, by the real estate agents I work with, how to make their listing, which is on the small size, look larger to appeal to more buyers. As a professional house stager in Pasadena and Los Angeles, one of my primary jobs is to make smaller homes feel larger, or at least, feel as large as they really are.

   

Here's a list of my tips for making a small home feel larger. You can use these tips whether you are staging a home to sell or if you are planning to stay, but just need some help dealing with smaller rooms. These tips will work with either vacant (if you're bringing in furniture) or occupied homes (dealing with the client's existing furniture):

1. Pare down the furniture in a smaller room to the essentials. Do they really need a chair in your bedroom, or will the room appear larger with just the bed, the nightstands and maybe a dresser?
2. Clutter makes a room feel smaller. Lots of smaller items, like a Hummel collection or bowling trophies displayed on every horizontal surface, eat up visual space. Only display 3-5 items at a time. Store, sell or prepack the rest. You're selling a home, not a collection of treasures.
3. Use fewer pieces of furniture. Its better to have one larger dresser than 2 smaller ones.
4. Use appropriately sized furniture. Having a large sofa in a small family room will highlight how small the room is.
5. Pull furniture away from the wall. Create a cozy sitting area in front of the fireplace, with room to move around the back of the furniture.
6. Cooler colors recede, so painting a room a pale blue, green or gray will make it feel larger.
7. Show more hardwood. The larger the expanse of hardwood, the larger the room will look. See how the room looks without an area rug. If the hardwood floors are hidden by wall to wall carpet, remove the carpet. The home will feel instantly larger.
8. Try using one larger area rug instead of several smaller rugs. Or if the room looks OK without it, don't use any area rugs.
9. Use fewer patterns on upholstery and bedding. For instance, use a solid color blanket or bedspread on a bed in a small bedroom to make the room feel larger. Lighter colored bedding will make the room feel larger.
10. Strategically placed mirrors make a room feel larger.
11. A well lit room feels larger. Make sure every overhead light and table lamp is lit before open houses and showings.
12. Minimize window treatments. The simpler the better. Shutters, blinds or simple drapes (no flounces, ruffles, strong patterns or complicated valences) take up less "visual space".

These home staging tips work if you are staging to sell or just want to make the home you are living in feel larger.

If you need some help figuring out how to make your home or listing feel larger, consider hiring us for a home staging consultation. You'll get some easy-to-implement expert home staging and interior design tips.  Its the best "bang for your buck" and it's a great investment in preparing your home or listing for sale, or making your home more livable if you are planning to stay.

An experienced house stager has a lot in common with a fully-loaded Swiss Army Knife™.

Since WWII, the trusty Swiss Army Knife™ has been the go-to tool for soldiers, campers, fishermen, construction workers, even Hollywood Bowl goers (mainly for the corkscrew and for slicing cheese:o). I even have a Swiss Army Knife™ in my home staging tool kit! The Swiss Champ™ has 35 tools or "features" and there's not a lot you can't fix or attend to with a Swiss Champ™in your pocket.

The more experienced the home stager, the more tools she is likely to have at her disposal.

I like the think I'm the Swiss Champ™ of home stagers. Like the problem solving Swiss Army Knife™, Moving Mountains Designcan be the solution for many home selling difficulties:

• Need advice on how to add umph to your front yard to enhance curb appeal? A home staging consultation will cover that
• Need a recommendation for inexpensive carpet, granite counter-tops, reliable movers or storage? I've got several to choose from in my contact list
• Don't know what color to paint your living room to appeal to more buyers? I know the perfect color
• Not sure if your furniture will help or hurt the sale of your home? I can assess your furniture and let you know if I think it will advance your goal to sell your home for top dollar
• Is your home vacant and feels empty with no furniture? I can provide a few rooms or a whole house of furniture, artwork and accessories to make your home look like a model home
• Don't have a real estate agent to list your home? I've worked or interacted with 100's, all over Los Angeles, Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley and I know who does a good job
• Not sure if you should spend the money on remodeling your house for sale? I can tell you which upgrades should help with a faster sale or a higher selling price
• Do you need to sell your home fast and as-is? I work with real estate investors that can close escrow in as little as 1 week for all cash - no banks, no mortgage approvals, no appraisals

If you're the listing agent, I can help you with:

• Photographing your listing after staging. I'll provide professional quality photographs of the homes we stage for use in marketing
• Writing your marketing materials
• Sending an email blast to 1,800+ real estate professionals on my mailing list
• Convincing your client of the importance of doing certain repairs, upgrades or staging in order to effect a faster sale at a higher price

As you can see, an experienced home stager has a lot in common with the trusty Swiss Army Knife™.

Smart home owners, real estate agents and real estate investors have one in their pocket. Do you?    

Sell your real estate investment properties faster and for a higher price!

How? Have your investment real estate staged by professional home stagers at Moving Mountains Design.

As a wise real estate investor, you know you have to spend a little money to make even more money. Home staging has been proven to help homes sell faster than unstaged home, usually for a higher price. In one study, published by the Real Estate Staging Association, staged homes sold 74% faster after they were staged than when they were unstaged. That resulted in lower holding costs and less time wasted, which equals higher profits.

Following are some Los Angeles properties staged for local real estate investors. Just click on any photo to see more photos and information about that particular property. This San Gabriel home sold 1 day after staging after being on the market for 6 months unstaged.

This Belair condo sold one week after staging

This home was just recently staged

This Altadena home was staged for investors and sold during the first month on the market

If you are a real estate investor with assets to sell in the Los Angeles or North Orange County areas, call the home staging company that real estate investors, large and small, trust to help sell their investment properties, Moving Mountains Design. We are set up to handle multiple properties at one time and stage properties valued as low as $250,000 and as high as $7M. We will travel to stage properties outside the Los Angeles area (special terms apply).

This was original posted on Los Angeles Home Stagers Blog

We staged this San Gabriel home and it sold in 1 day!

This San Gabriel home had been on the market since December, and in June 2011, Moving Mountains Design was hired to stage it. It had been on the market for 6 months and had not sold. The home was beautifully remodeled and updated, had a pool and was in a great San Gabriel neighborhood. Still, it hadn't sold until it was staged. The buyers had seen the home multiple times before it was staged, but didn't see fit to make an offer until they saw how much more beautiful the home was with staging furniture and accessories. The buyers realized they were about to have a whole lot more competition. They were compelled to make an offer because the perceived value of the home had increased after staging. From the listing agent:

Stunning single family home on a larger corner lot in one of the most desirable locations in San Gabriel. This property has been completely remodeled and is ready for you to move in. It has a new roof, windows and re-finished original hardwood flooring. Beautiful updated kitchen with granite countertops and new Kitchenaid appliances.Crown molding, plantation shutters, and new paint inside and out.Short walk to coolidge elementary school. Enjoy your private yard with a pool and outdoor fireplace. Don"t miss this chance to buy a beautiful home in San Gabriel.

MLS# S643162 If you need help selling your San Gabriel, Pasadena, or Arcadia home, please call us at 626-385-8852. We know what makes homes sell™!

Originally posted on our Los Angele Home Staging Blog

Home Staging - A Seller's Secret Weapon - CBS Sunday Morning

Watching CBS Sunday Morning is a part of my Sunday ritual...every Sunday. Today there was a segement on home staging as a seller's secret weapon.

 

While I don't agree with everything that was said, I do agree with the large majority of it. Home staging is a home seller's not-so-secret-weapon for getting their home sold faster and for a higher price. And if its on CBS Sunday Morning, well, it must be true!

There were some statements made during the piece that didn't ring true for me, like "home staging costs about 3% of the listing price" . I've never even come close to charging 3% for a staging job and I think neither have 99% of the professional home stagers out there. I'm guessing that they were including every and all expenses associated with getting a home ready for the market, including painting the interior and exterior, repairs to the structure (not normally the purview of home stagers) and infrastructure (upgrading electrical and plumbing - also not normally considered part of home staging).

Very generally speaking, I think most home staging projects cost .5% to 1% of the listing price of the home, although I don't know any home stagers that bid their job based upon a percentage of the listing price. Of course, where the home is located, whether it is a vacant home staging or an occupied home staging, home condition and how many rooms are to be staged all play into the cost of real estate staging.

They interviewed a Chicago real estate agent, Ian Schwartz, who said "You have 2 choices, either stage it or not. And if the answer's "not", I'm not working with you". Schwartz goes on to say that he cannot waste time on ugly houses and doesn't want to have to apologize for any of his listings. I say "Bravo" Ian Schwartz! Ian is one of the top real estate agents in the Chicago area, and now I know why.

So thank you, CBS Sunday Morning for informing home sellers of the importance and benefits of having your home professionally staged. Yes, hiring a professional home stager (and hiring the right real estate agent) are definitely a home seller's not-so-secret weapons when selling a home!

We recently staged this exceptional San Marino home for sale. And guess what: it received multiple offers over asking price!

UPDATE: This home has sold and escrow has closed! The home sold with multiple offers and the owners received $90,000 over asking!

We staged the home using a mixture of the homeowners' furniture with additional rental furniture, Persian rugs, artwork and accessories. The homeowner initially hired Moving Mountains Design for a Comprehensive Home Staging Consultation and followed our step by step instructions. When we arrived to stage the home owner had completed all the recommended work and the home was in excellent condition. The response during open houses was overwhelmingly positive. But the best reaction to the home staging? The home owner has hired Moving Mountains Design to help design their new Monrovia home!

This information from the listing agent's site: This beautiful Traditional home in San Marino affords an opportunity for families looking to move into the #1 public school district in Southern California – San Marino Unified School District at a reasonable price. Given that the median home in San Marino closed escrow at $1,848,000 was in January 2011, 2926 Woodlawn Avenue priced at $574 per sq. ft. makes this a must see property. A marble and wood-paneled entry greets you as you enter the formal living room with gleaming wood floors, inset paneling, a marble surround fireplace and a large bay window. Dining room is accessed through the living room and leads to a gourmet kitchen with porcelain tiled floors, oak cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter-tops. A lovely, wood paneled library with built-in shelving and a fireplace overlooks a family room with wall to wall windows and terra cotta tiles leading to an expansive, professionally landscaped back yard with a rose garden, Camellia and Azalea bushes, fruit trees and a magnificent, mature oak tree providing shade. Perfect for entertaining. Master bedroom with an updated bathroom featuring granite counters and a tub offers a spa-like setting. The other two bedrooms are serviced by a spacious bathroom with a glass shower enclosure and granite counters. For an interactive, digital experience, please use your smart phone to scan the QR Code below: For more information, please visit www.2926Woodlawn.com

 

Here's the perspective of a very experienced real estate agent, Patricia Kennedy,  regarding home staging. As Pat points out, neither vacant or occupied un-staged homes show as well as a staged home. She has motivated buyers, but they are having a hard time falling in love with a house.

 

Here's an important home staging tip: Don't make home buyers guess if their furniture will fit in your home. Its very difficult to judge the how much furniture will fit in an empty room. Empty rooms look smaller than rooms that have a few pieces of well-chosen furniture. The furniture gives the room scale and lets buyers know that, yes, you can have a queen bed and there will still be room to walk around it.

 

Looking at this photo, you wouldn't know what size bed could fit in this room - full? queen? king? Actually, the room looks pretty small.

 

Same bedroom, taken from the same angle (OK, almost the same angle) with the same lens and camera. The room looks so much larger. Staging a queen bed lets the buyer know his/her queen bed will easily fit, and there is even room for 2 night stands and a dresser.

When you have a home professionally staged, you allow a buyer to see how large the rooms really are and what size/how much furniture can fit. When you leave the house empty - devoid of furniture or lifestyle - you're asking too much of potential buyers. Make it easy for them to fall in love with your home.

So take this home staging tip from a professional home stager - Don't make home buyers guess!