Los Angeles Home Staging Info

Home Staging Arcadia - Luxury New Construction Home

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:40:37 -0700

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

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

Moving Mountains Design provides vacant home staging, occupied home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations, move organization, redesign, and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs,foreclosures and auction properties for real estate investors and asset managers.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Home Staging Benefits Real Estate Investors

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:02:41 -0800

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

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Twelve Expert Tips to Make A Small Home Appear Larger

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:36:29 -0700

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):

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?
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.
Use fewer pieces of furniture. Its better to have one larger dresser than 2 smaller ones.
Use appropriately sized furniture. Having a large sofa in a small family room will highlight how small the room is.
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.
Cooler colors recede, so painting a room a pale blue, green or gray will make it feel larger.
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.
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.
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.
Strategically placed mirrors make a room feel larger.
A well lit room feels larger. Make sure every overhead light and table lamp is lit before open houses and showings.
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.

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

A Great Professional Home Stager Is Like A Swiss Army Knife™

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:11:16 -0700

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?

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Home Staging For Real Estate Investors

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:08:15 -0700

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

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

San Gabriel Home Staging Sells Home In 1 Day!

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 17:47:13 -0700

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

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Home Staging A Seller' Secret Weapon - CBS Sunday Morning

Sun, 22 May 2011 13:50:51 -0700

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!

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

San Marino Home Staging - Home Sells For $90K Over Asking!

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 11:36:07 -0700

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

This was orignally posted on my Los Angeles home staging website

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

7 Real Estate Resolutions To Help Sell Your Home

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:23:45 -0800

If you want to sell your home in the coming year, there's no time like the present to follow through with these 7 home selling New Year resolutions.

7 New Year resolutions to help sell your home:

Hire a home inspector for a pre-sale home inspection. Why? A thorough inspection of your home by a building or home inspector before you put your home on the market will tell you everything you need to repair before listing. Starting on those repairs now, before you list your home, will remove many objections home buyers may have. Make the suggested repairs. It will pay off in a faster sale and higher selling price.
Start your research to find the best full service real estate agent or REALTOR you can find. Why? When selling a very valuable asset like your home, its no time to be penny wise and pound foolish. Don't go for a discount real estate agent in the hopes of saving a few bucks. It will probably cost you heavily with a lower sales price and more time on the market. Take the time to meet with several real estate agents until you are sure you have found the right one. The right real estate agent will be an expert in your local real estate market, will have a impressive marketing plan (if you wouldn't buy a home from them, why would someone else?), will listen to your concerns & communicate clearly.
Hire a professional home stager for a comprehensive home staging consultation. Why? An experienced home stager has participated in the successful sale of hundreds of homes and they know what makes home sell™. A comprehensive home staging consultation will give you invaluable information for preparing your home for sale to maximize its appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers. By bringing in a home stager early in the process it will give you plenty of time to make any needed preparations.
Get a head start on getting rid of everything that you don't want to move to your new home. Why? If you already know you don't want it or don't need it, then donate it, sell it, give it away or throw it away now to relieve some stress later when you're packing to move. In addition, the less extra stuff you have in closets, in the spare bedroom and in the basement, the easier it is for home buyers to see how spacious your home is and how it will fit their lifestyle. If you don't need it or don't want it, send it on down the road.
Start pre-packing anything you won't need for the next 6 months or so. Why? Once again, the less stuff you have in closets, in the garage or basement, the more spacious your home will look and feel. Additionally, it will start your moving process and help focus your energy on your move to your new home. The holidays are past. Packing up your Thanksgiving and Christmas decor would be a good place to start.
Pay some attention to your yard and planting beds. Why? Depending upon when you want to put your home on the market, and where you live, giving your yard a little TLC now, will pay off in better curb appeal in the spring and summer. In Los Angeles, think about putting weed and feed on your lawn 6-8 weeks before you list your home in order to have you lawn looking green and lush. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of Epsom salts around each rose bush 4-6 weeks before listing for gorgeous blooms. You want your home to look inviting on the outside so buyers are encouraged to consider the inside. Clean up any dead or dying foliage or plants.
Read: Get Your Home Ready To Sell: Home Buyers Want A Move In Ready House. Why? You'll learn why its important to get your home into top shape before putting it on the market.

Ring in the New Year with these 7 Resolutions For Selling Your Home.

This article was originally posted on my Los Angeles home staging website: 7 Real Estate Resolutions To Help Sell Your Home

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

You Really Think Buyers Will Use Their Imaginations When They See Your Cluttered, Unstaged House?

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:53:56 -0700

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.

Via Patricia Kennedy (Evers & Company Realtors):

You really think buyers will use their imaginations when they see your cluttered or unstaged house?

Well, some might. In fact, there are some buyers who actually seek out these diamonds in the rough. They are usually shrewd professionals looking for something to buy cheap, then fix up, stage, then resell for top dollar.

But your buyers who are looking for their Dream House are in a whole other category. While their agents may be able to spot a great home that, with a little elbow grease or great decor could be fabulous, many buyers looking for the place they are going to live and plant rose bushes and have a great life - well, they usually need a little bit of help.

They are looking for something that is staged to sell.

Buyers often select homes the way we select our mates. It's pheromones. They feel an actual physical attraction to the home they choose. And like people, it's easier for a house to become the object of one's affections if it shows well.

This post was actually inspired by a showing I had last week. Some things about the house were terrific. Some were not.

It was most certainly not cluttered. In fact, it was totally empty.

The rooms were large and sun-filled. It had a living room with a pretty fireplace mantel. There was a huge family room addition with cathedral ceilings, a large screened in porch, and a nicely landscaped fenced back yard.

But there were two negatives. The kitchen was re-done in the early 1980's, when white formica countertops were the rage. And even though it was huge and quite well laid out, my buyer had a hard time imagining what she'd do with it. And the place was completely unstaged, making it hard to appreciate the vast spaces or imagine how to use all the room. It was an overwhelming expanse of beautiful hardwood floors.

Then yesterday we looked at a place inhabited by a seller who was reasonably tidy with pretty nice taste in furnishings. But it looked lived in. It was still very much the seller's house. It also could have used some emptying out, a coat of fresh paint, and a hardwood floor refinish. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't quite there.

The point is, these buyers just couldn't get her arms around either place. They didn't call out to, "BUY!!!! ME!!!!!"

I'll give them credit. They are making the attempt - something a lot of buyers just don't do anymore.

And if it's hard to fall in love with an empty house that is spotless, or a lived-in home that falls short of zen, one that is cluttered with housitosis is even harder to sell - at least to buyers looking for a home to live in.

As I write this, I look around my own house, which I'm planning to put on the market in the near-ish future. And it's going to take a huge amount of work to get it ready for prime time - so much that I'd be mortified to post the "before" pictures. But it will be worth the effort to live like a compulsive zen minimalist neatnic for a while. When I sell, my home will certainly be staged to sell!

Perhaps I should begin now! Time to empty that kitty litter box!

Buyers are becoming spoiled by all of the great stagers out there!

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Home Staging Tip - Don't Make Home Buyers Guess

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:19:21 -0700

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!

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Home Staging Recipe For An Appealing Kitchen

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:10:41 -0700

In January I was hired by Pasadena homeowners for a home staging consultation. They knew their home had "good bones", but they also recognized that a house with "good bones" that doesn't look super sharp is not going to sell quickly or anywhere near their target price.

Kitchens are one of the most important rooms home buyers consider when evaluating homes to buy.

A kitchen remodel can be expensive, dirty, stressful and time consuming. When buying a home, home buyers want a move in ready home, not one that's going to cost them more money and stress. During the home staging consultation, I made several suggestions regarding their kitchen:

Paint the cabinets white (they had a medium brown wood stain). This would brighten the kitchen and freshen tired cabinets.
Change the cabinet hardware to better reflect the style of the home. Cabinet hardware is like jewelry for your cabinets.
Replace tile counters with granite or a solid surface quartz material (the homeowners had already researched the cost of granite counters)
Replace the old sink and faucet with a new stainless undermount sink and stainless modern faucet.
Remove 2 cabinets that had been added in an earlier remodel and didn't match the style of the other cabinets. This also opened up this galley kitchen.
Clean out cabinets so they were half empty and neatly arranged.
Clean off kitchen counters of everything except what they needed to use every day (coffee maker, toaster, etc.) while their home was on the market.
Remove window treatments that made the kitchen feel dark and small.

Here's what the kitchen looked like before:

And here's the kitchen after the minimal (and cost effective) remodel and home staging:

The floor tile was not changed and the walls were not repainted, thereby saving money. The kitchen now looks fresh, bright and updated. It looks clean and a pleasant place to prepare meals. And, while the kitchen is updated, it blends well with the architectural style of the home.

To see the curb appeal transformation of this home read Curb Appeal & Home Staging

This was originally posted at Home Staging Recipe For An Appealing Kitchen on my LA Home Staging website.

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

I'm Not Just A Home Stager - I'm Also A Qualified Referral Machine!

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:48:03 -0800

Think I'm only a home stager? Think again...I'm also a source of referrals & listings. Many professional home stagers are - especially the home stagers that are good at marketing their services to consumers.

I first wrote about this in April 2010 Think I'm Only A Home Stager? I'm Also A Source Of Clients! In light of recent negative blog posts and comments about home stagers here on AR, I wanted to let you know that professional home stagers can also be a source of business for real estate agents. Here's one way home stagers can work hand-in-hand with their real estate agent partners to ensure a win-win-win situation for all parties, including the home seller.

Because I put a lot of effort in reaching out to Los Angeles home sellers as my potential clients, I am contacted by people getting ready to put their home on the market on a daily basis. Some of them already have a real estate agent, and some of them don't. Inevitably, I am asked if I can recommend a good Los Angeles, Pasadena or Arcadia Realtor that can list their home.

Since the beginning of this year (2011) I have referred a REALTOR™ partner to 3 different home sellers. She has landed 2 listings, 1 of which is in escrow, and the other will be listed next week. Since I stage so many homes throughout Los Angeles, I'm very aware of which agents do a good job of marketing their listings and which ones are not as good. Since my goal is to have the homes I stage sell faster and for the highest possible price, I am happy to refer listing agents that I think will do the best job meeting those criteria.

Its a win-win-win proposition: The home seller gets their home sold quickly and for top dollar, the listing agent I referred gets a listing that is easy to sell because it looks great, and I have another happy home staging client that will refer me to their friends, plus great statistics on another home sold quickly.

Home sellers that first contact professional home stagers are highly motivated sellers. They've been pre-screened by virtue of the fact that they want to hire me to stage their home before they even have a listing agent. And they are willing to listen to what I, and the listing agents I refer, have to say about marketing and selling their home.

My home staging website (the one not associated with Active Rain) usually gets 100-200 hits per day. I'm on page 1 of Google for all my relevant home staging search terms. That's potentially 3,000-6,000 home sellers, some of whom could be looking for a listing agent.I have no idea how many hits I get from my Active Rain blog, but I'm sure that's a respectable number too.

What's my criteria for recommending a Pasadena, Arcadia or Los Angeles real estate agent?

They have to be a believer in the value of home staging
They have to have awesome marketing packages for their listings
They have to be internet saavy and excellent internet marketers
They have to be well connected in the real estate community and community at large
They have to return phone calls and emails promptly
They have to have hired my Pasadena home staging company, reached out to me or referred me to their clients (how else would I know about all of the above)

I don't expect payment for these referrals, just that the listing agent does right by my client and continues to refer me. (OK, and maybe a lunch:o))

Oh, by the way, I'm also a source of home buyers, too, and not just in Los Angeles. Many home sellers I stage for are moving out of state and have not yet purchased their next home. Once again, I'm often asked about referring an out-of-state real estate agent. Who do I refer? I call my home staging buddies in that area and ask who they would recommend. I figure they have "boots on the ground" experience with local agents and know who does a good job.

So, if you think I'm just a home stager you'd be wrong. I'm also a source of qualified real estate referrals.

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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Think I'm Only A Home Stager? I'm Also A Source Of Clients!

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:57:34 -0700

This past week alone, I was asked by 2 different Arcadia home sellers and home staging clients to recommend an Arcadia real estate agent. Since I stage so many homes in Arcadia, I'm very aware of which agents do a good job of marketing their listings and which ones are not as good. Since my goal is to have the homes I stage sell faster and for the highest possible price, I am happy to refer listing agents that I think will do the best job meeting those criteria.

Home sellers that first contact professional home stagers in Los Angeles are usually highly motivated sellers. They've been pre-screened by virtue of the fact that they want to hire me to stage their home before they even have a listing agent. And they are willing to listen to what I, and the listing agents I refer, have to say about marketing and selling their home.

What's my criteria for recommending a Pasadena, Arcadia or Los Angeles real estate agent?

They have to be a believer in the value of home staging
They have to have awesome marketing packages for their listings
They have to be internet saavy and excellent internet marketers
They have to create stand alone websites for all their listings
They have to be well connected in the real estate community and community at large
They have to return phone calls and emails promptly
They have to have hired my Pasadena home staging company, reached out to me or referred me to their clients (how else would I know about all of the above)

I don't expect payment for these referrals, just that the listing agent does right by my client and continues to refer me. OK, and maybe lunch:o))

Oh, by the way, I'm also a source of home buyers, too.

So, if you think I'm just a home stager (the same goes for many other professional home stagers) you'd be wrong. I'm also a source of listings and buyers.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

Is Your Home Stager Insured?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:16:20 -0800

Is your home stager insured?

Not all home stagers are created equal and not all home stagers carry home staging liability insurance. Whether you are staging a vacant home, staging an occupied home, staging a model home, or staging a real estate investment property, hiring someone who is properly insured is very important. Its important you make sure that the Los Angeles home stager you hire carries current home staging business liability insurance. And you should also make sure that any employees of the home staging company are covered by Workers Comp Insurance. Accidents happen, and you want to make sure that your personal assets, as the homeowner or listing agent, are protected.

Moving Mountains Design, one of the top home staging company in Los Angeles and Pasadena, carries $4 million in aggregate liability home staging business insurance. And our employees are covered by Workers Comp Insurance as mandated by California law.

Home staging business liability insurance should be a standard business expense for all professional home stagers. If the home stager you have hired is significantly less expensive than other Los Angeles home staging companies, there is a good chance that they do not carry liability insurance that will protect you in the event of a loss caused by the staging company. There is also a good chance that they are breaking California law by illegally hiring employees without paying Workers Comp Insurance.

Protect yourself and protect your assets by asking your home stager to provide you with current proof of insurance for liability and Workers Comp insurance.

This post originally appeared on my Los Angeles home staging website.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price