Home Staging TNT

Don’t be fooled by all the “easy does it” training for careers that are so frequent with advertisers on the Internet. They illustrate this perfect part-time real estate career you can learn at home and by practice on neighborhood homes. Sounds great doesn’t it?

What’s all this hype about?

Haven’t you heard? It’s the wonderful world of HOME STAGING!

Beware folks – I don’t think any of those claims are from people who are the real deal – sorry to burst your bubble.

Today, I wanted to address the part about working part-time and illustrate what’s really possible.

So, is it…really possible to work part-time as a Home Stager? Sure, but I think a more important distinction is not so much part-time or full-time, but what part-time means to you. Does it mean that you’ll be working half the day or part of the day while your kids are at school? Or does it mean that you work full-time at a regular job and you’ll be working on staging projects after your regular work hours?

So, defining for yourself what working part-time really means is very important. Another important distinction is whether you’re “working” as a Home Stager or if you’re “running a Home Staging Business”.

Now, when I first started my home staging business, I was working full-time and let me tell you…it was stressful for several reasons.

1) With promoting my staging business, I never told anyone nor did I want anyone to know that I was not staging full-time. The reason was for positioning. I knew that if they even thought I was not running a full-time business, I would not be taken seriously.

Now, this is me, not you, but I think this is very true, so hear me out. Put yourself in that position. If you were interviewing Realtors, would you hire one that was an expert and you knew that’s all they did all day long or would you hire the person who dabbled in it part-time? Do you see the difference?

2) With working a regular full-time job, I didn’t want them to know I was “moonlighting” as a home stager. I was ducking into conference rooms to take calls from prospects and when I scheduled projects, I would have to arrange for time off.

As my staging business started to get some traction, it got much harder to take the occasional day off. I eventually had to let the job go, which also meant a steady paycheck. Believe me when I say, my staging business was a rollercoaster ride in the beginning.

Before making that important career choice please consider the following points about working part-time v. full-time. They are very valuable aspects in your business decisions.

It would be difficult if you’re running the show, i.e. if this is your business and you’re building it from the ground up. Why? Because most networking activities with your target market take place during regular business hours and there is a lot more to the “business” than just the actual hands-on staging project.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, running your own business means you’re now wearing multiple hats – marketing, accounting, business development, administration, operations, etc. To squeeze all these in generally means working beyond your regular 8-hour day.

Now, can you systematize your business to be more efficient? Absolutely!

Can you outsource some of these tasks to other people? Totally!

Does it take time to get there…you better believe it!

If you join a staging team, that’s a different story. I have an associate who has stagers who work on her Staging team while their kids are at school, but they only work on a project basis. This is not their business, it’s not their company, it’s just their JOB. This is a huge distinction.

If you’re planning on working on staging projects after business hours, my opinion is that that would be extremely difficult unless you’re only working on vacant properties. If it’s an owner occupied property, they don’t want you in their houses after hours.

They want it done during the day while they’re at work. When they return from work, they have family obligations to tend to…kids to feed, bathe, and get to bed. It’s NOT convenient to have someone there moving things around and honestly, you don’t want to be there when they’re home.

I eventually added a clause to my agreement that the property had to be vacant during the time that we were scheduled to stage. If you’ve ever done it, you’ll understand. It’s a nightmare. They follow you around, asking you questions, kids are in the way, and it’s just not productive.

This also applies on the weekends. Either the homeowners are at home on the weekends and have their own things to deal with or that’s when open houses are scheduled. Honestly, despite sacrifices that need to be made initially ask yourself; do you really want to work on the weekends?

These basic facts will help clarify what’s possible working part-time v. full-time. When you are making that future career choice it is very important to research thoroughly so that your decision will be the best for your lifestyle and business needs.

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan

Questions To Ask When Hiring An Estate Agent In Grassy Park and Surrounding areas like Retreat, Southfield, Plumstead, Ottery, Rondebosch East, Lansdowne, Zeekoevlei, Lotus River, Strandfontein and Mitchells Plain

8. How many Buyers are you currently working with in Grassy Park?

Obviously, the more buyers in Grassy Park your estate agent is working with, the better your chances are of selling your Grassy Park houses for sale quickly.

It will also impact price because an agent with many buyers can set up an auction-like atmosphere where many buyers bid on your properties at the same time.

Ask them to describe the home selling system they have for attracting buyers in Grassy Park.

Also, please beware because many agents in Grassy Park will claim they have a huge buyers database. Ask to see this buyers list (if they are unable to show this buyers list to you, you need to think twice about listing your house in Grassy Park with such an agent.

If the estate agent does not have a list of at least 4000 email addresses of potential home buyers on his list, it’s a warning sign that he is probably not one of the top estate agents in the Grassy Park area.

9. Do you have a reference list of clients in the Grassy Park and surrounding areas I could contact?

Ask to see this list of real estate clients, and then proceed to spot check some of the names.

10. What happens if I’m not happy with the job you are doing to get my home in Grassy Park sold?

Can I cancel my listing mandate?

Be wary of Grassy Park estate agents that lock you into a lengthy listing contract which they can get out of (by ceasing to effectively market your home) but you can’t. There are usually penalties and estate agency protection periods which safeguard the agent’s interests, but not yours.

How confident is your agent in the service s/he will provide you?

Will s/he allow you to cancel your contract without penalty if you’re not satisfied with the service provided?

Does the estate agent have a Quality Assurance Programme run by an independent party like a franchise head office, who will check up on the service you received and to whom you can direct customer service complaints?

Does the agent have a Guaranteed Sold programme in place i.e. if your home does not sell, will he put his money where his mouth is and buy your property?

When I first started staging, I was an active real estate investor, so my first client was me! I really did not know what I was doing, but I knew that I had to fill my homes for the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time, and I thought the best way to do that was by making my house look better than any other similar homes.

It worked! Before I knew it, I had my own home staging company; Simple Appeal, LLC and was speaking on home staging, curb appeal and home sales from platforms all over the world. My area of expertise was investor homes, what I refer to as -Bread and Butter- homes. They usually have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage but this can vary slightly. Normally these are great properties that use multiple exit strategies, are a little less than perfect but generally appeal to those starting out (and sometimes, starting out-again!).

As more and more investors asked me to stage their homes, I started to develop a system, which is today, my APSD 6 Step Home Staging Pyramid (you can learn more about it at www.APSDmembers.com and get a free home staging CD there as well). This was a proven home staging system that yielded me amazing results! I was the Queen of Staging for Investment Properties! What I did not realize at the time though, was that people were investing in other types of homes as well. (Yes, sometimes it takes me time to catch on! ?). Pretty soon, someone asked me to stage their million dollar home. I of course, jumped at the chance and when I was finished, they called me to tell me to take everything out and give them their money back (even then, I guaranteed my work-which is a -golden nugget,- for you!). With tears streaming down my cheeks, I picked everything up and put their check back on the counter, locked the home and left.

I had about a 2 hour ride home and during that time, once I pulled up my big girl panties and decided I needed to clear my head, I started to think why it didn’t work-it always had in the past. That is when I had my -A-Ha- moment. It didn’t work because I deviated from my proven APSD 6 step Home Staging Pyramid. I realized that the system works every time, it is just the items that change!!! This was a defining moment in my home staging career (I still stage by the way, and at APSD, we are one of the only companies in the Home Staging Industry that still does what we teach). But, despite what I had learned, I still needed to figure out why I got booked in the first place when I had previously only been going after -bread and butter- homes. Here is what I came up with-

1) My results. The owner of this home had booked me simply because she heard about my results. My results were achieved by a proven model of success, the APSD 6 step Home Staging pyramid (get a free CD on this 6 step system at www.APSDmembers.com). In order to get what you want, get the results your clients are looking for. All of our APSD certified Home Stagers and beyond fully realize this. 2) Put your -brag- on. Once you have achieved these great home staging results, start bragging about it everywhere you can. Talk about it, put it on your flyers, print it on your business cards, post it on your website-where ever people will see it or hear it, you want to have your results. 3) Dress for success. This one probably comes as a surprise to you but it works every time. I know that you are often tired when you show up to network at a meeting, bid on a home staging job or even pick up your home dcor items from a previous staging. But these are opportunities for you to show others that you are a successful business owner. Make sure you dress for success! If you are in a business environment, always dress one step above the others. IF they are business casual, you should be in a business suit. If they are in jeans, you are business casual. I could write an entire article on this, and shall in future but today, take advantage of all the great sales and get yourself 3 professional outfits and wear them every time you have a chance to meet others that could use your home staging services. 4) Use a proven system. I always talk about the APSD 6 step home staging pyramid (www.APSDmembers.com) because that is what I use and what I teach our APSD home staging members in 7 countries. It works, plain and simple. And because I am so familiar with this, and I know the results it yields, I can clearly speak about it with confidence. I find this to be key in securing a high end home staging job because your client wants to know that you know what you are talking about.

5) This leads me to my final point, confidence. With proven results, a great system, and a confident look, you should adjust your attitude to be in line with your presence. Everyone wants to work with someone that exudes confidence as it in turns instills confidence in them, and the results they hope to receive. After every ASPD Certified Stager Pro course I teach, the resounding feeling that the entire group has is confidence. They just spent 3 intense days, in the field, working with me, hand in hand, doing some of the toughest staging jobs they will ever tackle and trust me when I tell you, they are amazed at their results. Suddenly, they have more confidence in their home staging business, their home staging marketing and themselves. So, when you put this all together, your results, bragging about them to anyone that will listen, your -dress for success- look, a proven system like the APSD 6 step Home Staging pyramid, and your rock and roll new found home staging confidence, you have a successful formula to easily secure those high end home staging jobs! Let me know if you have some other ideas or thoughts about this, I would love to hear them and share them with our World Class APSD Home Staging Professionals!

To your home staging success,

Karen Schaefer Founder/Creative Director; APSD The Association of Property Scene Designers The World Leader in Home Staging Training and Certification www.APSDmembers.com

Home staging is generally known as the art of preparing a home before it goes up for the sale in the market of real estate. The public’s idea about the goal of home staging is that it aims at making the property look more appealing to all the potential buyers so that it sells faster and at a higher price. Although the definition presented in wikipedia pretty much gives a good description about what home staging is and about what the purpose behind is, a lot of people do not know how staging a home works. The prevailing conception of the process of preparing a home for sale and transforming it into an appealing residence with a welcoming feel is actually a misconception of the whole process. Many of us think that stagers work on increasing the value of a property by eliminating_ or at least reducing_ the flaws that a home might have.

From cleaning to decluttering, improving condition items, landscaping, and even depersonalizing a home (which is exactly the opposite of what a stager ought to do, on the contrary, you want your home to be as personal as possible so that it gives a warm feeling to the buyers, by seeing how you personalized your home to reflect your personality, they can picture themselves doing the same in it and personalizing it to expose their taste in decoration and reflect their personalities, but you also want to make sure that not too many stuff are scattered throughout the house so as to give the buyers the chance to use their imagination and picture a deferent decoration for the house.) but the truth is that all that work is just called prep work for home staging. Sure, all of these things must be taken care of, but that even before the process of home staging takes place.

A professional home stager will make sure that all of the above mentioned processes are completed and then work her/his magic. Maryam Odabaee does home staging in Long Beach and knows how to work magic on homes. She realizes that putting out vases, towels, and candles is not the trick and has been using her own tricks in the houses that she has been home staging in Long Beach. She does things like take awkward places inside a house and transform them so that a potential buyer can get an idea on how to use the space, like transforming neglected corners to book shelves.

Odabaee started her own company of home staging in Long Beach. She certainly has the talent, skills, and knowledge of interior design as well as Feng Shui to double the asking price on your property as well as the ability to take a vacant home and turn it into a piece of art. So if you are planning on listing your home for sale, keep in mind that completing general to-do list does not mean that you have staged it. If you live in Long Beach, you are lucky to be able to contact Red Home Design and Staging expert and enjoy creation of an art piece out of your home with the skills and passion of an expert in home staging in Long Beach. Who knows, you might change your mind after the transformation and decide to keep the house! Click on the following link to check out some of this company’s work http://redhomedesign.com/Home/services/staging/

Welome to the world of Red Home Design – is a one stop shop for all your retail and commercial home staging in Long Beach. We offer an elegant solution combining the old with the new for the best interior design. For more detail visit at redhomedesign.com.

Mention Corsica to just about any Frenchman and youll see a misty look spread across his eyes. LIsle de Beaut – the beautiful island – is one of Frances best kept secrets; a natural paradise where the rugged coastline dips regularly into bays lined with white sand beaches, hung with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, and hemmed with a turquoise sea so clear you can see the fish without the need for a snorkeling mask.

Wed heard so many poetic descriptions of the island from our French and Corsican friends that we were eagerly anticipating exploring its western coastline under sail. As the coast came into view a late spring sunset spread its hazy glow across the huge bay, dabbing the distant mountain snow and the ancient citadel walls of Calvi with rose pink highlights. The next morning we were soon joined by dolphins playing at the bow. Through water as smooth as glass, we were able to watch their every move including seeing them turning from time to time to look up at us. Dolphins are frequent companions in the waters around Corsica, and whales are also often sighted during the passage from mainland France.

An island besieged.

One of the first things anyone will notice about the coastline here is the absence of buildings, with the exception of small, round towers placed at regular intervals. Like a beautiful woman, Corsica has constantly had to fend of the attentions of those who wanted to possess her, or steal her virtues. The inhabitants constantly fell victim to barbarians who stole their livestock, pilfered the harvest and also took the Corsicans themselves into slavery. In defence, the locals retreated to live in the mountains, where their villages were easier to fortify against invaders, and in the 12th and 13th centuries the Genoese fortified the ports, such as Calvi and Bonifacio, which are still characterized by their imposing citadels. The building of the eighty five towers around Corsicas 300 miles of coastline was also ordered by the Genoese, as an early warning system. Each of the Tours de Guet is within sight of the next, so that whenever the sails of a suspect vessel appeared on the horizon the alert could be passed from tower to tower by lighting fires. In this way, the whole coast could be made aware of the incursion in less than an hour.

Being so constantly victimized did nothing to help the local economy, and this is one of the reasons that the Corsicans have never had the pleasure of being able to govern themselves. The other was the attraction of the island as a staging post along important Mediterranean trade routes. The Ancient Greeks were the first colonizers to arrive in the 6th century BC. Sharing the sentiments later echoed by the French, they referred to the island as Kalliste the beautiful. Domination from Rome followed, then, as the Roman Empire declined, the island fell into the cruel hands of the Saracens, or Moors. In the 11th century the Pisans finally succeeded in driving out the Saracens and took over, before the Genoese wrested it from their control in 1288.

The birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1769 Corsicas most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte, was born in Ajaccio; the same year that the French took control of the island. The descendent of a family from Tuscany in Italy, Napoleon later changed his surname from Buonaparte to the French version Bonaparte. It may well have been the constant turmoil of his birthplace that helped Napoleon to become one of historys most talented and renowned military strategists: Victory belongs to the most persevering he said, and the Corsicans certainly knew how to persevere. Although he was ultimately to become Emperor of France, he never gave his homeland its independence.

A natural heritage of global importance.

As we passed a fishing boat, the dolphins left us for more profitable games, and we turned towards land, entering the Marina dElba to anchor for our own lunch. Rather than being a man-made marina, this bay was created 250 million years ago by the volcanic eruptions of Monte Cinto. Its dramatically red rocks have been fashioned by subsequent erosion into creases, pinnacles and caves. The area forms part of the Scandola nature reserve, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its outstanding coastal and marine habitat. The reserve is off-limits to hikers and can only be visited by boat. Snorkeling is permitted but diving is banned inside the park, and the site is regularly patrolled by the reserve wardens. Those wishing to experience the diverse marine life may dive on the edges of the area with the diving school based at Galeria, which is one of the largest in France.

After lunch, we headed into Girolata, a tiny cluster of houses with a couple of relaxed beach restaurants which makes a stunning overnight anchorage. The village is inaccessible by motor vehicle – the locals use quad bikes to get around and meet the morning supply boat when it arrives at 10.00am each day! Its this absence of roads that makes Corsica such a great place to take your walking boots. The hillsides are criss-crossed by numerous well-marked paths, which enable ramblers to experience the wildness of the countryside, as well rewarding them with the best views. Next morning we walked amongst the garrigue, a tangle of vegetation which covers the rocky Mediterranean terrain. Spring flowers and wild herbs such as rock roses, lavender and rosemary immediately enveloped us, giving off their distinctive earthy perfume; an aroma so pervasive that we could also breathe it from the deck of our yacht at anchor, especially in the cool night air.

The forested hillsides are home to the Sanglier, or wild boar, that features regularly in the local cuisine. Daube de Sanglier is a deliciously rich casserole, cooked slowly with red wine and herbs, and every butchers shop displays a profusion of smoked hams and saucission (dried sausages). Understanding the past insecurity of the island and this close relationship with the untamed, natural environment, is key to appreciating Corsican culture. Life here was never easy; families have always had to stick together, and extended families or clans – often took sides with the various occupying powers that were fighting for domination. Being so distant from their foreign masters, as well as so inaccessible, meant that on a local basis the government held little sway; instead life was characterized by feuding between the island nobility, with Corsican matters often being settled by violence.

The dramatic cliffs of Bonifacio.

From Girolata we headed towards one of Corsicas most spectacular locations, the port of Bonifacio. Perched impenetrably on top of striking chalk cliffs, the citadel guards an almost invisible entrance to the port. Until one is close by, its hard to spot the gap in the heavily striated white cliffs through which yachts slip before making their way up the mile-long channel into the harbour. Looking up the impossibly steep walls of the citadel as you enter, its easy to imagine why it was able to withstand being besieged by the French and Turks in the 14th century. Bonifacios unique harbour is also thought to be mentioned in Homers Odyssey, when the Greeks were forced to retreat from a fortress called Lamos by the threat of being eaten by a cannibal king clearly Corsica has always enjoyed a ferocious reputation!

Once inside the ancient walls of the citadel, the narrow alleyways reveal arresting architectural details at every turn: a Genoese tower, the patinated wall of a church, a set of stone steps worn by centuries of comings and goings. And every now and again, a passage opens to the sky, with dizzying views through the wheeling gulls to the rocky shore below and its mosaic of turquoise and deepest blue.

The Mediterranean as it once was.

Our journey the next day was to take us to the tranquility of Porto Pollo, yet another beautiful anchorage with a perfect sandy beach and little sign of the impact of man. The Corsicans are very well aware of the riches that nature has bestowed upon their island; large areas of the coastline are protected by strict building restrictions and consequently the view remains uncluttered by the detritus of the holiday industry. Mass tourism has been firmly rejected in favor of a more individual approach, which welcomes travellers looking to explore the island independently.

Here theyve probably seen enough invasions, without encouraging more! After a week of relaxing in such a spectacular series of settings, its easy to understand why such a diverse range of conquerors believed it was worth spilling blood to take, and keep, Corsica. Here is the Mediterranean as it once was: majestic and untamed, without the need for artificial embellishment. Exploring by yacht not only enabled us to visit places that otherwise would have been inaccessible, but also gave us a true sense of the spirit of the island. We left convinced that the sentiments of everyone from the Ancient Greeks to our French friends were justified – that Corsica is indeed worthy of its epithet: the beautiful.