I am in deep denial that July is here already.

(photo by tygerlyl)

You may have noticed that I have not been blogging as much lately but mainly because my parents are in town (who are driving me bunkers by the way with attempts to set me up with dates) and transitioning into a commercial building that is 3600 square feet for our new warehouse!

Here are a couple updates of what’s going on at Staged4more land:

• Staging, of course! In additions to our regular clients, HGTV called again and am interested in doing another project together. That’s always exciting to hear that people love Staged4more’s work.
• Moving in: setting up water, electricity, alarm system etc. (I finally decided to go with Brinks, which was FABULOUS. Super responsive. Called for an appointment, came next day and got the alarm installed on the same day. That’s amazing response time if you asked me! Unlike the unpleasant struggles with ADT who don’t respond to phone calls nor messages, shocking for a company that quick response is the main part of their job! If you are looking into alarm system, let me know, I will pass on my rep info to you.)
• Re-finishing the new office: Repainting, ripped out dirty old green carpet (if I told my clients to rip out theirs, it’s only right I rip out mine ), replaced it with new floorings (blog coming soon!), adding molding onto the existing one, and planning the design for office furniture
• Planning racking for the warehouse: this is a huge battle in itself since steel prices have increased dramatically which resulted me nicking quite a few design ideas for our new office. After several trips to Hayward and other places, I finally bought some used ones, along with another forklift. Those are getting installed next week.
• Ordered inventory system & barcodes: that will be a big project for July & August
• Getting ready to speak at this year’s International Association of Home Staging Professional (IAHSP) Conference in Washington.
• Expanding services and adding on additional features of Staged4more site that will be launched soon.

Whew, that’s just a few things that I am working on right now. How about you? Would love to hear about your updates!

Cheers,

Cindy

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Hello ladies & gents

I recently transitioned into a commercial warehouse space that is about 3600 square feet and 14 feet tall. My problem this week has been figuring out what’s the best shelving and storage options for all my inventory. Anyone has any suggestions??

I can’t seem to figure out what’s the best way to store things that is the best use of space, easy to retrieve items and inventory them, and flexible enough for inventory growth. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Cheers,

Cindy

PS. if you want to follow our updates on moving in and fixing up our new humble abode, follow us via twitter: www.twitter.com/staged4more

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One of the groups that I am involved in is pow.wow: networking the power of fabulous women. Next Tuesday, we are having an event on this new and increasingly popular concept of doing business: GREEN.

(photo by Tomatoskin)

But what does it mean to be Green? Do you actually save money? Or it just makes you look good? Another way of marketing?

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Our lovely and talented new Graphics Coordinator Jenny had designed some really cool designs for our new business cards. And we need your vote!

Please either comment or vote on the polldaddy poll here.

Here are the choices:

1

2

3

4 None of these

Post your thoughts, additional comments below at the nifty white box.

Thanks for voting! The voting will close on 5/20/2008.
Cheers,

Cindy

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It’s only been 7 days since my Certified Staging Professionals (CSP) training, and frankly my brain still hurts from so much information. All and all it was an excellent training and continue education. Christine Rae, the creator of CSP staging training really packed in a lot of materials and I literally felt like I went on a Jedi Training in a galaxy far far away (Walnut Creek can do that to ya).

I also got my tests in the mail last Friday. That’s right, I had a midterm and a final and overall I scored a B. (Gosh darn it I really wanted an A!) But she wrote “very good ” on the test so I feel slightly better

What I love about the training is that there were a lot of information on both design & business sides of the staging business and all the classmates are in the business at least 2 years, so we can fast forward all that newbie stuff and learned from each other’s experiences and dealing more advanced issues in our businesses. It was a really solid continue education.

I was the youngest of the bunch (in actual age and business age).

(photo by grebo guru)
Before the training I was feeling a bit frustrated with my business. I felt that it had plateaued. It was great to be in the presence of other more experienced stagers to know that it is perfectly normal to feel so and that breakthrough is possible.

The course challenged my old way of thinking & approaching staging process and the way I go about doing business. I also love the CSP structure where you can advanced into different levels of specializations through continue education and additional designations within CSP. The additional designations are structured like Realtor’s CRS designation where not only you have to complete the classroom work, you also have to provide additional field work to gain the designation. (So I can eventually get to yoda level.)
Overall it was a great 3-day with intense conversations about staging and how we can make our businesses better. It was also great getting to know Terrylynn Fisher & Kym Hough whom I have been admiring since I was a baby ASP stager and later only known through blogging on Active Rain.

I throughly enjoyed the company of people. It’s always great to be in the presence of people who love what you do and understand your frustrations. I still feel that my business is at a plateau but I feel I am more prepared to face the challenges ahead.

Christine Rae said something that was very poignant, which is that most people get into the real estate business when the time is good, and get out when it gets bad. People are not ready nor equipped to deal with down times, and that’s very true in my case.

I am caught a little bit off guard with the slower times, but that’s part of the business cycle and learning Even though the business has slowed down a little, but staged4more is still doing well and I still am very busy with things to do to grow the business. We just finished projects with HGTV, our last few staged listings had sold overasking or at full asking less than 25 days, and we came in from very strong #s in 2007 (2/3 of our staged and sold listings sold overasking with addition 3.34% increase in asking price). Staged4more is also set to expand into a much bigger warehouse (3,600 square feet!!) in early June, as well as expanding business lifelines (keep your eyes peeled for those!). I am also in the process of systematically restructuring the organization as well as hiring more support and team members so we can service clients in a short time notice. Lately I have been turning old clients away because I keep getting booked. I do feel bad about that So there are still lots to do!

My 3 BIG goals for rest of 2008 is:

1. Establish a warehouse system that is equipped with an *efficient* inventory system. Since we are transitioning into a professional warehouse space, we are going to have professional racking and we will need to start barcoding (or something) everything to increase efficiency, as well as figuring out what’s the most efficient ways to transport and store all of our hard and soft inventories.
2. 3 Additional lifelines/services of the business: It’s very exciting. I have been soft launching the virtual tour that we are now offering with every job and it’s working out very well so far. You can see examples of 88 King SF here. I am planning to implement that permanently once I find a permanent virtual tour guy for my San Mateo area staging jobs. I am also in the process of launching 2 more companies that are real estate related. So keep your eyes peeled for that!
3. Set up a Operations Manual to ensure consistency in both inside and outside operations.

Keep you posted!

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Got an email Sunday night from my agent client Raj, the 88 King Street condo is now in contract and ready to be destaged! It’s always wonderful to receive news like this, especially when mainstream media is complaining the market is down. Sellers are thrilled and my agent client is too. Happiness all around!

STAGING DOES WORK!

Here are some before & after photos (or watch this nifty flickr slideshow)

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This was a very interesting project. The owner’s daughter was an artist and they traveled around the world a lot so they had very interesting artwork and collections throughout the home. They were very interesting stuff, but just not suitable for staging and the purpose of selling. If the home was not staged, the buyers will be focusing on the sellers’ collection and art and not see the house itself.

The seller was also very resisting to change, which I fully understand. After all, she lived in the home for about 40 years. It’s understandable that this is a very drastic change for her. Martiza, the listing agent, was a total super star. She helped the seller packed up 30 boxes worth of books along and carried 8 life size seals sculptures to the truck for the seller (you will see one of the life size seals in the Living Room Before photo, it’s right underneath the piano). At minimal budget and a little of paint (seller was not willing to repaint anything, especially the dark red in the dining room), we staged the house.

Let us know what you think!

Here are some before & after, and you can watch the slide show via flickr here. To see the virtual tour, go to this link here: Virtual Tour of 150 Casitas Way, San Francisco.

Brief info on the home:

Melissa & Maritza Casciato
415 490 7998 -
415 595 9910
Keller Williams San Francisco
melissa@buysellSFhomes.com

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