(this is a guest post for 3 Ocean Real Estate Blog)

Unlike Hollywood, sex scandal is not a career launcher for politicians like Eliot Spitzer, now former New York Governor and someone who had single-handedly tanked his own career.

First of all, he is no Paris Hilton. People don’t want to link him with a sex scandal. Second of all, there is a drastic difference between his political image & persona comparing to his exposed image, unlike Paris Hilton who has at least been very consistent in her image as a party girl. So it was not a huge shock that Paris made a sex tape somewhere.

Eliot Spitzer, right, apologised to his family for “private failings” [AFP]

What does that have to do with Real Estate & Listing Photos?

Like someone in the limelight, your listing needs to present a consistent image front and back, inside and out. In a competitive market, your buyers are critical and they will be picking your listing apart. Also with the ease of internet shopping, it is very easy to overlook your listing while someone else’s looks much nicer and easier on the eye.

I see many MLS photos that present an inconsistent story that does not tell the story of the house.

Let’s look at some real MLS photos I recently pulled off the web: (Read the rest of the post over at 3 Ocean)

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This is an update rewrite of my previous post: 5 Tips on How Do You Hire a Stager?!

If you run a search on Craig’s List for “staging” under real estate services, several pages worth of stagers pop out. All of them promise to sell your home faster and for more. But are they going to fulfill their promises? How do you know? Do you dare to use your equity to gamble on a stager you randomly found on the web?

Here are 6 tips to hire a qualified stager:

1. Ask for qualifications. But don’t mistake this with the letters behind this person’s name on his/her business card as qualifications. When I was working as a Realtor, although I passed my exams, taken my GRI and e-PRO courses, these letters didn’t mean anything until I was out on the field.

What I mean by qualifications is how much work has this person done in the staging industry? Ask to see resume, portfolio, past before & after pictures (*be sure to ask if the photos are done by the stager and they are not some stock photos from some website. There are many new stagers out there that use stock photos from training schools, as well as copying other experienced stagers’ photos, which is why I watermark every Staged4more’s photos, even the before. Usually a good way to tell is “Oh, tell me about the story behind this picture!”).

Also ask for certifications and continue education if this is important to you.

2. Ask for their professional policies. As a professional, everyone works to their set of guidelines. For example, if you are a bank teller, you follow procedures when a customer shows up at your window. If a customer is doing (more…)

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This is another blog of our Wednesday Series on: Can [this] sell the house?!

Last blog we talked about if Feng Shui works, some say it works wonders and some say it is a total crock. Continuing in that thread, does St. Joe sell your house?!

Here is a little bit more background to Saint Joseph: “ The custom hearkens back at least to the great St. Teresa of Avila (A.D. 1515 - 1582), foundress of the Disalced Carmelite Order. As her Order spread, a new convent had to be built, and in order for a new convent to be built, land must be had. When the nuns found a particular piece of land that was perfect for their purposes, they also found that their coffers weren’t full enough to purchase it, so they decided to ask the intercession of St. Joseph, burying medals imprinted with his likeness in the ground of the desired property as a sign of their prayers. It worked.

It also worked for Blessed Brother André Bessette, who was able to get the land on which he built the Shrine of St. Joseph of Mount Royal, in Montreal, Canada by praying to St. Joseph and burying a St. Joseph medal on the grounds of the future site as a sign of his prayers.

Now, both of these events deal with acquiring land, not selling it, and they deal with St. Joseph medals, not St. Joseph statues. Nonetheless, over time, the folk custom came to be for sellers of homes to bury a statue of St. Joseph as a sign of prayer asking to find a buyer and hasten the sale.” (http://www.fisheaters.com/stjoestatue.html)

Apparently 2 million statues of Saint Joesph are sold each year, what do you think? Desperate times call for desperate measures?

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This is a continuation of the Wednesday Series: Can [this] sell houses? Read the previous 2 posts here:

• Buy This Home and Get a New TV + Free Trip to Hawaii
• Can Brad Pitt Sell Houses?

I recently spent 2 weeks at home in Taiwan for Taiwanese New Year (Gong Si Fa Tsai to everyone!) and it’s always interesting to go back because the values of both California and Taiwan differ a lot.

There is no staging in Taiwan except for model homes. Agents show homes vacant or cluttered and people are used to it (The houses are tiny there, we all live very cluttered lives). Homes are a lot smaller and storage is always a hot topic in Asian homes. Feng Shui is also big, not only for people who are alive and also with people who are dead. People often jokes that it’s more expensive to live in Taiwan as a dead person than a live one since feng shui is a key ingredient in selecting an appropriate plot for every individual.

Feng Shui, fad or true?

(photo by Room With A View)
Feng Shui has always been sort of trendy. Feng Shui has become a trendy thing to hear about in the staging field. As I progress in the industry, I often encounter people who are on both sides. There are even publications on feng shui for cats, it’s really difficult to take something like so seriously. Some believe in staging with feng shui, some think it’s a sign of desperation.

But does feng shui really sell houses?

Luopan compass used in feng shui
(photo by musicvisionary2000)

Feng Shui expert Carole Provenzale told me that “Feng Shui is literally translated to mean (more…)

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This is the 2nd post of the Wednesday Series: Can [this] sell the house? Today’s “this” is incentives, which is very commonly used by builders and agents.

>>Commission incentives: Many times in order to hold the deal together, agents do compromise on the commissions in order to keep the client’s business and also keep the deal alive.

>>Prize incentives: it is not uncommon, especially in the builder community where they would offer a free flat screen TV, free vacations, free airfares, etc. to encourage buyers to tour the home and make the purchase.

But do they work?

“Back in the ‘80s when I was selling, I did experience that. We had sellers offer a trip for two to Cancun, various things like that,” says Gene Holst, CEO of the Quad City Realtor Association.

Holst says gimmicks usually don’t work. If you want to sell your home, follow three simple rules.

“Pricing it correctly, proper staging, and the third thing is to work with a competent realtor.” (original quote from WQAD)

What do you think?

Feel free to share your thoughts at the Comment area below. I would love to hear about them! Just scroll down and that white blank box is it!

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I came across an article by Amy Chorew recently and she literally took the words out of my mouth. This is something every seller & agent should know (I took the liberty of highlighting the key points to look at by underlining the text):

What Do Consumers Want?

Every year NAR publishes its Profile of Today’s Homebuyer and Seller and one section focuses on the “Most Valuable Features of Web Sites” – items consumers demand when they are on your web site. Here is the breakdown:

• Photos: 83% [note how Photos are more important than Property Details!!!]
  
• Property Details: 81%
• Virtual Tours: 60%
• Maps: 43%
• Area info: 37%
• Agent info: 31%

NAR says that 96% of consumers start with a property search. If you don’t have a search button predominantly displayed, allowing the consumer to drive the experience they will search somewhere else. A consumer will stay on your web site for just a few seconds if they can’t find what they are looking for.

When they find listings, do you have the featured items above? If not the consumer will eliminate properties from their home search. If they do a search and half of the listings only have one photo, those listings are eliminated immediately.

Do you have more than 10 photos per listing? Even shoe web sites like Zappos has ten photos of shoes. Shouldn’t your listing client at least enjoy the same amount of photos that a pair of shoes does?

Staging is key with today’s photos. Martha Webb author of “Dress your House for Success” says “With all the emphasis on staging, it’s important to remember that preparing a home for market is a process that starts with the basics of cleaning and uncluttering. Clean, clutter-and-odor-free account for 35% of a buyer’s first impression. This can be accomplished in a few hours and at almost no cost. Next, a coat of paint will create a clean, fresh feeling for minimal cost. These simple steps show buyers your house has been well cared for, and that translates into value!”
Just by uncluttering a listing will make your photos more appealing. You listings will have more staying power on the internet. Take time to revisit your listings and the photos. If your photos need help, consider hiring a professional. If you can, investigate a staging course like Certified Home Marketing Specialist and learn the dialog to help the consumer partner with you to make their home look the best it can in photos.

Twenty-four percent of homes sold last year were found directly on the Internet. That means after filtering through home after home the Internet consumer found the actual house they wanted to buy. They called or emailed you and you showed it to them, and SOLD it to them. The first showing for many buyers is happening on line.

New standards of performance are simple. Give the consumer what they want, photos, lots of them. Make sure they can reach you by email, phone or text messaging – in the time and way they require.

Technology can help streamline your communication process and your marketing efforts. Welcome to the new millennium.

Here is the link to the entire article: New Standards for Modern Real Estate Professionals.

When I first started blogging about real estate & staging, it was only a year ago, and about 80% of the buyers start their search first on the internet before they go to the open house. Now, it’s at 96%!!! If another agent tells me that internet presence doesn’t matter, I would think they are insane!

Like Amy said, staging can help to clean up the online presentation dramatically. Moreover, as stagers, we should constantly think what’s the best photographic angles while we stage.

I would love to hear about your thoughts on this article! Do so by commenting in the white blank box below.

Cheers,

Cindy

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I have been researching what are the new 2008 home decor color trends, and here are roughly the main groups/themes of colors for 2008:

Photo Courtesy of ColourLover

>>Green/eco-friendly looking colors: As the trend of living green arises, needs for greener materials rise as well. Similarly faux finishes that look like those lifestyle trends become popular as well. The finishes will look hand-made and un-processed (i.e. no dying nor bleaching). Texture is key, especially nature-like textures. In color terms, you are looking at earth tone, as well as colors that are in the blue & green color group as they represent sky/ocean and greeneries.

>>Pantone suggests: “Wellspring: Inspired by the water that literally supports and sustains life.”

• Blue Iris 18-3943
• Kiwi16-0235

Photo Courtesy of North Sullivan

>>Cultural influences: As globalization is on the rise, we are more aware of other cultures as well. From my personal observations, zen-style & spa-style lifestyles are (more…)

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