Daily Archives: March 8, 2012

North Salem NY Real Estate | Staging Solutions: Shop by Budget

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Staging Solutions: Shop by Budget

Whether you’re looking for a tool to help you declutter and clean or lift furniture or a computer program to show you the possibilities with your listings, there are a variety of products for home stagers to choose from.
February 2012| BY Melissa Dittmann Tracey
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Shop for staging solutions by:

>Mobile apps (Free to $4.99)

>Computer/Web-based programs (Starting at $14.95 per month)

>Cleaning and on-site tools (Starting at $2.90)

 

Mobile Apps

Turn your smartphone into your best staging ally. A variety of mobile design apps —many geared to the iPhone — can help you do everything from hang a photo straight to find the perfect paint color for your listing.

iHandy Level

iHandy Soft Inc.

Free

Turn your iPhone or Android phone into a level so you can hang photos and artwork straight. This level has calibration capability for getting more accurate readings. You can also use the app for measuring angles or furniture.

Photo Measures

Big Blue Pixel

Free lite version; Pro version: $4.99

Keep track of all those dimensions in a room. To use this app, just take a picture of a room with your iPhone or iPad and use the app’s arrows to note the room’s dimensions on the photo. You can save dimensions and angles and jot notes. The app also has a magnifier feature so you can zoom in to look at any details in a photo, like getting a closer look at those faucets and sinks. You can export the dimensions and notes to your e-mail or photo library.

ColorChange

Indivigital

$2.99

Can’t decide the right paint color for the walls? Snap a photo of a room using your iPhone, and you’ll then be able to use this app to try out different paint colors on the wall. You can also import photos from your photo library. You just select the area in the photo where you want to paint and choose a color. Save your images and compare the different options so you can choose the perfect color.

RESA Home Staging Calculator

Real Estate Staging Association Inc.

$4.99

Justify to clients why staging is important and its value. Using this app, you’ll have access to a home staging calculator that shows clients how much they will likely spend and save by staging their home. The app uses statistics from the Real Estate Staging Association for its calculations, revealing the cost of listing the home unstaged versus staged. The app also includes the Consumer’s Guide to Real Estate Staging, which includes statistics, explains home staging, and why it works. Available for iPhone and iPad, and coming soon to Android and BlackBerry.

 

Computer/Web-based Programs

You can access several computer or Web-based programs aimed at helping you in your staging business, from virtual staging and space-planning programs to software that helps you keep track of your staging inventory.

Darby Inventory

Darby Inventory

Plans starting at $19.95 per month

Keep track of your staging inventory with this Web-based inventory software program. You can attach photos of up to 100,000 inventory pieces, manage your customer lists and vendor information, and run quick searches to locate where your inventory is — in a warehouse or one of your client’s homes. You also can track what you paid for each inventory item and when you bought it, which can come in handy for tax purposes. You can add barcode scanning to automate inventory and barcode printing to identify what’s yours with your own specially designed barcode and logo. The program works on Windows and Mac desktops, netbooks, and laptops and requires no installation.

Home Designer Interiors 2012

Chief Architect Software

$79 to download

Try out different styles and furniture layouts with this 3-D home design software. You can also create a virtual tour using the program to show your clients the possibilities. Using the program, you’ll be able to select items to dress up the interior — from sofas and chairs to various fabrics and accessories. Change the paint color or the colors of the countertops and cabinets. You can use the program for space planning, and even pull from more than 1,000 sample floor plans for inspiration.

Obeo StyleDesigner

Obeo

$14.95 per photo (must have Obeo HomeSite to use)

With this tool, your home buyers will be able to personalize your listings online by doing some of their own “virtual decorating,” swapping out wall colors, trim, and even changing out the flooring type in your property photos. The design power can allow potential buyers to take “psychological ownership” of the home, Obeo points out. Every detail of uploaded photos is mapped and programmed to allow users to interact and change floors, walls, counters, cabinets, and even elements of the exterior. The program is MLS compatible. It’s an add-on product to the Obeo HomeSite program. Obeo also offers a SpaceDesigner add-on (starting at $49 per listing) with that program, which allows buyers to drag furniture items around an interactive floor plan of the home.

Virtual Staging Solutions

Virtual Staging Solutions LLC

Starting at $197

Show the possibilities with your vacant listings. Using this program, you’ll be able to virtually stage any of your empty listings. Just upload or e-mail your property photos to the company’s Web site. Select the furniture style that you would like to place in the photos. The company will virtually stage the listings and e-mail digital photos back to you.

 

Cleaning and On-site Tools

Sprucing up properties often requires some elbow grease in making sure they shine and smell inviting. Stagers often rely on several handy tools to help them hang photos and move furniture.

Krud Kutter

Krud Kutter Inc.

Starting at $2.90

This non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning product is a stager’s favorite for eliminating hard-to-remove stains. The all-purpose cleaner says it can remove grease, grime, oil, tar, pet stains, and crayon stains. It has an eco-friendly formula that claims to remove dried latex paint and also can be used as a tile and grout cleaner. Different formulas are also available for removing red clay stains, rust, and mold and mildew.

Heavy Duty Wall Hanger

Drywall Hooks LLP

Starting at $5.95

You won’t need any extra tools to hang artwork with these wall hangers. Using these hooks, you’ll be able to hang heavy pictures, artwork, mirrors, and wall decor anywhere. You don’t even need to search around for a wall stud to drive a nail into; it can be mounted directly into the wall panel. The hanger’s heavy gauge metal can hold up to 150 pounds, or as much as the wall will support.

Hang & Level

Under the Roof Inc.

$15

Hang those photos straight the first time, without filling the walls up with extra holes from mistakes. This tool allows you to easily mark the exact location where the nail is supposed to go by just pushing a button, which will leave a small mark on the wall to show you exactly where to drive the nail. The tool also has a built-in level for hanging pictures straight. It works with all types of hanging hardware. The company says the tool can especially come in handy when hanging groups of photos or paintings on a wall.

EZ Moves Furniture Lifter

EZ Moves

$19.99

Make moving and rearranging furniture easier on your back with this handy tool that allows you to lift furniture up to 10 times your natural strength. Use the furniture lifter to lift up the corners of the furniture and then place rubber-tipped furniture sliders at each of the corners. Then, you’ll be ready to glide the furniture easily across any surface, including hardwoods and carpet.

PureAyre

Clean Earth Inc.

Starting at $19.99

The smell of the home can make a big impact on how buyers view a property. Several staging professionals say their go-to cleaning tool for eliminating strong home odors is PureAyre. The product claims to eliminate strong odors from pet urine, smoke, cooking smells, and more. The product is chemical-free and environmentally friendly too, and is made from plant-deprived enzymes, purified water, and essential oils.

NextStage Furniture

NextStage

Starter kit starting at $599 or purchase pieces separately starting at $89

Create furniture out of cardboard to stage your listings. NextStage sells strong, durable cardboard pieces that can instantly become portable furniture for your listings. Have a cardboard sofa in the living room, instead of transporting a bulky, heavy sofa. The company sells upholstery slipcovers so no one will ever know it’s cardboard too. The cardboard pieces can support more than 1,000 pounds, so even if someone sits on it, they won’t fall. The furniture can be stored and transported flat for easy moving. You can purchase pieces individually or order a starter kit, which includes slipcovers and a sofa, oversized chair, ottoman, full/queen-sized bed, and more. The company also offers a slipcover rental program so you can constantly change out new patterns and colors.

via realtormag.realtor.org

Home Staging: Terms to Know | Cross River Real Estate

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Home Staging: Terms to Know

Learn some of the key words of the trade.
February 2012| BY Melissa Dittmann Tracey
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Can you talk the talk when it comes to the staging business? Whether learning the staging business yourself or describing items to clients or working with a staging team, stagers use certain words to describe properties or the types of services they offer. The Staging Diva Web site has created a home staging glossary of some of the most common terms of the trade. The site was created by Debra Gould, the creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

The following is a snapshot of some of the terms featured in the stager’s glossary. (To learn more, visit the Staging Diva Web site.)

Accessories: Decorative items — such as lamps, vases, throws, tables, pillows, and floral arrangements — that can enhance a space. Stagers often say “less is more” when it comes to accessories, according to the Staging Diva Web site.

Color consultation: Stagers offer recommendations on paint colors that best fit a home. Sometimes stagers will offer this as part of a standard consultation or a stand-alone service.

Editing: In order to not have a room appear too cluttered or too empty, stagers will remove or add items, trying to strike the right balance.

Focal point: Stagers say every room needs to have a place that draws your eye when you first enter. A stager aims to create a focal point in each room, such as by rearranging the furniture in a special way or using accessories to enhance an architectural detail or selling point in a space.

Home stager: A person who enhances a home for sale to help it show better. Stagers do not have to have certain credentials or licensing to be called a “stager,” but there are several training programs that teach the job’s skill sets. (See Channel Your Inner Design Star for more information.)

Portfolio: Stagers can show before-and-after photographs of a home they’ve staged, often through a photo album or on their Web site. Portfolios can be used to show clients the possibilities with staging as well as a way to get new business.

Virtual staging: Also known as conceptual staging, this is when stagers use a computer software program to manipulate a photograph of an empty room to show the possibilities with it furnished. It can also be considered virtual staging when a stager provides consultation over the phone or supplies input based on photos of the home without actually going to the home in-person

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Waccabuc Real Estate for Sale | Secrets of the Staging Pros

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Secrets of the Staging Pros

We asked staging experts to reveal some of their favorite tools, accessories, and strategies when home staging.
February 2012| BY Melissa Dittmann Tracey
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Inspired by Nature

Barb Schwarz, credited with being the creator of home staging and CEO of www.Stagedhomes.com, says one of her favorite staging tools is pulling from the natural elements of nature. For example, Schwarz says she’ll creatively use “twigs, branches, seashells, green cuttings from the outdoors, orchids, real trees as possible, hand woven baskets, cotton, linen, burlap fabrics, real leather, and earthy colors as well. You cannot lose when using the colors of nature. This creates a comfortable, natural look and setting in any home for sale.”

Easy-to-Move Furniture

Stager Charlene Storozuk, owner of Dezigner Digz, says a must-have tool for staging properties is furniture sliders. “I have two sets: one with felt backing for moving furniture across wood and tile flooring and another set with plastic backing for broadloom,” Storozuk says. “All I have to do is lift the corners of each piece of furniture, one at a time, and slip a slider underneath. Once all four corners have a slider in place, I can easily move the furniture around on my own. Not only do the sliders save me from throwing my back out, they also save the home owner some money since I don’t have to pay an assistant to help me move furniture.”

Information at Your Fingertips

Ashley Whittenberger, owner and principal of Interiority Complex LLC, says her iPhone is a must-have tool for staging. “I can access real estate comps, easily share my database of preferred vendors who can help my clients get their home into tip-top shape, take pictures of the property for my records, share sample photos of items I might suggest to purchase, and of course, access the Real Estate Staging Association’s Home Staging Savings Calculator,” Whittenberger says.

Evoking Buyers’ Senses

Susan Tokarz-Krauss with Real Estate Designed to Sell in Grants Pass, Ore., says creativity goes a long way in staging properties. “Whether I lightly stage, redesign, or do a full staging of a vacant home, it’s very important to engage the buyer’s senses,” Tokarz-Krauss says. ”I use lighting — on timers — to set the mood and provide security. I use ‘soft’ scents such as vanilla to create that special ambiance, and I play light jazz or seasonal music in the home. Colorful pillows and accents make the room ‘pop,’ but the scents, music, and overall ambiance is what helps potential buyers personally engage with the home.”

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Staging for Listing Photos | Katonah Real Estate

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Pictures of bare walls and floors or dark, poorly lit spaces are not going to draw in many buyers. Learn how you can stage rooms effectively and inexpensively to get great shots of a home’s interior.
February 2012 | By Kristine Hansen
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A listing’s photograph either makes or breaks a sale — a lesson many real estate professionals learn the hard way.

That’s why Joan Sliker, broker-owner of The Cream City Real Estate Co. in Milwaukee, doesn’t hesitate to take photos twice, maybe even three times, before uploading to her agency’s Web site.

“Most of your selling is online. You’ve got about five seconds to get them to look at the house before they go on to another one. That’s how critical photography is,” she says. “Sometimes the mood of a house is old and it’s going to drag down the buyer. People want to be energized when they look at a house.”

If the house doesn’t sparkle before she snaps her camera? No worries. She’ll stage each room for as little as $100, focusing on pops of color and a new, fresh look. “I went to TJ Maxx and spent less than a hundred bucks on towels, a shower curtain, shower hooks, soap stands, and even fancy soaps,” Sliker says. In keeping with the home’s all-white interior she stuck to neutral shades. “I wanted a modern spa-like feel with natural colors. You want something that looks current.”

Often what’s in the picture will inspire a potential home buyer to schedule a walk-through. This is almost as important as the number of bedrooms or whether or not a new roof was just put on. Sliker’s listings cultivate a cozy, lived-in vibe without personalization, featuring vases of fresh-cut flowers in the kitchen, cozy throws slung over the back of a sofa, or a bowl of fruit on the dining-room table.

Many real estate pros now shoot their own photos thanks to advances in digital-camera technology and the increased ease in using cameras. Chantay Clark, senior real estate specialist at Clear Choice Realty & Associates in Los Angeles, is a pro at taking photos of the homes she lists and believes these snapshots are extremely important. She starts with an inventory of the entire home, including the garage. “Look for possible furnishings that can be rearranged or added that will bring the best look to the house,” she advises. “Never photograph homes as-is. Remove personal items; declutter and straighten up before shooting.”

A wide-angle lens with zooming capabilities can easily capture beauty — even in a small, tight space. This is especially important for condos, cottages, multilevel homes in congested parts of cities, and tight quarters inside older homes. Taking photos at the right time of day (when sunlight pours in through the windows) naturally invites a bright, welcoming feel to the pictures.

“Once you discover the best places with the most lighting, you want to stage it,” says Clark. “Stay clear from filming large bulky furniture in small spaces. Show off the best spaces, such as a freshly painted area with new crown molding or windows.”

You don’t necessarily need an expensive camera. Accessories can amp up your camera’s ability. “Use a tripod,” advises veteran photographer Craig Swinson, of Craig A. Swinson Lightbox Photography in New York. Shooting for a variety of companies, he has lots of experience with tight spaces found in urban settings like Manhattan. “Make sure that the camera lens axis is parallel to the floor, which helps prevent bowed lines in the photo. Use either a cable shutter release or a wireless remote, because standing behind the camera just takes up more space.

“Multiple shots at slightly different exposure settings … or filters with longer exposures help balance out the light and color of the rooms,” he adds. A washed-out look could be the unfortunate result of too much sunlight or too much flash, creating the opposite effect of cozy and calm.

It’s that chill, relaxed vibe that Linda Miller, broker of Rosemary Beach Realty, tries to evoke when photographing her listings. Clicking through beachfront homes for sale at Rosemary Beach, Fla., a New Urbanism-inspired community of modern, stark-white homes, you can easily imagine breezes floating in through open French doors as you sip morning coffee or envision grilling locally caught fish on the wraparound veranda. The majority of her properties are sold as second homes and come fully furnished. Consequently, the steps toward a home’s sale begin remotely.

Recently, a home listed for $6.45 million went under contract in 32 days and sold for $4.75 million. Its quick sale had a lot to do with the photos, Miller says. The photos told a story of the home’s Gulf of Mexico setting even if the potential buyer was viewing them from thousands of miles away. Seashells and coral as centerpieces, framed art featuring sailboats, and beach-inspired colors in tapestries were just a few trinkets in the photos. Two wine glasses and a bottle of wine were suggestively set out on the breakfast bar.

“The back entrance area was lifestyle-staged so there were beach towels, totes, and toys for the children,” Miller says. “You felt like you could walk out the door and right down to the beach with your family.”

Sprinkled throughout the 4,000-square-foot home — featuring five bedrooms — was a blood-orange accent, picked up in area rugs, pillows, and floor-to-ceiling silk draperies. “Using an accent to promote the house gives people something to take away with them,” says Miller. “It attracted that high-end buyer, I think.”

Sliker agrees. For today’s buyer, there are more houses to choose from, therefore making it more difficult to recall each listing. “A lot of the houses are blurring together,” she says. “You want to have something they remember.”

Using just a quarter-gallon of bright yellow paint, the owner of a home she recently listed applied the new color to the trim around her front door. “People started calling it the house with the yellow door,” Sliker says.

Of course, not every home is picture-perfect. Some need a little bit of purging and primping before a photo shoot. Talk with the home owner about how much to spend — both in time and money — and it likely won’t take much to reach a compromise since the end goal, selling the home quickly, is mutual. “I always go for the least expensive fixes that will make the biggest impact,” Sliker says. Paint for the walls and towels for the bathroom are two quick, inexpensive fixes she often relies on. Objects, as opposed to furniture, are easier for the sellers to bring to their new house.  

Some middle-of-the-road tricks in prepping for pictures are to hang new curtains — Sliker is a huge fan of IKEA’s breezy, inexpensive drapes — or switch out lamp bases for ones from Target in bright, fun shades. Pillows in contemporary, colorful hues for the couch or armchair can quickly update a living room too. Purchasing furniture, even if it’s second-hand finds, can be costly for the home owner and should be considered a last resort.  

Above all, when taking photos, stay clear of the temptation to make the home look better than it might appear on a walk-through. A sure way to lose a client is to promote a house where the photos are more beautiful than the reality. And don’t be shy about coaxing a home owner into a few minor styling fixes. “I just had someone fix up her house, and we had two offers in the first couple of days,” says Sliker, referring to café curtains and matching dinnerware that brightened up an otherwise dull kitchen. “If I spent an hour [fixing up] that one house, or [several afternoons at] an open house, which is more productive?”

via realtormag.realtor.org

Bedford Hills NY Realtor | Second Time Around for Used Building Materials

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Home buyers with an eye on teardowns are discovering a secondary income stream reclaiming and selling everything from hardwood flooring to pedestal sinks.

  Outside Chicago, buyer Tim Carey decided to tear down the two-bedroom, one-bath home with a damaged foundation and water leaks. But by having a company deconstruct the home for reuse or recycling, he benefited from the nearly $135,000 in raw materials that were donated to a charitable organization.

  The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 40 percent of the country’s solid waste stream comes from construction waste and demolition debris. Nonprofit organizations that divert reusable materials and fixtures from that stream often offer both modern and vintage windows, doors, plumbing and lighting fixtures, and trim for a fraction of the retail price.

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The Million-Dollar Home Search | Bedford NY Real Estate

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When home buyers are looking for properties priced at $1 million or higher, they most often target the Sun Belt areas, according to Realtor.com searches from January.

Inman News recently featured the top searched markets for $1 million-plus homes, based on data from Realtor.com. The following areas came out on top:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif.

2. Orange County, Calif. 

3. Miami

4. Chicago

5. San Diego, Calif.

6. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.

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Pound Ridge Real Estate | 5 Ways for Sellers to Lure More Buyers

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Pricing your home realistically will most certainly get potential buyers through the door, but how do you get them to fall in love with the home? A recent article at U.S. News & World Report offers some of the following tips for sellers in enhancing their home’s appeal. 

  1. Add curb appeal: “Make sure the house is cleared of winter clutter, that windows are washed, that the front door is painted or clean,” says Brad Knapp, regional vice president for the National Association of REALTORS® for Ohio and Michigan. “You have to give the house good curb appeal.”  
  2. Declutter: Remove clutter from the home so that buyers can actually see what all the home has to offer. Any excess belongings of the sellers should be stored in the garage or in a storage unit. 
  3. Be careful not to offend: “Hunters and fisherman often have game hanging on the walls,” Knapp notes. “Some people are offended, so get that off the walls and into the garage.”
  4. Consider staging: “It might behoove [sellers] to hire a professional stager to help them,” says Robert Simon, a professor at Cleveland State University. “You have to get it right so it looks lived in, but definitely not cluttered.”
  5. Complete routine maintenance: Make sure your sellers complete any routine maintenance projects before the home is listed. Also, sellers need to realize that “people don’t care if you spent $15,000 fixing the roof. It’s worth nothing,” Simon says. “The market expects the roof to be in tip-top shape. You have to go above and beyond.”
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Foreclosure Backlogs Starting to Clear, Report Says | Bedford Corners Homes

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Foreclosure starts rose 28 percent while foreclosure sales soared 29 percent in January compared to the previous month, according to the latest Lender Processing Services’ January Mortgage Monitor report.

The rise in foreclosures in January is a sign that foreclosure backlogs are beginning to clear, which is considered a positive, necessary step in the real estate market’s recovery, housing experts say. Lenders slowed processing foreclosures in 2010 when a robo-signing scandal surfaced, resulting in a backlog of foreclosures that prevented home prices from making a full recovery, experts say. 

“It is a definite shift in that direction,” an LPS spokeswoman said about the spike in foreclosures sales and starts in January. “We could be seeing the beginning of something, and we should most certainly be keeping our eyes on this over the next few months.”

RealtyTrac, another company that tracks foreclosure data, reported that foreclosure filings in January rose 3 percent. 

“We continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac, had said about his company’s report. 

According to LPS, the states with the highest number of seriously delinquent mortgages in January are: Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, and Georgia.

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Chappaqua Real Estate | Obama Slashes Refi Costs on FHA Mortgages

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Home owners who have mortgages backed by the government may be able to refinance their mortgages at a lower interest rate as well as not have to bear the high refinance fees to do so, President Obama announced at a news conference Tuesday.

The Federal Housing Administration will cut its upfront fees for refinancing loans. The plan is expected to reduce mortgage payments for the average FHA borrower by about $1,000 a year for up to 3 million borrowers, the administration announced.

Eligible borrowers must have an fha mortgage that was issued before June 1, 2009.

“It’s like another tax cut in people’s pockets,” President Obama said at the news conference.

Lowering refinancing fees “should be broadly positive for housing and the economy by reducing foreclosures and freeing up income for consumers to spend on other goods and services,” analyst Jaret Seiberg with the Washington Research Group told CNNMoney about the administration’s move.

Also on Tuesday, President Obama announced aid to service members who are found to have been wrongfully foreclosed upon. He said that lenders and mortgage servicers will be required to review the case of all service members who were foreclosed upon since 2006. Any service member found to have been wrongfully foreclosed upon will be compensated — repaid the lost equity in the home plus interest, as well as a flat fee of $116,785.

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Housing Affordability Soars to Record High | Armonk NY Homes

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Low mortgage rates and falling home values have brought housing within reach to more families than ever before, according to the latest National Association of REALTORS® housing affordability index. 

Housing affordability in January reached its highest level since NAR began tracking it in 1970. The index — which tracks median home price, median family income, and the average mortgage rate — reached 206.1 in January. 

“This is the first time the housing affordability index has broken the 200 mark, meaning the typical family has roughly double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home,” says Moe Veissi, 2012 NAR president. “For buyers who can qualify for a mortgage, now is a very good time to become a home owner.”

An index of 100 means that median-income household has exactly enough income to qualify for the purchase of a median-priced existing single-family home, also accounting for a 20 percent down payment and 25 percent of gross income devoted to the mortgage principle and interest payments. 

NAR projects that affordability will remain high for the remainder of the year. 

“Housing inventory levels have declined to a point where conditions are becoming much more balanced in much of the country,” Veissi said. “If access to credit improves, we could see a much more meaningful increase in home sales and broader stabilization in home prices with modest gains in areas with stronger job growth.”

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