As a professional home stager in Portland OR I’ve had many clients who know that staging is an effective marketing tool to help their home sell faster.  Once in a while though, we come across “staging skeptics” who aren’t convinced that staging can really make a difference.   Sometimes ’seeing is believing’ so for any staging skeptics out there, here’s a true staging success story for your consideration.

We were contacted by homeowners in Beaverton OR who asked for a home staging consultation to help determine what cost-effective improvements would make their home more appealing to the target buyer in their neighborhood.  I met with this lovely, enthusiastic couple and gave them a list of Things To Do before putting their home on the market.  Since they planned to relocate out of state, they also requested a proposal for staging their home after they moved out.  Here are some Before & After photos of this home:

We gave the homeowners our suggestions for neutral paint colors that buyers love; tips on new kitchen cabinet hardware and paint for the dated oak cabinets; updated light fixtures in brushed nickel finish; & other easy, cost-effective advice.

Since the sellers were relocating due to a job, they wanted the house to sell quickly so that they could buy a home in their new state.  They were motivated and eager to do whatever it took to get the best return on their staging investment.

Buyers love a master bedroom that feels like an inviting retreat ~ here it’s transformed from blah to wow

This home had a pending sale only 12 hours after it was staged and listed! The listing agent, Deborah Jackson of Re/Max Equity Group in Beaverton OR had this to say:   “One of my recent clients did everything on Maureen’s list of  staging suggestions.  After the home was vacant,  Maureen then staged the important rooms of the home, and it was gorgeous!  Needless to say, we got an offer on the home within the first 12 hours that it went on the market!  That was a record, especially in this real estate market of 2011.”

The homeowners, who had moved out of state, emailed me after seeing my photos of the staging: “WOW! Is that our house? It looks amazing! Thank you so much! It was great working with you and if you need a reference just send them our way!”

So don’t be a staging skeptic!  Instead, contact your local professional home stager.  Ask to see Before & After photos of their work, and ask about their Days on Market statistics.  (Year to Date for 2011, Room Solutions Staging’s DOM is just 24!)

~ Staging and Photos by Room Solutions Staging ~

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Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

When your home is on the market, its curb appeal is the first impression that buyers have and its often a deciding factor in whether or not they want to see the inside of the house.  Professional home stagers often provide our homeowner clients with neutral paint colors that will be appealing to their target buyers, along with other curb appeal tips.

When I met with the sellers of this home recently, the first thing I noticed when driving up was the bright yellow paint. Although the paint job was less than a year old and in good condition, the color was much too taste-specific for selling.  It also didn’t blend in well with other homes in the neighborhood.

During our Verbal Consultation service, I advised the sellers that in order for their home to look its best, that the exterior paint color needed to be more neutral ~ and that a new color would also blend in better with other similar homes on their street.

The sellers had already guessed that their bright yellow paint might need to be changed, so they were interested in finding out my opinion, and my color recommendation. Since the house was painted only a year ago, I wanted to limit their expense as much as possible.  Their home has  some stone trim on the front of the house, along with white paint trim, black shutters, and gray cedar shingles.  To save them considerable expense, I suggested that they keep all of the trim colors as they were, thus avoiding having to repaint those areas.  For the house body color, I selected a true taupe (between gray and brown) — which worked well with the other three paint colors on the exterior.  I also advised that they paint the front door  black, which gave a much more updated look than the previous natural wood  stain. The end result is a classic, more sophisticated  color palette that today’s buyers like.  As a result, the online photos are so much more appealing.

This color is Benjamin Moore’s Taos Taupe

Before you list your home, contact your local professional home stager for a very reasonably-priced Consultation.   We can help with paint colors, furniture placement, easy cosmetic updates, and lots of excellent advice on how to make your home “move in ready” for potential buyers.

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Maureen Bray is a professional home stager based in Portland, Oregon.  Her staging company, Room Solutions Staging, has experienced phenomenal growth because of the excellent results they deliver to their clients (homeowners, Realtors, investors, trustees, banks, and builders).  Average Days on Market for their staged properties is 28 — in a market where the current average DOM is 135.  Room Solutions offers a menu of home staging services including Staging for both Vacant & Occupied homes, home staging Consultations, Color Consultations, Redesign Services, and New Home Move-in Services. For a complimentary no-obligation estimate, call 503-246-1800.

1. Which cosmetic improvements need to be completed (and which don’t)
2. How to properly place the furniture for best traffic flow
3. How to highlight the home’s best architectural features
4. Minor updates that will make the home appealing to today’s demanding buyers
5. Curb appeal that will make buyers rush to see the inside of this home

In our local real estate market, home staging is becoming more widely accepted as an excellent marketing tool.  Homes that are priced right, have an aggressive agent, are in good condition, and presented in their very best light are the homes that sell faster.  Staging helps buyers imagine how THEY would live in the home … it takes away the sellers’ imprint on the home, so that buyers can immediately connect to the property.

Sometimes the best way to make a point is to show proof ~ so here are some Before and After photos of clients’ homes where my company has provided a verbal consultation.  These motivated sellers did a great job taking our advice, and spent a minimal amount of money preparing their home for sale.  We rarely advise remodeling the kitchen or tearing out walls –  instead, we give our seller clients easy-to-follow tips on how to make their home irresistible to buyers.  In all of these examples, these 5 sellers worked with what they already had – there were no fees for staging inventory rental — and all SOLD in less than 2 weeks …

We’re proud of how our homeowner clients took our advice and made their homes “move in ready.”  The end result is a happy client, a grateful listing agent, happy buyers, and a quicker sale!

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Room Solutions Staging offers home staging consultation services starting at just $150 … so if your home or listing is going on the market, join the hundreds of other smart Oregon sellers who have used our help to get their homes sold quickly.  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultation reports, staging for both vacant and occupied homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a complimentary home staging proposal, contact us @ 503-246-1800. 

Many homeowners are on a budget when it comes time to sell their home.   To respond to their needs, and to assist their listing agents, we’ve found a very cost-effective way to help sellers who are living in their home while it’s on the market.

Our helpful Verbal Walk Through Consultation service is just $150 and includes our suggestions on easy interior &  exterior cosmetic fixes, DIY tips, the best way to arrange the furniture for maximum flow, how to highlight the home’s unique features and architectural details, advice on paint colors, curb appeal & landscaping ideas, etc.  Our advice is very specific to each home — we don’t just hand out lists of “things to do” that every seller would need to consider.  We spend two hours with the seller (often their listing agent comes along too) and we also provide follow-up help by phone or email to answer any questions they  have as they go through the process.

Our clients have had amazingly fast sales this year using our service, and for the very small investment of $150, their return has been well worth it.  Our clients’ average Days on Market this year is <28 days, compared to the Portland metro average DOM of 142 (through Nov. ‘09).

So, what can you get for $150 in the way of Home Staging Help?  Take a look …. all 10 of these homes were staged with our advice, but completed by the sellers.  Our Verbal Walk Through Consultation is so specific, we tell our clients exactly what to keep, what to remove, how to place the furniture, and what to fix in their home to make it as appealing as possible to the target buyer.  They didn’t have to rent anything to “stage” their home … we teach our clients how to work with what they already have.  Although we also offer a return service to stage their home if requested to (charged on an hourly basis), all of the homes shown here were staged by the sellers, using our tips & advice.

What did our Homeowner and Realtor clients have to say about our home staging services?  You can read their comments here.  We’re here to help our clients sell their homes as quickly as possible ~ and making it look good for the online photos as well as the in-person showings is a critical step to getting an offer! 

The homes that we’ve provided this service for have ranged in price from $159,000 to $1.8 Million ~ no matter the price point, we can help!  Book your consultation service now by calling 503-246-1800.

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Room Solutions Staging in Portland, Oregon offers homeowners, banks, builders, investors & real estate agents a menu of home staging services to prepare properties for the market.  For a free home staging proposal for your property, give us a call @ 503-246-1800.  Our clients have confidence in knowing that our staged homes sell faster in today’s challenging market!   View our updated Portland OR home staging photo gallery to see Before & After photos of both our vacant and occupied properties.

Savvy Portland Oregon Realtor Believes in Home Staging ~ Here’s the Proof!

We’ve seen some lively discussions about whether staging can help properties sell faster.  Some real estate agents believe that it’s all about price, and price alone … get the price low enough and any property will sell, regardless of its condition or lack of appeal.

Another segment of savvy real estate professionals believe that home staging offers powerful benefits to sellers and their agents.  Today’s buyers are interested in viewing properties that are “move in ready.” They don’t want to spend time and money to paint, replace carpeting, update the light fixtures and hardware in the kitchen and bathrooms, improve the curb appeal, etc.  Homes that are well presented in the online listing photos and marketing flyers will “draw” more buyers to view them in person.  They must also be priced competitively compared to other homes in a similar location, similar size and condition, etc.

Professional home staging addresses the “condition” issues in a home.  Using either a consultation or hands-on staging service, staging can improve the appeal of any home, even ones with awkward floor plans or dated features.  Experienced home stagers have a lot of creativity and provide helpful tips for sellers and their agents ~ and the best ideas are also very cost-effective.

One of the savvy Oregon Realtors who uses our staging service on all of her listings included this info in her recent newsletter:

“… home sales kept me busy this year … Adding a professional stager and professional photographer to my marketing team produced amazing results ~ In 2009 my listings averaged a mere 30 Days on Market with my sellers receiving an average of 97% of their list price!  This is significantly lower than the Portland area market time of 143 days.”

To avoid having your property languish on the market, and repeated price reductions, call in a professional home stager before listing ~ this ensures you’ve done all that you can to present your home at its very best.

Here’s photos of a few of the homes we’ve staged for Kristin Rader of John L. Scott recently ~ they all SOLD quickly with her team approach that includes Competitive Pricing – Professional Staging – Great Photos

These homes received either a Verbal Consultation (where we provide the sellers with suggestions for easy, cost-effective cosmetic fixes & advice on proper furniture placement); or Home staging for an Occupied home (where we work with the sellers’ existing furniture to showcase the space); or Home staging for a Vacant home (where we bring in all necessary furniture & accessories to make the home appealing to its target buyer).

Need to sell your home or listing quickly?  Maureen Bray and the team at Room Solutions Staging in Portland OR offers homeowners, investors, builders, banks, & Realtors a varied menu of professional home staging services.  Our consultation service is only $150 and provides you with expert tips and suggestions to make your home ready for the market.  Give us a call for more info @ 503-246-1800.  We’d love to help you sell your home!

When our company provided a home staging consultation to these sellers, they had recently combined households and knew they had too much “stuff” for selling their home;  at just 946 sq ft, every inch was fully utilized in this Tigard, OR home.

We walked through their ranch-style home with their agent taking notes, and discussed options for dealing with excess furniture and miscellaneous items.  They decided to get a POD (Portable On Demand) Storage unit — and it worked wonders!  I advised which pieces should stay, what to pack up, and how to arrange what was left to showcase the floor space in each room (as opposed to the “stuff” that potential buyers would find distracting).  With our “Action Plan” the sellers were able to stage their home using our tips and working with what they already had.

UPDATE:  This home SOLD in just 10 days!

This home had many good features that previously were hard to see due to all the excess furniture.

The family room had huge dark shelving units that overwhelmed the room; removing them created some nice breathing space …

The master bedroom had a kingsize bed & distracting clutter so our plan called for swapping it out for a Queen bed …

One of the bedrooms was being used as an Office … but needed excess clutter removed to show the space & HW floors …

We advised removing personal items from the Bathroom to make it look pristine …

The kitchen needed a general tidying up and packing away of excess items …

These motivated sellers were able to stage their own home using our consultation service, which includes advice on everything from suggestions on what furniture to keep, what to pack away, landscaping tips, paint colors if needed, light fixture replacements, and other easy cosmetic repairs.  Their hard work paid off — this home SOLD in just 10 days!

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Portland-area Homesellers (and their Realtors) call Room Solutions Staging for help in preparing homes for sale.  Join these smart and savvy sellers and let us help your property sell faster too!  Free staging proposals @ 503-246-1800.  To see Before & After photos of both our Vacant and Occupied properties, view our updated Portland OR home staging photo gallery.

Features include soaring ceilings, cherry HW floors & cabinets, slab granite and spacious rooms for entertaining and enjoying family time.  You’ll find a convenient butler’s pantry between the kitchen and dining room, and a beautifully landscaped back yard complete with a firepot and water feature.

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The sellers of this home asked Room Solutions Staging to provide a home staging consultation prior to listing this home.  Our staging techniques are proven to sell homes in the Portland OR metro area quickly!  For more information on our professional home staging and redesign services, call 503-246-1800.  Room Solutions ~ Staging that Sells Portland Homes.

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Room Solutions Staging provides home staging consultations for homes in every price point.  For more info, give us a call @ 503-246-1800.  We help homeowners, Realtors and investors prepare properties for the market so that they stand out from the sea of competition.  Room Solutions ~ Staging that Sells Portland Homes.

This immaculate Lake Oswego home is in pristine condition and move-in ready!  2 Bedrooms + 2 full baths in 1300 sq ft.  

A professionally landscaped, low maintenance yard allows for more time to enjoy all of Mountain Park’s wonderful amenities. 

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Room Solutions Staging in Portland OR provided a home staging consultation to the Homeowners to prepare this property for selling.  Our consultations are cost-effective and produce excellent results!  For more information on our menu of professional home staging services for Homeowners, Realtors, and Investors give us a call @ 503-246-1800.  Room Solutions ~ Staging that Sells Portland Homes.

Here’s the family room Before the sellers took our advice and neutralized the bright blue color — we explained that when you’re living in your home and decorating it with your taste in mind, using color like this is fantastic.  But when you sell your home, it’s important to use color that won’t distract potential buyers from noticing the room’s best features — as well as serve as a reminder that they’ll have “work” to do upon moving in.  Buyers these days want Move-In Ready homes! 

We recommended a neutral wall and ceiling color and removal of a few excess pieces of furniture.  Here’s the After photo as it appears online … didn’t the sellers do a wonderful job?

The Living & Dining rooms also had fun & bright specific colors that the sellers loved, but they might not appeal to all buyers …

So we advised using neutral wall & ceiling colors to make these rooms look larger & brighter to potential buyers …

If you’re planning to put your home on the market, call your local professional home staging expert for a cost-effective consultation.  You’ll receive an action plan with easy cosmetic fixes and advice on paint colors, furniture placement, and how to make your property appealing to your target buyer.  With so much competition out there in today’s challenging market, home staging is a tool that WORKS!

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Sellers in Portland OR rely on Room Solutions Staging to help them prepare their homes for selling.  We provide two-hour home staging consultations with all the advice a seller or their Realtor needs to make the property look inviting and spacious.  For more information on our services give us a call @ 503-246-1800.  Room Solutions ~ Staging that Sells Portland Homes.