Home Staging Pennsylvania- Hart & Associates Servicing the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

As a small business owner I constantly search for unique and innovative ways to advertise my business on a budget. After investing in print and online advertising campaigns, doing trade-shows,  and sponsoring events, I have learned that the best way to grow your business is to build relationships. A referral is priceless.

I wanted to thank Active Rain this morning for my most recent staging referral. My client was relocated from Media, Delaware County PA to a job in California. His vacant home was on the market for months with no sale. He researched home staging and out of thousands of staging companies found me on your site. The power that you have brought to the Real Estate Industry is huge! You have now given me the ability not only to network within my industry of home staging, but also locally through localism, and nationally through the power of your site. Kudos to you!

Since my client found me on-line I promised him I would post his staging pictures on my blog. Below are some pictures of the staging in Media Delaware County. Interested Realtors please email me. This home is fabulous with 2 fireplaces, a new kitchen, new bathroom, hardwood floors throughout and gorgeous landscaping. It also features a finished basement with a full bath and workout area and is staged for easy showings.

UPDATE! This home was on the market for over 6 months. After staging the homeowner received 2 offers in less than 2 weeks and sold the home for list price! He is thrilled:

Kate -

We just wanted to thank you again for helping us sell our home in Media. After sitting on the market for more than six months, your elegant staging miraculously transformed a lonely (and empty) four bedroom colonial into a warm and inviting home. In less than two weeks, we had two offers, one of which, lead to a settlement at full asking price. We could not have done it without your help.

Thanks a million! Take care, Julie and Eric

Here is another AMAZING staging success story for all you Realtors and home sellers still considering staging:

Two weeks ago our team staged a home in Wayne, Delaware County Pennsylvania. The home had been on the market for almost 7 months with many showings but no offer. We met with the home seller and came up with a plan to make the home more marketable. The home owner was willing to follow our suggestions and painted a few rooms and did some yard maintenance to give the home a fresh first impression. Our team then arrived to prepare the home for sale. Within a matter of hours we transformed the entire home using all of the owners personal belongings.

The result- within 2 days they received 3 written and 2 verbal offers- including an offer over asking!!

Read our client's testimonial to learn more about how staging is a key marketing tool in the Main Line/Philadelphia Real Estate Market:

Dear Kate -

I have to admit that at first I was skeptical about the value of staging a home for sale..... but needless to say, I'm now a convert!

After having our home was on the market for 6 months (with tons of activity but no offer!) I finally decided to remove the house from the market and wait for the spring market. During the holidays I was lucky enough to read about your services and after some encouragement from Melissa, we contacted you to give us an estimate for staging. Your advice was right on and in a matter of weeks we made the minor improvements you suggested such as repainting a few rooms. You and your team then came to our home the day before I re-listed it, and in a matter of hours completely prepared our home for showings. Well I don't know what exactly it was, but after a weekend of showings, I had three offers on the table with two "in the works" and by Sunday evening signed an agreement for more than my asking price!

You can't argue with results! Based on my experience and what I have learned since then, I highly recommend your services to anyone selling their home. It was well worth the investment and is something I wish we had done months ago. Thanks so much for your help and best of luck with your business. You can add me to your satisfied customer list and I'm happy to be a testimonial for you anytime.

All the best,

David

Last week our team staged a home in Downingtown Chester County PA for a new show on the Fine Living Network, Today we filmed the after shots of the rooms we staged. Take a look at the difference staging makes... I will keep you posted on when the show will air.

 Kate at home getting ready to leave. On the set staging the dining room.

 The foyer before. Too much mismatched furniture.

 The foyer after. Simple and streamlined.

 Dining Room Before.

 Dining Room After.

 Living Room Before

 Living Room After.

 Living Room Before.

 Living Room After.

 Family Room Before.

 Family Room After.

Thanks to the Producers, the Director, the Crew and the wonderful Home Sellers and Realtor for a great experience. KH 

Most likely you have been asked the following question by more than one of your clients be they Realtors or Home Sellers- Does Staging Really work and how  can I be sure that it will be worth the investment?

Sometimes when dealing with clients concerns and skepticism,  my real job is something more like a cheerleader/acrobat/tight rope walker than a stager.

Like a cheerleader I gleefully shout the statistics of homes I have staged that sold quickly and for over asking. Like an acrobat I dart through their homes and give them pantomimes of the vignettes I will create with a chair over here and an ottoman with a casual throw over there. Like a skilled balance artist I discuss "investing" money and getting a return without actually promising that staging will sell their home- there a 4 factors to consider when selling (price, location, the market and condition/appearance)

And for the finale I get my pom poms out and I SHOW them the proof.  I urge my clients to visit my website to see before and afters and to read my client testimonials. I present them with beautiful listing packets with photographs of homes I have staged and articles I have written and I sometimes physically take them to homes that are on the market.

After meeting with skeptics, sometimes I am just plain exhausted and want to scream- "Fine, do not bother doing this. It is your equity that you are throwing away. You stand to make thousands more for your home/commission and I am only going to get a thousand dollars or so for my time. I will move on now and stop worrying about selling your most valuable investment." But I can not do this or can I???

Well last week I said the above in probably the most tactful way I could imagine. I met with a client twice, in person, on two different weekends, for FREE,  to ease her concerns. I drove to her new home to see her taste to make sure that what I put in her now vacant other home would not be offensive to her- even though I explained that what I was putting in the home was not about her taste but about the mass market of buyers' taste. I drove to her office to give her my listing packet to make sure that she read the articles that I wrote so she would trust me as an expert. All in all I spent 6 hours with the woman!

WHY? I did this to make her feel comfortable with me, to trust me, to allow me, a total stranger to help her sell her most valuable investment. Sometimes to get the job you have to do a lot of hand holding. And sometimes you have to tell the client the truth.

After our second meeting, our sixth phone call,  and the umpteenth email ,I wrote her back to tell her that I did not think I could help her. I had done everything in my power to show her how staging works, to answer her questions, and to show her the quality of service that I could provide. I felt like an Olympic Gymnast I had done so much twisting and turning. I told her that I was concerned that no matter what I did to her home that she would not be pleased. Since I was not designing for her taste, I could not redo the project if she did not like it for personal reasons without charging her an additional fee for my time.

Guess what happened? She hired me. She sent me the contract and the deposit and the night of the staging wrote me an email telling me that she was thrilled and convinced that it had made a difference and had already recommended me to her friends and called the Realtor that referred me to thank her.

Well now I will keep my fingers crossed that it sells. I learned an important lesson with that client. Sometimes with skeptical clients you have to an acrobat,  you have to be a balance artist and jump through hoops to convince them and get the job. Sometimes however it is better to walk away because it is their loss. At least I did not have to wear a leotard and a tutu to do it!

It is hard enough to convince home owners that they need to stage their homes for a faster and more profitable sale.... how about convincing some of the following property owners to stage.....

A Barn in Bryn Mawr, PA Montgomery County

A Church in Manyunk, Philadelphia County PA

A Stripper Pole in West Chester, Chester County PA- this home sold in days for $30,000 over asking!

Last week our team shot the before episode for a new television show  that will air in the Fall for the Fine Living Network. The house was located in Downingtown in Chester County PA. It was a great experience- the producers, the director and the crew were wonderful to work with and the family that we selected were a dream- they completely understand the need to get their home ready for sale and were willing to do the work it takes to make the best first impression. Below are some shots from the filming and  some before shots of the areas we are staging. Tomorrow we shoot the after and I will post the results. Sorry no pics of me! I forgot to take them.

The Director and the Cameraman "Staging" a shot.                               The Happy Home Sellers.

The Foyer not making a very grand first impression.                              An overly personalized Living room.

The Living Room being used as a play space.                                      Selling the China Cabinet or the Space?

Furniture Domination- Where's the French Doors and Fireplace?              Not a very welcoming Family Room.

Still not convinced that staging works? Still not sure if it should be an integral part of your marketing plan for your Main Line and Philadelphia listings this Spring?

Consider this:

Last month I met with a home owner who had a home that had been on the market for 7 months. He grew so frustrated with trying to sell it that he took it off the market over the holidays. He read about our services in Philly Weekly and contacted me for an estimate. I saw the home and gave him some simple advice about paint colors and things he could do to improve curb appeal and an estimate for our team to stage his home.

Last week we staged the home on Wednesday. On Friday his agent started showing it. Within 24 hours he had 2 offers over asking!! I almost did not believe him when he called me on Monday to share the news. Staging certainly made a difference with how the home showed and how it appealed to buyers.

Since many homes in the Main Line/ Philadelphia area are getting ready for Spring market I wanted to share another HUGE success story for agents to share with their clients about how staging is changing the way homes are marketed in our area.

 Two weeks ago our team staged a lovely home in Bryn Mawr. It was an impressive home with gorgeous architectural features and in a prime location. The agent called us in however to better showcase the purpose of each space- since it was an older home there was not an apparent family room so we created one in a sun room adjoining the formal living room and set up a children's play space on the 3rd floor.

The Realtor called me today to let me know that the home had 36 showings in 36 hours and received 4 offers over asking!! The home sold for $275,000 over asking- yes you read that right- more than a quarter of a million over asking! The Realtor is a  marketing genius and had a great plan but staging certainly contributed to how the home showed.