The 4P’s in Selling your Portland Home Successfully

by rebecca on September 11, 2011

Time and time again this year, we are seeing properties sell very quickly and often for OVER asking price! Those are usually properties where we have been able to consult with sellers early enough in the process to advise on improvements such as paint, flooring, lighting, new surfaces, etc and then take the staging to a level that adds excitement and perceived value to the property.  I call the necessary components for success the 4P’s:

  1. Preparation: Clean, of course, but move-in ready and updated, as well.
  2. Price: Attractively pricing their Portland property according to the advice of an experienced realtor using recent and neighborhood comps. However, if buyers fall in love with the property you can sometimes surprise even a very experienced broker with clamoring buyers!
  3. Presentation: Buyers want properties that capture their imagination and exemplify the lifestyle to which they aspire. Upscale staging is key! Ordinary furniture won’t cut it.  Must look like a model home.
  4. Promotion:  Once again, a savvy listing broker who knows how to get the word out to other Portland area brokers and buyers quickly and effectively.

 

90th Court kitchen before

Mid-Century kitchen before Transformation

The kitchen above is an example of a room in a house that we not only staged but provided interior design services to enhance the appeal of the house for today’s buyers. By getting in early in the process, we were able to re-direct the more mainstream approach the sellers we taking with a remodel. We designed a chic and exciting look with quartz countertops, cork flooring, and a fabulous tile backsplash that we directed be taken all the way to the ceiling. This was also extremely cost effective and actually saved the clients thousands of dollars as they had planned to rip out and replace the cabinets. Here is the finished product:

Mid-Century Kitchen Interior Design and Staging, Portland, Oregon

Mid-Century Kitchen after Interior Design and Staging by Transformations

Oh, the best is the results: At last count the sellers received 5 offers in the first 2 weeks after listing, were expecting another 2 offers to come in and those offers had escalated the sales price to over $10,000 over asking!!!  Will do a complete report with photos and offer info on a future blog when the sale is final.

Ask us if you have a Portland property that you are worried about selling quickly. We can help!

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More than home staging… A Portland transformation

by rebecca on September 5, 2011

We stage houses on a daily basis. It is sometimes easy to forget that these structures have history and people’s lives have been played out within those walls.   This house was home to a family for 35 years – they had it custom built, raised children, enjoyed grandchildren, fed the birds and LIVED there. This year it was time to say “farewell” and it was a wrenching experience for the wife in particular.

I was called in to help them get as big a return as possible to help finance their retirement.  This is what I saw – oh and they wanted it in a hurry. (To see larger please click the image):

Living Room Before

The living room Before transformation

Well, I took a deep breath and told the broker, who fortunately already trusted me from previous projects, that it needed a LOT of help to get top dollar. She was on board with it so the first thing was to replace the blue carpet throughout with a more updated choice. Additionally, the window treatments had to go. Third, I selected updated paint colors throughout the home. And finally, new updated but inexpensive light fixtures were chosen to replace the brass ones. The work was done  in about 2 weeks and then we staged the heck out of it!

Staged Living Room After Transformation

Staged Living Room After Transformation

To compensate for some remaining dated and taste-specific aspects in the house, we staged it in a very contemporary style which underscored some of the contemporary architectural features including the great ceilings and stone fireplace in the living room.  This is a way of adding instant updates and perceived value by buyers. If the furnishings look upscale, so does the property!

Oh, I almost forgot the master bedroom and bath with wall paper on the walls and rosy pink sinks and bathtub…

Master Bedroom Before Transformation

Master Bedroom Before Transformation

Master Bath Before

Master Bath Before: Dark cabinets, pink sinks and wall cabinet

As a stager I learned a long time ago to pick my battles. There was no budget to replace the pink sinks, matching bath tub or brass faucets, so we had to make the best of it. The blue carpet came out and was replaced by neutral vinyl, walls were painted a neutral color and the stained glass wall cabinet was replaced by artwork.

Master Bath After

Master Bath After

So we had the dark cabinets painted white, the large hardware removed, new vinyl flooring replaced the blue carpet and  contemporary artwork that tied in the pink fixtures was a lucky find in our inventory.

There will be more Before and After’s in the Portfolio section of the main website where you can see more of the transformation, but cutting to the chase here, this house went pending after only 7 days! It is highly unlikely that would have been the case without the updating and contemporary, upscale staging.

The reluctant seller was effusive which was the best part:

IT LOOKS GORGEOUS!!!  It was actually very therapeutic for me, and I think I’m beginning now to ‘let it go’…..we had almost 35 years of happy happy times there…9 grandchildren know it as Grandma and Grandpa’s place—their haven, the place they celebrate birthdays, graduations, Christmas and so much more.. we even had a wedding there…our 4 kids know it like the back of their hands….one thing that can’t be put in the ad is “Good karma is free, and included in the sale”!!!  The back yard is a bird sanctuary, and we hope the new owners invited all our feathered friends to return…

Anyway, thanks for taking such good care of it—-you cannot know how much it means to have it looks so so wonderful, and so different that I cannot make comparisons…which is a good thing!!   …You can’t know how much it means to ME that you showed such taste and respect for the home we spent more than half our married lives in!!

Well, that brought tears to my eyes!  Sometimes, what we do actually improves peoples’ lives – not just the structures. And that’s enough for me…

 

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