A Simple Real Estate Quiz

By:  Jeff Shiller, Esq.

Are you ready to test your real estate knowledge?

Both properties below were recently offered for sale.  Take a look at them and answer the questions that follow:

(Click to Enlarge)

– Which property was being sold by an investor and which by a homeowner?

– Which property do you think got more foot traffic?

– Which property sold in 10 days at full price?

Yesss!  Congratulations for figuring it out!  These are before and after pics of the same property.

A shrewd rehabber picked up this property from the bank.  He overpaid a bit for it, but he was willing to pay more than other investors because he knew he could sell fast and reduce his carry costs.  How was he so sure?

Because of tough market conditions and oversupply, top rehabbers are pulling out a secret weapon to get properties sold fast.  What is this secret weapon?

I thought you’d never ask.

Staging —

And I don’t mean crappy staging, i.e., nice paint colors and cookies in the kitchen for visitors.

I’m talking about REAL staging.  I’m talking about budgeting rehab money to hire a talented, professional, experienced stager that will turn your junkyard mutt-of-a-house into a Westminster Kennel Club show dog.

In the last several years, I have become a big believer in staging.  You can try to argue that the costs are not justified, but you can’t argue the statistics.  Properly staged properties sell 80% faster than non-staged properties and for a 7% higher price.  The above pictures speak for themselves.

The key, I believe, is to find and hire a top-notch stager to help you.  There are many people out there claiming to be property stagers, but I have found many of them either don’t know what they’re doing, don’t understand the needs of investors, or have tastes that are out-of-touch with buyers.  The ones that do get it, however, are worth their weight in gold.

To help me, my investor clients, and our readers, I wrestled some time away from one of the area’s top stagers, Karen Lawlor, who happens to be my stager, and sat her down to get some information on this important topic.

Because I believe so much in the use of staging in today’s market, I will be devoting a few blog posts to show you how to successfully navigate the staging process.  In my next post, I will start with how to hire a good stager, followed by a video interview with Karen where she explains the staging process from front-to-back and why every investor should hire a stager before beginning rehab work.  I even got her to reveal her top staging tips for investors –  for FREE!

Til’ next time, Jeff

P.S.  If you need a good stager that can make your property look and sell like the one above, contact Karen (yes, she staged that property).  She can be reached at karen@stagingsolutions.biz