Introduction to Home Staging

Oakland California real estate shot through the roof during the period from 2001 to 2005, with appreciation reaching 120% in some areas. Homes were routinely selling for 60-100k over asking price and more! It was not uncommon for a desirable property to fetch 30-40 offers. I remember one home in the Oakland Hills went for over 300k over asking price!

However that type of market by nature is not sustainable, and the current market is proof of that. Starting in early 05′, us Realtors started seeing a noticeable slowdown in activity, which has continued to this day. The ironic thing is, prices are still high. They have taken a slight dip(approximately six percent) in the last year, but our median price is still around 500k. There is much more opportunity for buyers right now, because there are plenty of homes on the market which means buyers have more choices and more negotiating power.

Sellers have had to come to the realization that they can’t just get any price they want for their home, and the days of putting up a sign and the next day it’s sold for 60k over asking price are OVER. Sellers have to do more to prep the home for sale now, and staging is much more common. The most important thing of course if price though. I don’t care how nicely a home is staged, if it is not considered a value compared to the others in the area it WON’T SELL. This is, unless your home happens to have historical significance or is in an especially desirable area.

One example of an exception to the rule was a house that just closed last week in Piedmont. It had great square footage, (I personally viewed it on our office tour) but it was in need of a lot of TLC. The bonus was that it was in a particularly exclusive neighborhood in Piedmont and had been designed by a locally renowned architect. The agent also had contractors and interior designers at the open houses to help give buyers ideas. The home went on the market for $1.4 million, and ended up selling a few weeks later for over $1.7 million! Yes, 300k over asking price!

However the reality for most sellers of Oakland real estate today is that they need to price their home attractively and prepare the home for sale if they expect to get it sold.

Hamid Grinage
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/no-bay-area-bubble-burst-114054.html

More people decorate their homes during the fall and winter months than at any other time of the year, and with good reason! We spend more time indoors, we owe it to ourselves and our families to create a comfortable place to be! Here are the best ways to save BIG bucks on your Home Decorating

Start with plan. I know you’ve heard this before, but having a plan doesn’t necessarily mean you know exactly everything you want to do in your rooms ahead of time. What it does mean is having a starting point to keep you in the ballpark, and that will save you A LOT of money in mistakes in the long run. So start with the three things you need…Color, Style, and Formality. Color is easy…if you don’t already have a color scheme you love, find one in a book or magazine, and borrow it! Still unsure? Pick your favorite color, plus white, never fail combo. Style? Maybe you know you love Country Farmhouse. Or maybe you like a little of everything! That’s ok, just make sure you give the room style a name that includes the feeling you want in the room, and that will keep you on track. For instance, I have a Fresh and Sunny Cottage Room for my family room. (I use sunny as a feeling as well as a visual clue!) Keep the feeling in the name, and you will pick the right style every time! Finally, formality. Know if you like a more formal room, where things on both sides of the room match, or a more informal feel. So my family room description would go something like this…I want an informal Fresh Sunny Cottage style full of soft blue, green yellow and white. So every time I buy something, I know if it doesn’t fit in that description, it doesn’t fit period!

Look for alternatives to everything!!! Flat sheets on sale are a great buy…I can get one at my discount store for $2.89. A flat sheet is generally 66×96 inches…that’s over 3 yards of fabric for less than 97 cents a yard! Can’t beat that, and flat sheets come in so many colors. When in doubt, buy white! Use them for tablecovers, curtain panels, making comforter covers, throw pillow covers, or even casual slipcovers! If you find a great color, stock up during a white sale…you will always find uses for fabric that fits into your color scheme.

Look for furniture at yard sales and in the classifeds. You can get quality furniture this way for a fraction of what it would cost you new. Learn to make do with the furniture you have with the art of disguise. Slipcovers, paint and floor length tablecloths go a long way towards dressing up an otherwise forgettable piece of furniture. By the way, you can paint ANYTHING these days! The trick is to use a specialty blocking primer before painting…I recommend KILZ Original. Yes, you can even paint that ugly laminate bookcase or computer desk! All your furniture mismatched in style and form? Paint it all one color, and it will help marry and unify your furniture grouping. (I love white or black for furniture, depending on the style of your room.)

Finally, look for good resources to help you learn to create your own accessories, custom paint finishes, and inspirational ideas such as TheBudgetDecorator.com.

With a little advanced thinking and a bit of creativity, anyone can have a well decorated home!

Kathy Wilson
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/save-big-bucks-on-home-decorating-58351.html

What are the stages and what are the details of each stage?

0-25=:Learner
25-50=Producer
50-75=Care Taker
75-::::=analyser

votes for the republicans?
Oh yeah, the good old Blackwater! Those guys know how to party.

This is an excellent question. In my opinion this SOB Bush most definitely will start war with Iran. Israel will start bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities and how could America leave its friend Israel alone. Obama is not going to start any wars so hat corporate America and especially large oil companies will direct Bush to go to war with Iran before his term is over.

expensive, the other answer seemed about right. we hired an organizer specialist in San Francisco who staged our house with our furniture. she moved half of our stuff into the garage, spent a few hundred at cost plus & pottery barn and we spent $2,000. .. the house looked so good we almost stayed.

I am decorating my house for the first time and I am looking for something to mount on the wall to hang coats. I also need to purchase an area rug, curtains, and wall sconces. Is there a one stop shop or any recommendations? I don’t want cheap quality.

Inexpensive?? mmm

To be honest thrift stores such as ARC/Goodwill.I enjoy these stores very much.Also a good resource is in this link,don’t overlook the free stuff.Another thought is yard/garage sales,they are fun too.

Every time I go shopping people seem to see overcharge to me,just kidding.

My Best

Do you want to celebrate love, life, art, and the creative spirit? Book the Sunday in the Park with George tickets! This Broadway show is a touching tale that depicts the history of musical theatre. A five-time Olivier Award winner, which included Outstanding Musical Production, this play has been produced by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim.

Sunday in the Park with George tickets are selling at the speed of light since it began its previews at Studio 54 in New York City on January 18, 2008. It opened on February 14, 2008.

This Broadway play revolves around the personal as well as artistic life of George Seurat, a French Pointillist Painter. Seurat had no kids and no grandchildren. His common-law wife Madeleine delivered two sons. The second one was born after Seurat’s death. She was with Seurat at his deathbed and did not migrate to America.

The play harbors two parallel stories categorized under two acts. The first act depicts how George struggles to finish “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” while Dot, his mistress and model, tries her best to entice him towards her. The second act depicts the life of his grandson with the same name. He produces art works known as chromolumes. Ironically, he faces the same concerns that his grandfather had.

Directed by Sam Buntrock, “Sunday in the Park with George” was shown in the Menier Chocolate Factory of London in November, 2005. It was later transferred to West End staging headed by Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans. Both of them bagged Olivier Awards for their performances. The original production of this Broadway play starred Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin. It was directed by Lapine. It opened on May2, 1984 at the Booth Theatre. The play gave 604 shows and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year.

Although the play missed the Tony Award, it grabbed the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. The star of original production bagged Tony Award nominations. For the much admired London production of this play, Friedman received a nomination while Quast obtained an Olivier Award.

“Sunday in the Park with George” is a touching story that leaves you thinking about love and life. You may even want to watch the show again and grasp its emotions deeply. It’s not wrong to regard this play as a melodrama with perfect performances from each character.

Perhaps that’s why Sunday in the Park with George tickets have become one of the most sought after things in the New York City. Everyone, right from kids to the elderly, have lined up at the box office to grab a seat at the theatre.

And if you don’t want to go the conventional way of buying tickets from the box office, there are ticketing services that book the tickets of your chosen show. They even deliver them at your doorstep. You can also book the tickets online.

Even if the house is running full, ticketing services have resources under their command that can arrange for Sunday in the Park with George tickets for you. You won’t be disappointed.

Al Terry
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/sunday-in-the-park-with-george-tickets-for-a-great-night-on-broadway-381754.html

When it comes to creating a simple, stylish and oriental look to the home, many people often turn to oriental rugs. They come in a variety of delicate, intricate patterns and they range in price so that everyone can have a chance of owning one. However, if you do choose to have an oriental rug to help give your home a Japanese Interior Decorating look, bear in mind that you will have to keep it maintained if you want it to last!

Cleaning Your Oriental rug

The most obvious type of cleaning you really need to do on a daily basis is vacuuming the rug. As with many other types of rugs, oriental rugs can look dirty quite quickly and some may even need to be vacuumed more than once a day. However, you do need to ensure that you have the vacuum on a setting which will not damage the rug. Usually it is better to have a setting which does not allow the vacuum to go into all of the fibers deep down in the rug; you only need to go over the top of it to keep the surface looking clean and tidy.

Keeping it vacuumed is usually sufficient enough to keep the rug clean, but what about if you spill something on it? Well in that case you really need to treat the spillage as soon as possible. As with anything, once a stain has had a chance to settle it is a lot harder to remove it. In case you are worried about ruining your rug, you may want to think of taking it to a specialist cleaner who knows all about your type of rug and who will know exactly how to clean it. Your local advertiser paper will allow you to find one close to your area. Failing that, you may be able to find out how to clean it on the rugs label if it has one. Some rugs do and that would make your life a lot easier!

Generally oriental rugs need specialist cleaners in order to remove the stains without harming the rug. It is possible to give it a wipe with water but overall it needs to be specially cleaned to fully remove all stains. If you do attempt to clean the rug yourself without knowing what you are doing, it is possible that the colors will run and that you will end up with a dull looking carpet.

So, overall treat your rug well by vacuuming it daily and try to avoid washing it yourself. Treat all spills as quickly as possible and you should end up with an oriental rug which lasts for years to come.

A.Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/use-oriental-rugs-in-your-home-with-japanese-interior-decorating-88924.html

I am interested in signing up for the training, it’s a Home Staging course. I would like to hear any comments about the company and how you like working for them, or any information at all, good or bad. Thank you!

My mom tried to join and she paid the 997 dollars but it was fraud.

My husband and I would like to live in a bank owned property while the bank sells the house. We would get the yard in shape and semi-stage the house so it is presentable when showing. How do we find a situation like this?

Very doubtful a bank would want someone residing in a house they are trying to sell, not to mention the insurance liabilities. If they would want something like that for some reason, they would probably hire a bonded security guard company.