Staging and its God’s honest success rate even during these Dog Days of Summer!
OK – you have your house on the market, but before your listed your home your realtor tried to sell you on the benefits of staging. Right? …. No? Really. Well shame on them!
Let me WOW you with six easy to remember facts on Staging:
1. 90% of home buyer’s start their search on the Internet so it’s critical to hook them in with your staged home’s photography.
2. Buyers make a decision on whether they like your home within the first 90 seconds of entering your home.
3. Homes professionally staged, blow the competition away. Don’t you want to be the best on the market in your price range?
4. With AFA, for a minimum up-front cost, you can have a professional stager on your speed dial. (In fact it’s a lot less then the national average!)
5. AFA home stagers create the emotional connection needed with every buyer walking through that door.
6. Staged homes sell more quickly and for more money then un-staged homes.
(This is just a reminder to all of you out there thinking about putting your house on the market – tell your agent you want it staged first!)
So, your professionally staged house is on the market. It looks so pretty, so uncluttered, so universal – anyone could move right in… But what happens? Mom Nature sends us 100 degree scorcher days – 5 in a row! First it’s the snow, now it’s the sun … can we please catch a break? Seriously? Your front lawn looks like a whole kennel of Fido’s had their way with it – and you don’t even own a dog! What do you do? Well, as you know, curb appeal is a huge part of selling your home. If it don’t look good – people ain’t coming in … FACT! Well, all is not lost …
To avoid a scorched lawn, consistent watering is important, but if it’s too late, water can and is the best cure for the sun-scorched lawn. If your grass is scorched and not dead, then water alone might be able to revive it back to its former grandeur. However when you water, you want to make sure that you water well, letting it soak in at least six inches deep. Shallow watering causes the root system to come much closer to the surface and are therefore more prone to damage by extreme heat and cold. So, put on the sprinkler and let it run. Move it around too – don’t just over water one spot. (Lucky you – if you have an irrigation system!)
Another trick of the trade is adding sugar to your grass. (Mary Poppins would be so proud!) It sounds crazy but, hey, you put sugar in cut flowers (or your Christmas Tree stand) to keep them fresh looking right? To me this makes perfect sense. It benefits the organisms and microbes and will help enrich your soil and return it to its natural green, grassy shade. So, spread one pound of sugar for every three hundred square feet on your lawn – and don’t forget to water! For more on this topic check out www.onlinetips.org. (You can also find some helpful tips if you do own a dog or two.)
