Staging The Nest – Twin Oak

Hey there, Happy Nesters! Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and everyone is focusing on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, I wanted to share a real estate listing with you all that we recently staged.

Nestled in the Chateau Woods community just outside of The Woodlands, Texas is this quaint 1,472 square ft home. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large living room, and a large lot perfect for family gatherings, children to run and play, and plenty of space for pets to stretch their legs! Check out the listing on HAR.com.

10312 Twin Oak Dr. Conroe, Texas 77385

Check out the before and after photos!

Before Photos

After photos

Photo Credit: BK Designs Real Estate Photography

If you need to schedule your home staging consultation, give me a call! I would love to help you get your home ready to sell!

http://www.StagingTheNest.com | 832-427-2463 | Ashley@StagingTheNest.com

Real Estate Home Staging

Hey there happy nesters! I am not sure about you, but I am truly enjoying this cooler weather here in The Woodlands! I sure hope it continues!

I want to talk today about our Realtor Relationships. For us, this means developing long lasting, effective relationships with Houston and The Woodlands areas Realtors who you as the homeowner will most likely work with, when it comes time to put your home on the market.

Our relationship with local Houston area Realtors, Brokers, Investors and Flippers is essential to our business and working with homeowners in more than one way.

stagingquoteFirst off, partnering with local agents and brokers as their home staging professional, gives them the competitive edge over other agents who simply don’t work with home stagers. Home Staging is the equivalent to product merchandizing, and when you are selling your home, you are competing with other homes on the market. Yo
u MUST set your home apart in order to attract buyers. This means properly decluttering, organizing, staging, photographing, and listing your home for sale in Multiple Listing Service {MLS}.

There are agents out there who believe that home staging does not work or is “fluff” for the industry. But the results truly speak for themselves. When a home has beedesignquote12n on the
market for months having NOT been staged, and does not sell, the homeowner usually gets frustrated and doesn’t know why. But when that same home is the
n staged and re-listed for sale, it generally will sell very quickly – sometimes within a week or two. However, I truly believe that it is incredibly important to stage a home prior to EVER listing it for sale. When you stage your home first, you will capture the market from day one. If you list and then stage, you will have lost a significant number of buyers online and/or at an open house.

The cost to stage your home is LESS than your first price reduction!

Secondly, agents who partner with a home staging professional will usually offer the home staging service as a part of their real estate listing service. What does this mean for you, the homeowner? This means you get a FREE home staging consultation! Your agent pays for this service for you. During this consultation, you get a professional home stager to walk through your home and give you priceless advice on how to make changes in your home in order to sell your home for top dollar! This advice you receive is unbiased and will give you insight to how a buyer sees your home.

Third, the relationship division is very important. When you work with your realtor who is also a “certified” home stager, you now have the same person providing you with Houston area neighborhood comps, as well as home staging tips. But you as the homeowner should want a true professional for each of those services. A Realtor will know about home staging, as many of them can take a 3-hour training course on home staging, but a professional home stager is certified through top accredited staging courses with hundreds of hours of training, online, in-person, hands-on and more. My point to noting this difference is that anyone with an eye for decorating a house can give you recommendations, but a true home staging professional will know all of things you will need to do to prepare your home inside and out, prior to and during the sale of your home. And the best part is that you get two professionals who are each experts in what they do, work together helping in the sale of YOUR home instead of one person doing all of this for you. A real estate marketing team will help you stay ahead of your competition and will make sure you do everything possible to go from “For Sale” to “SOLD!”

If you would like to schedule a home staging consultation, give me a call! I would love work with you and your realtor! Together, we will make the real estate marketing dream team for you! Check out our Home Staging options for more information about Occupied Home Staging and Vacant Home Staging.

Ashley@StagingTheNest.com | 832-427-2463 | http://www.StagingTheNest.com

Organizing & Decluttering

Hey happy nesters! Let’s talk about something that is really important. Maybe even something that could change your life! 😉

Are you someone who constantly feels like you need to “organize” or “declutter” your home? Don’t worry… I think we have all been there, especially those of us who have kids. I know there are days that I feel like toys and stuffed animals have taken over my life! But even more, laundry, the pantry, the fridge… OK, OK… You get the idea!

So to help make our lives a little easier, I have made a list of quick tips on how to quickly organize and declutter your home, and how to keep it organized!

  1. SIMPLIFY: The rule thumb is if you haven’t used whatever “it” is in 6 months or more, you should probably box it up and/or just get rid of it. This could be clothes, toys, paperwork, etc. The more you get rid of, the easier packing will be when it’s time to move. And if you are not moving, this will just help you get and feel more organized!
  2. BASKETS, BOXES, LABELING – OH MY!: The easiest way to organize a closet, pantry, laundry room, medicine cabinet, or even the kids play room is to simply purchase some cute similar style & sized baskets or decorative boxes – large enough to place your items in. Place your spices, laundry soaps, toys, books, etc. in these boxes and apply cute labels. The look of the baskets or boxes will make the space look uniform, hence naturally more organized. And the labels will help you remember what goes in each basket or box after using your items. This also will help teach the kids how to clean up after a day of playing. When selling your house, having a few extra baskets or bins available is essential. With these baskets, you can tuck away bathroom toiletries or your daily-use kitchen countertop items, paperwork, etc. in 15 minutes or less, and it will make getting ready for a showing or open house a breeze!
  3. PACK UP VALUABLES: If you are selling your house, I always recommend to pack up your valuables prior to listing your home for sale. This could be your wedding china, collectibles, guns, jewelry, etc. You don’t ever want to have those items out during a showing or open house. Not only do those items make your home feel cluttered, but they are simply a distraction to buyers.
  4. DECLUTTER YOUR CLOSETS!: There are 3 main closets that buyers look in. Yes they will look in every closet, but their judgmental eyes are generally on 3 specific areas: Entry/Hall Closet, Master Closet, and the Pantry. So my rule of thumb is this: If you don’t want someone to see what you have in those closets, declutter and organize them according to my above suggestions. With clothing, I recommend clearing out all items that are out of season, and to keep 30-45 days worth of clothing accessible. The goal is to sell your home quickly so there is no need to keep all of your belongings in the closet. Also, make sure that loose items are off the floor – this could be blankets, towels, shoes, whatever. Make good use of the built-in shelves to display those items, and use clear tubs or buckets to store those items in if you have a lot. The more organized you look to a buyers, the more the buyer feels as though you kept the home maintained. Our goal is to get the buyer to focus on what is staying in the home when they purchase, not your personal stuff that you are taking with you.
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    Photo Credit: The Container Store

  5. DECLUTTER (AND CLEAN) THE BATHROOM: Having clean looking and smelling bathrooms is essential to selling your home. Put away your toothbrush and toothpaste, perfumes and deodorants, and your hair products! Leave out fresh clean towels, a plant, hand soap, and a candle. Make your bathroom feel spa-like!
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    Photo Credit: Aerportodesantamaria.co

  6. KITCHENS SELL – LET’S MAKE YOURS LOOK AMAZING: Maximize counter space by removing all of the unnecessary items such as a toaster, knives, etc. Yes I know, you need those items to live, but you don’t and shouldn’t leave those items out during a showing or open house. What should be on the counter is a coffee station, a cookbook, a matching canister set, fresh fruit, and maybe even a floral arrangement. These items will showcase your kitchen in the best light!
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    Photo Credit: Studio 154 Photography | Staging The Nest

If you need more help with organizing, decluttering, and staging your home for sale, give me a call! I can help you get your home ready!

832-427-2463 | Ashley@StagingTheNest.com

Check out my website for more information! http://www.StagingTheNest.com

Interior Design Consultations

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Staging the Nest is not only a home staging company. We also offer Interior Design options for homeowners in the Houston and The Woodlands areas who just want to fall in love with their home again. Whether you have some outdated lighting fixtures and need some help on what’s hot and not, or need a whole home update, we can help! We don’t make you purchase anything through us; we simply give you advice on how to achieve your desired goals. We listen to your ideas and work with you to create a beautiful look in your home! And, if you want us to shop with or for you, we can – the choice is yours! We make designing and updating your style super easy!

Give me a call and we can chat about all your design options! 832-427-2463  |  Ashley@StagingTheNest.com

Home Staging & Photography

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So we all know that when you are looking to purchase a home, the first place almost every human being searches is online. Am I right, or am I right?!? So now that we all agree that I am right, let’s talk about Real Estate Home Staging and Photography. 🙂

Your online listing, which is published through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) if you are working with a Realtor, allows each listing to showcase up to 32 images. Your listing then goes on http://www.HAR.com, http://www.Zillow.com, http://www.Redfin.com, and more in order to drive buyers to the available homes for sale in the area. In this case, the Houston and surrounding areas. Those 32 images are the first thing that buyers see when they click on a home that they are interested in. So, the goal is to have amazing photos in order to entice buyers to take their interest in your home further than the first photo. You want those buyers to schedule a tour right? So let’s make sure that your photos look Fabulous.

Step 1: Hire a Home Stager – Seriously you should call me, like NOW! 😉 832-427-2463

A professional, certified home stager (like me) will provide you with the tips and advice you need to make your home looking amazing while it is listed for sale. I will tell what to remove, pack, how to place items, why to place specific items, and really give you an “education” on how to appeal to buyers. My job is to give you unbiased advice in order to help you sell your home and get the best return on your investment. The Houston area market is highly competitive so it is considered a must to stage your home.

Step 2: PHOTOGRAPHY

Photos are one of THE most important parts of selling a home! If the photos look terrible, buyers are going to run the other way, especially if you are close to the top of the price point. In order to have great photos, do not and I repeat do not use iPhone photos for your listing. They distort color, lighting, size and scale of the inside of a home (in most cases). Even if you are selling your home yourself, spending the money on a professional Real Estate Photographer is essential and you will see the return on this investment! A professional Real Estate Photographer will pay close attention to detail, have the correct lighting in order to make your staged home look amazing, and you will set your listing apart from all the other generic listings! If you want to sell quickly and for top dollar, it truly requires an investment in the process to get it sold!

Step 3: Keep your home looking GREAT!

I know, I know… It is a serious pain to keep your house spotless while you live in it, especially if you have kids. I, too, have a 4 year old who LOVES to make giant messes on the regular so I completely get it. But in the end you will be happy that you put in the extra effort to keep your home gleaming and organized! Buyers will appreciate it and it will prevent any additional negotiations on price (buyers think a dirty or messy house is an unmaintained house).

So if you are thinking about selling your home, you should definitely give me a call! I can help you with the Home Staging Process!   832-427-2463  |  Ashley@StagingTheNest.com

 

Staging the Nest

Howdy Happy Nesters! Thank you for checking out my brand new website! Staging the Nest is a home staging and design company serving The Woodlands and Houston areas. We offer Home Staging and Design services to homeowners, real estate agents & brokers, investors, developers, and home flippers. Whether you need to get your home ready for sale, or have us revamp the whole interior design so you can love your home again, we are here to help!

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Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram! We can’t wait to start sharing all of our home staging and design projects with you!

In the meantime, feel free to look at our home staging and design information. If you would like to schedule your consultation, contact us today! 832-427-2463  |  Ashley@StagingTheNest.com