Finance Tips

In the past month, I have been traveling extensively and it seems to me as though that is not going to stop any time in the near future. The reason, very simply, is the lousy state of real estate. What is interesting is that my Simple Appeal method is quickly gaining nationwide recognition, because, at the risk of sound arrogant, it works. The truth is that effective staging works and should be used every time. In a sellers market, it will serve to transact the property at a much higher price than other comparable properties. In a buyers market, it serves to transact the property faster. After all, time is money and there is no greater example of this than when you are still paying for a mortgage that you thought would have been gone months before.

As my system, services and speaking become more and more in demand; it tells me that people become more and more aware of what it takes to still run successful real estate businesses no matter the market condition. How many times have you looked back in life over something that seemed very tragic and ultimately you were grateful for the lesson (sometimes this takes awhile…I know!)? That is what is happening right now. We are being taught many lessons, and if we pay attention, we will continue to thrive today, but even better, we will explode our businesses on the next market transition.

Most of you know that I am a very active real estate investor. As a matter of fact, that is how got my start as a Professional Home Stager. Okay, I digress… As we watched our market comes to a screeching slow down (in other words, the real estate brakes were slammed on)—I had to focus on reworking my staging system and then repositioning it as well. It is what forced me to come up with the “5 Steps to Selling Real Estate in 30 Days or Less.” As a result of that, I recently sold nearly $80,000 in 75 minutes to investors that knew that my system would help them to transact their properties faster—and they are right. The difference between my system and that of everyone else in the staging and design industry is that I know real estate and I know what it takes to sell a property. I did not get in this just to make a property pretty, I did this to sell. Continue reading ‘Home Staging Training The Schaefer Synopsis’ »

Well, this is the perfect time of year for investors. As the temperatures go down, so do prices. For all of us it is great…oh, except that nothing is selling right now! Okay, so if you buy, you must know how to transact—and in order to transact, you have to get people into your property. So, when it is 10 degrees outside and there are 20 inches of snow…what do you do to still get traffic in the door? You are going to want to keep this list in a safe place because you will refer to it year after year.

1. Make everything about your Cold Weather open house seem Warm, Cozy and Inviting

2. Send out invitations for a “Fireside” open house—and if you don’t have one—go buy an electric one, plug it in and stage it perfectly! You are going to want to have loads of fluffy soft pillows, lots of rolled cozy blankets, even a big furry rug. You can set some snow boots with gloves and mittens (and a pair of huge or really tiny socks—for fun) next to the fireplace as though they are drying out. Have a great magazine rack or book selection so the overall theme would be that they can curl up by the fire and stay warm. I also, conveniently place my paperwork nearby with pens shaped like logs and little packs of cocoa fixed to the paperwork. Continue reading ‘Holding Warm Open Houses During a Cold Season’ »