Bly’s Blog, Great Impressions Home Staging, NJ

I'm finally doing something many of my investor clients do: flipping a house in NJ.  In just the first week since closing, I'm learning how important it is to:* have a plan of action, including a contractor lined up well in advance* get quotes on work quickly * be able to navigate disagreements w...

Investor challenge: Prospective buyers for an investor's remodeled house in Paramus, NJ were consistently commenting that the childrens' bedrooms were too small to fit the full size beds most people want their children to have these days.  Solution: Stage the main living areas and 3 bedrooms -- ...

 This inexpensive staging of a small 4-bedroom cape cod flip in Teaneck, NJ helped it sell at full price to the very first buyer who saw it, even before photos were taken and put up! The key problem here was fitting in an eating area -- using a 42" round table and 4 chairs we were JUST able to sh...

Open plan homes always benefit from keeping a cohesive color and style flow throughout the connected rooms -- especially when the rooms are on the smaller side -- as in this rebuilt home in Summit, NJ. Otherwise, the rooms can seem disjointed and choppy, or worse, look tacky if there are multiple...

Staging is a proven marketing technique that increases the likelihood the staged home will make an emotional connection with buyers and help to sell the home faster -- sometimes for more money as well. This is especially true with competitively-priced properties in NJ priced below $1,000,000.  Th...

Luxury homes have a much thinner pool of buyers and those buyers expect to have the best of everything in return for paying $1.5 or $2 or $3 million for homes. Staging is a vital and expected marketing technique for helping buyers envision that lifestyle in vacant homes. Staging is the much less-...

Staging vacant homes makes rooms look larger and maximizes square footage and buyer interest. In this builder's home located in Tenafly, NJ, buyers felt the size of the main floor rooms were too small, a problem for a home priced at over $1.6 million. Prior to bringing in rental furniture and acc...

If you have only a few hundred dollars to spend on styling and staging your home -- or your client's properties if you're an agent -- for photos and greater appeal to buyers who see it in-person, "speed" staging is a great solution. For speed staging, I PREFER to:* do an initial 1-2 hour walk-thr...

Do you know the difference between a "good" and "bad" home staging? Many people do not, and they end up wasting money on poorly done stagings that fail to achieve the desired goal of maximizing their home's value and offers.Here are some common mistakes that diminish the quality of the staging or...

I know it's been said on Active Rain before -- even by me years ago -- but after going through an open house at my neighbor's this weekend, I was shocked to see how many of these "showing rules"  -- well known in the staging world at least -- were broken: 1) Don't show houses in the dark! Open bl...