For the house I sold 2 years ago in the DC area I had free staging, arranged by my excellent agent and her crew, which included a designer. She wasn’t the only one to do that either. Find a cheap warehouse somewhere and start collecting! You’ve already got a good start with your outdoor furniture.
@coralbrook - look what I found for the kitchen island!!! It will be available on sale at costco (just saw it in their flyer for upcoming sales) http://www.whalenfurniture.com/category/storage/group/garage/industrial-metal-and-wood-workbench-696675-wswb722436w. I think it would look great in the kitchen!
Scroll down to “buyers picks”. It will be $299 on Dec 5! http://www.costco.com/december-warehouse-coupon-offers.html. Website is showing it as out of stock, but surely it will be available when the ad hits next week.
The industrial look of that island is not a good fit for this house IMO. I like the spaciousness of the kitchen as-is. It lets buyers envision what, if anything, they’d want to put in that space.
That is a great deal at $299 but its 6 ft long. May be too long
My agent used to have her own inventory and staged my projects. But some of the stuff started getting broken and tired and she was paying for a storage space and then paid about $500 for truck and guys to haul and set up. She made her own decision to get rid of it all and pay for staging. She is paying for the staging but I tried to make it clear that it has to be higher end this time. I have sent her photos of living rooms for what I am hoping for.
What is the final asking price?
That workbench/table comes in a shorter length too. Just thought it was a good match for the look you wanted- and at a great price.
I’m sorry, but I don’t think that look is good for this house at all. It would be a great deal for the right place, though.
Final asking price will be determined the day we do photos and ready to list in MLS. We need to get listed before the Dec 9 Thursday Broker Caravan. For the first time in 7 yrs I’m not the one holding it up. Im somewhat on schedule. Its my agent struggling to get staged and schedule photos.
We are interviewing 2 more stagers today.
Scout services home staging in Liberty Station (i love their eclectic style)
Parker Rose Design
Both of them look like a big improvement on the others, IMHO.
I could really see Scout’s leather armchairs in your living room.(Although I would really love to see a classic roll arm cushy tobacco brown leather sofa instead! 
)The Parker Rose people have a living room that includes a white roll arm sofa with feet and other items including two leather topped square ottoman/stool/occasional tables that I could definitely see in that room.
I think it would be a good idea to stage the FR with some more forgiving fabrics if you go for a white sofa in the LR, though.
What are the dimensions of the LR and FR, do you know off hand?
From the newsletter by our realtor:
"Home sales outgained new listings again in October, further squeezing already tight inventory and pushing prices higher. Since new listings traditionally decrease in the fall, that inventory shortage is expected to last until spring. Sellers willing to put their home on the market now can expect plenty of interested buyers, and a highly favorable chance of getting the best possible price for their home. "
Hope the SD market is just as crazy.
The house in La Jolla where we went to our realtor’s Sunset Soiree just closed at $2,700,000. It was listed at $3,295,000 then dropped to $3,250,000. It was really overpriced for the neighborhood which was more homogeneous than cb’s flip neighborhood though. My realtor calls it a record price.
Marilyn, interesting… if she’s calling it a ‘record price’, why was it listed so high to begin with??? That is a large difference between asking price and sold price. How long was it on the market before it went into contract?
I sure hope our San Diego market is as hot during the winter as it is up in the Seattle area.
We just got interesting feedback from the Scout staging company. They are ‘declining’ our staging opportunity even though the lady was really excited about the house, but the boss sent an email declining. I think that these staging companies do not want to do only 2 or 3 rooms in a house (and my agent may have made the mistake of telling them that another company was doing the bedrooms). They are probably afraid that someone may think they staged the whole house and not like the bedrooms. And, I don’t think they make enough money doing only 2-3 rooms. I’m bummed because they have really interesting pieces with character.
She had better get her act together because we are done with all the rooms that need to be staged except master bedroom (still needs wall paint and baseboards painted out). I told her next Monday at the latest for staging and it’s now Tuesday.
Living room is about 22ft x 16 ft
Family room is about 15 ft x 11.5 ft
cb, is there such a dramatic cost differential that you wouldn’t have the Scout company do the whole house? I understand it’s your agent’s decision and money, but still –
Maybe I’m off base, but it seems as if your agent is taking you for granted and doesn’t want to earn your business any longer. Paying up for higher quality staging in order to get a quicker sale, possibly at a better price, should not be a problem for her. She’s been handed your listing and likely assumes she will get future business, too. I’d ask the RE agent directly if she told the Scout staging company that she only wanted them to do part of the house, and to follow up with the owner/boss about doing the entire job. If the agent balks, then it’s time to play hardball, IMHO.
I think that you should push your agent to pay for the Scout company to do the whole house. It is to her advantage if the house sells for a premium price, and their interiors have that look.
Honestly I can’t blame the staging companies, if the bedrooms are done up to their standards it can damage their reputation.