You guy’s all know I still flip houses. I stick with starter homes. 3 beds/ 1 bath. Mostly Ranches and Capes. They’re easy to rehab, I know the market for them inside and out, and I can put a rehab budget number together within $500 everytime.
In this market I have tried something that I’ll pass along. It seems to be working extremely well.
A few months ago a met a designer that was just starting out. She has a partner with a degree in Architecture. I usually just copy the interior colors that the big national builders are using and that seemed to work fine. Things here are still slowing so for my last flip I figured I’d give the girls a $3000 budget as see what they could do as far as STAGING a home for me. They bought the following… (most of this stuff was purchased used from consignments stores, all of it in MINT condition) A dining room table and chairs, a living room set with a classic leather couch and matching chairs (really nice), some art work to hang around the house, nic naks, 1 bedroom set, and curtains for each room. I had a moving company bring it all in for $200.
It TRANSFORMED the home!!! Colors that looked nice, now looked INCREDIBLE!! Rooms that looked small became BIG!! People who came to look at the house actually SAT DOWN just to take it all in!!!
The house just sold. I have absolutely no doubt that this $3000 RE-USABLE investment sold the house!!
Every single piece of this will be stored and then moved right back into my next flip. I will NEVER have to buy any of it again, but it will SURELY sell many more houses for me.
You guy’s may want to consider this. I’ve seen it on TV in big dollar homes but I am now a total believer. Even small starter homes can benefit from this Professional touch. In this market it completely blows my competition OUT OF THE WATER.
The house went for $2000 over asking…Hell, that ALONE almost paid me back in FULL!!
fdjake,
You are the bomb. Really. Love reading your posts.
Now some more tips…Have all the lights on at your open house, even if it is high noon. Dark houses don’t sell. Have something nice baking in the oven. I used to bake a metal lid full of vanilla before the open house.
I also served ice cream cones (hand-dipped) because people would linger longer, licking those cones and maybe later mentally associate that house with good vibes. Pleasant happy music on the radio…
I had heard about the home staging idea, but never tried it. Thanks for the first-hand experience. I does sound like a good idea. Making the home appear livable as opposed to just buying a hollow box. I have heard the other side of the coin in that home can you really know what your new buyer will want the home to look? “If there’s stuff in there, the new buyer will have trouble planning out their own arrangements”. Those are a few comments I’ve heard other people talking about. I liked the idea of having some pleasant music playing that furnishedowner suggested. That could easily deaden the echo one gets from an empty house. All good ideas.
Another good idea might be to hit up the local colleges, schools, trade schools, even high schools. I’m sure there are lots of arts students there that are looking for a project. You could probably get a good discount. And, as jake mentioned, if you buy the staging supplies yourself, just plop it in at a storage facility in between house sales.
What I noticed when I sold my rental property was that when the house is empty it is a lot easier for people to spot stuff to nit pick about as there is nothing there to draw their attention. When the house has furnishings it can help hide any flaws.
I think the KEY here is having the staging done PROFESSIONALLY!!
We all like different styles of furniture and decorating. But GOOD is GOOD, regardless of style preferences. I would compare this to a very nice Inn or Hotel. You know the SECOND you walk through the door whether it’s hit the mark or missed it.
I’m no designer. But, I do know the SECRET of great design…
The secret is… EVERYBODY knows it, when they SEE IT!!! I have a tremdous amount of respect for people who can do this well. They travel to 8 different stores, buy 20 different things, but when they put them together in a home IT ALL WORKS!!
I’ve been rehabbing houses for 2 decades. This down turn has forced me to really make my product stand out. I feel like this was a piece of the puzzle that I was missing. Appartently, the buyers liked they design and staging.
One last point. This DOES NOT have to cost a lot of money. The company I use charges $150 for the color consult. That includes picking ALL interior paint colors including trim, cabinets and doors, tile, granite and even the shade used on the refinished hardwood floors. For an additional $500 they not only picked out and PICKED UP all the curtains and curtain rods, they also INSTALLED them and IRONED them prior to t installing them on EVERY window in the house!! Talk about making 35 year old original windows fade into the back ground…they did it!!!
All totaled I spent $3000. BUT…most of that was on the actual items purchased. The design services themselves were “THE BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT!”