Welcome to MadonnaStaging.com’s Blog

March 7th, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Welcome to the MadonnaStaging.com Blog

Madonna'Staging Logo 2

Madonna’Staging is owned and operated by Madonna McDowell.

Madonna’Staging offers Real Estate Staging, Real Estate Marketing,  De-Cluttering, Home Re-Design, Organizing, and Cleaning services in Central Florida, and in the Treasure Coast and Gold Coast of Florida and via Virtual Consulting worldwide.

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Madonna McDowell is a Certified Real Estate Staging & Redesign Professional.

Our Cleaning service is one that does a deep clean.

We clean the baseboards, corners of every room, and windows.

We do laundry, change your sheets, and clean out cabinets.

As we go through your home –

If it needs to be cleaned we clean it!

Contact Madonna McDowell Today! via:

Cell Phone: 772-359-0930

Email: info@madonnastaging.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/madonnastaging

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Tips for Getting a Good Cleaning Service

November 6th, 2011 . Posted in Cleaning Tips, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »

If you are looking to hire a cleaning service you need to do your research!

Having a cleaning service is like having a car. If you want your tires changed, you don’t have them work on the engine. Just like if you need engine work you don’t want to just check tires.

There are a lot of different kinds of cleaning services. So you need to make sure you ask what they do, because some of the cleaning services have more not do’s, then do’s. So make sure you asked your questions and get a service that matches what you need.  Make sure you are get your questions answered  to your satisfaction.

Also, make sure of who is coming into your home. I keep saying this over and over but it is very important to know who is coming into your home.   For these people are cleaning the most private  part of your life!  Your home, make sure you  trust them .  You might want to make sure you’re there for the first four or five times that they clean.

ALWAYS …do a walk-through at completion.  This way you will know before they are gone and if you  are satisfied or not .. point out what you want re-done.

Happy Cleaning from MadonnaStaging!

I hope all of my Helpful Household Cleaning Tips help you have a cleaner home both inside and out, today! :)

- Madonna

Please Post / Share Your other Helpful Cleaning Tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s Helpful Cleaning Tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/cleaning-tips/

and …

Please Contact Me for More Information about How I can Help You have a Cleaner Home inside and out at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/cleaning-services/

Staging – Don’t make your home feel cold!

September 18th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Redesign Tips, Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

Don’t make your home feel cold!  Staging is the answer!

Making your home feel cold is not Home Staging. Home staging is making your home the best it can be. Home staging will make you feel good in your home and about your home. Home staging will make you proud to put your home on the market.

I was talking to a friend of mine. In this conversation I discovered some of us are getting carried away. She had recently listed her home and the realtor that she was listing with told her to remove everything from the house. Her husband and mother thought that there should be a few things left to make the home feel warmer. But the realtor insisted that everything needed to go.

The bottom picture is before and the top is after.  Wouldn’t you agree the before picture is cold?

She asked me exactly what Home staging is. I explained to her that Home staging was putting your home in its best light. This makes the home sell a lot faster for a much higher price. She liked what I was saying, so she shared what she was told to do to her home by the listing realtor. The more we talked, the more she thought about it. She decided that the reason the realtor told her to remove everything was because she had too much stuff. He felt that the home was so full that it was very overwhelming. The realtors thoughts was probably right and if he agreed to let her leave items, she would probably leave too much, so it would be better take everything out. Which is better than having a overcrowded home!

As we were talking about what she needed to do to fix the problem, she said that she went over to clean the home the other day and the house felt so cold. Well, that’s what is going to happen if you take everything out your home? A great test is; if you feel cold in your home, the potential buyers will feel cold too. And that does not equal a sale.

I know that the housing market is down a lot. So it’s very hard for people to understand that they very much need to call in a Home stager.  You need to stop, think and do your research the facts show that a realtor and Home stagers working together to sell your home gives you a great advantage. There are a lot of homes for sale and very few buyers.  It is essential that you get the eyes of the potential buyers. That is where a Home stager and realtor working together can make your property stand out from all the others. The cost of the stager can be as low as $50.00-$75.00 and that could be the best money you have spent in a long time. Good Luck! 

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

You need three involved parties for a sale of your home!

September 4th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 57 Comments »

Homeowner, Realtor & Stager

I have been reading a lot of articles about problems between stagers and realtors. I can’t understand why stagers and realtors are having a problem. Stagers and realtors are meant to go hand-in-hand. A stager is not a replacement for a realtor. A stager makes your home show in its best light. A realtor is a salesperson that sales your home. Now what could possibly be the problem? If you find a good team that will work together for the best interest of the client it is a great combination. Because two people working for the same cause can have a lot better result.

The market is so bad that you need every advantage you can have to capture the eyes of potential buyers. Getting potential buyers to notice your home and then actually remember it after they have seen 10 or more that day is not easy. Everybody has a challenge, the homeowner, the stager as well as the realtor. So working together as a team is a definite must.

Now that we are talking about the homeowner is very important to stay involved.  A friend of mine just put their home on the market. There has been very little activity on their home. We were talking about it and she was kind of like ‘oh well’ the market is bad or maybe the realtor’s not very good, but I know the realtor and that’s not the case.

So I explained to her what Home staging is. Not only what Home staging is, but also what her part in selling her home is. It is very important that you stay involved. You can’t just call a realtor, list your home, sign the papers and then somebody else does all the work. You have to stay involved, keep the home the way the Home Stager left it and that takes a plan. You need to stay on the realtor.

I had a realtor tell me today to be a pain in the realtor’s side. The client that calls and bugs them the most is the one they want to get sold first to stop the bugging. Call and check on the progress of your home weekly. Also, if you’re not living in the home you need to make sure you go back and clean it.  Stay involved with the sale of your home. Remember it is still your home even though it’s on the market.  Happy Staging!

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

Living Through Selling your House

September 4th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 30 Comments »

Tips for living through selling

Survival after Staging
After you get the home staged. The family is still living in the home until it sells. Face it people, it is hard for the family to keep it the way it was when the Stagers walked out the door. So here is some tips to keep your home like you left it. And increase the changes that the potential buyers can see it in the best light.

1) Your real astate agent will call and set up showings. Make sure that you turn all the lights in the house on. Even if you think there is enough light in the room TURN THEM ON ANYWAY! A lot of the time the showing can be earlier or later, so the lighting in the home is going to change through out the day, if all the lights are on it will help to solve this problem. Now also open all blinds and curtains this makes the home feel larger. After all we are selling space.

2) Make sure you keep the dusting done. Do it a little bit each day and it will stay nice.

3) Keep kitchen and bathrooms clean and clutter free.

4) Do not have a yard sale while you home is on the market. Yard sales should be done before the home goes on the market. This way you have a lot less clutter in the home. Less clutter equals space and money!

5) Create a junk basket, this junk basket is to put the day to day clutter in, i.e., newpapers, mail, anything that might be laying around that you do not want others to see. This way you can put the junk basket away quickly for the next showing.

6) This is very imporant - REMOVE VALUABLE ITEMS! A good idea is to have family or good friends keep your valuables for you while the home is on the market. This also frees you from having to put them away each time you have a showing.

7) If you have small childern remove excess toys. Give each child a basket of their favorate toys and remove the extras before staging the home.

8) Keep a good attitude! This is not always that easy, but as hard as it is to have things ready for a showing. The more showings you have the better the chances to sell your home. Most homes show ten times before selling.

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

 Happy Staging!     Madonna Staging

How does your home make you feel?

September 4th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 27 Comments »

How does your home make you feel?

       I’m asking this question because it is something you really need to think about. If you do not like your home why do you think that the potential buyers will like it? If your home doesn’t smell good, if you haven’t kept up on the repairs and when you look around you do not like what you see. The potential buyers are having the same thoughts. That does not equally a sell!

       Look around your home starting with the outside. Do you like what you see? If the answer is no, maybe it is time that you do something about it. And do it before you put your home on the market. I always tell clients to go outside and start at the sidewalk or the curb whichever you have. And clear your mind and go back to when you bought the home. What made you buy the home the first time? Do you still see that in the home? Would you buy the house all over again? If your answer is no, then you need to start making some changes. Because your answer is no, then the potential buyers answers will also be no.

      Your first impression is when you’re at the front door. This is the first impression for any potential buyer. The realtor is getting the door open. The potential buyer is looking around. You need to make sure that what they are seeing is making them want to see more. Is everything neat and tidy? The paint, is it in good condition and the color pleasing? Does your home make you want to go inside? These are all questions you need to make sure the answer is yes.

      We are way beyond the days when you can put your home on the market with things wrong. Todays market is all in the buyers favor, so homes must be ready to be bought and moved into. Or one of two things will happen. First the buyer would just move on to the next home. Two the price will go down.  This is not what we want to happen.

     If you want a fast sell and at a good price! Then before you call a Real Estate agent, walk through your home. Make a list of what you need to do to make this happen.  If you do not want to do the work yourself call a Stager. A Stager will work with the Real Estate agent to get the home sold quickly and at a good price.

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

 Happy Staging!     Madonna Staging

We are now on Thumbtack!

August 22nd, 2011 . Posted in Cleaning Tips, Uncategorized | 27 Comments »

Check us out!

<a href=”http://www.thumbtack.com/fl/fort-pierce/maids/madonna-staging”>maid</a>

I hope all of my Helpful Household Cleaning Tips help you have a cleaner home both inside and out, today! :)

- Madonna

Please Post / Share Your other Helpful Cleaning Tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s Helpful Cleaning Tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/cleaning-tips/

and …

Please Contact Me for More Information about How I can Help You have a Cleaner Home inside and out at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/cleaning-services/

f=”http://www.thumbtack.com/fl/fort-pierce/maids/madonna-staging”>maid</a>

Shop your home

August 21st, 2011 . Posted in Cleaning Tips, Organizing Tips, Save Your Nickel, Uncategorized | 15 Comments »

Shop your home

There are different ways to shop your home.
1. You can shop your home when you’re getting organized.
2. You can shop your home if you want to do a redesign or Home staging.
Shopping your home is not only fun, but it’s also a great way to recycle, reuse, and repurpose items that you already have. Whenever I go to a new client’s home for a redesign, home staging, or organizing – I love to challenge the homeowner with no shopping outside the home.

This is the challenge – I’m putting this article out to everyone to read.

Try shopping your home. What do I mean by shopping your home? Shopping your home means no:
a. shopping at grocery stores
b. department stores or any other kinds to a store.
Go through your home; cabinets and closets and use what you already have.                                                    

Have you ever shopped your home? How many of us just go buy something we need and do not think about looking to see if we already have it? I can imagine that over 75% of us that has happened to. So let’s try something new! Lets go back to the old ways, what the old-timers use to do to save money and believe it or not it works! As very few of us can call ourselves minimalist. So if you can’t call yourself a minimalist.  This challenge will be wonderful for you!

     Do you want a new look for your home or maybe just one room in your home? Move furniture around or see what you have in other rooms. Take some furniture out of one room and move furniture from another room to the room you are working on. Before you know it you will have a whole new look with no cost and this is shopping your home!

      If you have your house on the market and you need a new look so it is more appealing to potential buyers. Shop your home! See what you can do with the items that you already own. I think you will discover that the items displayed in different rooms in new ways will become new. After all, you liked them enough to buy them, so use them. In home staging you will also want to remove some items. You can sell or store them.

     Does your kitchen need organized? Most of the kitchen clutter is caused by us having a abundance of products like canned goods, pasta, boxed items, and spices. So the challenge to you – have cabinets that need to be organized and see how many meals you can prepare out of what you have in your cabinets. Not only will your kitchen cabinets come down to scale but you can also use this opportunity to come up with new meals to put on the table. Using up food items in your home does take some planning. You will need to plan your meals ahead of time. You might even have to substitute one ingredient for another but this can be fun! Use your imagination!

I hope all of my Organizing Tips help you Start Getting More Organized today! :)

- Madonna

 

Please Post / Share Your other Great Organizing Tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s Organizing Tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/organizing-tips/

and …

Please Find More Information about How I can and Contact Me to Help You Start Getting More Organized Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/organizing-services/

and …

Please See some Client Testimonials for Madonna’s Organizing Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/client-testimonials/organizing-testimonials/

How to clean laminate and hardwood floors

August 21st, 2011 . Posted in Cleaning Tips, Recommended Products, Save Your Nickel, Uncategorized | 35 Comments »

How to clean laminate and hardwood floors

        I keep hearing from homeowners that they are told not to use water on their laminate and hardwood floor. I asked them what they are told to clean them with! They are told to just use a dust mop and just dust them or use a hardwood / laminate cleaner. The more I got thinking about this the more it just does not feel right. Because a lot more than dust falls on the floors. They need to be cleaned and the floor cleaners I have seen and use leave a film.

       The biggest problem with laminate and hardwood floors is water. But they get dirty, people come in with dirty shoes, and other unwanted items on the bottom of the shoes. You could just ask your guests to remove their shoes at the door. But in my opinion that is not being a very good host or hostess. So I have tried several different ways and came up with a way that you can clean laminate and hardwood floors without damaging them and they come out beautiful.

      Start with the purchase of two mops. Buy one of the mobs that is actually meant for dusting (I bought a Cedar mop.) The second mop you buy is one that has a big pad. This kind of mop can be bought at Wal-mart or bed Bath and Beyond.

     Wet the Cedar mop and wring it out as dry as you can get it. Start with a small section of the floor. Use your wet mop to mop this area. Then immediately use the dry mop with a rag underneath it to dry and shine the area. Use the rag underneath the dry mop because as you mop and shine the mop you are drying with is going to get wet, we do not want this. So using the rag underneath the mop will ensure that you can change the rag and have a dry one to work with at all times. Also, you do not want to place the wet mop on the floor. So to ensure this does not happen, put three dry rags together and use them underneath your wet mop to ensure that you are not getting excess water on the floor when you are not using the mop.

The results of your effort will be beautiful clean and shiny floors. Happy mopping from Madonna staging.

I hope all of my Helpful Household Cleaning Tips help you have a cleaner home both inside and out, today! :)

- Madonna

Please Post / Share Your other Helpful Cleaning Tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s Helpful Cleaning Tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/cleaning-tips/

and …

Please Contact Me for More Information about How I can Help You have a Cleaner Home inside and out at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/cleaning-services/

Thumbtack

August 17th, 2011 . Posted in Cleaning Tips, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »

Thumbtack

       Thumbtack is a exciting new way to getting the word out about your business. Madonna staging signed up with thumbtack this last month. It is very interesting the way thumbtack works! So check us out on thumbtack give us some feedback of what you think.

 Thank you for Madonna staging

I hope all of my Helpful Household Cleaning Tips help you have a cleaner home both inside and out, today! :)

- Madonna

Please Post / Share Your other Helpful Cleaning Tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s Helpful Cleaning Tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/cleaning-tips/

and …

Please Contact Me for More Information about How I can Help You have a Cleaner Home inside and out at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/cleaning-services/

Survival During and After Staging

July 26th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 18 Comments »
 
After your home has been staged:
The family is still living in the home until it sells. Face it people it’s hard for the family to keep the home in the perfect condition it was when the Stager walked out the door. So here are some tips to keep your home in that perfect selling condition. This will also increase the changes that the potential buyers can see the home in the best light.

1) Your real estate agent will call and set up showings. Make sure that you turn all the lights in the house on. Even if you think there is enough light in the home when you are leaving – TURN THEM ON ANYWAY! Alot of the time the showing can be earlier or later then you are told and the lighting in the home is going to change through out the day, if all the lights are on it will help to solve this problem. Also, open all blinds and curtains this makes the home feel larger. After all we are selling space!

2) Make sure you keep the dusting done. Dust a little bit each day and it will stay nice.

3) Keep the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned and clutter free.

4) Do not have a yard sale while your home is on the market. Yard sales should be done before the home goes on the market. This way you have alot less clutter in the home. Less clutter equals space and money!

 5) Create a junk basket.  This junk basket is to put the day to day clutter in, i.e, new papers, mail, anything that might be laying around that you do not want others to see. This way you can put the junk basket away quickly for the next showing.

  6) This is very important REMOVE VALUABLE ITEMS. A good idea is to have family or good friends keep your valuables for you while the home is on the market. This also frees you from having to put them away each time you have a showing.

 7) If you have small children remove excess toys. Give each child a basket of their favorite toys and remove the extras before staging the home.

 8) Keep a good attitude - this is not always that easy, but as hard as it is to have things ready for a showing. The more showing you have the better the changes to sell your home. Most homes show ten times before selling.

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

Cell Phones can do that?

July 3rd, 2011 . Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Five things you need to know about your cell phone. For all of you people with cell phones here is some must know information.
There are things that can be done in times of emergencies. Your cell phone can actually be a life saver and great emergency too for survival.

1) Emergency #
The emergency # worldwide for cells is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your cell network and there is an emergency, dial 112 & the cell will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you.  The # 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

2) Locked out?
Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other ‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or trunk).

 3) Low Battery
If your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys 3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.
 
4) Stolen Phone?
To check you cell phones serial number key in the following digits on your phone  #06# A -15- digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your cell phone. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
Now here is how to use it if need. If your phone is stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your phone so even if the thief changes the Sim card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use or sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing cell phones.        

5) Free Directory Service
Cell phone companies are charging $1.00 or more for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information , do this Dial (800) Free 411 or (800) 3733411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell. This is sponsored by McDonalds.

I hope this Tip helps you! :)

- Madonna

Clutter & Dirt Problems

June 13th, 2011 . Posted in De-Cluttering Tips, Uncategorized | 27 Comments »

We go along day after day with clutter and dirt that we are so used to seeing that we no longer see it. We walk right by it and just keep going. Until unexpected company drops by or even a guest, then we start making up reasons why it looks so bad!

Have you ever thought that you are not the only one in the family that is upset with the dirt and clutter? Our kids do not want to bring their friends over. Heaven knows they do not want to explain the mess! Now, how about the husband, he doesn’t want people to think he lives in a war zone.

Then there is the problem that clutter gives dust a place to hide. The longer it sets, the more dust gathers. This can cause breathing problems. So if you stop and think about it, your clutter and dirt can made you and your family sick.

Now we are not saying that it is all up to you to fix the problem. If you are a family, the whole family helps make the mess, so it is up to the whole family to clean up the mess.

Here is where to start:

1) You can start by having a family meeting and bring the problem to the attention to everyone in the family.

2) Each member of the family has their own stuff. So each person is responsible for their own stuff – over age 6.

3) Each member needs to decide what of theirs that they are no longer using. As our families grow we go though a lot of stuff that we will use for awhile, but we out grow it in a short period time. The trick is to remove the item as we grow out of them. We hear people all the time say “Oh we can use that for the next child!” Hey, people most of the time the next child doesn’t want the item(s). The item just gets old and dirty. Then in two or three years you throw them out anyway. (well wasn’t that a nice little circle that you just went in?)

4) Make up your mind not to go in circles. This means you have to be firm about getting the clutter under control.

5) By doing the first four things on this list, a lot of the clutter should be removed. Okay now is the time to re-examine your space. Decide what you are going to use the space for, what is the square footage of the space, and does the remaining items fix in the space?

6) Now set the items in the space and see if you have acheived your goals.

7) There is still probably a lot of items that need to be put away. If so, you do the same steps for the drawers and closets.

I hope all of my De-Cluttering tips help you Start Getting More Organized today! :)

- Madonna

Please Post / Share Your other Great De-Cluttering tips here, ok?

and …

Please Find more of Madonna’s De-Cluttering tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/de-cluttering-tips/

and …

Please Find More Information about How I can and Contact Me to Help You Start Getting More Organized Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/de-cluttering/

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Please See some Client Testimonials for Madonna’s Organizing Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/client-testimonials/declutterng-testimonials/

Is your view costing you money?

June 13th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 30 Comments »

                                                                            

Having a run down home close to your home may not be a good view for you, but when you put your home on the market you will find that it can also cost you money!

When people come to view your home, they are also checking out the homes on the drive there, the neighborhood. When they get to your home they are looking around at the homes around you. What are they seeing?  A overgrown yard, a house that needs painted, a house with a bad color scheme or a home with a lot of clutter.

One or more homes in your neighborhood like this can cause your home value to drop 5 to 10 % .
So when you are looking to buy, make sure you lessen the changes of this problem later by checking out your neighborhood.

If you have this problem, which I did at one time. Here are some things that might help.
   1)  You can offer to help you neighbor clean up. Maybe they are seniors and can’t get out to clean their yard.

   2)  You can make a gift of some flowers, this will put something bright and cheerful to draw the eye.

   3)  Make your property have the WOW factor on the exterior so they fall in love with it. This makes the neighbor worth it.

   4)  Put out shrubs and or fences so the neighbor goes away. Fences work great in the back yard. Shrubs can hide a lot in the front yard.

The best way to make sure you do not have this problem, is to buy in a area that has a Homeowners Association. Then all of houses will have to be maintained.

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

Needs for Staging

May 25th, 2011 . Posted in Real Estate Staging Tips, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »
Staging

I have not wrote a lot of article on staging lately. Staging kind of speaks for itself, but  there are a few thing that we have come across over the last two years.  Staging is not just for selling your home.  We have people call us to stage rentals. Which is easy if you are renting it furnished, if not we have to think out of the box.

We also get calls for staging homes that the clients are living in that are not for sale. We call that a re-design but the callers are calling it Staging.  Which is fine but check out the re-design page.  There you can get a lot of information that can start you on the right path.

Staging a home that is for sale has been proven to sell the home a lot faster.  Staging a home for rent can get it rented a lot faster.  After all, staging makes the home show in the best light. People like to walk in and see what they are looking for, not what they have to do to make it what they want.

People do not want to buy your stuff, if they did, they would go to a yard sale not a real estate agent. The bad part is that most real estate agents want your business, so they are not about to tell you that (not good for business.)  Now stop and put yourself on the other side of the coin, do you want to walk into a house that you read about on the Internet or your agent is telling you that it is a great house and what do you see when you get there?  A lot of stuff, not the house but the stuff!  Now to make it really bad the stuff is dirty! Great! now you are looking at a lot of dirty stuff.  Well we all know how that showing went! It goes bad fast. Most people will not even make it past the first two rooms.

Another thing that happens a lot is that the living room and dinning room are clean an clear. But when you get to the kitchen and bathroom, you start hearing your agent say things like, remember now a family lives here, with 3 boys and 2 dogs. What are they saying? That you are buying a mess made by 3 boys and 2 dogs? Well the price just went down!  Because they could have been a buyer and is now wondering what is under all the stuff and dirty too??????? Hey people QUESTIONS DO NOT SELL HOMES! And if by some crazy reason they do put an offer on the home, it will be a lot less then you are asking. In today’s market the offers are low enough without you helping the buyer out.

When you go to list you home maybe instead of calling a real estate agent first, you should call a Stager! Most Stagers will give you a free walk through.  Let the Stager see what you have to work with.  A good Stager will use what you have on hand to make the home show in the best light.

Staging your home may not be the way you prefer to live, but remember you do not want to live there anymore. If you do, you should not put your home on the market. Once the sign goes up that is telling the world that you are ready to move on. Think about these things before you put the sign up and not after!

Selling your home can be a good experience, if you plan ahead.  Make it so you and your family know what to do. Speaking of families, make sure that everyone in the family has a role to play in the selling of the home.  Kids can make sure their toys and rooms are picked up.  Dad can keep the trash taken out and help with the yard.  Moms keep laundry done and put away.  Just sit down and work up a program that will work with your families life style.  A good Stager will also help with that too.

One more thing to make sure happens is that the agent listing your home leaves their card and the information about your home.  This is very important, because once the showing is done the potential buyer’s need something to remind them of your home. This is most likely one of 5 to 10 homes they see that day and you want them to remember yours!  Best of Luck from Madonna Staging.

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

First Impressions

May 16th, 2011 . Posted in Gardening / Landscaping Tips, Real Estate Staging Tips, Redesign Tips, Uncategorized | 17 Comments »

Impressions


When you are standing in front of your home. Maybe in the driveway, on the sidewalk, or in the street in front of your home what do you see?  What is the first impression of your yard and home? Think about this for a moment, before you answer. Maybe even get in your car and drive around the block.

Then when you get back in front of you home go slow, take a good look as if you don‘t live there. Does it make you want to buy it? Even go as far as to ask your family and friends to look and give you their first impression.  Have an open mind.

The first impression is how others see you. The first impression of your home reflects what others think about you. Is it clean and neat? Is there a wow factor? Does it make you want to go inside? Does it make your family proud of you? Does it make you want to invite guess in? Does it make you happy to come home and want to spend time there? These are all questions that the answer needs to be yes! If it is not, you need to start thinking about making some changes.

It doesn’t matter if you are putting your home up for sale or if you are wanting to spend the rest of your life in it. The first impression of your home is extremely important. It says a lot about you. What do you want your guests, friends and family to think of you?  It doesn’t matter if you are a single person, family, or senior citizen.  You can do simple things that can make a big differences. Make you proud of your home.

1)  Clean and de-clutter: Make sure all the junk is picked up. If your homes outside walls are dirty, wash them. You do not have to rent a pressure washer, you can if you want but check with your family and friends you will be surprise how many of us have them thing setting around collecting dust. But if you do not find one, Just get a bucket of soap, water and bleach. Then get a good brush or a lot of clean clothes and start in. It will look and feel a lot better.

2)  Wash the windows: The windows are the eyes of the home. I was always told by the old timers as I was growing up, that the best sign of a good house keeper was if the window where clean! So get a bucket fill it with vinegar and hot water, grab a lot of old soft rags and wash the windows.  There is nothing more pleasing then looking out nice clean windows.

3)  Paint: Paint is a cheap fix. And it can make the biggest difference of anything you do. Painting can be done and little at a time. Just start, that is the hardest part. Do what you can do on the weekend or maybe just one day the trick is to keep at it. If you have to spread the cost out that is fine, because it will get done if you just keep at it. Be sure to put a lot of thought into what color you want. As you are going places around town, make a effort to check out the colors of the houses you past.

What ones do you really like? Then go to the paint store or home improvement store and get two or three samples of the color you are thinking about. Paint a large area on the side of the home where you can see the colors when you are coming and going to see if you like it in the morning, noon and night. In a couple of days you will know if you like the colors or not. Then it is as simple as just start painting. Have fun with it! When the first side is getting close to being done, you will get a well deserved good dose of pride.

4)  If you have flower beds, clean up and prune the flowers that are there.  Add mulch if you need to, add some fresh flower with a lot of color. Prune the bushes and trees if it is needed. If you do not have flower beds make some. Put them up around the front of the home. It will make a huge difference after all flowers are life.

5)  Freshen up the front door, paint if it needs it. Add a pot of colorful flowers, and a new door mat.

6) Make sure your mail box is clean and no chipped paint.  Just by walking up and down the front of your home and really looking at it. Will help you see it the way other people see it. Then the fits are not that hard to make.  So if you are wanting to sell you home or just wanting a fresh new feeling home.  Try and see what you can do!

I hope that I have given you some good real estate staging tips to help you stage your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money! :)

- Madonna

Do you need some help staging your home to help you Sell your home Faster and for More Money ?, then …

Please find more information regarding Madonna’Staging‘s Real Estate Staging Services at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/services/real-estate-staging/

and …

Please Contact Madonna Today! at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/about/

Please Reply Here with Your Comments, questions and/or tips regarding what you have done to help you love your home again, ok?

and …

Please find more of Madonna’s Great Real Estate Staging tips at:

http://blog.madonnastaging.com/topics/real-estate-staging-tips/

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