Sold on Staging in Amawalk, NY
Accentuating the strengths of this home produces the WOW effect and helps pull in 8 offers in 4 days.
From time to time we have the pleasure of hearing about a home staging project directly from the homeowner. This month our client Bill and wife, Hilde, write about the experience of preparing their Amawalk, NY, home for sale. They discover AtWell Staged Home after attending one of our “Decorating Your Home to Sell or Dwell” events at the Somers Library. Here’s what Bill has to say about the home staging process, his experience, and the final results.
Our home has a unique setting with a very special 7-mile view overlooking the Amawalk reservoir. We decided to start our planning early, giving ourselves 6 months to prepare our home for sale. Even so, my wife, Hilde, and I cannot fully agree on how to best focus our staging efforts to feature both the view and the house simultaneously.
We have a general idea that decluttering and fresh paint are necessities, but how much effort, time, and money do we need in any one area of the home, both inside and out?
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This is where Susan from AtWell Staged Home comes into the picture. She helps to provide clarity and focus on what truly needs to be done to get this home in tip-top showroom shape.
A “fast” 4-hour initial consultation opens our eyes to the potential our house has in attracting potential buyers.
True, there is going to be a lot of work in each room to declutter and redecorate, but Susan’s well-laid-out plan of attack helps my wife and I see “the light” and agree on a critical approach to success.
Having this clear line of sight helps us ramp up our efforts so as not to waste time and money focusing on areas with little to no value for resale.
I’m so pleased with the plan and consultation that the next day I leave this 5-star Google review for AtWell Staged Home:
“Susan is worth every penny! I just finished my initial consultation with Susan. She spent 4 hours (which just flew by) going through EVERY room, section and closet in our house. She has already saved us days of time from doing things which we thought were a good idea to do but really were not needed AND provided so many ideas and insights about what to really focus on to get this house ready for sale (which of course is not trivial and added many more days to what we need to do! LOL). We now have laserlike direction and focus on what needs to be done and feel more in control of how to address it. Susan is also a great listener and always makes you immediately feel comfortable working with her. I know she will be there to support us throughout the process.”
The key to this staging is accentuating the view from each room.
In addition, we create as much open space as possible in each room to allow buyers to see the possibilities of multi-functional use.
In essence, we agree to change the personality of the house to no longer reflect our own style and taste but to create a more neutral, modern décor to appeal to as many buyers as possible.
It is hard at first to let go and do this transformation, but it becomes much easier as things get going!
The house is easier to clean and take care of with less clutter and new furniture and accessory arrangement. In fact, we feel like we are living in a “new home” for a few months, appreciating the simplicity of clean lines and more open spaces.
Susan continues to support us through the months and comes over a few more times to fine-tune and redirect, as needed, what is working and what work still remains.
By the time picture day comes, Hilde and I just sit outside fully content that the house is truly ready for the world to see.
When our Realtor drops by to see the final product, she comes out of the house all smiles and in shock, saying, “I love it! What a difference!”
Our 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,400-square-foot Amawalk, NY, house is on the market only 4 days with a flurry of 20 showings and 8 offers—all at or above list price. After thoroughly reviewing every offer with our agent Donna, we accept an offer at $492k, a full $10k over asking.
At the end of the process and after photos are taken, here’s a correspondence that I sent to Susan:
“Well, we just finished up with the photographer and our agent Donna. After doing her walk-through her first words were “I LOVE IT! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!” She was ecstatic and said EVERY room looked great.
I said it was really a combination of your guidance and eye for detail, along with Hilde getting everything “clean, clean, clean!”…that really made the difference! So a sense of relief, happiness and a wonderful sense of accomplishment came with proudly showing the house in the best possible light.
Thank you so much again for all of the sound advice, insights, and patience through this process. It was a wonderful, worthwhile journey in getting our house truly ready for sale. We had a lot of fun working with you! You definitely found your specialty/niche, and I hope it continues for many years to come.”
Here’s more of what listing agent Donna O’Connell has to say about working with AtWell Staged Home on this and many other projects over the years.
“Susan has helped my clients many times over the years. I depend on her to transform a home and stage it to sell. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her remarkable work and the highest level of confidence in recommending her. She has an eye for detail and is a tireless worker…she gets it done quickly!
The owners of this beautiful Colonial needed Susan’s advice on decluttering and moving items around. When we finished implementing Susan’s ideas, my clients and I were completely bowled over by the results! We had multiple offers as soon as we put the home on the market. It’s so rewarding to know that I can recommend someone who will reliably provide direction that the sellers appreciate, an experience they will enjoy, and results that will wow them!
The sellers were only too happy to follow Susan’s suggestions, and they were extremely pleased with the outcome. It was like a different house when it was all done! Thank you to the sellers, Bill and Hilde, for having confidence in utilizing Susan’s expertise, knowing they would be the ones to benefit from it.
Thank you, Susan…you know I will always recommend you!”
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