Why We Took Down Our North Oak Cliff Tuesday Two Hundred Post From Yesterday
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We cherish our audience here at CandysDirt.com, and we hear you loud and clear: you thought we were being too tough yesterday. We pointed out the photo problems with a darling North Oak Cliff Tudor we felt might be keeping it from achieving its full market potential. Because that is what we are all about here on CandysDirt—treating real estate like the commodity it is, helping you get your top sales dollar through the latest research of what works in marketing homes to sell.
Well, we heard you loud and clear. First of all, no meanness was ever intended. Constructive criticism, yes. And I take full responsibility because I told the staff just last week that I wanted us to get tougher on bad real estate photos this year. In fact, we are contemplating offering prizes if you send us examples of terrible real estate photos. Nothing irritates me more than seeing lazy, unprofessional real estate photos on the world wide web that kill the sale of a home.
That said, there is life. If you saw my office right now—here’s a photo—you would say “eeek! What a mess! This broad has a lot of nerve!” I know if I put my home on the market I have bucket loads of crud to clean up, put away, take to storage, burn. We have a new rule in this house: break it, you get a kiss.
Many of you said hey, you don’t know the circumstances behind this listing. Not everyone can afford a fancy-pants stager, Design District furniture, and a maid to polish floors and tidy up before each showing. Turns out the homeowners are both working parents. There’s probably no time to sleep or shower, much less get all haute design-y on the interiors of the house.
Real estate has become a 100 percent visual business. People who want to buy a home are looking at photos, not circumstances. They don’t like your photos, they will move onto the next home. Buyers need vision. This home is a dollhouse. It could fetch the highest price on the block.
We just wanted to hug it, and had ideas on how to make it more huggable!
But people can only do so much!
So CandysDirt.com is going to put our money where our mouth is. (Mouths! More of them!) We have offered to come over and stage the house as per Leah‘s suggestions. We will pull in our own Karen Eubank who is not just an award-winning home stager but who teaches home staging classes across the state. We will bring flowers—what kind do you think, orchids?—and maybe my Louis Ghost chairs and maybe some pieces from our fabulous sponsors: the Bernadette Schaeffler Collection, IBB Design Furnishings, Scott & Cooner, SMINK, and more. We will pull it all together and see if it really does look better, and help these busy parents out.
Then we’ll post and see what you think.
Guess what else I will bring? The champagne, of course!
Want to help? Drop us a line at [email protected]. And please know, we love you!
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Your staging intervention is what I was suggesting for that house over in the Sylvan/Kessler/I-30 area that we all “piled on” for bad presentation last week.
Glad to see this dollhouse getting some attention along those lines.
What a wonderful idea to re-stage this beautiful home. I look forward to the updated pics!
I think that is a wonderful way to help and kudos for listening to your readers!
Just as an FYI, EVERYONE can afford a staging consultation. It’s one of the lowest fees you pay for anything regarding the sale of your home. For about $250.00 a professional stager will consult with you and give you a DIY plan to accomplish staging on your own.
Realtors my 3 hour MCE class is at MetroTex HQ on Tuesday April 5 from 1-4. For $25 bucks you can will get more information than you ever dreamed and you’ve got access to my brain : ).
Don’t the Realtors pay the feel to stage/photograph, so why do the circumstances of the sellers even come into play? If the agent wants to sell the house quickly and for top-dollar, he/she will invest (a small amount) to stage and photograph well.
I don’t see any problem with your calling out these sh*tty listing photos. You’re trying to elevate the industry, not placate thin-skinned agents.
i like that little house! sure it could use a little loving care, but i haven’t seen a house that can’t. it’s charming and a great size. not everyone needs 5000 sf…or wants 5000 sf. i hope this house sells quickly so the current owners can get on with their lives. good luck to them.
Agents don’t typically pay for the staging. The seller pays. Agents pay to market. To properly stage a 3 bed, 1800 sqft home can easily cost $4k-$7k…. That’s for “chic” staging.
I actually showed this home yesterday. For the record… A cleaning service was just leaving…
Ok have to intervene here. It would never be at the high end of that range. The general rule of thumb is 1-2% of list and this house would definitely fall at the low end of that range which is a LOT less than the 10k price reduction that was made last week. So the lesson about staging is always this, people fall in love with a house. Period end of story. They know they want the location, price is fine and size is fine or they generally do even not go look at it. So what makes them look? It has to be appealing. Frankly people look online and those photos have to make them want to see the house. Staging creates that appeal, it helps the buyer fall in love. So you spend a lot less up front to stage or a lot MORE in a price reduction. I will get back on my soapbox and say EVERYONE can afford a consultation and DIY the staging.
Great comments Karen – so much can be done for so little, a lot of times is just having an educated eye come in and move around what the consumer already has. Would love to learn more about affordable staging here on Candy’sDirt.com – it sounds like it is a vey hot topic.
Your wish is my command! Stay tuned : )
I bet it sells before the weekend, it has had a LOT of CD publicity!