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Hello friends—so happy to be finally sending our newsletter out. It’s been one of our busiest springs ever, and it’s really only just begun. Read on to see some of what’s kept StagedRight Homes burning the candles on both ends.

Flip Flip Hooray
How early can you start staging?

With the booming real estate market in our area, StagedRight Homes has expanded to include a new facet to our business: We now work with investors to advise them on their flip properties. Instead of merely arriving when the work is done to add furniture and décor, we get involved early to help in certain surprising ways.

Details Make the Deal
The cliché is that the devil is in the details, but when we work with flips, StagedRight is in the details.

For instance, we recently worked with an investor on 96 Rutgers. We recommended painting the door this bright on-trend shade of green to draw attention to the lovely details of the door and windows. It makes buyers excited before they even walk inside.

As the contractor started to tear down walls, we made sure he didn't create too open a space--an open floor plan is great, but walls help! Too few walls and the furniture feels as if it's floating in unformed space. (That’s the sort of detail you don’t necessarily expect from the contractor, but you can count on from us.)

If a developer does a poor job of taking down walls and deconstructing spaces, the open layout can become purposeless and confusing to the buyer. When we are in a space we visualize it staged with furniture so we already see the flow and can help ensure that the spaces work

A Budget-Friendly Bit of Wow
For this home, we advised the investors to make the fireplace a real focal point of the room, and to budget for an upgrade to the mantel. The front door opens directly into the living room, so the newly renovated fireplace adds an immediate and elegant wow factor.

We always work within our client’s budgets but we tweak the spending for each home so houses have unique touches that don't break the bank. We found an affordable tile surround, then painted the hearth black and carried the black color focus of the architectural details throughout the ground floor.

In Full Color
Color choice for walls and cabinets is one area we take very seriously. Every house deserves its own unique palette, and the house itself guides our selections. For this home, we went with these soft grey kitchen cabinets with pops of blue. It unites the rooms of this open layout and sets it apart from the routine whites so common now.

Playing it safe is understandable, but we like to play it smart too. For us, there’s nothing worse than freshly painted walls in the wrong color for staging. We get to choose colors that not only are the best to stage on but also make each house its own unique experience. So many flips are done in cookie-cutter all-grey walls with white cabinets; we want buyers to see something new when they walk into a home. We get to put a little touch of design in color choices that are something a little different but still sophisticated and great for staging. It makes our clients’ properties stand out.

Think Like a Buyer
In our current market, most of the buyers of flips are young families moving from the city. We always recommend staging children's rooms and playrooms as these help a buyer visualize life in the home. We’ve even seen cute kids play with our staged firetrucks while mom and dad browse the open house!

We also give buyers something to latch on to in the staging and design of the house, something to distinguish this home from the others they are considering. Usually it’s a color theme we repeat throughout several rooms, but sometimes it’s some other visual surprise, like seashells or musical instruments. Staging is much more common now, but that doesn’t mean we want our staging to be commonplace.

StagedRight Results

Realtor Kate Elliott sold 75 Tuscan Rd in Maplewood for for $867,500, which was 113% of the list price. Receiving 8 offers, it was the most expensive house to sell in the neighborhood in the last year by $100,000.

Realtors Fran Lichtman and Randy Rabney received 16 offers on 1578 Van Ness in Union, which sold
for more than 10% over ask. The homeowner felt “the value of the staging was fantastic."

10 Westover Terrace in West Orange sold after realtor Barbara Lawrence received three offers. In a challenging neighborhood “we didn't get over asking, but the fact that we got the reach asking price in this neighborhood is great!”

The property at 609 Observer Highway in Hoboken was sold by realtors Matt Brown and Peter Cossio. "Wendy and Tom helped us sell this property by recommending that the seller paint sections of the apartment to neutralize the color palette and by fully staging the unit after the sellers moved out," said Cossio. "We had a buyer come to see the property before and after staging and they were pleasantly surprised by the improved look…at first they didn’t even recognize that it was the same unit! We spent 90 days on the market without selling it but it was sold in 3 weeks post-staging makeover!”

Realtor Sarah Z. Macyshyn of Weichert Realtors sold 3 Rutgers St. after receiving 11 offers, four of which were for over 800k. Macyshyn sent a sweet note that said "We would not have done as well without your fabulous eye and incredible touch. And from a Realtors standpoint you were wonderful to work with."

After one week on the market, realtors Heather Gilheany and Suki Marsh were in contract on 77 Duffield Dr., with multiple offers and a sale price over asking. “The staging provided a clear vision for the homes' potential for the new buyers. It was a lovely house and the staging created a home.”

Staging a flip is a fun 'from scratch' kind of project, but we love staging a well-loved family home too. Every job is a creative opportunity, and a pleasure. Thanks for reading and please like us on Facebook!

To arrange a consultation, please contact us:
stagedrighthomesteam@srhomesonline.com
Call Wendy McEwan at (973) 727-1857
Call Tom Partello at (917) 213-9103

Thanks for reading!
Best wishes,
Wendy & Tom

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