Winnipeg's Real Estate Blog

Home-Staging Advice from a Professional (Part 1)

As a Canadian Staging Professional, with Beyond Belief Professional Home Staging Services, I wanted to give home sellers a few tips to help with the preparation of their home prior to being put on the market.

These tips and techniques can help you to secure the best possible price in the shortest period of time. I would advise homeowners to do a thorough walk through going from room to room. You need to do this objectively with the eyes of a potential buyer.

Using a paper and a pen divide three columns.

Column # 1 being: "What to really clean", Column # 2 “What to remove, store or relocate" and Column #3 “What to repair or replace".

When staging a property I look at what Canadian Stage Professionals call the "6F's".

1) Function: The buyer instantly understands the function of the room. Each room should be showcased for its original intent.  (Ex: a bedroom should look like a bedroom, a dining room should NOT be looking like an office space,  etc etc.)

Before

After

2) Focal Point: The place your eyes are drawn to when walking in a room. There are 3 types:

a.Natural-Window

b.Architectural-Fireplace

c.Non fixed-Furniture

3) Floor plan: Where things should go

4) Furniture: There are three basic components:

a.Furniture to enhance a focal point

b.Accessories to enhance furniture

c.Lighting to enhance room

 Before

After

5) Flow of Traffic: No items blocking pattern/flow of traffic

6) Feeling: Lifestyle selling.  (More on creating the right 'feeling' in another article.)

Leesa Johnson is a member of the Canadian Staging Professionals.  She can be reached via e-mail at leesa@bbhomestaging.com

“Where will the Winnipeg market go, and when will it end?

Trying to predict the market is like trying to predict the weather: there are simply too many factors involved to do it accurately.  Some of my colleagues thought it might have ended in 2006, but that was not the case.

This market is fuelled by several factors:  First time home buyers looking for their home and 'empty-nesters' looking to downsize.  Since both of these groups of people are looking for the same type of home, these smaller, entry-level homes, especially in the range of $150,000 to $200,000 are the big factor in this boom. We’ve now seen 1000-ft side-by-sides, without a garage, in the south end of the city, selling for around $170,000. Townhouse condos in one project jumped over 20%.

Another factor appears to be ex-patriots returning from other provinces, such as Alberta and Ontario.  Having sold their modest homes for HUGE dollars, these folks are returning to find that YES, $300,000 still buys a very nice home in Winnipeg.

So, if you are a home-owner, enjoy.

If you are home-buyer, waiting for this market to end may not be the best strategy. Annual price increases of 15 to 20% far outpace wage-hikes, so waiting to save a bit more money for that first home could mean falling further behind. 

Some buyers have expressed concern (or hope) that the bubble will burst, much like it has done in the U.S The U.S. market-drop came when several different problems combined to create a 'perfect storm' of sorts.

First, home-builders in the U.S. follow a different business plan than their Canadian counterparts:  For one thing, in the U.S. they build homes 'on spec', meaning that they just build them and hold them in inventory.  Builders may have a hundred or more homes, just sitting and waiting to be purchased, whereas in Canada, for the most part, the home is pretty much pre-sold. When a small drop in activity led to an overstock of homes, builders got scared and dropped prices and offered incentives so that first-time homebuyers could afford to buy these homes.

This led to storm #2:  Under-qualified buyers overextended their credit and purchased homes which were normally out of their price range.  When the short (6 month) mortgage re-opened at a higher rate, they suddenly could not afford to keep the house, and it went on the market, competing with other, new homes. This caused a drop in prices, in an effort to chase after buyers who were quickly starting to loose interest in what they saw was a burst in the market bubble.

This may be a bit of an over-simplification, however I hope it goes a little way to explaining what happened.  Aside from the difference in home-builder philosophies, our Canadian banks also have higher standards than their U.S. counterparts, further protecting the industry and home-buyers alike. While no one can predict where this will go, I also know some of my buyers who purchased a nice home 2 years ago for around $50,000 less than they would have paid today.

"Free 'Over-The-Net' Home Evaluation: What are they worth?

Over the past few years, advertisements for "Free "Over-The-Internet" home evaluations have increased in frequency.  Some ads even offer to do the evaluation based on only your postal code.  Recently, a home-owner made such a request of me, wanting an evaluation without my actually attending the home in question.  This has caused me to consider this issue and write about it.  Let's take a look at how value is determined in the first place:

The Owner sets the "Asking Price",....the Buyer determines "Value":  This adage is very true.  Quite frankly, the buyer does not care what the owner (or his agent) want for the house....buyers still shop the same way they always have, by comparison.  No one is likely to buy your home off the Internet, they have to come out and see it.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  So how could an evaluation, over the Internet and without physical examination of the home, be of ANY value? 

To make matters worse, there are now companies which have nothing whatsoever to do with Real Estate, but have been advertising these 'free evaluations'.  Once the home-owner contacts them, these companies then sell your information to a real estate agent who still has to come out and see your home to provide any useful appraisal or opinion.

So, best-case scenario is that the would-be seller (who asks for an over-the-net evaluation) ends up being contacted by a real estate agent who still needs to come out to the house anyway.

Worst-case scenario is that the home-owner ends up communicating with an "Internet Lead-Generating" company, who simply run an advertisement business and then sell your info back to an agent who is willing to pay for it.

Bottom Line?:  If you're thinking of selling your home, call a qualified Realtor directly.  Perhaps choose the one who sold you the home in the first place (if you can remember who that is), or pick one off a bus-bench, out of a Real Estate publication, or any other method you choose.  At least that way, YOU choose the Realtor.

Deposits: Why do we need it, and is it safe?

One question home buyers often ask is :  Why do we need to put up a deposit?

In some areas, (the U.S., for example) the deposit is referred to as "Earnest-Money".  It shows that the buyer is serious, and actually locks him/her into the deal.  Here is an example:

Mr. & Mrs. Brown put their house on the market in May, and receive an offer for $190,000 with a $500.00 deposit.  Possession date is 3 month down the road.  They (foolishly) accept this offer, and go on with their lives, perhaps buying a larger home.  3 weeks before possession date, they receive notice that the buyers have changed their minds:  perhaps they lost one of their incomes, or were transferred in their jobs, or found a better home.  No matter what the reason, the buyers want out.

The buyers would immediately lose their deposit of $500.00, and 'may' be sued by the Browns for more than that.  With the courts, who can tell what the final outcome will be, however more time and money will likely be lost in their effort to win this suit.

Now we can see why home-owners are well advised to take larger deposits.  I recently had a listing in the $140,000 range and received several offers on it.  One in particular came with a $50,000 deposit cheque......these people understood the meaning of "earnest money"......

Is the deposit safe?  Absolutely.  The cheque is made out to the Listing Company and goes into trust, where it is held until it is turned over to the homeowner on possession date.  If the offer is not accepted, the cheque is not cashed at all.  If the deal falls apart on conditions, (Ex: the buyer can't get financing, or the home inspection fails) then the deposit is returned to the buyer. 

More IS Better!  In this day of competing offers, homeowners are often impressed by larger deposits.  Naturally, the rest of the offer has to be acceptable as well, but if two offers for similar amounts are presented, the one with a $10,000 deposit may well be accepted over the one with $2,000 'earnest money'.