Tag Archives: home staging

How to Put Your Selling Clothes On

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My staff and I have just returned from the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market!

The Market is the perfect place to find affordable accessories for our homes, the homes that we stage to sell. Staging a home allows it to show better. It’s amazing what rearranging, adding some rugs, light fixtures and accessories will do to give a house new life on the internet! The internet has changed our way of selling houses. If your house doesn’t show well on the internet, the buyers will not come inside and look at it. Color intensifies on the internet and that’s why we always suggest neutral colors.

For more information about staging and selling your home, call Judi Starliper at 865-693-3232. We’ll show you how to get your selling clothes on!

Meet Linda Whitehead

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Linda Whitehead, home stager, extraordinaire

Linda Whitehead is the Home Evaluation and Decorating Consultant for Judi Starliper and the J-Star Team. Through her expertise she helps sellers have a stress-free experience. Homes are evaluated on a monthly basis to determine if improvement is needed in any area.

To get to know Linda better, we asked her some questions and here are her answers.

Any nicknames? “I’m known in the office as LW.”

Describe your family. “I’m married to a great husband for 41 years with two wonderful, married children and three amazing grandchildren who are the light of my world.”

Sum up your experience. “I attended the University of Tennessee and owned a wallpaper installation business for 20 years. Then, I went back to my design roots and started a design business, “LW Designs.” I have worked with Judi Starliper for 11 years as a design consultant and staging coordinator. This is the most rewarding because it gives me the opportunity to help sellers improve the condition of their home that is on the market. It’s particularly rewarding to see my suggestions implemented and a sale produced.”

Favorite Quote. “Love many things for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.” Vincent Van Gogh.

Hobbies. “I love drapery design, sewing and painting, with both watercolor and oil.”

Community involvement and volunteer work. “I’m involved with Second Harvest and the Love Kitchen.”

With whom you’d like to have a long lunch. “I’d like to meet Candice Olson for her design experience and great communication with the public. Billy Graham for his unfaltering faith, knowledge of the Bible and commitment to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Cat or dog person. “I love dogs. My grand-dog, Ginger recently passed away and she always greeted me with a wagging tail and encouragement to pet her. She only wanted to be loved and what more is there to life.”

Who has had the biggest influence on your life and why. “My husband, Jerry, has been the greatest influence on my life. He has love me for 41 years and has encouraged and motivated me to set goals that he knew I could accomplish. He has always made me feel important to him and gives me strength when times are rough. He is my world.”

Staged to Sell

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Staging your home to sell

Within the first 30 seconds, a potential buyer has already developed an opinion about a property for sale. Proper home staging guarantees that the seller’s opinion will be favorable.

According to experts, a well-staged home will spend 50 percent less time on the market. Also, a home that is properly staged will also sell for at least seven percent more than a comparable non-staged home.

When a house is listed for sale, it becomes a product. Home staging is a valuable marketing tool for the product.

Most sellers assume that since their home is decorated, that it’s show ready. Interior design is decorating your home to suit your tastes and preferences. Home staging is showcasing and neutralizing the home so buyers can envision it as their next home.

One of the absolute “musts” of home staging is de-cluttering. A buyer will not be able to overlook the junk piles to envision their furnishings in the home. Take a step-by-step, room-by-room approach to de-cluttering. Don’t forget the closets, they should look neat and orderly as well. Decorative storage baskets help conceal the personal belongings that can’t be boxed up and put into storage.

An obvious home staging step is to make any necessary repairs. Fix that creaking step and repair that cabinet door that’s askew. Also, neutralize interior paint colors, so they’ll look fresh and new, not off-putting.

Another step to de-cluttering is removing personal touches, like family photographs and collectibles. Buyers don’t want to see your family, they want to envision their family in the space.

The final step of staging is the smell test. Have a trusted friend or relative come to your home and give it a sniff. Any pet odors or musty smells?

If you’re about to put your house on the market, contact Judi Starliper and the J-Star Team. Linda Whitehead is the J-Star Team’s expert home evaluation specialist who helps sellers have a stress-free experience. She can determine what areas of a property need improvement to help sell your home quickly and for a maximum return on your investment.