Top 5 Staging Tips I Learned at HGTV: Wow-Appeal for Real Estate

Staging plays a very important role in real estate and we all know that first impression counts. Simply put homes that look good  tend to be more desirable to buyers. I spent over 5 years working on shows like House Hunters, House Hunters International, My House is Worth What?, and Designers’ Challenge. Staging and design were a major player in all of these shows. So what tips did the trick?

1. Curb appeal is a must! A welcoming, manicured entry is critical because some potential buyers will not even set foot inside if they are turned off by the exterior.

2. Lose the clutter. Furniture, accessories, toys, pictures that in excess are distracting and a recipe for a longer market time.

3. Use rooms for what they are intended. For instance, you may use a formal living room as a toy room but in order to appeal to buyers you need to showcase the function of a space. When selling, find someplace out of the way to keep the toys and make the living room for living.

4. Paint with purpose. Yes paint is a simple fix for a buyer but when you are selling it’s smart to make the home as desirable as possible. Neutral colors are best because they tend to have universal appeal. However neutral does not have to equal boring – It’s ok to have color! But really bright, really dark, or really taste specific colors are a harder sell because a lot of people can’t visualize the potential.

5. Kitchens are VIP. Even if you don’t upgrade a kitchen, make sure it’s warm and functional for cooking. Kitchens sell homes! Take care to make it picture perfect: clean it to the extreme, clear off the countertops, add some tasteful accessories like fresh fruit, a cookbook, and a clean dish towel. Make sure the paper towels are full, the pantry is organized (yes, buyers will look in it!), the dish rack is tucked away, and the dishes are all in the cabinets or in the dishwasher.

Buying a home is buying a dream. Yes, many people like to transform spaces into their own but first they need to be wowed. These staging tips will significantly help your wow-appeal.

Working in real estate now in Orange County, CA, these tips are ones that I regularly share with sellers. If you’d like me to give you tips please contact me at Torelli Realty – I love to share tips!

What other staging tips do you think should be in the followup post?

Social Media Adventures 101 – Takeaways From Product Camp SoCal

Product Camp SoCal

Product Camp SoCal was held at Cal State Fullerton on November 6, 2010. Here’s some of my takeaways:

-Never let the company heads be the only people in charge of figuring out what you should have on your website. You need experts to help determine different personas. Why? You need to be outside the ‘bubble.’ Oftentimes the people who are fully vested in the company are out of touch with what website visitors are really looking for or how they are finding your site.

-Make sure your website is user-friendly.

-Keep as much info as possible above the fold. This means that your visitors won’t have to necessarily scroll down to find important information.

What other tips do you have to share?

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Adventures 101 – Updates from SMMOC September 18, 2010

9:00am September 18, 2010: SMMOC Lab

Social Media Masterminds Orange County (@smmoc) was as devilishly good as ever last weekend (I’m a week behind!). We started off by talking about website hosting. I often wonder how people ever got work done before the Internet in a timely manner. (Yes, I’m the Product of Generation X… Generation Y is worse!) No matter how you slice it, we’re so used to instant gratification that we freak when sites go down. Really, how bad is it? Let’s put it in perspective. If my real estate website goes down it probably won’t yield catastrophic results for a few hours. We still have ways to get people the information they need.  What websites do you feel are essential to have working without disruption?

Facebook Revolution

I’ve been toying with ways to expand my reach on Facebook. I’ve loved using the 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa Facebook page (which I link to my website). Many of us have seen that contests and interaction are key. For instance the Sanyo Dual Camera Facebook page is doing a cool giveaway. Another website to consider is Social Rewards. I have just emailed them to find out more and will follow up soon. It definitely looks like a great way to generate buzz but I can’t speak to the price as of yet.

Ways to gain sign ups: Go to website, download free ebook, specific instruction for something to do, upload video to youtube

The Power of Youtube

Guess what? Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. Since so many people are searching this way, adopting a Youtube strategy is key if it fits your business. The company I work for, Torelli Realty, certainly uses Youtube. You may not even think it suits your business but get creative and think about ways you can use Youtube to educate, entertain, or show customer satisfaction testimonials.

Don’t be Creepy – Video Tips

Coming from a video production background, I totally agree with the tips given by @melaclaro:

Make sure to provide a suitable context for where you are, use a flattering camera angle, as much lighting as possible, and the best audio available (discussed above)

One Last Thought:

Some people are wondering if they even NEED a website anymore? The answer is YES! It’s possible that Facebook & Twitter could go the way of Myspace. You still need a place to drive people to where you can collect contact information and provide information.

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Adventures 101 – My 1st Video Blog!

youtube= [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHq_YkbdiX0]

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Adventures 101 – Agent Reboot San Diego

Inman News presented it’s third California edition of Agent Reboot today in San Diego. Lucky must be my middle name because I got to be a Reboot Groupie yet again and the truth is that I was able to take away MORE information. Thankfully by now a good deal of the presentations were a nice recap and motivator. (I’m glad for that because implementing the ideas takes time and I am dying to get to them all!) Here’s a couple of brief videos as well as an overview of some of the key points that really hit home for me:

That’s me! (What a groupie!)

Thanks Steve Frawley of Torelli Realty!

-Using social media isn’t the answer to making a sale however it’s a fantastic way to stay in touch with your clients and grow relationships. This helps to create a natural way to communicate with current and future clients without being like a cheesy “car-salesman.”

-I loved the phrase “Twitter-lurker” that @staceyharmon and @linsey threw out there.  It may sound like a dark term however it really allows you to observe people in the Twitter space that you want to connect with or potentially work with.

-Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics are a great way to measure your social media hits and misses.

-The wise message of @MarketLeader are ones I feel are worth sharing: In order to convert online leads you need 3 things:

            -To be found

            -To be available

            -To be involved

Several agents from my company came to the conference today and I am thrilled that they got to learn about some of the ways they can use both technology and social media to leverage their businesses.

About Holly Schwartz: You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Adventures 101 – Updates from SMMOC August 21, 2010

Saturday mornings at SMMOC are intensely smart and innovative. So much so that some of members of the group decided to live blog since we were discussing www.coveritlive.com. Plus it’s free!!! You can even incorporate video into the blog post. Look at how @JeffreyFriend used it HERE. @Ericstegeman with @Tribus did one too HERE.  (One note – you may want an assistant so you can actually stay engaged in the event.)

Facebook places is a play for Facebook to go after Google in a big way. It’s kind of a way to integrate Foursquare into Facebook. Facebook is trying to create a story about each venue. As a former TV producer with HGTV I know that story is everything. What about privacy issues? You can check yourself in and tag friends who are at the same place as you. If you don’t want others to tag you, it’s possible to adjust your provacy settings. You can do this by going to your Facebook Account page, go to Privacy Settings and scroll down to Things Others Share and disable the ability friends have to check you in.

Foursquare was initially started for competitive people who wanted to be rewarded for the places they went. However the Facebook evolution is more about the psychology of how people interreact. People want to know where there friends were. Facebook Places has the ability to be HUGE!

Also another new Facebook development – if you “Like” a page you don’t need to auto tag anymore…  Just type the event/place name and it should auto tag and the comments to turn up on the page.

The power of Gowalla and coupons is really influential. Our group just got excited to hear about some of the rockin’ values available at nearby venues.

Here’s a hot resume tip: buy your name’s domain at dreamhost.com… Then use your name at your domain for your email address. This is a fantastic way to help you build your brand. Here are some wise words from @staceyharmon, “There’s so doubt that Internet marketing is not going away.”  Go ahead, buy domain names… They make a great baby shower gift!

There is an extreme tie to authenticity in social media. Yup, we did that as the show HOUSE HUNTERS turned more real.  Company’s need to evaluate what their core message is and make sure they send it.

Best ways to engage:

1. Demogragraphics- use social media to service community

2. Ask consumers questions

3. Thank people for their involvement

A great resource that I just joined is Sprouter – it’s like Twitter for the entrepreneur and they will be doing webcasts with major social media leaders.

You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!

Social Media Adventures 101 – ReBar Camp OC

Today was the buzzworthy REBarCampOC (@REBarCampOC) where over 400 participants converged on UCI for a day of open discussion about the latest social media marketing techniques that can help their businesses. One of the main topics was Facebook (everything online is about Facebook and Google these days!) Obviously people want to monetize Facebook. ”Play” to get pay.

Another phrase that stuck with me by Jim Marks (@jimmarks) is that social media marketing isn’t about conversation, it’s about conversion. Some of his ways of converting were surprisingly ”old skool” while others were just great strategies. Applications like Foursquare and Facebook Places (which isn’t live in the OC yet – boo!) are going to really make a splash.

It’s vital to be authentic and genuine in your postings. Those were actually key phrases we used at HGTV when I was producing for House Hunters. Keep reality reality! So don’t fake who you are or it’ll backfire when you try to work with a client IRL (oh yea, Twitter talk for in real life).

Bottom line, you still have to be a good communicator. Who wants to buy a house from a “machine”?  However you can use the computer to help you inject the human touch.

Technology is amazing – I’m all for it. It aids in what Scott Schang (@scottschang) talked about today, “attraction marketing.” You can build relationships with people because they like what you are saying and how you are relating. We just need to remember that in the end, it’s meant to help make it easier for us to develop RELATIONSHIPS!

Technology is changing by the second. We’re all adapting and we have to stay on top of it as it evolves. Remember, the tangible payoff may take awhile while you build up trust with your friends and followers. I’ll end this post with one of my favorite ideas, which Scott Schang put so eloquently at REBarCampOC: “Social media isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.”

Special thanks to Linsey (@linsey) and Stacey Harmon (@staceyharmon) for all their hard work setting up the event. It was fantastic to see so many friends from #SMMOC in attendance like my new tech guru @ericstregemann, @melaclaro, @topbrokeroc, @ricdizon, @therecoach, @emilyquestions, @funomenalRealtr, @markgundlach, @jjerryreed, @rachnicole, @kphamsmiles, and more… If I missed you please comment below & I’m sorry!

You can see how I am using the social media tactics at the Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty at our blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at our newest Facebook page 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa. Do you like what you see or do you have something for me to blog about? Let me know at hollyschwartzoc@gmail.com.

Holly’s on Facebook – join me!

Holly’s on Twitter – tweet with me!