The Stage Coach was made aware of this product by a friend who runs a Home Cleaning Service: Lemi Shine. The primary use is to help remove hard water stains from glasses while in the dishwasher.  If you live in Central Texas, you are probably more than tired of the issues from hard water, high [...]

As an Austin Home Stager, I like to know what is happening in the local Real Estate Market.  I have searched on the web numerous times and there is only one place that consistently provides good statistical numbers and insight into current market conditions: Crossland Real Estate’s Blog For every month of the year, the [...]

I keep a cooler for transporting candles and soaps in the Summertime. While performing a Setting the Stage service today, I found this little Gecko had stowed away. Posted from WordPress for Android

The Stage Coach just configured WordPress for Android and is posting a sample blog from his phone… wonder if I can add photos this way… hmmm… Posted from WordPress for Android

Coming Soon 4 Bedroom Home in Granada Oaks – Austin – 78737 The Stage Coach provided a Basic Stage Coaching with Home Staging Evaluation Report Card Service… …where we come out to the home and go room to room with the owners and/or REALTOR discussing each room and what attention is required. Pictures are usually [...]

One of the REALTORs that I keep up with on Facebook posted a link to a Yahoo Real Estate News Article this morning that caught my eye.  It was called: “Renovating Doesn’t Pay Off Like It Used To” by Les Christie.  If you’re interested in reading the original article, it’s available at REALTOR.org: “2009 Cost vs. Value Report” by By G.M. Filisko.

A rush of thoughts has come to mind reading both of these articles.  First and foremost, Isn’t “All Real Estate LOCAL?” It’s kind of cliche, but what’s working here in Austin is not necessarily going to apply in San Francisco or Las Vegas. That makes my recommendation to only take this article at its face value because it is based on National Averages. 

The Yahoo Real Estate article mentions that High-end Kitchen remodels are not paying off… well, it shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that spending apx $112,000 (Yahoo’s Avg for 2009) was not a good selling strategy.  You’d have to be in a very specific market for a long period of time for a six figure renovation to pay for itself.  There are some areas of Austin where people have owned homes for a while that this could apply to… if you were the original owner who purchased the home in the 1970′s…

Instead of picking apart both of these articles on the minutia, let me just make one recommendation:  Discuss the need for renovations with your REALTOR.  When they are working up the comps for the pricing of your home, they should also be making notes of features of the homes that are selling.  And they should be informing you what the builders in the neighborhood are doing.

My favorite example:  granite counter tops.
It’s not uncommon to hear an agent recommend granite counter tops as an upgrade in preparation for selling your home. After all, they always add granite on HGTV. [Wretch!] Granite is NOT Always the answer!  But if your REALTOR is able to show you that 3 out of 4 of the homes in your area that sold in the last 60-90 days had granite counter tops, it’s time to consider it.  Then, if they show you that granite is a upgrade featured in new home construction in your immediate area and is already installed in their available spec homes, then you are going to have to seriously consider doing the work.  But if neither of these hold true, do not put the money into your counter tops if it could be used more appropriately elsewhere!

As your Home Stager, I can help you complete the renovations and repairs, but I lack the access REALTORs have to the local market sales and statistics. That’s why I like to consider each home a partnership opportunity.  The REALTOR can do what they do best: Price, Market and Sell the home.  While The Stage Coach will stick to what we do best: getting your home in Sell-Ready condition.