PILLOW FIGHT!

A few weeks ago a local throw pillow creator “PILLOW FIGHT!” reached out to me and said, “Hey check out our pillows, you like them, could you use them for home staging in Portland or Seattle?” I replied, “Heck yeah! How about if we create a challenge for our home stagers and have them stage a room based off your pillows?” They sent over four sets of pillows and we created four rooms based on what we had received. The fabrics are beautiful, they have just the right amount of duck down and feather filling. Check out what we created together:

 

The deep blue and gold of this hounds tooth pillow inspired our designer to create a lusciously rich primary bedroom. She knew the gold lamps would work perfectly with the houndstooth pattern, navy coverlet and pillows as well as the velvet gold throw pillows used behind the pillows.

 

At first look, an untrained eye might only see the elegant plum coral fronds covering this pillow. We might fail to see the matte charcoal gray background. This color combination inspired us to create a lovely twin bedroom with the color combination of plum and grey. The result is a restful sophisticated twin room any mom would die for!

 

We found this blue, intentionally distressed ikat pillow to be super inspirational. We used the navy, light blue, and light grey together to stage a queen bedroom. The secret was using at least one item of each of the four colors to pull the entire room together.

 

We love this interpretation of the chevron pattern with an onion dome influence. The emerald center strip is definitely the super star of this pillow. We wanted to keep it this way. We used the navy blue and white to fill the space and make the emerald strip large and in charge.

HOW TO REFRESH A STALE LISTING

“Days on Market” can be an anxiety-inducing stat for any listing. We’re asked to jump into a relisting process all the time when the first attempt wasn’t successful. These lonely properties left on the market for too long are called “Stale Donuts.” They no longer have that sticky-sweet, fresh and desired appeal and instead reek of “sad leftovers.” Not the emotion you are going for when trying to sell a home quickly and for the most money! 

We’ve collected the best tips from pros in the industry to remove and relist a property so that it looks like an entirely new home and new listing! Here is our 10 Step Plan to Relisting a Stale Donut. 

Step #1: Kill the Listing

Sellers are often afraid to remove the listing because they think their ideal buyer is “coming any minute.” The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If your home has been listed for months on end, the current strategy hasn’t worked.  It’s time to change it up. In order to do that, you’re going to have to start from scratch and completely re-evaluate the situation. 

Step #2: Move Out

Generally, if your home has been sitting for a long time the reason is one of two major offenders: priced too high or presented poorly.  It may also be a combination of: vacant, empty and not showing well bare; priced too high; occupied and just looks like hell; or terrible staging.  Start with the vacating property and getting out of there. Pack up your stuff, relocate, go to an Airbnb, find a rental apartment, move into the vacation house that you have at the beach, go to the ADU that's in the backyard, get out of that house. Unfortunately, you are stopping the sale. Clearing out of the space gives you the opportunity to really prep the house for the next buyer.  

Step #3: Consult a Home Stager 

Home stagers know how to sell homes and they are coming to judge yours.  This is actually their greatest value. A home stager is going to be the first one to say, "Look, you have to repaint the bathroom, you have to get rid of that brown sponge-paint." You'll be like, "Why?" And the stager will say, "Well, it’s a huge turn off to the next buyer and makes this space look darker." The blunt honesty of telling you what will and will not appeal to the future buyer is no reflection of the home you LOVED, only the home you are trying to sell to another family. 

You should not pay a home stager for a consultation. It’s their job to tell you how to get that house ready for market. They're going to give you a lot of fantastic advice but you will not need to confirm a “yes or no” during that meeting.  All you're going to do is take notes of that advice.

Once the home stager is gone, then you're going to take that list and assign three values to each item: time, money, and energy. Once you have those three values assigned you can make a decision if you're going to do each one of those things or not. Take a breather after the stager leaves, assign reasonable numbers to each task and make a logical decision not an emotional one. 

Step #4: Execute the Scope of Work

Now you have that precious to-do list. That might mean you hire contractors, or DIY it, do some landscaping, painting, etc. Depending on the condition of the house, there may be a lot of moving parts. Coordinate with your people, create a timeline for these tasks and get organized. Figure out which you can do yourself and which you need to hire out. 

Step #5: Stage It

Finally, all the basics of the home are set and well-prepared for the next family. Now it’s time to SHOW OFF the features and functionality of the home so your ideal buyer will know from first glance what their life will look and feel like. This is when you're going to hire a home stager (hopefully Spade and Archer). They have the expertise in selling homes, skill in design and all the furniture ready to create a drop-dead gorgeous listing.  Your professional home stager will cost you around one to two percent of your final sales price, but they're going to bring you upwards of 10% more money at closing time. 

Your home stager is going to create a design using furniture, color and art in your house that is not reflective of your personal style choices. In fact, of all the people in the world who might buy your house, you are not one of them. Your home stager is going to design for the 90th percentile of people that are looking at your house so they can garner the most offers in the least amount of time. This is not about your taste, this is about visual merchandising for a product that you have to sell, and that's it. 

Bad staging can do more harm than good. Seriously reconsider hiring that budget stager. They might be more of a hindrance than a help. When it comes to comparing a cheap stager to a true professional, it's like having K-Mart compete against Nordstrom. Which one will you trust the largest investment of your lifetime to?

Step #6 Re-Document the Home

Your house is now perfect and ready for visitors – so let’s show it off with a show-stopping listing. This will include fresh photos, videos, 3D walkthrough, floor plans and a written description.  

Use these new items  to create a single property website. If you have a stale donut, having a single property website is going to allow you to control the narrative around this project.  While it will cost a little bit more, it is worth it. A professional real estate photographer will work wonders for that fresh listing.  

Step #7 Create a New Listing

Create a new MLS number so you can re-assign that to this fresh listing and no longer associate it with the old listing. You may be welcoming back home shoppers that had previously seen the home. Ideally, we want them thinking this is a whole new property.  

Step #8 Change the Price

Again, it’s usually one of two reasons why houses don't sell. The home is either overpriced or it’s not prepared correctly. If you are not prepared to drop your price a single dime, then raise the price by $10,000 dollars, or by $5,000 dollars, or by something, by anything. The way that people search for properties today is that they go to a listing website and they put in their price range. $400,000 to $500,000. And if your number comes up in that same exact range, you're only hitting those people that are looking for $400,000 to $500,000. Give them a slightly different searching number so they’ll get a slightly different demographic of people looking for this space.

Step #9 Create that Momentum

It’s a celebration! Pre-pandemic this would be the best time for a little house party! These days agents are creating excitement with technology and social media.  Any way that you can get people to view the home online will work! You have a stale donut on your hands and it's toxic. The second you can change the narrative around that project, the faster you will sell that house.

Step #10: Sell the House

Which brings us to step number ten: sell the freaking house. After online hub-bub, organize your leads, have private showings and watch those bids come in. Good luck!

Need a professional home stager to assess your stale donut? Here are the 4 easy steps to working with Spade and Archer to create a fresh listing: 

  1. Get your Instant Pricing.

  2. Schedule a Site Visit with us and we'll assess the property

  3. Schedule your Installation, we will send you a contract and invoice in short order

  4. Sell the house and schedule your Destage

It may seem like a lot to re-list, but with our "Exceptional Home Staging, Made Easy" process at Spade and Archer, it couldn't be more seamless. Have questions or find yourself wondering if you have a Stale Donut? Start with a quote with our Instant Pricing and one of our design managers will come out and visit your property. Let's sell it together!

Working with Spade and Archer has never been easier!

We are always making it easier and easier to work with Spade and Archer Design Agency. We were the first to introduce Guaranteed (Pay-At-Close) staging, Instant Scheduling and most recently Instant Pricing. We are constantly looking for ways to meet and anticipate the needs of our clients.  Because of our innovation, working with us might look a little different than your previous stagers. Here’s a breakdown of what working with us will look like in four easy steps…

  • STEP 1: GET YOUR INSTANT PRICING. Every single project starts with a full quote from our website. After just a few minutes, you know exactly what your project will cost and which pricing plan you’d like to choose. We suggest running a few quotes so you can compare your options.

  • STEP 2: BOOK YOUR FREE SITE VISIT Once you have your instant price the next step is to book your site visit. You can do this and "Step 3: Book Your Installation" at the same time. Both can be completed in less than 10 minutes. A member of our team will stop by your property, take pictures, prepare floor plans as well as a list of items we feel should be done prior to staging to make your house sell the fastest and at the highest price. 

  • STEP 3: BOOK YOUR INSTALLATION This is when you can use that awesome discount code! By providing us with your contract information we will create your contract and invoice and email them to you directly. You can sign and pay all at one. This can be done at the same time as Step 2: Book your site visit.

  • STEP 4: BOOK YOUR DESTAGE  Once your project is complete, its fast and easy to book your de-stage. Be sure to provide us with 10 days notice prior to removal of your staging.

We've never shared behind the scenes of a home stage like this before! In this video we will show you the thoughtful, intricate, and lengthy process of preparing a home stage -- which starts in the warehouse! Spade and Archer Founder, Justin M. Riordan, will choose each element we bring to a house and walks you through the decision-making process.

Working with a home stager has never been easier. Let us know of any concerns you may have in navigating the staging system.  We are here to help you sell, and we look forward to learning about your upcoming staging needs. View our digital brochure here. 

Guaranteed Home Staging® Success Stories

You might still be wondering why our Guaranteed (Pay-At-Closing) Staging Program would be a good choice for your next listing. It's a question we are asked often. You've heard our pitch and we've shared our story on what started the program in the first place -- paying a stager to fail to sell your house is wrong. Staging matters more than ever in this market of virtual touring experiences. The market is also shifting at a near-constant pace, so why gamble on your staging investment?

For those who are still seeking reasons why Guaranteed Staging by Spade and Archer is the best option, we've gathered a few Guaranteed success stories to share. Here are a handful of real listings along with the numbers and data from their sales. Read on to learn how this risk-free staging option enhances the listing experience, increases offers, and gives comfort to a commonly stressful process.

Selling the property is a huge win for any client.  But here’s what we get excited about when we celebrate a true Return-On-Investment (ROI):

  • Selling the home for over asking

  • Selling the home in days instead of weeks or months

  • A successful sale after re-listing a stale property

 

GUARANTEED SUCCESS: 2315 Holgate Square
Pending in 10 days and SOLD for $75,000 over asking!

This unique home with a specific, multi-level floor plan on quirky Lincoln Heights block could have resulted in a challenge to maintain interest from buyers. With a tight budget for staging such a large home, our Guaranteed program offered a way to show a fully staged listing with a low up-front staging cost of just $750. The customized floor plan became recognizable, and the audience of established buyers felt the ability to provide family comforts within the home's modern design. But what was most exciting for us is that we were able to provide a bonus for the sellers as they sold well over the asking price, getting a staging ROI of $63,201. 

 

GUARANTEED SUCCESS: 931 Norumbega Drive
 Project Active, no staging fees being paid while listed.

In a family-friendly, foothills neighborhood filled with midcentury suburban homes that are known to take a minute to sell, this renovated home perched on a south-facing hillside was listed at the peak of the country's initial pandemic concerns. Listings were paused with many questions on where the market would trend in the aftermath, but this listing team persisted, knowing they wouldn't fall victim to a pile of staging fees along the way. With Guaranteed, the full staging can exist for the length of the listing, and payment isn't required until the house sells through closing, and we won't change our rate or add fees along the way either. 

 

GUARANTEED SUCCESS: 9227 Orizaba Avenue
On market for 4 months prior to staging.
Staged, re-listed and sold with Guaranteed! 

A midcentury home in a slower, winter market left this updated family home in an awkward situation. Its larger square footage with plenty of bedrooms brought great appeal, but the open common area floor plan was a challenge for first-time buyers who struggled to imagine its potential without the help of great staging. Fortunately, our Guaranteed program rendered the results these sellers were wanting after months of attempts prior to staging for a strong sale. With a fully furnished floor plan, buyers could differentiate the rooms online and were finally able to make sense of the open common space. Best part? We were with the sellers every step of the way, providing support for their listing in a frenzy of unknowns as they wouldn't owe us a thing if the house didn't sell… but like 98% of all our Guaranteed projects, this one sold, too. 

 

GUARANTEED SUCCESS: 5518 46th Avenue South 
Pending in six days sold $141,000 over asking! 

There are many sought-after single family homes in Seattle which would take little to no time to sell. Though with the lack of predictability among us these days, this recent listing story is an exciting one worth telling. It was time to downsize for this family who lived, loved, laughed, you name it in this Seattle craftsman for 15 years. A home like that is bound to have some repairs lingering here and there, and maybe a few touches to refresh for selling. Our list of Priority Preparations was a bit more in-depth given the situation (which is a sign of a life well-lived, really.) Replace some tiles here, revamp the yard a bit there, etc, and the home was like new again for eager buyers. The agent listed the house very competitively at the end of February 2020, right after news of a pandemic flooded the news and Seattle learned it had the first case of Covid-19 in the US. There was a mad dash to make-do with what listings there were out there, and boy did this one go fast! And not only that, but thanks to the refreshing updates and thoughtful staging, this home sold for $141,000 over asking! It was a dream come true for the agent and for the sellers...and for us as well, as we helped accomplish a daunting task of selling a home amidst a very concerning time. 

Pricing that fits you right

At Spade and Archer, we want you to know you have options when it comes to pricing.  We know that selling a home can be a chaotic and emotionally charged time, so we’ve developed a number of ways to make home staging the least stressful part of your listing. 

GOOD NEWS! You can sign up to receive our exclusive discount codes newsletter. Be in the know about what’s going on at Spade and Archer and take advantage of awesome savings when ever you need home staging. Sign up here.

Quoting your next project always begins with Instant Pricing available through our website. Simply answer a few questions and -- Presto! You get pricing emailed directly to you within minutes. During the Instant Pricing process you’ll be sent both Conventional Home Staging (Pay-Up-Front) and  Guaranteed Home Staging® (Pay-At-Closing) pricing options automatically so you can compare them to each other.

Conventional Home Staging is exactly what you expect. You pay-up-front for the installation and monthly rental fees until you de-stage. 

Guaranteed Home Staging® is a game changer! So let’s break down that process into some detail as you are probably getting introduced for the very first time! 

  • With Guaranteed Home Staging®, we don’t get paid until you get paid. With only a $750 deposit, we will stage the entire property, inside and out, for an unlimited duration period. You pay no ongoing rental fees. Once the house sells, we will apply that $750 deposit to the payment as a percentage of the final sales price through closing. If the house does not sell, we actually give the $750 back and you pay nothing. It’s literally Guaranteed. 

  • After you receive your Instant Pricing, you can schedule a Site Visit online and one of our Design Managers will come out to the property to take pictures and determine what preparations need to be done to qualify for Guaranteed Home Staging®. You will receive an email with our list of Priority Preparations which are any changes, fixes, or updates to be completed prior to staging. We are in essence partnering with you on the listing, and since we don’t get paid until it sells, just like you, we want the home to look its best so that it can sell for the highest price in the shortest time. 

  • We are committed to helping you sell your property, and that is why we developed Guaranteed Home Staging® to align everyone’s interests. We are all equally invested in the outcome and are all on the same team.

We want you to feel comfortable with your decision, so we offer easy pricing, thoughtful options, and top-notch service. Still have questions? Visit our FAQs page or give us a call! We are here for you, and we’re happy to help.

Have you ever wondered why site visits are a requirement to stage with Spade and Archer? This video will take you on a step-by-step tour of a site visit, carefully detailing the intricacies of one of the company's most valuable steps in the design process. Watch as our Founder, Justin Riordan, shows how we became the World's first Guaranteed home stager.