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August 2008 Newsletter
August 2008 - Issue 20 < >
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Greetings!

House with Sold SignI can't believe it's been almost three months since the last newsletter! So much has happened and so much more is on the horizon, I hardly know where to begin. Many houses have staged & sold in record time and we've had a great time staging many properties in different shapes and sizes. You'll see four of these properties featured below.

The highlight of the past months was the ASP Convention in Seattle Washington. We had a great time and came away inspired and excited with many new ideas and value-added services to enhance your business. You can read more about the successful time we had there. The Staging industry is also showing up in more national publications proving we're beginning to have an impact on the Real Estate industry as well as the general public. The Consumer Reports article is featured in this issue of our newsletter. This time of year we typically experience a lull in Real Estate activity, but there's a lot of encouraging signs such as multiple offers, quick sales, fewer contingencies and higher price points. All things we're seeing here at Staged Interior as our staged properties continue to sell quickly and for more money.

Please call now to have your house or listings staged for the fall market. Remember, friends don't let friends sell the house without staging.

Trish

Trish receives award
Last year when I attended the convention in Chicago for the first time, I did not know what to expect. I came away with such a wealth of knowledge and my ASPM Staging business took off. I went this year with high expectations to the Bellevue/Seattle Convention, but what Barb Schwarz and the Convention Committee put together raised the bar even higher. They were truly a class act! In addition to the knowledge, information, revelations and many "a-ha!" moments, the fun was multiplied many times with a total of 9 attendees from our Chapter.

The convention finale was in the Grand Ballroom with an ASP Masquerade Ball Dinner, Live Auction, Entertainment and Awards. For the awards, our chapter was one of the recipients of the Chapter Excellence Award, Michelle Morris of our chapter received the Rising Star Award, and I was honored to win 2008 Barb Schwarz Staging Excellence Award. To me this is like winning the best picture award at Oscar. Our chapter claiming 3 out of 4 of the awards was one of the indications that the ASP Staging industry on the East Coast has taken root.

I am excited to introduce some great ideas, better practices and value-added tools that I learned from the convention to enhance your real estate business or home sales experience as we work together as a team to have properties sold quickly and for maximized equity.
Before Picture of a vacant Family Room After Picture of a staged Family Room

Here's a parade of Staged Interior staged homes sold quickly. With different price points in different areas, some in a neighborhood with bank-owned properties and short-sales, this is proof that well-priced homes that show well with staging are still moving and moving fast. Please click on the Street address for the virtual tour of "Before & After" pictures.
MRIS Days Active
After Staging		 Street City Status Occupancy Type
FX6733630 4 2337 Sandburg St Dunn Loring Sold Occupied SFH
AR6712801 14 1533 N McKinley Rd Arlington Sold Occupied SFH
LO6733795 15 18278 Riviera Way Leesburg Sold Vacant SFH
LO6745140 18 18522 Sierra Springs Sq Leesburg Sold Occupied TH

"Thanks to the team at Staged Interior, our house looked so beautiful. We received a contract within two weeks of putting it on the market. Their work also gave me a lot of great ideas for the next time I arrange furniture in my home. Thank you so much!"

- Cris, Seller of McKinley Rd

In our last newsletter we presented the HGTV special report, which was concluded by top real estate experts, saying that not staging the house is the #1 mistake sellers make when selling a home. Since then a few more publications have voiced similar views on the importance of ASP Home Staging in the Real Estate Industry. That reminds me of what Barb Schwarz said at the convention that we are NOT in the decorating industry, but in the Real Estate Industry! One of my "A-ha" moments.

Consumer Reports Logo In one of the most recent articles, Consumer Reports magazine gave "Tips for Sellers" and one of the tips was to "Show your home like a pro" by hiring a professional home stager. It even advised consumers to visit our International Association of Home Staging Professionals' website www.iahsp.com to search for a stager. One of the statistics the article quoted was about one in ten of the sellers they surveyed said they wished they had made more cosmetic changes to their home before they put it on the market. The regret was expressed by an even higher percentage of sellers who sold their homes for significantly less than the original asking price. The article also mentioned that home staging is considered an "advertising fee" and can be subtracted from any gain on the sale of the house, along with the agents' commissions and legal fees. How about that!

In other news an article titled "All Their World's a Staging" in the Home & Garden section of the July 31st edition of the New York Times reports one of the best ways to set your house apart is to borrow a trick from professional set designers and stage your home, according to real estate experts. It also quoted our staging mama and the president of IAHSP, Barb Schwarz.

It is absolutely exciting to hear about our industry's impact on Real Estate sales and to have our association quoted and mentioned in these articles. It will be a huge market differentiator to you, a Realtor, an ASP Stager or a seller, as you practice the importance of home staging. Our goal at Staged Interior is to help these sellers become satisfied clients with sold homes rather than sellers regretting their decision not to stage. Let us help you educate your sellers and produce exciting results as we stage all our properties together for a quick sale and for more money.

Trish KimAbout Trish Kim

Charter Lifetime Accredited Staging Professional Master
2008 Barb Schwarz Staging Excellence Award Winner
2007 Barb Schwarz Staging Excellence Award Nominee
President, DC Chapter of
     International Association of Home Staging Professionals

Trish Kim has been bringing her clients unique interior design experiences in Washington DC Metropolitan area since 1988. She is the owner and design consultant of Pendleton & Young, Inc., doing business as StagedInterior.com, and is an Accredited Staging Professional Master - ASPM, the first and one of only two staging professionals with a Master designation in Northern Virginia as accredited by StagedHomes. StagedHomes is recognized as the leading international training organization, teaching staging professionals the skills to effectively stage homes for their clients and give them the Staged Home advantage. Trish was personally trained and mentored by Barb Schwarz, the creator of the staging home concept, and is a member of International Association of Home Staging Professionals, IASHP. Trish's strengths are in creative spatial arrangement, color coordination and composition, which create the "WOW!" factor so essential in giving sellers the needed edge in this market. Her talents are evidenced by the Before and After presentations. Trish is married to her husband Young Kim, an ASP and the business manager for Staged Interior, and has two grown children and a daughter-in-law in Fairfax. She also has mastered the art of spoiling two precious grandchildren, Jake and Tasha.

Staged Interior TeamStaged Interior Staging Team

All of the successful staging projects are not accomplished by one person but by many. With Trish's leadership and creativity, we work with a team of Accredited Staging Professionals (ASP's) and ASP's only. With ASP's Code of Ethics and Standards as the foundation, each member brings her experience, talent, creativity and, yes, muscle power to the team. The joy of successful staging and the quick sale thereof is shared by all team members.

Member of:

  • Northern Virginia Association of Realtors
  • Dulles Area Association of Realtors
  • International Association of Home Staging professionals
  • StagedHomes.com

Sincerely,

 Trish Kim
Accredited Staging Professional (ASP™) Master

phone: 703-261-7026

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Staged Interior | Pendleton & Young, Inc. | Centreville | VA | 20121