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April 2009 Newsletter
April 2009 - Issue 26 < >
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Greetings!
2009 Happy New Year

The "Cars" section of this month's Consumer Reports magazine starts with this sentence: "Maintaining your car's appearance is a big part of optimizing its resale value." This is the same analogy that we use when we talk to homeowners and Realtors about the importance of home staging and the benefits of making a house's appearance, in addition to the condition of property, as appealing to the potential buyers as possible. If sellers detail their cars to get top dollar, it certainly makes sense to do the same for the most valuable asset that you own.

As we pass this year's tax return deadline, I wanted to remind you that, as mentioned in Consumer Reports last year, 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. Please consult your accountant for tax advice; the related information is found in IRS Publication 523.

Please call now to have your house or listings staged for the market. REMEMBER, right pricing gets you in the game, and home staging gets you the offer!

Best regards,
Trish

Before Picture
 Before 		After Picture
 After

When the owners of this 3-level, 1-car garage, end-unit townhome in Sterling called us for an initial staging consultation and listing agent recommendation, the referral went to the team of Kristen Roberts and Joyce Bush of Long and Foster in Leesburg. We teamed up with Kristen and Joyce on 4 listings in Leesburg in 2008 alone, with a stunning success rate: an average of 35 days on the market compared to the average 101 days for Loudoun County in the same period.

The owners cooperated with us on our recommendations for paint colors and de-cluttering as well. The team at Staged Interior performed our "usual miracle" to transform this house with a "WOW" impact for the potential buyers. The outcome? A ratified contract in just 11 days.

Team up with us and increase your real estate business with our referrals. This truly is win-win-win teamwork!
Before Picture
 Before 		After Picture
 After

As some of homeowners who have the flexibility to wait to sell their homes are opting to remodel, the general home improvement contractors that we know are saying they have been extremely busy. When I taught at Anne Arundel Community College Women's Institute on "Marketing Your Home" last month, one question I received dealt with which home improvements will get the most value out of remodeling. I stressed the importance of siding and window replacement and kitchen renovations give the seller the highest ROI. For minor remodeling, strategies as simple and economical as de-cluttering and painting inside and out with trendy colors can create a "WOW" impact.
(2008 Cost vs. Value Reports is also a great resource and is available on Realtor.com.)

We prepared a virtual tour of some of the remodeling projects our customers or we were involved in. One of the services that I offer is to provide remodeling and color consultation for your projects. Please call to set up an appointment before you knock a single wall down!

Barb Schwarz
Just like not all real estate agents are Realtors, not all home stagers are Accredited Staging Professionals, or ASPs, which is the only nationally accredited and certified designation in the home staging industry. As the only Charter Lifetime ASP Master in Virginia and of only a handful nationally, and as the 2008 President of the Washington DC chapter of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, I have been on the forefront, educating homeowners and Realtors alike on the importance of working with ASPs and becoming an ASP.

Every month I receive numerous inquiries about how to be trained as an ASP Realtor, ASP Stager, or ASP Master. In the link below, the creator of this home staging industry and the guest speaker at National Association of Realtors national conventions, Barb Schwarz, speaks to you directly on the benefits of working with and becoming an ASP.

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 the Washington DC Metropolitan area since 1988. She is the CEO and staging consultant for Pendleton & Young, Inc., doing business as Staged Interior. She is an ASP Master (ASPM) and was personally trained and mentored by Barb Schwarz, the creator of the home staging concept. 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 our "Before and After" photo/virtual tour presentations. Trish is the one-and-only charter lifetime ASP Master in Virginia and is President of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IASHP). Trish is married to her husband Young Kim, an ASP, and has two grown children and a daughter-in-law in Fairfax. She has also mastered the art of spoiling her two precious grandchildren, Jake and Tasha.

Staged Interior TeamOur Staging Team

It takes more than one person to accomplish a home staging project. That's why we work with a talented team of ASPs. Under Trish's leadership, our energetic team collaborates to effectively create polished and beautiful results. And we have a lot of fun doing it, too! Utilizing the ASP Code of Ethics and Standards as a foundation, each member brings her experience, talent, creativity, and yes, muscle power, to the team. We all share in the joy and satisfaction of each staged and sold home!

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

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