In previous posts I have mentioned the importance of a staged home, briefly outlined the things a professional stager will do for your home and even blogged about things you should look for in a professional stager. Still not convinced that this approach to selling a home pays off? You’re probably visual, so here’s hard evidence. In the following photos you will note the dramatic differences in each “Before” and “After” shot. At this time I would also like to note that in many cases, the only cost to the client is paying for the stager’s time. In my experience, we are usually able to use the client’s existing furnishings, although some items may need to be purchased or rented depending upon the situation. Your realtor may even purchase the stager’s time for you so that you do not have this added (although worthwhile) expense. Many of the homes I stage are completed in one day and result in a less cluttered, more spacious layout that grabs buyers’ attention before they’ve even passed through the foyer.

A master bedroom & living room with their "Before" and "After" shots

The above rooms were staged by Designing Diva Interiors, LLC. The photos below were staged by others. All are prime examples of how home staging-when done right- utilizes what already exists to bring out the very best in each room.

This outdated bathroom gets a makeover that appeals to buyers without costing the homeowner a fortune.A cluttered bedroom never goes over well. This stager presented the room's best attributes with small changes!

Designing Diva Interiors LLC is proud to work with Edmond Realtors to sell homes faster and often times for more money!

Jennifer Hicks is a Certified Interior Decorator and Owner of Designing Diva Interiors, LLC

We moved to Oklahoma just over a year ago. Three weeks before relocating my wife and I visited the State for the very first time. I’m from the East Coast and Maureen is from Denver. So we feel a bit like expats trying to learn the traditions and customs of our host culture. This is familiar territory for us, as more than six of our nine years of marriage have been spent outside the U.S. I hope my misunderstandings and discoveries can help Okies see themselves through the eyes of an outsider, as well as giving “foreigners” an internal view of Oklahoma.

One of my first lessons happened soon after landing in tornado alley.  

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The title says it all… there’s really no other way to sum up what’s happening in the Oklahoma City real estate market lately.

For the past year, although certain aspects of the market have been unpredictable, we’ve seen fairly-steady growth, and respectable levels of home sales in the OKC metro, especially in comparison with the rest of the country. With that in mind, most of us headed into Summer anticipating that a time which is traditionally a busy few months would be just that, busy.

Yes, we knew that the largest stimulus in the the history of our country was coming to an end, but absorption rates were healthy and interest rates were at unprecedented lows (and still are), and the next few months are that time of year when the kids are out of school and many people are ready to make their move.

We were wrong.

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While many may believe that Realtors® are just money-hungry salespeople, we take joy in far more than just the commission check. Our real goal is the smile.

Our stellar buying specialist, Brian Russell, just scored a big one:

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much we appreciated working with Brian through the process of house hunting and ultimately closing on our new home yesterday.  He is a great asset to your company.

I originally reached out to Brian about 6 weeks ago after seeing one of his listing on line. Brian was very proactive in following up and setting us up with our customized list of homes (great interactive tool by the way). He has been quick to answer all of our questions throughout the process and has always been available to help us with inspections, lender issues, setting up additional/multiple showings, etc.  He listens well and quickly got a feel for our personalities and what we were looking for in a home. Plus he has a good sense of humor- and my wife likes him which is no small feat.

Our initial house hunting trip was somewhat spur of the moment and included about 14 houses we wanted to see. Brian was able to make all the arrangements to fit our schedule without much lead time. He was a good sounding board as we discussed pros and cons and gave us his honest opinion when asked. One thing I noticed as a sales professional myself for the last 17 years is that Brian seems to have mastered the art of being assertive without seeming to be assertive. He helped us move through the “paralysis by analysis” that often comes when you are trying to decide among multiple houses and working to narrow it down to the “one”. Very beneficial as we needed to transition quickly since I am changing roles and locations within my company.

We will recommend Brian and Paradigm AdvantEdge Platinum Partners to others.  Feel free to post our feedback in your client references section.

Matt Kirt

Hey friends!  So, in the last few months, all hail broke loose!  Okay, now that I got the cheesy jokes out, let’s talk insurance!  On May 16th, 2010, Oklahoma City was struck suddenly with a large and violent hail storm.  My little house, (and my car) took a beating.  The hail came down the size of softballs, obliterating most of the cars, roofs, and siding in my neighborhood, mine included.  The following video was taken by me during the storm.  I was freaking out to say the least.

After the storm, I didn’t know what was going to happen. My car was undriveable, my roof had water coming in, windows were broken, and I was shaken up. The rebuilding process began the next day with long holds on the phone with the insurance company. Due to the large number of people affected, some people waited

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Yesterday, I took the first half of the day to spend with my wife & kids at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma and was pleasantly surprised at what a jewel we have right in our back yard.

It’s easy, when you’ve lived here your whole life, to forget about or overlook some great attractions. I’m guilty of it, and surely I’m not the only one.

I was only able to snap a few pics/vids with my kids moving so fast, but hopefully these will be enough to pique your interest:

By the way, if you’re a tweeter, you can follow the Sam Noble Museum @SamNobleMuseum.

Just when you thought you were done with it. Just when you have finished scraping and peeling the last of it. Now that you have had the entire house faux finished from top to bottom. Wallpaper is back. And its coming for you. (Cue “Jaws” theme music here.)

Fear not! This isn’t your 90’s “fruits and plaids” paper and the papers of today bring a lot more to the table than grapes. Surprised? No one was more shocked at the selection than this girl. The last time I looked at wallpaper it was for a client’s pre-teen who wanted to look at nothing but purple and blue flowers. Easy enough. But this week my challenge was..well, actually challenging. My mission was to find a wall treatment that complimented the architecture of a 1908 historical home

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While growing up around here, I often heard the talk of how none of the good jobs were in Oklahoma. Over time, I came to realize that was a stereotype strongly held by many.

Is it that things have changed that much, or that the stereotypes are just false? Forbes seems to think Oklahoma City can hold it’s own in business and career world, as evidenced by their ranking of our fair city in their list of ‘Best Places for Business and Careers.’

When I bought my house all of seven months ago, the previous owners were offering a flooring credit, which I didn’t take. I figured I’d just do the carpet in the den, tile in the laundry and refinish the hardwoods all myself. Boy was I naïve. When I priced carpet for the den I thought I could live with that price, then I found out how much it costs to have it installed (insert shocked face here.) Same went for tile, the labor is just insanely expensive.

The carpet in the laundry had years of water stains, pet odors, and God knows what else embedded in it’s pile (who puts carpet in a laundry room?!). The smell had become so bad that we had to institute a rule in the house: The laundry room door was to remain closed at all times, because the smell would spread to the entire house. Imagine the reaction of guests. “Fallon, your home is so cute……. OH. MY…. What’s that smell?! Did something die in here?” Yup, every time. So, I survived five months with that, shoot me an email and I’ll let you know where to send my medal. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the offending carpet.

One weekend, I happened upon some tile on sale at Lowe’s, $0.58/sf. I was quite pleased with the price. I calculated the size of my room and determined I would need a mere 47 square feet. Pennies! The 13″x13″ tiles came in boxes of 15 for $9.99. I bought three boxes and 5 individuals for a grand total of somewhere in the $35 range. Not bad. I also purchased a tiling kit that had a float, some nippers, a bucket, sponge, tile spacers, etc. I think it was somewhere around $15-20. Mortar and grout were another $9.99 each. So, I spent a total of $70. Not bad for a new smell-free laundry room. Throw in the inevitable free lunch I was going to have to offer up to my poor friends who volunteered, and we’re looking at more like $90. Still, not bad, much better than the $300 I was quoted by a tile guy. My good friend Aaron owns a small construction company so he loaned me a tile saw, tile cracker, extra floats, a mixer (VERY IMPORTANT), etc. He gave me a quick run down of the misery that was about to ensue, gave me some pointers, and my wary volunteers and I went to work!

Being bound by my can-do attitude, a little naïve optimism and a tight budget, I went headfirst into tiling my teensy laundry room. First was the

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The Highland Trails addition of Edmond, just north of Kelly & Waterloo, goes all out every 4th of July, and this year, clearly, was no exception. In grand fashion, Brad Stone highlighted the event for all to enjoy: