We are experienced working with investors, property managers, asset managers and banks. Call Michelle Minch today (626)385-8852 to learn how we can help you sell your listings faster and for a higher price. We know what makes homes sell!™

How? Have your investment real estate staged by professional home stagers at Moving Mountains Design.

As a wise real estate investor, you know you have to spend a little money to make even more money. Home staging has been proven to help homes sell faster than unstaged home, usually for a higher price. In one study, published by the Real Estate Staging Association, staged homes sold 74% faster after they were staged than when they were unstaged. That resulted in lower holding costs and less time wasted, which equals higher profits.

Following are some Los Angeles properties staged for local real estate investors. Just click on any photo to see more photos and information about that particular property.

San Gabriel - This home sold 1 day after staging, after sitting unsold for 6 months!

Belair Condo - This condo sold 1 week after staging

San Marino - Home was recently listed

Altadena - This home sold during first month on the market

If you are a real estate investor with assets to sell in the Los Angeles or North Orange County areas, call the home staging company that real estate investors, large and small, trust to help sell their investment properties, Moving Mountains Design. We are set up to handle multiple properties at one time and stage properties valued as low as $250,000 and as high as $7M. We will travel to stage properties outside the Los Angeles area (special terms apply).

One of the first questions I am often asked by potential clients is how much I charge for home staging. Its a very good question and you should be asking it. But it should be your first question if you are only interested in the cost and not in whether or not I can help you sell your home.

Hiring a less expensive home stager does not guarantee that you will save money. As a matter of fact, it will probably cost you more.

A more appropriate first question might be “How many years have you been staging homes (5)?” or “How many homes have you staged (250+)?” or “How many homes do you currently have staged?(15)” (Numbers in () are Moving Mountains Designs current statistics). The higher those numbers are, the more likely the stager knows what they are talking about and is an expert in marketing and preparing homes for sale.

A cheap home stager, one who is willing to cut their fees in order to get the job at any cost, will most likely be providing less service, less furniture, less accessories and less experience, thereby causing your home to sit longer on the market. And sitting longer on the market will cost you a lot of money, a lot more money than if you hired the more experienced home stager. A home stager that settles for less of a fee has less money to spend to make your home look spectacular. They will use the cheapest furniture and accessories, which most likely won’t make your home look as good as it could. A poorly staged home can hurt the sale of your home.

Lets say you hire a less experienced home stager who charges $500 less than the more experienced home stager. “Wow”, you think, “I’ve saved $500!” But because your home is not as attractive as it would have been if you had hired the more experienced stager who really knows what they are doing (that charges $500 more), your home does not sell for an additional 30 days. Just 30 days more. How much does that 1 month cost you? Mortgage – $3,000? Property taxes – $400? Insurance, utilities, gardener – $600? So, sitting on the market for just 1 month more will cost you $4,000 – $500 you saved  = $3,500 more out of your pocket because your home took just 1 month more to sell. That $500 savings doesn’t seem like such a good deal to me.

For every home staging project we do, every piece of furniture and all accessories are hand selected to enhance the appearance of your home. We work to increase perceived value of your home. And because of our extensive experience staging and marketing homes, we know how much is just enough and how much is too much. We know what makes homes sell!™

In addition, we provide your listing agent with 10-20 beautiful, professional quality photos of your staged home. No Snappy Pix point-and-shoot camera for us. We use Nikon Professional camera equipment. This helps ensure that your home  looks great when home buyers  first see it on the internet thereby encouraging more traffic to your home.

Selling your home can be very stressful and there are a lot of unknowns involved. One of the ways you can lower your stress level is to surround yourself with people who are the best at what they do – the best Los Angeles real estate agent and the best Los Angeles home stager.

Read Choosing A Home Stager for more information on how to find the right home stager to help sell your home.

Home buyers in the Los Angeles real estate market want a house that is move in ready.

Home buyers don’t want an allowance to repair the roof, replace the carpet or repaint. Allowances are for teenagers. They want a well priced home, in a decent location, that they can move right in to without spending another dime.

Its a big fallacy that home buyers want to choose their own carpet or paint colors. If you choose a nice, neutral color carpet and nice neutral color wall paint (both things the best home stagers can help you with) most home buyers will see your home as more desirable because it is move-in-ready. They’ll be thrilled they don’t have to worry about picking out carpet and having it installed or find a painter who has time in their schedule. If your home stager can’t help you with this, then you are working with the wrong home stager.

Most home buyers are maxing out their home purchasing budget by making an offer on the nicest home they can possibly afford. They don’t have extra money to paint, install new carpet or retile the bathroom. They want to move in as soon as escrow closes, not after they have to make a lot of repairs to make their new home livable.

Here’s what happens when you offer a $5,000 allowance for repairing the roof that should have been replaced 5 years ago:

1. The buyer thinks “What else didn’t they repair that they should have?”
2. The buyer thinks “What structure got damaged by the leaky roof?”
3. The buyer thinks “Is it really going to cost only $5,000 to repair the roof?”
4. The buyer thinks “How much time will it take me to get bids, hire a roofing company & get the work done?”
5. The buyer thinks “What happens if (fill in the disaster: it rains, the contractor absconds with the deposit, a worker falls off the roof)?”
6. The buyer thinks “The seller must be desperate since the house isn’t in good shape.”

Here’s what happens next:

The buyer accepts your offer of $5,000 to repair the roof, and then also knocks off another 10% because they think the house is not in good condition or you are desperate…

~or~

The buyer rejects your house and moves on to the house down the street that is move in ready.

Here’s what happens when you offer a $3,000 allowance for new carpet:

1. The buyer thinks “Will $3,000 really cover new carpet for the whole house?”
2. The buyer thinks “I’m not from around here. Where do I buy new carpet?”
3. The buyer thinks “That house down the street already has new carpet. Why should I take on the added stress of shopping for & installing new carpet?”

Here’s what happens next:

The buyer accepts your offer of $3,000 to buy new carpet, and then also knocks off another 10% because they think your allowance won’t cover all the costs …

~or~

The buyer rejects your house and moves on to the house down the street that is move in ready and already has new carpet installed.

By not repairing and updating your home before you put it on the market, you are asking home buyers to assume risk and additional expenses. You add more stress and uncertainty to the situation. Many home buyers are already investing every penny they can get their hands on in order to purchase a home. They are unable or unwilling to purchase a home that will require repairs before they can move in. Additionally, the condition of your home may effect the appraisal causing the buyer’s lender to refuse the loan.

Want to get a Los Angeles home sold? Price it right, hire the best full service Realtor you can find, hire a professional home stager and make sure it is in move-in ready condition.

A home staging consultation by an experienced Los Angeles home stager will give you a clear understanding of what condition issues need to be addressed before putting your home on the market.

Here’s a terrific video from Jay Papasan, VP of Keller Williams Realty that explains it very graphically and in easy to understand terms. Its the best use of 3 1/2 + minutes I can imagine before listing your home.