Staging - In the Navy?

Went out on another staging appointment today.  Our potential client is a Navy man living in a civilian neighborhood waiting to ship out to San Diego and then on to the Persian Gulf.  My associate Sandra and I had a pleasant conversation with a person who "gets it". He had attended a Home Improvement Show in Jacksonville last fall and spoken to a stager about the benefits of preparing a home for sale by using a home stager.  He was sold because he understood how important presentation is in selling.  He thought about the last time he sold a car and how he detailed it to make it sell.  He thought about the old Lionel train set that he polished up to sell to a  train collector and realized that he should prepare his most expensive investment for sale.  He realized he needed a stager even before selecting his realtor. 

As he led us throughout his home, Sandra and I made recommendations about improvements he should consider implementing. We even told him to paint his front door in a glossy black color to  make it "pop".
He is on a mission right now to buy baby oil to shine up his faucets!

Whenever we do a staging consultation of a property , we are focused on one thing -what would the buyer think.  It is our responsibility to  create that emotional connection between the buyer and the home.  When deciding what our decorating  strategy will be, we consider what type of buyer will purchase the property.  In this case, it will probably be a first-time homebuyer who will take advantage of the Federal $8,000 incentive to buy a home -most likely a young couple in their early thirties.  This offer expires April 30, 2010, so the home needs to be staged and listed soon to make the deadline.  If we are selected to stage this home, we will strive to ensure the seller realizes the best price possible for this property in the shortest amount of time.

We left our Navy man today with lots of tips on what he can start doing to get his home sold.  He is to let us know next Friday if we are the "chosen stagers".  I have a good feeling about this but don't know who my competition is. Keeping my fingers crossed - we did an excellent sales presentation and I believe we bonded with him.  Time will tell!

"Don't give up the ship!"  - Captain James Lawrence