Home Staging Strategies with Anna from C2 Interiors: Maximize Home Sales Price and Profit

Unlock the secrets of transforming your living space for a quicker and more profitable sale as we chat with Anna from C2 Interiors, whose 20 years in the business have made her a maestro of house staging. This episode is brimming with her expert strategies, focusing on decluttering, finessing floor plans, and utilizing neutral color schemes to captivate potential buyers. As Michigan's spring market buzzes with activity, we delve into the distinct tactics required for staging new constructions versus resale homes, and how these nuanced approaches can influence buyer interest and offers.

Ever considered the simple, yet profound, impact of painting cabinets or swapping out old fixtures? Join us to explore the budget-friendly updates that can refresh key areas like kitchens and bathrooms—often the make-or-break spaces for prospective buyers. We don't just tell you why staging and professional photography can elevate your home's appeal; we guide you through a practical checklist to prioritize your renovations wisely. It's all about making smart investments to create an inviting canvas that buyers can easily picture as their future home.

For those daunted by the prospect of decluttering, we illuminate the game-changing role of storage units and pods to streamline the staging and moving process. Anna and Eldon's clients have reaped the benefits of these solutions, making their homes more marketable and easing their transition when time to move. And because we love our quirky moments, don't miss out on the light-hearted sign-off with Bling, the chicken. It's the kind of send-off that adds just the right touch of whimsy to our conversation on high stakes home sales.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ANNA AND HER BUSINESS: https://c2interiorsllc.com/

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: THE PALMER GROUP real estate team.  The Palmer Group is an energetic team within 616 REALTY led by Eldon Palmer with over 20 years of experience helping people navigate the home buying and selling process in West Michigan. To support the channel, contact Eldon@ThePalmer.Group, drop a comment, and like or subscribe to this podcast. You can also learn more at https://thepalmer.group/

HAVE A SUGGESTION?  WANT TO BE A GUEST ON THE PODCAST?  Reach out to Eldon@ThePalmer.Group or send us a DM.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, welcome back. Today we have Anna with C2 Interiors. She's a personal friend, a client, with over 20 years experience in house planning, house staging and merchandising. She's also my personal staging consultant and she's here today to talk about how you can use home staging. She'll share some of her secrets, her tips and tricks on how you get use home staging to get the most money for your house through staging and home prep. So enjoy and we'll see you. Hey, welcome back. We are here today with Anna and she's with C2 Interiors, and we're going to chat a little bit about prepping your home for sale. We're coming into the spring market, which is our busiest market here in Michigan. And, Anna, why don't we talk a little bit about your history, background and then let's get into it?

Speaker 2: 0:50

My primary focus for my career has been in the new home construction building industry, so I do model homes, rec buildings and apartments in Southern California or in California, not just Southern California, I'd say a lot of it's been North.

Speaker 2: 1:07

Yeah, a lot of it recently has been North, north, northern California, central, yes. So yeah, I mean that's merchandise. We call it merchandising overstaging just because we're taking the house from the ground up and working with architects, landscape architects as well as the builders, so it's a little bit more in-depth and more detail than your normal resale and staging market.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Sure, and part of that you know we've spoken before is about, you know, part of that also includes floor plan optimization, which we haven't talked about, but that does come into effect in staging existing homes as well. So I think that's kind of an important thing understanding the flow of traffic and people.

Speaker 2: 1:55

Typically in a new home construction, you're getting a lot more traffic in a day's time versus if you're in the resale market. Usually you have one or two people walking the house at the same time. In a model home and new construction, you typically have multiple people walking. So it's important to set up your furniture in a way that it shows the space bigger or as big as it can possibly be, that there's not something in your way that slows your visual down when you're walking into the house. So that's kind of what we do in in staging as well, because you're working with the seller's furniture and it's important to sometimes remove some of the furniture pieces or move them around the room so that it doesn't stop the flow of traffic. Is what we say.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Sure, one of the common things I know we've chatted as we walk through homes helping people prep them for sale is a lot of times people have an extra dresser on the way to the closet or on the way to the bed. It's really, I think they don't think about it, but you have to walk around it and it feels it obstructs your view as well, so it makes everything feel smaller.

Speaker 2: 3:15

Yeah, well, a lot of times in the entryways people have, you know, furniture pieces, especially if it's a smaller entryway. I always suggest, you know, we pull that piece out, because then of course when somebody walks into the home it has a sense of feeling bigger and makes you feel more comfortable, versus having a furniture piece that kind of stops your eyes, stops your body from moving through the flow of the house.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Right. So some of the other things that we end up talking about. Um, you know we can hit. You know, floor coverings um, you know, what would you say to somebody about floor coverings? As we come through a lot of times, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come through. You've suggested things like removing rugs to let your eye keep moving, but, um, I find that some of the best bang for buck in terms of making a place look better. Can you expand on that?

Speaker 2: 4:09

Yeah, I mean, you know, new home sales versus staging is a very different animal. Some things are very similar, some things are not. So, when it comes to staging a home, we always say decluttering the house. As it pertains to rugs, it doesn't matter whether they're bathroom rugs, entry rugs, rugs in your living room. We always suggest pulling them up. Again, what we're trying to do with staging is create the house where it almost looks like it's new, the house where it almost looks like it's new. So the less furniture pieces that you have, the less artwork that you have on the walls, the less accessories that you have. It just presents a better feeling for those people that are walking into the home.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Yeah, I think actually it's probably we probably got ahead of ourselves a little bit. You know, the primary goals of staging are generally going to be one to to sell the house. Prepping the house properly for sale is a quicker sale, uh, and for more money, and generally they kind of go hand in hand because the more people that are attracted to the property via photos and their first impressions, the more likely they are to write an offer and the more likely we're to get multiple offers to really bid that price up. So you know, part of that seems to be, you know, making the house look bigger, more neutral, so that everybody can envision their own furniture in there, their lifestyle. So can you expand a little bit more on that and on what some of the overall goals are? Their own furniture in there, their lifestyle. So can you expand a little bit more on that and on what some of the overall goals are?

Speaker 2: 5:49

Yeah, I mean in staging, when it comes to putting your house up on the market for resale purposes again, decluttering is essential and all of these items that we're going to talk about, they do exactly what you were talking about. They help sell the house faster. In a lot of instances they bring you more money. So decoloring is taking down items off of the walls, picking up those area rugs, painting. I always recommend going through the house and doing a nice neutral, light tone. Don't go too gray, don't go too beige, just something that is, you know, even white, because white is so popular right now.

Speaker 2: 6:34

And if you have the opportunity to replace the carpet again, stay with. You. Don't have to go top of the line. Carpet go with an inexpensive carpet. Carpet go with an inexpensive carpet. Keep it light and airy, because those two things are. They're big and when you declutter your house then you also remove some of your furniture pieces so that it's opens up the area. When you add the new paint and the carpet, the house feels new and some of those types of things that help communicate to the person that's looking at your house that you've taken very good care of your home and that's also a huge plus for those people who are looking at your home to buy it, because if you've taken great care of your house, they're going to think that there's no problems and they're going to have more confidence in buying your house that there's no problems and they're going to have more confidence in buying your house For sure.

Speaker 1: 7:30

I definitely found that over the years that the cleaner, nicer looking the house, people assume that it's also well maintained mechanically. Yeah, so I think carpet and paint clearly some of the best bang for your buck. You can put an inexpensive carpet in just because it's fresh and clean. You know one thing dealing with a lot of families that come in they want to put their baby on the floor. They don't want to. They think about not wanting to put that on somebody else's scrubby dirty. You know your own dirt is different than somebody else's, right? That's very true, and so that's one of the things I often encourage is, uh, just to replace that. For that reason alone, carpet gets worn. People, clients, sellers will often say, well, they're just going to come in and replace it anyways, that's okay. Spend a few thousand dollars if that's what it takes the carpet, especially if it's dirty or worn or dated, it's really a good ROI.

Speaker 2: 8:24

Well, and if you have pets, if you've got cats or dogs, i's really a good ROI. Well, and if you have pets, if you've got cats or dogs, I mean that carpet and kids it just absorbs everything. It absorbs the dirt, it absorbs the smells and anybody who walks into that house that has allergies, especially if you had a dog in that house and you haven't replaced the carpet and they're allergic. They're going to walk out of that house instead of walking the house. That's a great point.

Speaker 2: 8:48

You really. I mean it's. And a lot of times you'd be surprised. When people replace the carpet, the new owner doesn't come in. They may not like the color, but they will live with it until it has to be replaced again. So it is worth the money to have the carpet done as well as the paint. Again, they may come in and repaint some of the house or all of the house, but that's okay, because at least you've given it that fresh look and it also smells fresh and new as well.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Yeah, they don't have to. That's always a good point. They don't have to do anything, they can move right in. It's turnkey and that's really important for a lot of people, especially now when they're having to bid up on properties. Often they're having to guarantee appraisal gaps, put more cash out of their pocket, and they don't have that cash necessarily to put into more carpet or um paint or other things that they might want to update. Maybe they'll do some light fixtures, maybe that's a few hundred bucks or something, but or maybe they'd rather put that into, you know, their garden or um you know design in their nursery for the kid or or a rec room where it's more fun yeah, but they don't have to yeah I always say you know, especially, um, if you're replacing things right before you sell, neutral and light is always the best, because you, you don't.

Speaker 2: 10:17

You want to appeal to the masses, you don't want to appeal just to a small percentage of people, because the more people that you appeal to, obviously the more people that you're that are going to be interested in purchasing you.

Speaker 1: 10:32

More offers, more money.

Speaker 2: 10:34

Always Faster sale.

Speaker 1: 10:36

And one of the things that we often talk about with a faster sale is everybody's excited. They do all the work to prep the house, we get the property on the market and we might get 30 people through the first weekend in a busy market like we have and they are tired of showing their house, of stepping away. So it is really nice when we can have all that prep done, get as many people through in that opening weekend as possible so we don't have to interrupt every evening, dinner, everything all week long for weeks on end to get that property sold.

Speaker 2: 11:13

That is very true and you know I've sold my own homes and it is true. It is really frustrating to be the seller and have to constantly make sure your beds are made, your rugs are pulled up, your drapes are opened, your lights are on, that your house doesn't smell of you know the dinner that you cooked the night before. It's just, it's critical and it gets really, really old after a while when you're constantly having to prepare for somebody to walk through their house. So again, we always go back to you know the things that we need to focus on. If you do the work up front, before the house is listed, the likelihood that it will sell faster and for more money is usually the key, and that's why we always suggest all these things. It's not, you know. It's for that reason only, because it's less painful.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Right, yes.

Speaker 2: 12:15

Because it's painful to sell a house. Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1: 12:18

One of the tips to go along with that you know for that weekend, just a little quick tip is, you know, having a tote, like a lot of people live in their house. The house we sell, I often say, is not the house that we live in every day. So, fixing all those little things that we just look past, even things like mail on the counter, kids' tote bags, all the stuff that you have quite often in your living, I often recommend having a go-tote or to-go-tote so people can slide that all in the tote, pop it in the backseat of the car, pop it into the garage and take off. That's kind of one of those little things when we do have to do that.

Speaker 2: 12:57

Well and again, if you've got a pet, you've got to deal with the pet as well. Especially if it's a dog, you've got to make arrangements to take that dog with you.

Speaker 1: 13:06

The dishes and try to hide those.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Your children's clothes in their bedrooms, all that fun stuff.

Speaker 2: 13:16

We can talk about landscaping, especially in the springtime and summer, again, putting your best foot forward. You know curb appeal is huge, whether it's resale or new homes. Just making sure your grass is cut, it's watered If it's in the summertime, we want green grass, not brown grass. Planting some extra flowers Maybe you have flower pots on the porch. Sometimes there might be a crack on the porch in the cement. So if you have potted plants that are pretty, people notice those versus the crack that's on the porch. Um, so those things are. Again, they're small in expense but they they really help get somebody into the front door and present a positive effect on your house.

Speaker 1: 14:13

And what I find might take me a minute to get that lock open. And they're looking around, they're seeing the plants and the flowers and they're getting a feeling already, and then as we walk in the door, as we get ready to leave, quite often they're standing there getting their first impression from that doorway and I always find that is one of the more important places and it's one of the cheapest places because really there's not a lot of you know high cost to the entranceway. So what are some of the other areas that you think are most important, you would say in the house?

Speaker 2: 14:49

Well, people are excited about kitchens and bathrooms because those two areas are the areas of the home that are the most expensive to um, repair and or change um.

Speaker 2: 15:03

So again, if you're focusing there, um, if you're wanting to do something before let's say you have oak cabinets, um, and you don't want to replace the cabinets, but you do want to do something before let's say you have oak cabinets and you don't want to replace the cabinets, but you do want to do something to the cabinets.

Speaker 2: 15:16

That maybe will then potentially give you more bang for your buck on selling the house, or maybe it's quicker, because a lot of times, people that are looking to buy a house, they're looking for houses that feel new, that have been upgraded, that have been upgraded in more of a neutral tone versus, you know, green or blue or you know black. Black countertops are not highly recommended because they're just, they're kind of like a polar thing. It's either you love them or you hate them, um. So I would say if cabinets, a lot of times I'll say if you've got an oak cabinet and they're good, the structure of the cabinet is really good. Painting them makes a huge difference in just and and or just changing the hardware right, um, but um, that is some.

Speaker 1: 16:09

That's a place where you can spend not a lot of money and it makes a big difference in your the buyer doesn't want to do that, right, oh sure, the seller can often say, well, they'll just paint them to whatever color they want then. But they often don't get to that point because it's just either a turnoff or an expense that they see and a hassle that they don't want to deal with, because if you don't want to deal with it, they don't want to either, and we try to make it as easy as possible.

Speaker 2: 16:36

Well, in painting cabinets it's really it's not that expensive. You know, if it's done correctly it's not that much, it's not that expensive and it gives you. Again, the return on your money is huge and again, it's always putting your best foot forward. You know, the more things that you do up front before you put your house on the market, the better off and the quicker your house will sell. And that's truly the goal, because you don't want your house to sit on the market In today's world.

Speaker 2: 17:07

If it sits on the market two or three weeks, people at that point you know they think there's something wrong with it. I mean, back in the day it used to sit on there 90 days, it was not that big of a deal. But if it's on there longer than three or four weeks, people think there's just something wrong with it. And then trying to go back in and redo some of those things, you've lost that. You've lost a lot of buyers at that point because they don't go back to a house that they've already looked at online or walked in person because they've already seen it. So whatever changes you've made after, the fact unfortunately gets lost and translate because of that.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Yeah, I think you know, typically we get our best offers early on in that process that opening weekend, opening week those are going to be your best offers every now and then, which is the exception. You'll happen to get multiple offers later, but that's very rare. And even just the process of how we scroll these days yes, people, if they don't see something immediately, they've discounted that and they don't come back to it digitally. It takes a lot more work to get them to come and look at that house again because they're like oh, that's been on the market for 40 days, there's something wrong with it. They'll look at it oh yeah, that was it and they'll just discard it. And many times it's just they'll file that, whether it's mentally or physically, into the folder of not interested yeah, and so it's really hard to get somebody's attention on a property to come back.

Speaker 2: 18:41

yeah, that is very true. Well, and again goes back to your photos making sure everything is decluttered, making everything that is more neutral. You remove things off your countertops, take the shampoo bottles out of your showers Again, I know it sounds silly, but those things show up in photographs and people as they're flipping through they see those. The other thing I always like to suggest to realtors is sometimes less photos is better for people who are searching, because they'll do all the research online. As long as you give the people looking the main photos of the house the exterior, the front and back, the living area, the kitchen, the master in a bedroom here or there or a den I don't think you need to focus on five area the kitchen, the master in a bedroom here or there or a den. I don't think you need to focus on five shots of the kitchen.

Speaker 2: 19:34

The only time that that becomes really critical is if you've got really expensive or special features in the house, like a wolf range or a really expensive light fixture. Those types of things really get people excited. But again, if you have less photos, then when people look at those photos online. If they like what they see and there's not anything deterring them, they will then go walk the house. And you want people to walk the house because sometimes online the photos of houses the best houses sometimes don't photograph well, and vice versa. So the key is to always get people to walk the house, because there becomes emotional attachment at that point once they're walking, and that brings the seller back to putting your best foot forward. Right, doing the checklist.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Yes, I've always find I love it when sellers do the checklist, and I even more sometimes when they have their own checklist and I can say hey, look, you don't need to do that, don't spend the extra $5,000 on that item because it's not going to bring you the value. But those always sell the fastest and they always get the most amount of money, and that process is much easier for them as well. You don't have to renegotiate during an inspection period or at any other time, because everything is just ready and it feels right. It's easy, you can hit that easy.

Speaker 2: 21:14

The buyer can hit the easy button and make that decision to write the offer on the house. Well, and going back to repairs and putting your best foot forward I mean again people walking in that house. If the house is clean and it's decluttered and the repairs have been made, you know and you put your best foot forward. People are confident in your house, they are confident in purchasing it, even like me, my first house that I bought. It was built in 1963 and it was an older couple and he was an engineer and that guy took care of that, his house, he did all the repairs on it. Um, and you just, even though it was an older home, I walked in and I was confident in that house and sometimes when a person is confident in the purchase of the house, they forego the inspection because they're comfortable that there's not going to be any problems with it yeah, I find that, find that a lot, especially in this market.

Speaker 1: 22:11

So it's really key and it can make a big difference in the price. So some of the other things you know quite often I'll you know in terms of confidence, especially in things like mechanicals simply cleaning them up, you know, yeah, Well, and you know different people.

Speaker 2: 22:28

You know women walk in looking for certain things. Women walk in looking for certain things. Men walk in looking for certain things. When you said that about the cleaning the water heater, for me I I don't pay any attention to the water heater when I walk a house. But you know a man, would you know? Because when it's clean it looks like it's newer and water heaters are not cheap. So that does again. It gives the purchaser confidence in the house.

Speaker 1: 22:56

Right. So one of the other things we often do one to make the photos brighter, but also to make the house bigger is to make sure the window coverings and the windows are clean to start inside and out. I always find that to be real helpful. What are some of the other things that kind of go along with that?

Speaker 2: 23:15

Well, just to touch a little bit on window treatments, not curtains. My pet peeve is just the designer in me. But a lot of times, mini blinds I always suggest just take them out, get rid of them, throw them away. They're a thing of times. Mini blinds I always suggest just take them out, get rid of them, throw them away. They're a thing of the past. If you've got the blinds that have the bigger blades on them, open them up, clean them, because that's a positive. Drapery treatments, as in the fabrics if they're up, go ahead and make sure that they're completely open so that the light is shining through. A lot of times I suggest, if you're painting your house already, just go ahead and remove the drapery rods and the drapery treatments altogether. Again, it's presenting that house to where it looks like it's a new house versus an older home. Did we talk about cleaning the windows A little bit, okay, but I mean, I just mentioned it.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Yeah, I mean go ahead and hire somebody to clean, to do an inside out on your windows and your screens, because the cleaner the windows, the more the sun shines through People. I mean for me, when I bought a house, I like to walk through the house and look to the backyard. Backyard was always important to me because I like landscaping and flowers, so cleaning your windows makes a huge difference. Power washing your siding here in Michigan we have a lot of siding and there's a lot of times there's mold on it. So it's better and it's dirty just power washing that again. It it looks new, it looks fresh. Power washing your deck you may not have to need to stain it, but at least clean it up a little bit. Again, it's a little bit of extra time that you take, but if your house from the outside all the way through the inside back to the outside of the house, if everything looks good, people are more confident in your house.

Speaker 1: 25:19

It feels well maintained. One extra offer can make $20,000 difference in price. Yeah, no problem. Yeah. So windows that's the other thing that makes me think of. We have a lot of vinyl windows here, a lot of vinyl Replacement windows even, and not only is it nice to be able to see through them, removing those screens can be helpful. It'll add about 50% more light in. We usually just stack them nicely in the mechanical room or something, but the rails, they're so difficult to clean and that's just the dust and the bugs. Clean, clean up. Even if you're vacuuming the bugs out, it just tends to get dirty in there. So it's always a nice thing to have it professionally done as well.

Speaker 2: 25:59

Yeah, the other thing I we always look at too is smells. Smells in your home, especially if you have pets or you've got older carpet. Again, we're going back to replacing that carpet because that will help with that. But if you're going to I know a lot of people like the plug ins and candles in their homes we always recommend that you keep the smell kind of a little bit more neutral, recommend that you keep the smell kind of a little bit more neutral. Vanilla is a nice scent because it's most people don't really notice it that much and it's not too fragrant. So we always suggest, you know, keeping the fragrance down, because a lot of times you've got people again back to the allergies. You've got allergies and the minute it's a strong smell when somebody walks in the house, they're either A going to walk way too fast to the house, and you don't want them to, or B they're not going to walk it at all, which you don't want either. You don't want them to turn around because they might be missing an opportunity.

Speaker 1: 27:05

Right. One thing I find, too, is if there are a lot of strong smells, people think that you're hiding something Like putting on my buyer's hat walking through. They're like what, what are they trying to hide? You know, they did the cat pee on the floor, did their. You know, is their dog really smelly and dirty? Is? Is there moisture thing they're trying to hide? What's going on when there's this really strong smell? So that's something that I think is really important too to keep that to a minimum, much like everything else. Keep it neutral and mild.

Speaker 2: 27:35

Yeah, kind of goes back to the basics, yeah good foundation.

Speaker 2: 27:39

Good foundation. And again, like I said, that's the difference between resale and new homes. You know, new homes, we create an environment where people notice the architecture and get excited about what we've done in a kid's room, where their little daughter walks in and goes Mommy, mommy, this is going to be my room and and it's cute, you know. And in the kitchen we've done cabinets or something, or countertops that the the mother or the wife responds to, whereas in resale it's best to just um, you want to present your house more like it's a new home, so you remove a lot of things and you just keep the backgrounds more neutral and always remember to remove personal items. Where it's family photos, family artwork, mail on the counters. You know, again, it's just putting your best foot forward so that you don't have to go through the issues of having people walk through your home. You know, all the time and you want to get it sold in a quicker fashion, especially if you have children. Well, one thing I've noticed is pet peeve of mine. I should not, I should let it go, but it's tablecloths. Get rid of the tablecloths on your tables because, again, you want as neutral of a surface as possible and maybe your table's got a little stain on it, but that is better to look at than it is a tablecloth, because it's just an added layer.

Speaker 2: 29:24

Yes, cleaning out your closets. I mean you'd be surprised. Sometimes you think that people don't look in your closets, but they do. So I always say, like you said, you're getting ready to move anyway, go ahead and pack some of that stuff up. So when they do open up those closet doors you know it's neat and tidy and it's not cluttered. Again, you want it to feel like it's going to be a new home and that they're you know. So they can visualize their things in it.

Speaker 2: 29:52

Your own closet, your clothes closet. You taught me this. It sounds crazy but it does work. Organize your clothes, buy colors, organize your shoes, put all that excess clothing in totes and totes are great because, especially if you're moving locally, they're easy to spot what's in there.

Speaker 2: 30:18

So when you go to unpack, it makes it so much easier on the other end. But you go oh, that's my sweaters. But just pack as much of that kind of stuff away and then organize it in your garage. Just stack them neatly in your garage. So those are, you know, your kid's room, your basement, just go through your whole house and just start packing things away. If you need to get a storage unit, you suggest that a lot to homeowners Just go ahead and get a storage unit. You suggest that a lot to homeowners Just go ahead and get a storage unit. Now the likelihood that you only need to have it for a month or two is it makes a huge impact. So you've got all of that stuff out of the house and again it's less stuff where you have to move later too.

Speaker 1: 31:06

Right Storage unit a pod Pods are great or a similar brand because you can have them there later too. Right Storage unit a pod pods are great or similar brand because you can have them there until you're ready. You don't have to take multiple trips, you just load it up and then they, you know, call them up and have them haul it away. Definitely those are worthwhile and most of my clients have been very happy that they did that. Yeah, I think we've covered the majority of it. You know, of course anybody would like more details. They can reach out to us in the comments or individually. Yeah, so I think we've covered anything else you want to add before we I don't know.

Speaker 2: 31:41

Do you want to step on the chicken?

Speaker 1: 31:43

I think we need to step on the chicken. This is bling the chicken to wrap things up, and we appreciate you guys joining us today and reach out if you have any questions or we can be of help. Thank you.