One of the groups that I am involved in is pow.wow: networking the power of fabulous women. Next Tuesday, we are having an event on this new and increasingly popular concept of doing business: GREEN.

(photo by Tomatoskin)

But what does it mean to be Green? Do you actually save money? Or it just makes you look good? Another way of marketing?

Related Articles:

• Even Stagers Can Green the Earth
• 2008 Home Decor Color Trends
• Staging for the GREEN!!!
• Collapsible, Lightweight & Eco-Friendly Flower Pots
• A Greener Real Estate Industry!

This was a very interesting project. The owner’s daughter was an artist and they traveled around the world a lot so they had very interesting artwork and collections throughout the home. They were very interesting stuff, but just not suitable for staging and the purpose of selling. If the home was not staged, the buyers will be focusing on the sellers’ collection and art and not see the house itself.

The seller was also very resisting to change, which I fully understand. After all, she lived in the home for about 40 years. It’s understandable that this is a very drastic change for her. Martiza, the listing agent, was a total super star. She helped the seller packed up 30 boxes worth of books along and carried 8 life size seals sculptures to the truck for the seller (you will see one of the life size seals in the Living Room Before photo, it’s right underneath the piano). At minimal budget and a little of paint (seller was not willing to repaint anything, especially the dark red in the dining room), we staged the house.

Let us know what you think!

Here are some before & after, and you can watch the slide show via flickr here. To see the virtual tour, go to this link here: Virtual Tour of 150 Casitas Way, San Francisco.

Brief info on the home:

Melissa & Maritza Casciato
415 490 7998 -
415 595 9910
Keller Williams San Francisco
melissa@buysellSFhomes.com

(Read more …)

I am very excited to say the Shell is coming to bay area to teach San Francisco bay area stagers a few tricks up her sleeves! Shell has had extensive experiences in the real estate and home staging industry. I believe this will be a great beneficial session for both new and seasoned stagers.

To sign up, please visit RESA online at www.realestatestagingassociation.com!
RESA, stands for Real Estate Staging Association, was formed in order to:

“support all professional real estate stagers in North America regardless of their designations, backgrounds or training. RESA is a portal to the staging industry and is a source of education and business tools focusing on the needs of stagers. Members have access to up to date information relative to the staging industry, marketing support services and access to continuing education providers.

Why have trade associations?

Most established professions or trades have a professional association. Associations are formed in order to represent those in the target industry and to bring legitimacy to the profession. People working in their specific trades choose to belong to the trade associations for many reasons. Some offer discounts, group benefits, political agendas, regulations, etc.

When new industries are created they are either unregulated or government regulated. Unregulated industries often experience a lack of consistency and standards, a lack of ethics, and renegade practices. Government regulated industries typically arise from the need to protect the public or when un-regulated industries become so unmanageable the government needs to step in to correct it.” (From RESA Website)

It will be a great event and I hope you will be able to make it!

It’s only been 7 days since my Certified Staging Professionals (CSP) training, and frankly my brain still hurts from so much information. All and all it was an excellent training and continue education. Christine Rae, the creator of CSP staging training really packed in a lot of materials and I literally felt like I went on a Jedi Training in a galaxy far far away (Walnut Creek can do that to ya).

I also got my tests in the mail last Friday. That’s right, I had a midterm and a final and overall I scored a B. (Gosh darn it I really wanted an A!) But she wrote “very good ” on the test so I feel slightly better

What I love about the training is that there were a lot of information on both design & business sides of the staging business and all the classmates are in the business at least 2 years, so we can fast forward all that newbie stuff and learned from each other’s experiences and dealing more advanced issues in our businesses. It was a really solid continue education.

I was the youngest of the bunch (in actual age and business age).

(photo by grebo guru)
Before the training I was feeling a bit frustrated with my business. I felt that it had plateaued. It was great to be in the presence of other more experienced stagers to know that it is perfectly normal to feel so and that breakthrough is possible.

(read the rest here)

(All the photos in this post are taken by me in China in 2004. You can see rest of my travel photos here on flickr.)

I have been getting these questions/see these comments a lot:

“Can you do this in an Asian style?”

“Can you stage this so it will appeal to Asian people?”

“How about Feng Shui? Do you do that too?”

Well, I am clearly Asian, and now I am an Asian American after being “naturalized” (I never know what “naturalized” mean, was I unnatural and awkward? I still am.). I was born and raised in Taiwan, came here in my teenage years (awkward age already, not to mention my fresh-out-of-boat look didn’t help my social status) and been here every since. I am in my late 20s, you can do the math

Working in real estate industry in California is interesting, because we are all trying to be politically correct and not to segregate according to people’s skin colors. But that’s not true. There are so much playing into the buying behaviors of certain ethnic groups, and I have noticed that lately Asian has become the new Latinos. All I hear is that “Can you stage this property in an Asian style so it will appeal to Asian populations?”

First of all, just what the heck is “Asian style?” Living in Asia and an Asian household for all my life, I can tell you that most Asian people (in both Asia and here) don’t live the stereotypical style of “Asian” as we have seen in furnishing catalogs. We (Read more …)

Got an email Sunday night from my agent client Raj, the 88 King Street condo is now in contract and ready to be destaged! It’s always wonderful to receive news like this, especially when mainstream media is complaining the market is down. Sellers are thrilled and my agent client is too. Happiness all around!

STAGING DOES WORK!

Here are some before & after photos (or watch this nifty flickr slideshow)

photo: DoBeRaGi
From: Ms. D

Subject: Advice for budding stager

Hi Cindy,

My name is [Ms. D] and I am what you would call a budding stager who has a flair for design and is passionate about interior design.
I’ve been reading your blogs and have been inspired by your beliefs and accomplishments. I wonder if you can share some of your wisdom with this newbie. Which home staging course would you recommend? There are so many! Did the course have practical training? Would you recommend specific videos or book?
I am not interested in pursuing a home staging business right now. Instead I would like to work with a group of home stagers and learn by experience. I really believe you learn by doing.
Thank you in advance for your time and help! I sincerely appreciate your advice.Sincerely,
[Ms. D]*** *** ***

Hi Ms. D

I would recommend a nationally recognized staging course, because the bigger the company is, the more liability and responsibility they must have to answer to their students and consumers. I am about to take CSP as continue education this weekend, and so far I have heard wonderful things about it.

I also think it’s all depending on what you want your niche to be and how strong you are in terms of business skills. A lot of staging courses really focus more on the business side, which ASP was when I took it in early 2006. I think they have since added more design elements into their course, but frankly you learn best from working in the fields. I personally took (Read more …)