Home owners looking to make more money when they sell their homes can catch my free tips on decorating a house to sell quickly on KFOR1240 Radio which streams live from their website, Friday April 18, 2007 at 12:30 Central/1:30 Eastern.

I’ll be interviewed by Dale Johnson about:

• what home staging is
• why it’s important
• simple design ideas home owners can do on their own
• how to know when you need the help of a professional home stager
• and more.

Listen to Lincoln Live at KFOR1240 AM if you’re in Lincoln, NE, or if you’re not you can hear the show stream live on your computer at www.kfor1240.com. On the right side of the page, look for the box that says “Live Streaming Click Here to listen LIVE!”

Please let me know what you think by adding your comments to this post!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with 750+ Graduates worldwide. She is the author of “Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The Easy Way to Pick Colors for Home Staging Projects”, and “Staging Diva Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your Home Staging Services”.

Debra also offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar.

Technorati Tags: home staging, home stager, make money in real estate, Lincoln NE staging, KFOR1240 AM, Dale Johnson, Debra Gould, Dale Johnson, Staging Diva, advice for home sellers

Ed Marshall, of Los Angeles, an MD and head of his successful family-run home staging business, began an e-campaign in the second half of November, and is now ready to “appear live” as a candidate for the GOP nomination for President.

He will hold his first press conference announcing his GOP candidacy for president, on Saturday, December 15, at 2PM, at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park in Los Angeles at the northwest corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Huston Street. Marshall’s late entry, unusual candidacy, and interesting and unique stands on issues, will be discussed.

I’m not endorsing this guy, but it is amusing to read that a home stager is gunning for the presidency, and a Republican no less!

So how did a respected and established MD end up running a home staging business?

In the 1980s Ed Marshall and his wife started making money in real estate by building homes and then decorating them to sell or rent. He says the business “has grown nicely, has no debt and is also profitable.” He uses this experience as a CEO of his family-run staging business to show his “belief in and support for balanced budgets, without needing loans (which would be much like getting money from taxes in the case of government).”

So how does a home stager decide to be a candidate for the GOP nomination for President?

It seems Ed has been interested in politics since his 20s joining the UCLA Republican Club and later the Young Republicans. In 1995 he wrote, ‘Jump-Starting America: The Grass-Roots Revolution’ and earlier this year, ‘The War No More Book,’ which is available free. Although the latter was written anonymously, he says “I decided to own up to it because of my candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.”

Is this good news for home stagers?

I have no idea whether Ed would make a good president. But I do know that when someone in his position mentions that he also runs a successful home staging business, it builds awareness for what we do.

Perhaps he can help communicate the desperate need for home staging in a soft real estate market to the general public!

Or at minimum wake up all those real estate agents who still have their heads in the sand on what staging can do to boost their own business!

You can check out Ed Marshall’s campaign website.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Entrepreneur and Home Staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, knows how to make money as a home stager. Discover her secrets to business success in the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program. Free quiz to see if the home staging business is right for you.

Technorati Tags: home staging, house stager, ed marshall, GOP, real estate enhancement, staging diva, debra gould

On July 24 I did a one hour segment for CBC Radio. Homeowners called in with questions about how to decorate their homes to sell, why they should hire a home stager, what changes they should make to enjoy their homes, and more.

What was clear from most of the callers is how overwhelmed they are trying to decide what to do on their own. And, they don’t normally know where to go for independent advice.

Most callers weren’t moving right away, but all were looking towards the future for when they would move.

They wanted to make changes now that would help them net a profit when they sell down the road, but at the same time I could just hear their hunger to enjoy their living spaces more right now.

Many homeowners are starting to realize that hiring a home stager can help them on both these fronts. We’re not about going out and buying all new furniture, wallpaper and fabrics. Our focus is usually on better use of what someone already has, getting rid of what’s not needed, prioritizing minor renovations and repairs, etc. These are the decisions that people have a hard time making on their own and who else can they ask?

I’ve done radio before, but never a call-in show like this. I was thrilled that the CBC switchboard was lit up with callers throughout the hour. It just flew by and I was so pumped at the end I wanted to go another hour!

You can listen to the show online at the CBC site until August 23 (scroll down at that page to July 24 to see the links to listen to the two-part audio).

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould is the author of “Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: the easy way to pick colors for home staging projects” and “Staging Diva Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your Home Staging Services.”

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program.

An entrepreneur since 1989 and with an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

More about Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training

Technorati Tags: CBC Radio, Ontario Today, home staging, home stagers, real estate staging, real estate staging business, home staging training, home staging business, staging diva, Debra Gould

Homeowners looking for ways to make more money when selling their homes will have a one hour opportunity to quiz The Staging Diva Debra Gould, for ideas on CBC Radio One.

The show, “Ontario Today,” airs from noon to 2 PM.

Debra Gould will be in the CBC studio, taking calls and questions from listeners from 1 to 2 PM eastern, Tuesday, July 24, 2007.

If you’re outside Ontario, you can also listen online (check out the link on the right menu bar).

The Ontario Today show airs across Canada’s largest province on these FM stations:

Toronto - 99.1
Sudbury - 99.9
Thunder Bay - 88.3
Ottawa - 91.5
Windsor - 1550 AM
Attawapiskat - 101.5
Britt - 107.7
Chapleau - 89.9
Cobalt - 102.3
Elk Lake - 89.7
Elliot Lake - 90.3
Espanola - 97.5
Foleyet - 1450 AM
Fort Albany - 102.3
Fraserdale - 91.9
Hearst - 91.9
Kapuskasing - 105.1
Kirkland Lake - 90.3
Latchford - 102.3
Little Current - 97.5
Mattawa - 1240 AM
Mindemoya - 97.5
Moosonee - 1340 AM
North Bay - 96.1
Sault Ste. Marie - 89.5
Temagami - 1340 AM
Temiskaming Shores - 102.3
Timmins - 96.1
Wawa - 88.3
Cornwall - 95.5
Deep River - 1110 AM
Kingston - 107.5
Ottawa - 91.5
Pembroke - 92.5
Whitney - 98.5
Armstrong - 1450 AM
Atikokan - 90.1
Beardmore - 1240 AM
Big Trout Lake - 100.3
Dryden - 100.9
Ear Falls - 690 AM
Fort Frances - 90.5
Fort Hope - 101.5
Greenstone - 89.1
Hornepayne - 1010 AM
Hudson - 1340 AM
Ignace - 690 AM
Kenora - 98.7
Manitouwadge - 89.7
Marathon - 1090 AM
Nakina - 1240 AM
New Osnaburgh - 104.5
Nipigon - 98.9
Pickle Lake - 105.1
Pikangikum - 100.3
Rat Portage - 98.7
Red Lake - 90.5
Red Rock - 98.9
Sandy Lake - 101.1
Savant Lake - 104.9
Schreiber - 1340 AM
Sioux Lookout - 1240 AM
Sioux Narrows - 95.7
Terrace Bay - 1010 AM
Vermilion Bay - 100.9
White River - 1010 AM
Bancroft - CBLV 600
Crystal Beach - CBLA-FM-1 90.5
Haliburton - CBLY-FM 92.3
Huntsville - CBLU-FM 94.3
London - CBCL-FM 93.5
Maynooth - CBOD-FM 89.3
Orillia - CBCO-FM 91.5
Owen Sound - CBCB-FM 98.7
Paris - CBLA-FM-2 89.1
Parry Sound - CBLR-FM 89.9
Penetanguishene - CBCM-FM 89.7
Peterborough - CBCP-FM 98.7
Shelburne - CBLA-FM-4 102.5
Wingham - CBLA-FM-3 100.9
Chatham - CBEE-FM 88.1
Sarnia - CBEG-FM 90.3

While clearly I’m being asked to help listeners with ideas they can do themselves, many will realize they can get professional help. Anything that broadens public awareness of the importance of decorating a house to sell quickly and for top dollar helps the home staging industry. There are still lots of people who don’t yet realize that home stagers exist!

Here’s why homeowners need professional home staging help, even if they can do some of the work themselves.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould is the author of “Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: the easy way to pick colors for home staging projects” and “Staging Diva Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your Home Staging Services.”

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program.

An entrepreneur since 1989 and with an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

More about Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training

Listen to a FREE Staging Diva Preview Call Recording

Technorati Tags: CBC Radio, Ontario Today, home staging, home stagers, real estate staging, real estate staging business, home staging training, home staging business, staging diva, Debra Gould

There are lots of simple things a homeowner can do on their own to decorate their house to sell. For example:

• getting rid of clutter
• re-painting
• cleaning
• putting out fresh flowers

So why hire a home stager?

Many homeowners don’t know what colors to paint, they can’t be objective about their own homes, many haven’t a clue where to put things, and they’re completely overwhelmed. They often lack current knowledge about what homes in their price range should look like.

A professional home stager will look at a home through the eyes of a highly critical buyer. They:

• know what’s needed to create the right environment quickly and at the lowest cost

• know what homes in different price ranges look like and what’s selling

• will tell homeowners things their real estate agent may be afraid to because they don’t want to lose the listing

• are not emotionally attached to any of the home’s contents

• see things that someone who has been living there for years simply can’t

• recommend the optimal way to re-arrange existing furniture, art and accessories

• can quickly choose new paint colors, flooring, tiles, counter tops or any number of finishes that they know will work in the home

• source painters, cleaners, handymen, off-site storage and any of the other myriad of services that may be needed on short notice

• bring in replacement furniture, accessories and art if what is there isn’t appropriate to the home’s target market or the home is empty

Home staging is not just for multi-million dollar homes, it can have a dramatic effect on the selling price, and time to sell, of even a modest home.

For example, one home I did had been on the market for months with a best offer of $350,000. I spent 90 minutes with the owner telling him where to move furniture around, what to put in storage (and where), what to clean. He sold the following week for $361,000! How many other legal ways can you think of to invest $600 and get $11,000 back the next week?

More examples of the difference professional staging makes to the selling price of a home.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould is the author of “Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: the easy way to pick colors for home staging projects” and “Staging Diva Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your Home Staging Services.”

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program.

An entrepreneur since 1989 and with an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

More about Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training

Listen to a FREE Staging Diva Preview Call Recording

Technorati Tags: home staging, home stagers, real estate staging, real estate staging business, home staging training, home staging business, staging diva, Debra Gould

Browsing for magazines to read over the holidays, I discovered that The Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program made Entrepreneur’s Fall 2006/Winter 2007 Business Start Ups Guide.

It’s the third time Staging Diva has made one of their Start Up Guides this year. Staging Diva is the ONLY Home Staging Business Opportunity Entrepreneur Magazine recognized this year, and they also identified home staging as one of the hottest growth businesses for 2006.

Given the continued melt down in US real estate (Canada experienced what they’re calling a “soft landing” in 2006), the demand for home staging services will continue to rise in 2007 making this an excellent time to learn how to start and grow a staging business.

After all, when there are a dozen other similar houses in your neighborhood for sale and prices are falling, what other strategy can a homeowner use to protect their most important financial investment when it’s time to sell?

Home staging makes a tremendous difference in how fast a home sells and for how much because it’s human nature to be attracted to something that looks better! That’s why we dress up when we go on a date, why we detail a car before we sell it… how silly to imagine you can take a cluttered, badly decorated home in need of obvious repair and expect top dollar!

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program. With an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

You can become a Staging Diva Graduate with 10 hours of training by phone with Debra Gould from home, or you can do the entire program by listening to recordings which are emailed to you immediately after you register.

More about Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training

Technorati Tags: home staging, home stagers, house staging, real estate staging, real estate staging business, Entrepreneur Magazine, business start ups, The Business of Home Staging, working from home, home staging training, home staging business, staging diva, Debra Gould

Last Monday I was supposed to appear on Bob McCormick’s Money 101 radio show on KNX1070, CBS Newsradio’s Los Angeles affiliate. The show was moved to today because of the wild fires that were burning around LA last week.

So, you can catch me live today on Money 101 at 10:30 AM Pacific Time, for a 30 minute interview on how to stage a house to maximize it’s value given the squeeze Southern California homeowners are in because of slower real estate sales, declining propery values and the high number of adjustable rate mortgages in a rising interest rate environment. It’s a great show with lots of real estate-related features.

Listen in live to Money 101 on KNX1070 in LA, November 13, 10:30 AM, and I invite your comments here!

Recent Money 101 Episodes available on line

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., a leading home staging company that provides free information to raise the standards in the industry and build awareness amongst homeowners and their real estate agents about the benefits of decorating a house to sell. Debra Gould developed The Staging Diva Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging, real estate enhancement businesses.

Learn more about the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program

Technorati Tags: home staging Southern California, home staging Los Angeles, home stager, Money 101, Bob McCormick, KNX1070 Newsradio, CBS Newsradio, Debra Gould, staging diva, real estate staging, home staging business, home staging training

I’ve been listening online to Bob McCormick’s Money 101 radio show on KNX1070, CBS Newsradio’s Los Angeles affiliate. It’s a great show with lots of real estate-related features.

I’ll be appearing LIVE on Money 101 Monday, November 6 at 10:30 AM Pacific Time, for a 30 minute interview on how to stage a house to maximize it’s value given the double whammy impact of Southern California’s declining propery values and that 70% of mortgages are adjustable rate in a rising interest rate environment.
Listen in live to Money 101 on KNX1070 in LA, November 6, 10:30 AM, and I invite your comments here!

Recent Money 101 Episodes available on line

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., a leading home staging company that provides free information to raise the standards in the industry and build awareness amongst homeowners and their real estate agents about the benefits of decorating a house to sell. Debra Gould developed The Staging Diva Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging, real estate enhancement businesses.

Learn more about the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program

Technorati Tags: home staging Southern California, home staging Los Angeles, home stager, Money 101, Bob McCormick, KNX1070 Newsradio, CBS Newsradio, Debra Gould, staging diva, real estate staging, home staging business, home staging training

Canada’s largest home decor magazine, House & Home features the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers in the October 2006 issue out today. There’s a fairly long feature about why staging helps a home sell more quickly and for a higher asking price with lots of before and after photos.

Included is an interview with me about How to Hire a Home Stager. One of my missions is to clear up the misinformation about staging credentials out there. It misleads the public when they’re trying to hire someone and it misleads potential students who are duped by programs handing out fake credentials. So I’m glad they included this part to help educate homeowners and their agents:

“Staging is an unregulated field, so beware of anyone claiming to have ‘accreditation.’ Instead, review the candidate’s portfolio. Some training programs hand out photos of staged rooms, so find out whether the photos you see are generic samples or reflect work the stager has actually completed.”

If you’re new to staging there are lots of ways to build a portfolio and credibility and I discuss these in course 2 of the Staging Diva Training Program “The Business of Home Staging: What you Need to Start and How to Grow.”

For any Staging Diva Graduates listed in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, you should see increased traffic to your web page over the next 4 to 6 weeks because of this editorial coverage in House & Home Magazine. The story advises readers:

“To find a stager, ask your real estate agent or freinds for referrals. Or try the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.”

Learn how to get listed in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers

Read more about Staging Diva media coverage

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program. With an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

I keep reading articles about real estate agents pulling back on advertising and recommending price reductions because the market has slowed. Consider that an agent is financially motivated to give this advice by their commission structure. This advice may not always be in their client’s best interest.

If the seller’s agent is only getting 3 percent of the selling price and he/she has to give half of that to the broker, when the client drops his price $10,000 it only means a cut of $150 in the agent’s commission! Of course it’s costing the homeowner $9,400!

That’s why many agents will suggest a price drop before introducing the subject of home staging. It’s a quick/easy solution for the agent, but in most cases home staging will cost the homeowner far less than the $10,000 price cut, and dramatically increase his chance of selling at the original price.

Real estate agents are important to us as Home Stagers. But, don’t make the mistake of relying exclusively on them to promote your home staging business. I discuss this at length, and how to market smarter, in course 4 of The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Listen to a free sample of “Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost your Home Staging Business”