Real Estate Staging / Home Staging Blog

While away I have come to realize this...

Whether one creates art or enjoys another's, art can create a small oasis in daily desert of our lives.

One need not view nor create a grand masterpiece to be refreshed.

My advice, look for the small droplets of art that rain daily.

For more "Good Words" Click Here to see others that make up this series.

There comes a time when the best we can do and the best we can be is "growing".

Sometimes, this "best way" is to travel to another place and to another way.

So off I go... for the first time in over 5 years. A new place and a new way.

Bye for now...

Me

For more "Good Words" Click Here to see others that make up this series.

Once you have written a blog, for any amount of time, it's inevitable that you come to a point where you search for that one "right word" that clearly conveys exactly what you are trying to say. Finding the right words is critical to communicating a message... and ultimately establishing one's credibility. Your words are a reflection of you.

Recently I was reading a post here on Active Rain, in it Barb Schwarz of StagedHomes.com was cited as being the "inventor" of home staging. As I read it a few bells and whistles went off in my head. I thought that it was a mighty audacious statement to claim that Barb "invented" the process of proactively preparing a home for sale to maximize its appeal to potential buyers. This infers that prior to her 1972 "invention" no Realtor EVER advised nor did any home seller EVER do anything to prepare or improve their home's appeal specifically to entice a potential home buyer to buy it.  

Since this is the industry I work in and since I love words and constantly seek out the right one's to accurately communicate what I want to say... this got me to thinking.

First I looked at and looked up the word INVENT... wondering, what ACTUALLY does it mean? The American Heritage Dictionary's definition for "invent" is: "To produce or contrive (something previously unknown) by the use of ingenuity or imagination." 

So when applying the dictionary's description of the word, it is really easy to see why we say that Alexander Graham Bell INVENTED the telephone... because BEFORE Bell's invention there was NO such thing as a phone. Likewise, it is easy to say that Thomas Edison INVENTED the electric light bulb... because before Edison's light bulb there was NO such thing.

Speaking of electric...did anyone really INVENT electricity? Well actually NO. Ben Franklin DISCOVERED electricity... but he did not invent it, as it had been in existence forever, just not harnessed by man.

Which brings me back to staging.  Did Barb Schwarz "INVENT" staging? I guess I would have to say no. But if she did not INVENT staging what DID she do? Well, I think she "coined" a term. She named a process.  Barb brilliantly assigned a word to a process that savvy home-sellers had already been doing all along. "Staging" is the perfect word that clearly conveys exactly the process to that which was being done.  Barb found the the one 'right word' that easily captured and communicated a message.

Since Barb had the bright idea to call the process "staging", she has been a tireless champion for it... sharing the message of the benefits of what can be gained if home seller proactivly take steps to ready their home for it's sale.  Barb is now joined by the Pegs, the Marthas, the Loris and so many others here on Active Rain who continue perfecting the staging process and contribute what they have learned to benefit the seller and ultimately improve the entire home staging industry.

So the moral of my story is, choose your words carefully or you may look like a fool. Words do matter in the communication of a message... for if Barb Schwarz had not come up the term "staging" who knows what I would be blogging about today. Hmmm... which now makes me wonder, who came up with the word "blog"?

Word It Forward...

Me

POST SCRIPT 1: For whatever reason something I wrote here has hit a nerve with a few of you... and you have written me on the QT to express your concerns about this post with comments like "I don't think you wrote this blog to stir up any negativity, I'm just nervous that it will appear to others outside AR as such."  Well, I have some things to say about that... see my comment below.

POST SCRIPT 2: See re-edited version of this post on NBC - NEW YORK's website.

POST SCRIPT 3: My follow up to this blog (Part 2) can be seen here: My Personal COMMENT on a STAGER'S STORM in the Rain

While it was NOT the intent of my initial post entitled "Was Barb Schwarz the 'INVENTOR' of Home Staging"... somehow this post did cause issues to swirl to the surface. And in all this there lies a lesson for ANYONE who writes a blog.

So first let's talk about MY PERSONAL PURPOSE for writing that post.

The great thing about Active Rain is it a place for me to write my "first draft" and see what "works" with what I wrote. Comments then give me a clue to how well I communicated my message and if I need to alter/tweak before putting it up on my "Pretty" blog. Case in point... I KNOW that post missed some of the mark. I needed to go back and do some editing.

This post was about USING WORDS, CHOOSING WORDS, and ASSIGNING WORDS to the thoughts, ideas, theories, plans, programs, methodologies, concepts, wishes etc... etc etc we write of in life. I don't care if you are writing a note to you kid's teacher at school or a book that makes the New York Times Best Seller's List.

WORDS have power to convey (or wrongfully convey) a message. CHOOSE them carefully. THAT is why even in my own post I saw that the words I choose in the post did not fully convey the message I WANTED to communicate. So when I rewrote it and posted it on my "Pretty Blog" I added this: 

"Anyway... getting back to words, the use of the words "invent" and "staging" demonstrate how the use of the one right word can help to effectively communicate a message. So while Barb's word "staging" is masterfully on target, on the flip side, the word "invent" falls short."

I chose BARB SCHWARZ as a subject to write about because she is a recognized FACE IN THIS industry. Whether you personally have good, bad or indifferent feelings for her... it is a fact she is recognizable figure in the industry that I write about. From a writers perspective, it helps to develop a point and convey a message if you KNOW your audience can RELATE to that which you write.

As more and more people read my words... it sets me up to be a target. I know it, I expect it, I don't LIKE it...  but that is the way that it is. PERIOD. So my words need to be CAREFULLY selected. As do Barb's or ANYONE ELSE who writes PUBLICLY! Period. In this industry or any other. Period. As a writer you put your words out there to BE scrutinized. PERIOD. And if you don't like the fact that people MAY just challenge what you say. Then DON'T write blogs, DON'T write articles, DON'T give interviews, DON'T do videos, DON'T write books, DON'T teach seminars. LIVE in a friggin bubble.

But PLEASE reader, viewer, listener know that JUST because it is printed, televised, spoken that DOESN'T make it God's Truth. Don't be that ignorant or naive.

If you are THAT naive... then here. Craig Schiller created the World.  Now wait 2 days and print this post out.  Then you have the printed PROOF that it is so. Because you read it here and it is printed out! Really! What ever happened to the saying... "Question Authority" ?

As for all the controversy that surrounds Barb Schwarz.

I am sorry it is such. But there is obviously something VERY REAL between these people and Barb. AS there is something REAL between those people that LIKE Barb and Barb. 

It is a well known fact that people LOVE bad news MORE then good news. But, the BAD will TRUMP the good. And the BAD will grow and spread FASTER than the good. And the bad will be harder to clean up.

Once the BAD is out there it will stick to the hearts of those who feel it and they will judge, criticize, condemn Barb no matter what she does. She could create a scout troop for orphans that walks old ladies and puppies across street corners... and she will be a target. The hurt these people feel to me seems way too real. Way too deep. Who am I or who are you to say it is not so, for those that are hurting?

Me

PS: I originally wrote this as my own comment on the blog referenced above... but I think there might be a greater message/lesson to be learned.

Quite often, and for some odd coincidence, we then stumble upon a messages that can instantly redirect us back on what really is our track.

At least that is the way it is for me.

Tripping forward...

Me

For more "Good Words" Click Here to see others that make up series.

Each year large builders and developers all across the nation invest millions of dollars to build, design and install lush & lovely model homes. Why? It is pretty simple. Models sell homes. As you'd expect, a model is a great tool to help a buyer understand just how to configure and fit furniture within a prospective home. More importantly, builders know a beautiful model interior will connect emotionally with the buyer... enticing them with a possible "lifestyle" to be enjoyed if they bought the home.

Until quite recently, only larger builders could justify, afford and benefit from investing substantial sums of money into model interiors. But now, because of home staging, more and more smaller "boutique" builders have discovered that experienced Home Stagers can inexpensively design and quickly install beautifully staged models that rival the über-expensive models of their larger counter parts.

But a secret only stays a secret for so long as it was only a matter of time before a savvy larger builder discovered the model resource smaller builders were using... and that builder is one of the nation's largest builders, Toll Brother's. Recently Real Estaging worked with Toll Brothers to stage a quick delivery spec home within their Hawthorn Woods Country Club community here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

What makes this story even more extraordinary is the fact that Toll Brothers ALREADY HAD a lush & lovely model for the same home we staged located about ¼ mile away. Pictured to the left, are interior photographs, taken pretty much from the same view point of the original lush & lovely model and the staged model we designed and installed.  (I am not going to tell you which is which quite yet.) Now I don't know how much time it took to plan and install or how many thousands and thousands of dollars were spent on the lush & lovely model... but I do know we designed and installed our staged model in about 3 ½ days and all for less than $5,000. (Which includes the rental fee for furniture provided by Brook Furniture Rental.)

How will the use of home staging as an alternative to models play out over time? Will developers freeze-up and allow their lush & lovely models go the way of the dinosaur? Well, that is yet to be determined. However, I applaud Toll Brothers for their foresight and innovative thinking in looking at new possibilities and new opportunities. In the future, due to creative thinking like this, it just might be that the vast amount of moneys builders spend on models could be redirected into staging multiple spec homes that dot their communities, and in doing so give more homes within a development their own unique yet enticing model lifestyle image.

Stage It Forward... with ideas and information

Me

PS: The answer to WHICH IS WHICH? can be found in the first comment.

Throughout the course of our lives we read and hear trillions upon trillions of words.

But once in a great while, we come across words that somehow travel deep within to touch the core of our being... and illuminate what we hold as our truths.

Yesterday, I came across these simple and profound words of Mahatma Gandhi.

Be It Forward...

Me  

For more "Good Words" Click Here to see others that make up series.

Every Realtor knows that first impressions matter. So can I be honest here? (And this has bugged me about Active Rain from the start.) Active Rain's front door is UGLY.

Yup UGLY! Yes, Yes I know it is fully "functional" door... but let's face it... its ugly. It has NO SNAP, NO WOW! NO... DANG I gotta go in and take a TOUR of this site.

And as all my staging colleagues (and Realtors too) know... first impressions matter... so it better be good!

Sooooo...  I did a little cyber Staging, and made a new fully functional doorway into Active Rain for my friends and staging colleagues (especially my colleagues!) to use when they invite others for a visit to a "Home Stagers Corner" on Active Rain for the first time.

Click on the image to the left and you will see what Michelle Tsioles, an AMAZINGLY creative designer we have here on staff at Real Estaging, created. This an fully functional gateway site that is up and running.

HOWEVER, don't get me wrong, this is NOT going to be the MAIN door into Active Rain. But for those of us in OUR industry who have been working together as a group to sing one song, you gotta admit this is a more attractive way to enter our group's corner of Active Rain.

It is NO secret how much I admire and am thankful for Active Rain and all it has done and is doing to help open doors for sooooo many of us who are members. So... I did run this past the Rain Gods to make sure this was cool with them... I think Caleb's words back to me said it all when he wrote... "I have to say YOU'VE GOT IT! Craig this is great.  This really helps. Thank you for putting this together."

Its not a big thing, but do I believe doing what  I can to create a bunch of small things that work in harmony can only benifit all of my staging colleagues... Stage It Forward.

Me

POST SCRIPT: ABC NEWS 7-DENVER picked up this post and published it HERE on their website.

If you have blogged, for ANY amount of time, you know it is an investment IN time. However, one of the "PERKS" I have found in blogging is it gives me a means to capture and articulate, in a concise manner, just what I do want to communicate to my clients. So now instead of saying someday I SHOULD write something about XYZ topic... I find I HAVE written about that topic.

Which is all fine and good.

But... did you ever notice that ONCE you posted your blog it quickly becomes "yesterday's news?"  And all that investment seems a little lost. I have... and that bothered me, and it got me to thinking.

Being the "marketing freak" that I am I wondered, "HOW could I keep this information alive? HOW could I recycle my message and get MORE from it?" HOW could I get MORE return on my blogging Dollar?

Then it hit me.

Last Saturday, I was going to be giving a talk on home staging and wanted to provide the audience with MORE than just a typical brochure on Real Estaging and our services. So I scoured through my old posts here on Active Rain and picked a few blogs I knew would pertain to the topic and CONNECT with that particular audience and RECREATED them as handouts.

Shown to the left are front-side and back-side images of the 3 separate handouts I quickly (heck... all the hard writing was already done) created last Friday afternoon in about 2 hours.  Now in order to create these marketing pieces I did have to CONSIDER the audience (consumers) and slightly adapt/rewrite the original blog content so that it made sense and applied more directly to the consumer audience from THEIR perspective.

Also... creating a consistent professional LOOK, that was shared among all pieces, helps give the pieces and the messages they tell MORE credibility. (PS: I use Microsoft  Word to create all my brochures/handouts/flyers... YES WORD!)

NOW FOR THE SUPER DUPER SELF MARKETING SECRET....

If you look closely at the bottom of each of these pieces you will notice a little yellow star and some teeny tiny text to the right of it. Note that that star is EXACTLY the same little yellow star given to FEATURED posts here on Active Rain. The text to the right reads:

"The above information, authored by Craig Schiller of Real Estaging, appeared as a FEATURED POST  Month Date, Year on ActiveRain.com. ActiveRain is an on-line informational resource serving the real estate industry."

EVEN if the post was NOT featured a tag line could and should be added such as:

"The above information, authored by Craig Schiller of Real Estaging, appeared as an INFORMATIONAL POST  Month Date, Year on ActiveRain.com. ActiveRain is an on-line informational resource serving the real estate industry."

Citing your own work (WITH A STAR or WITOUT A STAR) will add credibility to you and its content. BUT the secret to having this be noticed on the page is to make it TEENY TINY, almost like an afterthought, an "Oh by the way... no big deal" thing. But your clients will notice it. The approach I take to citing my work is much the like the approach I take when I staging a property... do it in an UNDERSTATED manner. Siting your work in a tasteful understated way will actually give you MORE credibility.

So good luck as you Blog For Dollars...

Me

PS: The 3 original posts I used to create each of these marketing pieces can be found here:

• Property Pricing advice can be hard for sellers to swallow
• REALTORS... Selling a home is as easy as riding a Tricycle
• TAX MAN COMETH for Seller's... but NOT if I Can Help It!

Yesterday, April Fool's day, was a special day here in the Rain. It was a day that brought out the "Fool" in many. So if you like to smile, I thought I would pull together one of those of oh-so-famous and much enjoyed REVIEW posts... but, for this review compilation I got it easy, I just had to go through one days worth of material.

Anyway, as they say, here are the nominees for the 2007 A.R.F (Active Rain Fool) Award in no particular order... (YES! This WAS a contest YOU FOOLS!!!... but only in my head)

• In order to get to the bottom of this first nominee Nick The Apraiser's prank, you have to go "off property" with a secret code AND a password (how totally juvenile) in The appraisal assignment of a lifetime!! I should have known!!  A ride not to be missed.

• Krystal Krafty tries to suck us in with her visual prank Pikes Peak Blows off some steam. But I gotta admit I'm just not blow'in for it.

• Those old cold coots (or are they Codger's?) go on a senile rant and chant in Old Men & Cyber Codger-Lodges^TM-O CARNAC We Await your Wisdom & Prognostications This April Fool's Day! Read it and weep.

• Hearing the coots, the great wise Carnac (aka Linda Davis) finally appears (much like a ground hog, but ground hogs don't wear stupid looking hats) to share with us her SPRING predictions. (Warning don't be drinking hot coffee as you read this, nasal cavties can't take the heat.) Here is what the coots were screaming for There's no foolin' Carnac of Connecticut

• Ahhhh what would foolishness be without The Lovely Wife. This, her last posting on Active Rain, can be read here: Calling All Fools...April Fools That Is...ROAR!  BB said that after posting this, some MIB came the other night and took TLW away. Oh well, she was fun while she lasted.

• Ok this Danny Smith guy scares me! Just who the hell does he think he is coming in and screaming and threatening to take away points in LISTEN UP ALL YOU RAIN MAGGOTS. Where is TLW when you need her? OH MY GOD... it just dawned on me..  its a governmental conspiracy here in the Rain. Billy is out and Danny is in.

• The next two posts have to share the nomination, cause they are pretty much the same prank. Maggie Dokic's Google does it again!! and Tony Marriott's Google announces free in-home wireless broadband service is to close to call. Who stole from whom? (Or is it whom stole from who?) I don't know. Anyway... You can cast your own vote by using Active Rain's flagging feature. Won't it be a hoot to choose the bogus blogging prankster and maybe get them booted from the Rain! (I already know how Danny is gonna vote for... and NO you can not have Tony's points.)

• Ummmmm this next nominee, I am not certain if this is Sold! or if this weenie is just shoveling it. You be the judge of this beautifully articulated writing of Teresa Boardman. This woman just has the most beautiful and eloquent way with words...

• I am happy to announce we have a whole new category this year... its the Funnest Active Video Award or better know as the FAVA. Since we only have one nominee (Lysa Napolitano's To All Active Rain Pranksters!  ) Lysa is the winner of the FAVA. YEAH LYSA, now you can do me a FAVA? To help claim your prize, just send a certified check in the amount of $500 to Craig Schiller's Fool in the Rain Award PO BOX Q Chicago Illinois 60123.

• Don't be sucked in by Ralph Robert's happy-go-lucky drawing of himself... in reality this guy is all negativity. On the one day where FUN could reign in the rain he has to dump this load and remind us WARNING BIG BROTHER WATCHING. Speaking of Warnings... he too takes you off site. But at least you don't need a secret code and password to go where he takes you. (Did I mention how lame codes and passwords are?)

• Our final nominee is entered by a vain kill-joy schmuck. It is his sad sad attempt at dry sarcasm and not worth the cyber paper it is written on... if you ask me. But here is: A Bit of Decorum would be Appreciated... Especially today!

But now that I have all the wonderful nomonees posted THE WINNER of the 2007 ARF is.... MARK FLANDERS!

Mark's Important Network Changes embodies all that is good and pure and right with the RAIN. This posting was WELL crafted and thought out. It even got the Rain God's tinkling in their pants. And look at all the comments he sucked up with that puppy. ARF! ARF! Mark... but I dry dress!

There you have it... the 2007 A.R.F. Awards I hope you enjoy them for years and years to come.

ARF It Forward...

Me

PS: Did I mention that Oprah is going to do her show live from this blog today at 3PM? HOW COOL IS THAT?