I haven’t posted much about my house in ages, because, well… I haven’t posted at all in ages. Long story short, I had a baby (yes, that’s my excuse) and was trying to work full time, and act like a normal person on zero sleep, so really couldn’t find the time to post or brush my teeth on a regular basis. Now that we’re back up and brushing – I figured it was time for a little update!

We completely redid the outside, new porch, siding and windows (will post photos of that later) and then decided to gut the entire house inside (am I crazy? YES… but it is what it is). I’m super excited for the plans our architect put together, we changed a few things around but here is the plan so far. You know you’ve got kids and are over 30 when you’re MOST EXCITED about having a mud room… I literally asked for a new vacuum for my 34th birthday… hello loserville, it’s me your new pal Hillary.

Anyway… Check these out.

Super excited to see it all come together. We had this huge fireplace in the middle of the house that was so dated – we went back and forth on removing it or not because it was a big expense but ended up taking it out. It really opened up the space and gave us more options for the living room and allowed us to grab a bit more space for the kitchen.

So…pro tip:

What’s the most important thing I’ve learned from remodeling houses and doing construction projects?

Whatever your budget is… double it. Legit, this is not a joke.

Whatever you think it will cost… it’ll cost double – for sure. And once you take something down or move something it inevitably leads to something else being wrong that you have to fix. So just plan on it being a shit show and break out the wine while you contemplate how to turn your tears into dollar bills.

And I forgot to mention, I’m living at my parents house while this all takes place. I know that I should be super grateful that they live close enough and will take me and my gaggle of children in but… I’m living at my parents house with a gaggle of children… know what I’m saying?!!!

A lot of clients ask me to come view their property and give them advice on getting their property ready for showings and the open house. Generally we go through the process of picking and choosing how to best stage and declutter their home. After years of living in a house, things tend to pile up – and we all are attached to our favorite random items that might not mean anything to someone else.

Many times however, a seller has already emptied the home in order to move into their next property. This leaves the property vacant which can be hit or miss for photography and showings. 85% of Potential Buyers report that photos are the most important reason for them deciding to visit a home. Many sellers opt to stage a property via a professional staging company which is not only an additional out of pocket expense, but can run thousands of dollars for the seller. I am a huge fan of staging and think it is certainly worth the money if the seller is capable of spending the additional cash to get their home looking its best. Creating the right feel for buyers is so important and staging can bring new life to a home.

But what does a seller do if they don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on professional staging?

A cost effective alternative for traditional staging is virtual staging! We cover the cost of virtual staging for all of our sellers as an additional bonus to listing with us. Virtual staging can really provide that perfect FIRST IMPRESSION to buyers who are browsing photos in order to choose which open houses they will attend.

Here are some examples of virtual staging: