| | | August 2008 | Vol 3, Issue 8 | | | | Staging Works!
for agents in the lowcountry | | | | | | Greetings! | | Can you believe this summer is almost over? Kids are getting ready to go back to school & before we know it the holidays will be upon us! During this part of the year it is important to maximize your sales to sustain you through the traditionally slower late fall/early winter season when home sales are historically lower. Make sure that you are on your 'A game' and offering the most value to your clients. | | What Agents Are Saying About Us... |  "Bevin Googer with First Impressions did an outstanding job staging my client's home. She has a very special touch when it comes to bringing in the right piece of furniture and arranging an area in a house to make it all come together. When I sent the owners of the house the photos of it staged they could not believe the difference it made. They are very happy with the service that was provided. Here is a big thanks to Bevin and First Impressions for doing a great job."
Troy Barber, EXIT Realty Charleston Group **PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN AGENT OPEN HOUSE AT 178 FISHBURNE, DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON, WED., AUG 20th, 12-2pm!** | |  | | Our Team | | 843.822.2622 843.425.0138 843.609.7000 843.628.8062 843.367.7653
| | | | | Agent Courses Now Available! |  Are you looking for a way to increase your listing skills, add extra value to what you already offer and increase your annual income as a result? Check out our new courses designed specifically for agents. Lunch & Learn - Spend two hours with the First Impressions Education Department finding out how to increase your business through professional home staging. Learn what to look for in a professional stager, how to communicate to your clients, staging fundamentals and more. A catered lunch will be provided. For more information on this course or to set up a lunch & learn at your real estate office, contact Bevin Googer 425-0138. Classes are offered the first Wednesday of every month from 11am - 1pm. Registration required.Cost $25.00 per person. Agent Certification - Have you been thinking about adding staging certification to your alphabet soup? We now have a two day agent certification course available to you. Learn the fundamentals of staging at our Training Center in Summerville then spend time in an actual 'for sale' home putting those techniques to work. For more information on this course, please contact Bevin Googer 425-0138. Classes are offered the second Thursday & Friday of every month from 9am - 5pm. Registration Required. Cost $350.00 per person. Three & five day IRIS approved staging certification courses are also available. For information on these courses, please contact Melissa Marro 822-2622. More information on IRIS (Interior Redesign Industry Specialists) is available at (www.weredesign.com) | | Back to School - Back to Work - Back to Basics |  School is about to begin and that means that many of you will be going back to work full time and leaving vacations behind you. Now is the time to get your current listings sold as well as sign on new fresh listings. Getting your listings sold before winter hits is going to be vital to your clients. Buyers want to be settled before the holidays hit. The first attack of a successful listing is always to have the home in perfect selling order before it gets to market. The old selling philosophy was, 'lets wait and see'. This, as we have seen time and time again, no longer works. Buyers have gotten more savvy and the market has turned in favor of these buyers. Our 'want it now' society teamed up with how frequently homeowners move these days has turned selling to a 'have it move in ready' market. This means you will need to guide sellers on the appropriate things to do to prepare their home before it is listed and marketed. The problem with this is that sometimes letting sellers know that they need to take down the hummel collection that their deceased mother gave them can put your relationship with the client in jeopardy. Sellers may feel that you don't like their home, their taste, or perhaps even that you don't like them! Hiring a professional home stager can solve this issue for you. We are able to come in, assess the home and provide concrete information for them including showing the difference that staging can actually make in higher prices and lower days on market in hard cold numbers. This keeps you from being the bad guy and makes sellers feel good about the changes and the services you have provided. | | Meet the Stagers - OPEN HOUSE! |  You've been getting our newsletters. Now come and see our work in person. Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20th from 12pm-2pm we will be showing four downtown staged properties. Come and see how Professional Staging can improve your listings and register to win a $200 cash prize*. The staged homes are listed below. Click on the MLS number to view the real estate show we have provided for our staged properties. 34-C Society St, $775,000, MLS# 2717481 - listed by Sean Litton, The Peninsula Company
175-A Wentworth St, $659,000, MLS#2804091 - listed by Roger Sample, Carolina One 178 Fishburne St, $528,900, MLS# 2812553 - listed by Troy Barber, Exit Realty 43-B St. Margaret St, $254,000, MLS# 2728684 - listed by Matt Poole, Carolina One
*Must attend all four homes to register for cash drawing. | | | | | As always, we at First Impressions thank you, our customers, for the continued support and the steady stream of referrals you have provided us. We value our partnership in helping to grow your business and create a new level of service in the Charleston market! Sincerely, | | Melissa Marro, Bevin Googer & The entire First Impressions Team
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