Staging In Spring

Staging in Spring

By Debbie Davis

Prudential First REALTORS®

Any home stager will tell you that “staging is staging” and the principals remain the same throughout the year—keep things clean, clutter free and colorful. But that doesn’t mean each season comes without its own brand of staging magic.

For spring, there are a number of things you can do both inside and outside to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

Barb Schwarz, creator of Homes Staging^® and CEO of Stagedhomes.com, suggests adding splashes of color to your porch with potted flowers. She favors larger pots placed on each side of the front door bearing tulips or daisies with greenery in the middle.

Bringing spring colors into a home is just as easy, especially with accessories like throw pillows, area rugs, artwork, towels and bedspreads.

“Change accessories and the whole house changes,” Schwarz said. Swap-out decorative pillows on a sofa for a fresh, new look. “This year nature colors are really in; green is really big and hot orange is an accent that is strong.”

Designers recommend using other knickknacks that speak of spring, such as pears, eggs, sea shells, nature, leaf patterns in fabrics, wicker, real leather and rust metal as contrast.

Schwarz said it’s also a good idea to replace the drapery panels in a home or office. She recently changed a den from a daisy pattern in blue to cream plain panels that went from ceiling to the floor “and the whole room looked bigger and more elegant,” she said.

Of course, all rooms in the house are important and there are ways to liven up each one as the spring season blooms. You want the buyer to buy the whole house, not just one or two rooms staged, so it’s important to create a cohesive design.

Yet don’t forget your “great outdoors.” Clean up your yards, remove fallen leaves and dead plants, and trim bushes and hedges.

Indeed, spring brings more buyers so take advantage of all that the season has to offer.

Debbie Davis can be reached at (785-271-2888). Prudential First REALTORS® is an independently owned and operated broker member of BRER Affiliates, Inc.

February 2012 Home Sales Rise

February 2012

Kansas home sales rose by 18.6% percent in February 2012 compared to February last year, according to new figures released by the Kansas Association of REALTORS®. Sales totaled 1,840 units in February, up from 1,551 units in 2011. In comparison, sales on a national level rose 8.8% for the month.

Across the state there were 16,392 active listings at the end of the month. Supply of new and existing homes on the market -- which is determined by taking the number of active listings and dividing it by the number of sales -- represents 8.9 months.

"The mild winter has helped the spring selling season get off to a good start," said KAR President, John Brocker with Allen County Realty, Inc., in Iola. "Along with the good sales figures, pending sales were up more than 25 percent in February."

The statewide average sale price last month was $138,057, compared to $138,368 in February 2011. This represents a decrease of 0.2%. The statewide median sale price last month was $119,000 compared to $120,000 for the same period last year. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the median home price in the Midwest fell 0.5% to $120,500. The national median existing home price was $156,600 which is 0.3% above last year. The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was a record low 3.89 percent in February, down from 3.92 percent in January; the rate was 4.95 percent in February 2011; recordkeeping began in 1971.

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