Marianne Sweet

Take a quick look at this photo:
What did you see?
Did you notice:

The beautiful bay window?
The window seat?
New high-grade carpet?
A fireplace to the left?
Plenty of room to put a proper desk?
The incredible wooded view outside the windows?
The french door?
Neutral wall color?

Probably not.  Like most potential home buyers, you likely noticed only the clutter, disorganization and plethora of [...]

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This would be funny if it weren’t so true.

Well, it’s a little funny.  In an uncomfortable kind of way.

The abundance of foreclosures may put a damper on Halloween trick-or-treating this year, but it doesn’t have to.

Stage those foreclosures to sell them!

Vignette and surface staging can go a long way to warm up a property and [...]

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As a home stager, I am called by real estate agents and homeowners to help prepare their properties for sale. While it is impossible to say how long the house would have taken to sell had I not been involved, I firmly believe that the changes implemented have made a difference in the DOM.
I [...]

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There’s a thief in my neighborhood.

Actually, there are at least 1000, according to Rochester Hills’ City Naturalist Lance Devoe.

Deer.  We all love them.  Watching Mama Doe and her babies meander through the yard is nature at its finest.  On one snowy day last winter, we had 10 deer frolicking through the back forty.  One deer, [...]

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A new program about home staging is set to debut on HGTV Sunday night (10pm EST). The Stagers joins a plethora of shows (six that I can think of off the top of my head) focusing on preparing a house for a quick sale. This one promises to “go inside the hectic world [...]

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Dogs are people too, right? Not when it comes to selling a house.
As hard as it may be to accept and implement, when a property is on the market all traces of your beloved pets should be out of sight. This includes the food dishes, toys, cages, pet beds, litter and yes, [...]

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When the Feds dropped the prime a couple of months ago, my husband and I decided to refinance our home in Rochester Hills. Our 5-year ARM was maturing in September.
We never planned to refinance this home. In fact, I believe the phrase “if we’re still living here in 5 years, I’m going to shoot myself” [...]

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HGTV recently aired a special program entitled “25 Biggest Real Estate Mistakes” which featured experts in all aspects of real estate: agents, mortgage lenders, home inspectors, flippers and stagers. The experts opined about the top reasons a listing lags on the market. Catch the full list here. Better yet, watch [...]

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After an excruciatingly long winter, I hereby declare… gratefully and optimistically… that spring is finally here! The birds are chirping, the trees are budding and the baseball season has begun.
In the real estate world, this means the time has come to kick curb appeal up a notch.
In a buyer’s mind, the home’s exterior [...]

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I was asked to stage a vacant house in Royal Oak which had been on the market for 6+ months with no offers. It definitely needed furniture in place to give it some “oomph” and show how lovely the property truly is.
As I toured the house to take measurements and devise a plan of action, [...]

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The number of senior citizens trying to sell homes is growing.  As our parents and grandparents reach the “golden years,” it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to live unassisted.   Rising co-pays and health care costs combined with decreases in retiree pension benefits are draining this generation’s bank accounts at an alarming rate.  Health issues [...]

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