Birmingham MI Real Estate

Last week a spectacular home in Birmingham hit the market at a list price of $6,395,000, making it the most expensive residence currently on the market in the City of Birmingham.  Our company, SKBK Sotheby’s International Realty, has been entrusted to market this exceptional home. 400 Arlington was originally built for Carole Ilitch Trepeck and [...]

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If you are still on the fence about the value of professionally staging a home for sale, here is another benefit to consider:  staged properties command higher appraisals. Certified Residential Appraiser Linda Shurtliff, owner of Troy-based Reliable Residential Appraisals, LLC agrees.  “A staged home has much more appeal than an unstaged home.  A staged home [...]

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Dmitry and I have been selling Oakland County real estate since 2001, and some Realtor’s would say that we have never never seen a “good” market, though we would disagree. A good market is what you make of the market you are in, afterall. I can’t control the market, but I can control how I [...]

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Most Home Stagers agree, however, that Staging encompasses all 12 of these improvement projects, as a good Stager will advise if, and to what extent, these improvements should be undertaken to increase the marketability of the property. The article can be viewed here: http://blog.homegain.com/home-improvement/homegain-2009-top-12-home-improvements-survey-results/ I have already had an agent ask if $300 for Home [...]

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From my staging colleague Cindy Bryant, owner of Redesign, Etc. in Houston, TX: Helping home sellers achieve their goal. Offers will come faster. Marketing strategy. Effective selling technique. Selling a home for all it’s worth. Taking a tried and true approach. Always looking better than the competition. Get better appraisal values. Internet photos will show a must see [...]

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After owning a Home Staging business for over 5 years, I think I have heard every possible objection to hiring a Stager, from “I know what needs to be done” to “I don’t want someone touching my stuff”.  The biggest objection by far, however, is the cost.  In this economy, people just don’t have a [...]

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When potential buyers view a house for sale, they need to see rooms presented as they were intended.  The master bedroom shouldn’t be an exercise room, the bathroom shouldn’t be a pet station, the garage shouldn’t be a storage unit, and unless you have more than 3 bedrooms, resist the urge to make one an [...]

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A link to a “virtual home staging” site was sent to me recently, and naturally, I had to investigate.  Ahhh … the wonders of Photoshop.  The owners of this site will take uploaded photos of your vacant rooms and plug in furniture to make it appear furnished.  The “after” photos actually look pretty good, although [...]

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When we started selling homes in 2001, short sales were unheard of in Metro Detroit.  Foreclosures were rare in Oakland County.  But times have changed and this year we have had an enormous uptick in our short sale business. Short sales are taking place in every price range.  In the last 30 days we’ve helped [...]

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As I head to Florida for a much-needed vacation and annual Spring Training game (Go Tigers!!!), I leave you with an excellent Q & A reblogged with permission from my staging colleague Cindy Bryant of Redesign Etc, Inc. in Houston, TX.  Her post on Active Rain is spot-on and truly reflects the most common questions [...]

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We know that the three most important factors for a successful real estate sale are location, price and condition.  While the seller can make changes to the price and condition of a property to hasten a sale,  no one can amend the location. What happens when the location of the house itself is desirable, but [...]

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