House Stagers
Have any of you used them? What do they cost? How do they work?
If you are one how did you get into it? To all investors would you look at this as another source of income? Have your own company much like having your own mortgage company, agents, and title companys.
Any input?
wow no one has used one......
Since most folks on here are investors who buy and rehab or do assignments I do not think you will find many folks doing house staging.
Where this might be useful is to property owners in pre-foreclosure and looking to sell the property. Of course you then run the risk of not being able to get paid if the property is foreclosed.
Maybe for folks that do subject-to this might be a way to add value.
You could also market your service to rehabbers or new investors who need someone with them as they inspect the properties to see if they want to acquire it, need help deciding how much to offer and need help doing the rehab.
Linlin,
Thanks for the reply. What I was thinking is it worth the time and money to use one to get rid of my property faster. If I have a property will I sell it faster if it has been staged. The market has cooled and any little edge should be looked at.
The second point is many investors have teams. Money guys(bankers etc.), agents, title companys, managment companys etc. Should a house stager be part of that team. I know of several big investors that keep everything in house, construction, sales, loans. Am wondering if this will be the next trend. When you watch those unrealistic shows about rehabs the house always looks perfectly staged. How do they do it an what are the cost?
Again thanks.
J
That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the input anyone else?
In a few of the properties I rehabbed I put minimal furniture in it. I also tend to have paint samples on hand.
One property was rather large so I allowed a friend of mine to put up some simple window treatments and a beautiful carved bench in the foyer and the buyers wanted it with that stuff in.
That is about as far as I have gone with the pre-decorating unless it is a furnished rental.
Maybe you could target properties that have been listed for a while and not sold. Some real estate agents are just not good at pointing out possible defects to owner and how to correct them.
You would have to know you market and be sure that staging will help the property sell. [ Edited by linlin on Date 11/05/2006 ]
I agree with mcole ask for a REFI.
As for the "seasoning rule in FL" I have not heard of this rule. Lenders have seasoning rules but I have not heard of a state having one.
Bank of America just did an equity credit line for me on a free and clear investment property I have owned only 5 months. Because this is an investment property, they will loan up to $100K or 80% (CLTV) of appraisal whichever is less. Interest rate is based on prime and is fixed when you first use the equity line.
I agree with NewKidinTown. I have 9 mortgages/HELOCs with BOA and they had absolutely no problem with investment properties. HELOCs had NO closing costs.