Well, I learned a giant lesson last month about Staging and Photos and I thought I'd share it.

For 17 years, I've owned a rental property that was a pain to rent out. It would stay empty for months between renters, even though the neighborhood was good, the house was good, and the price was great. It was like puling teeth to get people to come see it. Once I'd get it rented, tenants would stay for years, but no one wanted to come see it. I did not have good interior pictures, but I believed they were "good enough".

Last month I finally decided I was done messing with it and put it up for sale. We were thinking of a re-investment in FL anyway. Remembering how hard it was to market, I staged it first. With stuff from my own house. FIVE carloads. Lamps, chairs, tables, beds, bedding, rugs, paintings.

When the MLS listing went up, it was scheduled 12 hours a day with showings, I got 5 offers over list price within 36 hours and sold it with no contingencies.

Why such a turnaround? I've got to believe it was the staging. My lesson has been that when I'm having trouble attracting the right tenants, I need to haul over 5 carloads of stuff and stage the heck out of it AND take wide-angle photos. Beautiful photos make all the difference.

To see my MLS photos, check out 540StonefieldCourt dot com

To see my former rental pics, go to hburgrentals.weebly dot com and follow the link to Stonefield court. Embarrassingly bad. I've learned.

Thanks for sharing the story!

Also thanks for Box brownie website, very good idea!

Your staging looks nice. I could see how the main room's (LR/DR) size would look deceiving without any furniture point of reference.

Next time, add a hammock to your staging. Takes up a lot of vacant back yard view and hammocks look relaxing mainly because they are relaxing.

Congratulations on your pending sale! May it all go smoothly from here to closing.

I do a minimum staging when trying to rent or sell a property. For less than it cost to take the family out for a meal, I'm able to buy enough trinkets to capture ones imagination.

Laura,

Congrats on your sale and congrats on your new perspective!

Stats show that staged homes sell faster and for more money. I think the same applies to rentals.

ONLINE PHOTOS is the new curb appeal. GOTTA put up great photos.

I notice when we watch Chip and Jooanna or Two Chicks and a Hammer the camera always Zooms in on the cute stuff in the house, NOT the overall size of the room, etc.

Wifey has a great eye and took a course. The biggest take away was to have something MEMORABLE such as rubber duckies in the tub - give them something to talk about now and later, and to set your home apart in the memory.

I bought a bunch of staging stuff and lugged it from house to house, in and out of storage when selling. What chore! After a year or two my stuff started to be outdated. So gotta keep it fresh with new colors, etc.

We use VSHmedia.com for online staging. $33 per room, we do a room or two for rentals. They look FANTASTIC! Stylish furniture and colors. They can even replace the carpet in the original photo with the hardwood we installed during the process. And nothing to carry!

BRAD

Nice 'after' pictures! You did a good job of enticing the prospects.

When I have an empty rental, I stage it with my antiques. A nice little old oak chair in each room, tiny tables here and there, ALWAYS a rubber ducky in the bath (which I leave for the new tenants). Funny how it disappears when the lease is over. Who doesn't love a rubber ducky?

I also put potted plants here and there inside and out. Get them on sale at Wally Mart at a fraction of the cost. Orchids are nice. New cutting board on the kitchen counter, nice new dishtowel, a set of white (cheap) new towels in the bathroom, kleenex, toilet paper, papertowels and laundry pods. I also leave a nice 'rack' of shovel, rake, hoe, clippers, broom, mop and new clean waste baskets. I usually take back the plants, unless there is someone who absolutely loves them and will take care of them. The rest stays.

Cost very little, (about 25 bucks) but everyone comments on the items as they consider the rental. Also the antiques give a nice 'conversation' starting point with most people. Antiques don't stay, although I've had some offers to buy them. Nice things, I refinish furniture and live with lots of old things.

I also hang heavy lace curtain panels in all rooms (semi-matching, thrift store finds) to soften the mini-blinds and it's amazing when I say they can just return them and put up their own curtains. They always say they will do that, and then end up keeping the lace curtains (which stay with the house).

We always stage our rentals. We always get comments from those who either look, or eventually rent, on how that helps.

Mini-Blinds are good, or inexpensive grommet curtains -- they keep the outside appeal, and keeps them from throwing sheets, towels, blankets up at the windows. That way they can move in and be "covered".

Another thougth:

Buyers, especially younger buyers, have no imagination. Gotta show them where to put the sofam TV, bed...

Staging does that for them.

Also instead of a mattress, use an air mattress. Looks the same when the bedding is on it.

We are to old to be moving furniture in and out of our rental to staged them and to poor to hire someone to do it and investing money in buying furniture. We been in this business for our for over 20+ years and never staged our properties for rent and it worked out fine.

My thoughts, first me! I am an appraiser for 42 years, apartment owner for 36 years. With all that said, I am 100% convinced staging and beautiful video pictures Our what Tony Robbins says – – the next level.

Again with all that said, even how about the next level of the next level?

Do this – – a year ago, I saw this example, and I use it, and it works wonders. In 2019 according to a NAR source– the property in the United States that had the ninth most Internet reviews In 2019– Was a property Where in several of the photographs of the property for sale – – there was a guy in a dinosaur costume. The first picture was the front of the house where the dinosaur was out mowing the lawn. Second picture – a dinosaur in the kitchen opening up the refrigerator Drinking milk – Third picture the dinosaur in the living room On sofa watching TV – the last picture the guy in the dinosaur Suit In rear Patio by the grass grill cooking Hamburgers.

My thoughts, first me! I am an appraiser for 42 years, apartment owner for 36 years. With all that said, I am 100% convinced staging and beautiful video pictures Our what Tony Robbins says – – the next level.

Again with all that said, even how about the next level of the next level?

Do this – – a year ago, I saw this example, and I use it, and it works wonders. In 2019 according to a NAR source– the property in the United States that had the ninth most Internet reviews In 2019– Was a property Where in several of the photographs of the property for sale – – there was a guy in a dinosaur costume. The first picture was the front of the house where the dinosaur was out mowing the lawn. Second picture – a dinosaur in the kitchen opening up the refrigerator Drinking milk – Third picture the dinosaur in the living room On sofa watching TV – the last picture the guy in the dinosaur Suit In rear Patio by the grass grill cooking Hamburgers.

Yep, if you don't want to haul alot over to a rental, I found tastefully colored towels in kitchen and bath, along with a simple vase of flowers or I've put fake but real looking plants do the job nicely.

Hi all,

Managing 3year old multifamily building. Good, quality built.

New tenants moved inApril 2020 little over month, they found brown German cockroaches, a few.

We Immediately scheduled pest control company to treat that unit and unit next to and above it. None of other units had it.

Month later again, in total three treatments, (the technician asserts that they brought the pest in) pest is back.

Tenant has a couch, that initially said was old, then backed out. Told them looks like they brought them in, as it happens in majority of cases, was told. Now, 2 months after, they found one insect , in the kitchen.

They are fairly clean, but do have second hand furniture.

What to use, what to do? Will pest treatment help at all?

They are claiming their furniture is not the reason!

(Note to self: buy dinosaur costume)

At Convention a few years ago a speaker talked about including her cute dog in each photo.

A local LL tried it and got LOTS of attention even tho HIS dog was not that cute!