Pasadena Based Home Staging Business Gets Results!
February 21, 2010
This article recently appeared in the Pasadena Star News, on February 9, 2010. Very exciting!
Just click on the article to be taken to a PDF of the article.
This Los Angeles Home Stager Has Earned Her RESA-PRO Designation!
February 14, 2010
I’ve earned the RESA-PRO designation. Yay!
I’ve met all the requirements, passed all the tests, and now I have the right to use the RESA-PRO badge on my website. As a home stager in Los Angeles and Pasadena, I need to prove to my clients that they are getting the best of the best. The RESA-PRO designation proves that I am experienced, I am professional, I am ethical, I am insured and I recognize the importance of continuing my education.
RESA-PRO home stagers:
- Must adhere to the Real Estate Staging Association Code of Ethics
- Must pass the RESA Ethics Exam with a score of 80% or higher
- Must be in business for at least one year
- Must show proof of home staging business insurance
- Must prove they have a business bank account in their company name
In addition, RESA-PROs must complete a number of home staging contiuning education classes over the course of 2 years in order to maintain their RESA_PRO status
As a home owner or a real estate agent, seeing the RESA-PRO designation gives you an extra measure of assurance that I’m a true professional (not a hobbiest) and you’ll be treated ethically.
If you’d like to find out more about the RESA-PRO designation, visit the RESA-PRO website.
Happy Chinese New Year To All My Chinese Friends & Clients!
February 14, 2010
Gong Xi Fa Cai!(Mandarin)
GungHei Fat Choy! (Cantonese)
Happy Lunar New
Year to all my Chinese friends & clients
While most of the Western
World is celebrating Valentines Day today, Chinese people the world
over are celebrating the Year of the Tiger.
I have the great good fortune to work with many Chinese clients staging their homes in Arcadia, San Marino and Pasadena. I want to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.
Chinese New Year, also know as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important traditional Chinese holiday. Regional customs and family traditions vary widely for the celebration of the Chinese New Year. Traditionally, every family thoroughly cleans their home to sweep away any bad fortune. This makes way for good luck to come in. Windows are opened and rooms are aired out. Brooms and cleaning rags are thrown away and trash is emptied so that no dirt of misfortune is carried into the New Year.
Starting today, Chinese people all over the world engage in a wide variety of traditional customs and practices that involve food and gift giving. Dumplings (sometimes known as Dim Sum) that are shaped like gold bars are eaten. Children receive small amounts of money in red envelopes (Hong Bao). Adults may receive a gift of tangerines, which are symbols of prosperity and happiness, or kumquats, which are another prosperity symbol. Schools and businesses in China close for at least a week.
My nephew, who is an architect in Shanghai, says they don’t get much sleep during this week due to all the firecrackers going off at all hours of the night.
The Chinese Lunar Calendar is set up in 12 year cycles and each year in the cycle is associated with an animal. This coming year is the Year of the Tiger, the third year in the Chinese Zodiac. The tiger is a symbol of Courage, Strength and Prosperity. According to legend, Lord Buddha summoned the animals to him before he departed the earth. Only 12 came to bid him farewell and so he named a year after each one as a reward. It is believed that the animal ruling the birth year of a person has a profound impact on their personality.
Despite diverse customs and traditions across China, and for Chinese living in other parts of the world, the sentiment infusing Lunar New Year is one of peace, prosperity and happiness.
Happy Lunar New Year to all my Chinese friends, clients & business associates. I wish you much happiness, good health and prosperity in the coming year!
Los Angeles Home Stager Voted RESA 2010 Professional Stager of the Year!
February 2, 2010
I’m very excited to announce that I have been voted the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) 2010 Professional Stager of the Year!
The announcement was made at the RESA 2010 International Stagers Conference in Las Vegas on January 25, 2010. The conference was a smashing success, and I’m so happy I got to share my big moment with over 200 of my fellow home stagers. Its a HUGE honor to have been selected for this award by my home staging peers.
Professional home stagers were nominated by home stagers and real estate professionals throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.
The nominees were then voted on by members of the Real Estate Staging Association and 5 finalists were selected.
Each finalist had to create a 5 page entry which demonstrated excellence in home staging, best home staging business practices, a proven track record of ethical conduct and commitment to raising awareness about home staging.
The winner (me:o)) was selected from the 5 finalists by a panel of celebrity real estate and home staging judges.
The judges were Bethany Souza from HGTV’s Designed to Sell, Matthew Finlason from HGTV’s The Stagers, and Womens Council of Realtors National President, Deborah Gilmore.
Click here if you’d like to see my winning entry for Professional Stager of the Year Pro Stager of the Year 2010.
Click here to read the press release
Listen To Your Home Stager – Part 2
January 18, 2010
Today was the first open house for our home staging project in South Pasadena.
I spoke to the listing agent after the open house and he was ecstatic. Despite the rain, he had a great turn-out and the comments were overwhelmingly positive. He said he got many comments about how the home appeared move-in ready (top on my list of the comments I want to hear about a home I stage) and how pretty everything was.
Dining Room before home staging
The dining room had too much furniture, and the furniture wasn’t really suited to the style of the house.
Dining Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
A fast recap of this home staging project:
The listing agent hired me for a home staging consultation on his South Pasadena listing. I met with him and his clients and we discussed everything I felt needed to be done to get this home ready to sell. The homeowners and listing agent were diligent about doing everything on the list, and they got it done in record time. The clients moved out, the house was repainted, re-carpeted, and cleaned over the course of a week!
Living Room before home staging
The living room furniture was too casual. It was better suited to a family room.
Living Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
Here’s the family room transformation:
Family Room before home staging
There was so much furniture, I wasn’t able to take the before and after shots from the same angle!
Family Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
Looking at the photos, I almost can’t believe its the same house or how quickly it was transformed.
Listen To Your Home Stager
January 16, 2010
Over the past few weeks we’ve done several home staging consultations in Los Angeles and Pasadena.
In 2 cases, the listing agents paid for the consultation and both agree it was a great investment based upon the transformations that resulted. In both instances I suggested repainting and new carpet. In both cases the interior of the homes had not been painted in several years and the paint looked tired and soiled. And in both of the homes the carpet had become so soiled and worn that it was not salvageable.
I’m happy to report that both homeowners made the investment to get their San Dimas and South Pasadena homes sold quickly and repainted the interiors and recarpeted.
I’ll be posting pictures of the South Pasadena home we staged later today (we haven’t staged the San Dimas house yet) so you can see what a difference listening to your home stager can make. But in the mean time, here’s some before and mid-way photos of how the South Pasadena home we staged was transformed by new paint and carpet.
Here’s the before shot:
South Pasadena Living Room before home staging
Now here’s the living room mid-transformation after completing the suggest work in the home staging consultation:
South Pasadena Living Room mid-transformation
BTW, the paint color is Sherwin Williams #7571 Casa Blanca, which is a very soft golden tan.
Stay tuned for more pictures!
Los Angeles Home Stager A Finalist For Professional Stager of the Year
December 21, 2009
Los Angeles home stager, Michelle Minch, is a Finalist for the Real Estate Staging Association Professional Stager of the Year (2010)
For Immediate Release
Pasadena, CA – December 21, 2009 Michelle Minch, President of Moving Mountains Design, is a finalist for Professional Stager of theYear , by the Real Estate Staging Association
“The Real Estate Staging Association is proud to announce Michelle Minch, of Pasadena, CA, as one of the finalists for Professional Stager of the Year,” said Shell Brodnax, President and CEO of the organization. “Ms Minch, and the other 4 finalists were chosen via an open nominating process by their peers and other real estate professionals, from across the US and Canada. All the nominees must demonstrate outstanding skills in home staging design, business and ethics.
Ms. Minch is a past winner of two Chrysalis Awards for Remodeling Excellence: the Western Region Award for Best Whole House Remodel Under $200,000 and the National Award for Best Kitchen Remodel under $40,000. She has been nominated for Professional Stager of the Year for 3 years running. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Real Estate Section, the Chicago Tribune, Sunset Magazine, Log Home Living, LA Weekly Pasadena Weekly & Los Angeles Times On-Line. In addition, she blogs extensively at http://MovingMountainsDesign.com/home-staging-blog/
Minch began her career in design as a Stylist and Visual Merchandiser, and later worked as a Production Designer for Commercials, Television and Feature Films.
Home Staging and Interior Design are a natural progression in her design career, allowing her to use her visual merchandising skills, a refined eye and years of experience to successfully stage homes that sell and create stunning one of a kind environments for her clients. She has experienced great success in home staging with many very recent examples of her staging projects selling in less than 2 weeks on the market at or above asking price. Her motto is: “I know what makes homes sell.”
Ms. Minch is on the Board of Directors of the Real Estate Staging Association and is the Regional VP for California, Nevada and Hawaii.
In addition she is the Chairwoman of the RESA Ethics Committee and has developed professional ethical guidelines for the RESA membership. Minch is a founding partner of Easy Designer Websites and is a Staging Career Coach at the Staging Career Center.
You can learn more about the Real Estate Staging Association Professional Stager of the Year Finalist Michelle Minch and her company, Moving Mountains Design, and at ActiveRain.com. Additional information about the Real Estate Staging Association and the Professional Stager of the Year Awards and nominations can be found at www.RealEstateStagingAssociation.com.
Moving Mountains Design is a full service home staging and interior design company with offices in Pasadena and Arcadia, CA. We specialize in staging vacant and occupied homes in the greater Los Angeles area including Pasadena, San Marino and Arcadia. Click here to see a full menu of home staging services offered by Moving Mountains Design.
Home Staging Is #2 In Top 12 Home Improvements Survey Results
November 6, 2009
Do-it-yourself Home Improvement Project
Home Gain released their 2009 Top 12 Home Improvements Survey results yesterday.
The Home Gain survey, completed by 1,000 Realtors, listed 12 top do-it-yourself home improvement projects for people getting ready to put their home on the market.
Click here to go to the Home Improvement Survey results
The top 5 recommended home repairs with the greatest return on investment were:
1. Cleaning and decluttering
2. Home staging
3. Lightening and brightening
4. Landscaping
5. Repair plumbing
If you’re unsure where to start with your home improvement projects, hire a professional home stager for a home staging consultation.
When you hire Los Angeles home staging company, Moving Mountains Design, for a home staging consultation, we visually inspect your home, both interior and exterior. Based upon our extensive staging and design experience, we’ll recommend the most important repairs and upgrades you can make to maximize the appeal of your home to potential buyers. We provide you with a written Comprehensive Consultation Report which includes paint colors (if painting is recommended) and carpet color recommendations (if carpet needs to be replaced) as well as pointing out items that need to be repaired, areas to be de-cluttered, furniture placement and improvements to your landscaping. If we feel it would be in your best interest to purchase new bedding, towels or throw pillows, we’ll include some inexpensive places to purchase those items. You can do as much of the work (or as little) as you would like. Our services are a la carte.
We have a Rolodex full of service providers, including moving companies, painters, cleaning services, carpet installers, handyman services, countertop fabricators and landscapers, among others, if you need help completing the preparation of your home.
In the event you need rental furniture, art work or accessories (if the house is vacant or you need a few pieces to augment what you already have) we can provide that as well.
Moving Mountains Design maintains a large warehouse of rental accessories, art work, plants, bedding and towels for use in vacant homes. We can dress up any style of home from Craftsman to Contemporary, be it a condo, a cottage or a castle.
Call Michelle today (626)441-8975 to arrange for your home staging consultation. Moving Mountains Design is among the top home staging companies in Los Angeles and Pasadena, based upon our experience and excellent track record of getting homes sold quickly. We know what makes homes sell!
Does Home Staging Work? An Update On Some Recent Los Angeles Stagings
September 7, 2009
I’m often asked: Does home staging work? Do staged homes sell faster than unstaged homes?
I can’t speak for other los angeles home staging companies, but homes staged by Moving Mountains Design are selling very quickly, even in this challenging real estate market.
Three Los Angeles area homes we staged recently have either sold or are in escrow.
A South Pasadena condo we staged in early July sold and has closed escrow.
South Pasadena Condo Living Room After Staging
A Pasadena Craftsman cottage we staged on August 4th is in escrow. To read more and see photos read Pasadena Craftsman Staging Photos
Pasadena Craftman Dining Room After Home Staging
A charming California Cottage in Valley Village was staged on August 17 and is also now in escrow. Read Beautiful Valley Village Cottage Home Staging for more photos and information.
Valley Village California Cottage
So, based on our current (and past) experience, I would have to say yes, home staging by Moving Mountains Designs works!
Call us at (626)441-8975 for more information about our home staging services.
Pasadena Craftsman Staging Photos
August 19, 2009
I love staging Craftsman cottages in Pasadena.
Especially ones that have obviously been well cared for and upgraded with an eye toward honoring the architectural heritage. Here are some photos of a very recent Pasadena cottage home staging project. The home was tastefully upgraded while maintaining the period details, like the Batchelder style fireplace.
For more info about this charming 3 bedroom 2 bath home located in a beautiful North Pasadena neighborhood, contact the listing agent, Chad Walton, Prudential California Realty (626)943-7301.
Pasadena Craftsman Living Room After Home Staging
Pasadena Craftman Dining Room After Home Staging
Master Bedroom in a Pasadena Craftsman after home staging
Notice the beautiful original built-in cabinet in the dining room and the gleaming hardwood floors.
With years of experience staging vacant homes in Pasadena, Arcadia & San Marino, Pasadena home staging company Moving Mountains Design works hand in hand with homeowners and real estate agents to help get their home sold quickly and for the best price. Call us today so we can help you, too. We know what makes homes sell!
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