testimonials

I have no doubt that our success was in large measure due to your work.  Your suggestions for how to decorate the home and the actual staging services that you provided were perfect.  The house seemed so much bigger and more welcoming when you were done. 

You were completely professional – delivering exactly what you said you were going to do when you said you would.  And to top it all off, you were such a pleasure to work with!  I can’t thank you enough Barbara. 

Regards,

Alison

 February 2007

Barbara Katnich
Visionary Redesign

RE: 2531 Hillsborough Road, Kelowna, BC

Dear Barbara;

I wanted to write this letter to express my appreciation for the help you provided us in Staging our home for sale, and to hopefully show others who read this letter the impact Staging had to our bottom line.

Listed below is our experience in selling this house:

· In 2003 we listed it for sale at a price of $750,000 We had several showings, but no offers.

· In 2004 we raised the price to $850,000 – still no offers.

· In 2005 we changed realtors and kept the listing price at $850,000 with still no offers.

· In 2005 changed realtors again and listed at $970,000 We had one offer at $750,000 but did not accept it. The house was listed with this realtor for about a year with no offers, when we met Barbara Katnich in July 2006.

· Staged the entire house and raised the list price to $1,150,000 and had it sold 3 weeks after completion of Staging for $1,000,000

Barbara assessed our situation and made us realise that our house was too cluttered and that most paint colours were too dark to appeal to the majority of buyers. Although we had a very beautiful house, our decorating and furnishings made the square footage seem small.

Barb recommended that we first paint all rooms in a neutral colour, remove knick-knacks and small furniture then rearrange the remaining furniture to create a more spacious feeling. Barb supplied various art objects and dinner place settings of modern and neutral décor that complimented our home. We also decided to update our kitchen with new granite counter tops and stainless appliances.

The cost for Staging was $3,000 which included the purchase of some new accessories and $27,000 for the renovations.

We were very reluctant at first, but realized that if we really wanted to sell the property we had to embrace the changes and obtain professional guidance. We spent 3 weeks working with Barb. The entire process went very smoothly as she was efficient and organized. After completion we couldn’t believe the different feel in the home. It felt far more spacious and flowing and we actually thought about de-listing and not moving!

After Staging the comments from realtors that had previously shown the house were staggering. They thought it was a completely different home and were really enthusiastic about bringing new clients in.

We raised the list price to $1,150,000 and within 30 days we had 4 showings and the fourth showing resulted in an accepted offer of $1,000,000 and our home is now sold.

The bottom line is that without Staging we would have accepted $850,000 With Barb’s guidance we spent $3000 and ended up with a $1,000,000 deal and a net gain of $120,000!

Barbara was an absolute delight to work with. She was very professional, prompt and aggressive but not pushy. Prior to our experience with Staging we thought our house and contents were delightful, however Barbara pointed out that potential buyers want to buy our house, not our belongings and decorating ideas.

I would highly recommend Staging regardless of location or price. In a hot or cold market, you can only win because your home becomes neutral to all buyers.

Sincerely,
Brian and Tina Guillou