Home Staging with Sela Homes

Introduction: Ayelet Gingold, a Realtor with Sela Homes in Campbell, CA, had the opportunity to interview Magdalena Modica, Owner of Chic Flips Fine Home Staging in San Jose, CA. Ayelet met Magdalena through one of her clients who had invited Magdalena to attend one of Ayelet’s seminars several years ago.

Magdalena started out by redesigning her home, and then her friends’ homes. They loved the results, so Magdalena decided to become formally trained in home staging. To date, she has helped over 500 homeowners in the San Jose Silicon Valley area stage their homes and sell them with a great profit in a shorter amount of time! Sela Homes has been using Magdalena’s services since then. Here is the interview.

Little Touches Make All the Difference

Ayelet: And Magdalena creates magic in homes. I don’t think it’s that hard to make a beautiful new home look even more beautiful with just little touches. For example, how do you make a small home look more spacious? Additionally, how do you make an old home look more inviting? Magdalena, I really want to hear some tips from you that we can share with our sellers. I strongly recommend using stagers when you sell your home, and if you use our services here at Sela Homes, we pay for it. It’s really a no-brainer to the sellers.

Magdalena: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure helping you in the past and helping you succeed with listings and presentation of your homes. When you prepare a home for sale, you need to declutter. That’s something I always, always say. The first thing you do when you live in the home, you need to make sure that LESS is MORE. And a presentation of a home where everything is just OPEN.

We show the correct layout. Where there is space for a living room, there is living room furniture. You can place your dining table according to whatever works for you, but we need to present rooms as they are… the living room is a living room, the dining area is a dining area, and so forth.

Making the Home Feel Homey

Ayelet: Many times, we have weird layouts, like a living room that is hard to imagine how to entertain there. And with the right staging, you’re able to create this coziness. This is the experience that people want when buyers come into the open house. We want them to imagine themselves living in this house. I think that’s the main purpose of staging. 

Staging at its best, is not just about making things look more beautiful. It’s making your house actually look like a home. Buyers come to the door, and you see the smile on their faces and they kind of relax and they share with you that it feels so homey. Now you know you succeeded. The one thing I noticed about your work, and I really loved it, is many times you utilize the furniture and some of the artwork already in the house. You just compliment it with your own stuff. And that’s huge. I think it’s easier to just take everything out and redo everything.

But many times, when you go into a house that people have been living in and enjoying the house and the way it’s arranged. Somehow this just works. So why do we do it if it works. Plus, it saves a lot of money for the homeowners. 

And so, I really want to compliment you, Magdalena. I think that you are you’re really a talented stager and the fact that you are also a realtor by education I think gives you give you another edge because you know how to look at the property and you know what to emphasize when you are doing your work as a stager

Create Beautiful Images for Your MLS Listing

Magdalena: Thank you. Yes! Yes! We try to use as much furniture of the seller, especially when the seller still lives on the property. This means when the property is on the market, they can still use their items. They feel comfortable that their furniture can still be used. And we will always bring other items just to highlight the beauty of the home. This ensures the MLS pictures are very inviting and look outstanding. Great pictures always bring buyers into the home to preview the property and then of course when they come in, they like it even better because in person, homes look better than in photos.

Ayelet: So, with that I really want to thank you Magdalena. If you want more information, be sure to reach out to Magdalena directly or visit her website at https://chic-flips.com.

If you have any questions about real estate or if you want some advice, I’m here to help. Our website is www.selahomes.com

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Magdalena, home, stager, staging, seller, furniture,