Done in a Day - The Washington Post

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Get ready for the start of real estate season
By Laura Barnhardt Cech, February 08, 2013.

Early this week, Chris French and his wife, Anya Landau French, turned up the volume on their vacant condominium apartment in Adams Morgan with designer-inspired contemporary furnishings — leather living room furniture, glass and metal side tables, a black dining room table and a fake TV.

The aim of the makeover was to draw a buyer who would snap up the property — a person their professional stager imagined would be in his or her late 20s or early 30s, seeking the stability of homeownership.

“It’s a bit of a mad rush,” said Chris French, an architect, about his efforts to get a head start on the spring market.

There are plenty of good reasons spring is the traditional start of the real estate season: Sellers’ yards look more photogenic. Buyers are more apt to take a fall-in-love-with-the-neighborhood walk in warmer weather. And a summer move is preferable for families with school-age children.

It may be weeks or months until most spring listings go up, but local real estate experts say now is the right time to get ready. The to-do list is long, from researching agents to painting and planting.

“There are so many things, sometimes you kind of freeze,” says Jennifer Nangle, a Bethesda-based agent with Re/Max Realty Services, the Nangle Group. “It can seem daunting, but so much of it is tidying.”

To help you manage all the tasks, we’ve consulted with local real estate brokers, mortgage lenders, contractors and other experts about the most-essential preparations.

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Done in a Day Stages Local $4.495M Presidential Mansion in Advance of Market Re-Entry

Nixon (Ford, Wilson, Taft, JFK, LBJ . . .) Slept Here
Before or After White House, Presidents Were Just Locals
By Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 16, 2007; Page C01

Elegance and sophistication in the heart of Wesley Heights. This magnificent home is located on a quiet, private cul-de-sac in prestigious Wesley Heights and has had an incredible transformation! Once a Vice Presidential residence, this sophisticated English fieldstone Tudor home backs to Glover Archibold Park on over one-half acre.

Presidential houses might have more allure than ordinary homes, but they are susceptible to the same real estate market vagaries. The Nixon and Ford houses have attracted a lot of attention but no solid purchase offers.

The Nixon house, at 4308 Forest Lane NW, went up for sale in October for $4.75 million. In June, the Whitakers took it off the market and renovated it. They have just put it back on the block, this time at $4.495 million, with an open house Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

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Cooling Market Lifts Lid on Old Debate
By Sandra Fleishman

Done in a Day, a relatively new entrant in the staging business, opened 2 1/2 years ago in Northwest Washington and has seen business double in the first five months of this year because of the cooling market and the heated-up competition, said Caroline Carter, president and chief executive. And she said her firm has successfully turned houses that were sitting on the market for months into open-house sales.

Carter has five design assistants, two warehouses full of furnishings and a list of workers to call on to revitalize houses going on the market. A typical three-bedroom house that needs a fresh-me-up could cost $2,000, Carter said. A vacant house of that size might run $8,000. Carter recently staged two vacant houses with about 6,000 square feet of emptiness at a charge of about $11,000 each. Sounds high, but just providing the lighting at each house took about 50 lamps.

One of Carter's customers, Patrice Pisinski, said staging helped move her three-story townhouse in Northwest closer to sale. "She basically kind of cleaned it up a little bit and rearranged it because I've got two kids and we needed to show that it had more usable space," Pisinski said. "I understand there were like 40 people that came to the open house, and we got an offer on the following Monday.

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Recent testimonials:

Living room

"I just mailed my letter describing how unbelievably amazing you and your team are. I had even more friends come over today and everyone is completely amazed. One of them said - 'it's like being on HGTV!' I've given everyone your website address and your name."

Bedroom

"We have loved living in a house staged by you. We received so many compliments from our friends on how beautiful the house looked. And I learned a lot about superb decorating, too."

Family Room

"I just returned from my trip, and the place is stunningly perfect. You're a genius, and I'm grateful."