Properties around the world have been subject to some dramatic increases in prices over the last ten years.
 

But the bubble had well and truly burst and, according to the figures, property prices in the UK had been falling for 17 consecutive months. “Homes have to stand out to attract the buyers who can still buy,” Miles Shipside, commercial director for Rightmove, the leading online property portal in the UK, was quoted as saying.

“For most sellers that meant whatever they thought of asking for their property at the peak of the boom they needed to take at least 10 percent off.”

But founder of the Home Staging Academy, Tina Jesson saw the down-turn as an opportunity to use all her skills when she came to sell her own property in the UK before she made her move to the US. “I  had to utilise every little trick in the book, but it was great to put it all together in practice on my own home. I’d had such great success helping others to sell. I knew I could do it! Sell in a very difficult market” she said.

Tina actually trains home stagers around the world through Home Staging Academy. “I went through my own 4 point checklist – Price; Presentation; Promotion and Preparation".

“The first thing I did was to call in a number of agents to find an average price for this property and this was in the region of £310,000. Then we found an agent who was really motivated and confident about selling this house and because I knew that we’d need to look at 10% less in this market we actually asked them to put it on the market for offers over £280,000. This enabled us to attract a lot of viewings and we had TWO offers within the first three weeks.”

But Tina’s ingenious ideas do not stop at price. In a tougher market you need to look at the whole marketing package and how the property is presented and promoted. “We chose an agent who did magnificent photography and brochures. It cost a bit more but if it works it's worth it. Obviously the property was professionally staged BEFORE the photographs were taken.

“We even walked around the neighbourhood and posted our properties details through letterboxes where the house is on the market - I thought there’s a chance the owners would be interested in our property either because it’s a period home or because it’s a great family sized home,” Tina said.

“Finally, I made the family go out at viewings which I personally conducted using our exclusive Preparation guide.

“ And then we sold within 5 weeks for £25,000 over the original valuation. The agent actually told me that he’d booked in 38 viewings in the last month but only one person had sold her property. And she bought MY property. How cool is that!”

Just goes to show that you really do need to attract the few buyers out there to your property.