The unequivocal answer for staging is YES. No matter how much the home is selling for, the staging of your home will generate 6.9% more in price! Plus, your home will sell 50% faster according to the International Association of Home Staging Professionals.

Believing in the old adage "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression," home staging guarantees a high quality look that allows every home to make an outstanding first impression.

Home staging is a simple way of getting your home sold in today's market. In fact, it may even help you sell faster and at a higher price! Your home does not have to be a million dollar home to qualify for staging; in fact, any priced home qualifies. Less expensive homes may need it even more, because the more expensive homes are more likely to have designers and exterior landscapers to keep the home looking at its best.

There are 2 different staging processes:

1. A home which is vacant and has no furniture
2. A home which is occupied or vacant and has furniture

The basic mantra of professional home stagers: "Clutter Eats Equity"

Equity is important for both expensive homes and less expensive homes. Therefore the staging process is important for both. Of course, homes which are vacant take a larger budget to stage. There are ongoing costs because of the rental of the furniture, plants and more. Not all rooms in vacant homes have to be staged, although it is a great idea. You should at least stage the kitchen, master bedroom, master bath, living area and dining rooms. Take it from the builders of model homes. Model homes sell faster and at a higher price. Staging begins at the outside of the home, in the form of landscaping, and carries throughout the whole home. Professional stagers are trained to see the home as the end buyer would see it. They will de-accessorize your homes when occupied, and re-accessorize it with your own furniture and use plants and other items to make your home look the best it can be. Professional home stagers work by the "Three C's":

1. Clean
2. Clutter free
3. Colors on wall neutral

Well, you may think your home is clean and clutter free but when the professional home stager is finished with your home, it will have a totally different look with your own furniture. Home staging for an occupied 2,500 square foot home begins at around $1,000 and can go up from there. But, if you are selling a $300,000 home at 5.9% at more money, that is $20,000 and at 50% less time. You've cut your sales time from 90 days to 45 days. At a $ 3,000 monthly payment, that is another $4,500! You can see how home staging makes a whole lot of dollar sense.

While the staged home may not get you more buyers at first, it can be effective. In today's market, especially where the first impression might be the last impression, being able to sell your home at all may hinge on whether your home is a staged home or not. Yes, there is an advance investment when selling a staged home, but the money is well spent and the returns are there, without question! If you're interested in getting your home staged and sold, please call me at . We'll get it sold!

If you want to do it yourself, here are some tips,

• Remove all the "tchotkies", personal items from the wall and counters. Buyers are there to look at your home and not your personal pictures, magnets, souvenirs, trophies etc.
• Get 50% of your furniture removed.
• Cleanup up your garage and remove the clutter.
• Make your yard look immaculate.
• Paint all the walls neutral.

If this does not help call your professional home stager or Gitta for direction.

Available home inventory stayed even at 30862 homes which is a good sign for the market. Since the 1st of January, the unsold inventory has increased by an incredible amount of 7500 homes, which is a

net increase of variable homes. Pending sales increased by just 38 homes over the prior week, which is not good at all, considering we are in the summer selling season. This also mirrors what is happening on the national scene. The number of sold homes, compared to last year for the same period, is 45% lower. In comparison to the same period in 2005, sales are 51% lower. Sales for the 4-county region are 35% below last year. The market has not shown any signs of increased activities with strong buyer price resistance.

• Market Indicator – 100% buyer market
• Sales Demand Activities – Slow/Unchanged
• Sales last year (June/July) to this year (June/July) - 42% lower
• Resale Inventory – Held steady over prior week.
• Trend Indicator – flat to downwards
• Cumulative Market Time – Volusia County (107 days), Seminole County (97 days), Lake County (120 days)
• Unsold Inventory Supply - Orange County (17.5 months), Seminole County (11 months), Lake County (20.9 months), Volusia County (17.2 months), Osceola County (26.5 months)
• Clearly the biggest challenges are in Lake County and Osceola County to sell homes.

Condo Sales

Update: 07/01/07

. New Condo Website, Click here

Top Ten Reasons to Sell Your Home with Gitta's Team!

• Excellent Google rankings on the 1st page for the cities surrounding the Orlando area.
• Keyword: "Orlando real estate agent" - ranked #1!
• Keyword: "Lake Mary real estate" - ranked #1!
• Weekly open houses!
• Our luxury website www.orlandoLuxuryHomes4Sale.com!
• Your home on Realtor.com® with multiple pictures and a beautiful visual tour!
• Website performance! Over 500 hits daily from buyers looking for your quality real estate.
• Agent incentives to win $10,000 through www.agentdrawing.com, and soon our first $10,000 drawing!
• Buyer incentives for cash rewards up to $10,000!
• We talk to hundreds of prospects every week about our homes we have for sale, with hundreds of weekly inquires which we receive.
• Open 7 days a week, we are here to take care of our clients and provide access to your home for prospective buyers.
• Full exposure of your home through uploads to several search engines and websites!

(The area marked in red shows inventory availability of over 12 months)

(The area marked in red shows inventory availability of over 12 months)

(The area marked in red shows inventory availability of over 12 months)

(The area marked in red shows inventory availability of over 12 months)