Spring 2011

How to nail that dream job!

Styling tipsto get the most from your open inspections

How to make more money from your rent roll

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HOME STYLING EXPERT JO LEMMER SHARES HER SECRETS ON HOW TO REALISE A HOME’S FULL POTENTIAL BY FOLLOWING SOME SIMPLE STYLING TIPS.

Styling to get the most from

your open inspections

The Australian Real Estate Review

Home Styling

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The Australian Real Estate ReviewThe Australian Real Estate Review

Jo Lemmer has been the top agent for Century 21 in South Australia for much of her career. In the last two years she has established ‘Who Adelaide’ a social media community that includes trading and networking sites on Facebook. It has over 150,000 members and it is growing by the day. Her Garage Sale page has around 52,000 members and exceeds 9.5 million views a month. She regularly blogs and has appeared in Home Beautiful, House & Garden and Burke’s Backyard. She personally home styles her clients’ homes and is the owner of the business.

When I began my career with LJ Hooker back in 1988 I intended to revolutionise the industry with my fresh ideas that included four-hour

opens... I soon worked out that longer opens didn’t equal more buyers! I stood in many a vacant home and for the longest time I was convinced it was the best way to sell. “People can imagine their own things in the property,” I used to enthusiastically tell my vendors. It was something I really did believe. At that time of course there was no focus on home presentation. Things were so primitive we were still making liquid paper price changes on our window cards!

Home styling is something that I am incredibly passionate about. When I realised 75 per cent of people are non-visual I knew this was something I had to address in the physical.

It is my belief that a home should be representative of its age and architecture. It turns my stomach when I see apartment furniture put into Nana’s house!

In my world it’s not about the furniture, it is about the placement. I am a strategic stylist with no formal training and this has proved to be an enormous advantage. As a Virgo I have a naturally keen eye. I like what I like and believe that the home should be stylishly made over, not masked.

I don’t doubt that what I do is technically wrong but in my opinion that is what makes it right. When I initially started my department I employed a stylist. The reason this didn’t work is that she struggled to !nd a "ow in the home.

The day she suggested dying cream carpets navy blue, was the day I took over!

The eye should "oat across the room. It should have a seamless and peaceful feel. The eye should also be drawn to the furthest point to give the perception of space. Buyers love light and bright homes. Many that have feature brick and timber ceilings are dark. I use giant mirrors to act as windows and draw light as well as lots of lamps.

Buyers love sparking windows bursting with greenery plus they photograph superbly! I personally prefer them free of curtains. Homes can look instantly refreshed and renovated when they are displayed the right way.

It is also vital to remember that how they look is not necessarily how they will photograph.

It’s not about what’s practical, it’s what looks great. In saying that, it needs to be believable and achievable.

I am not a fan of high end style ups in mid range homes. All it does is highlight the older aspects of the property. To me it is far more impressive when you can make ordinary things look amazing.

The buyer is then left feeling as though they could recreate the look when they move in, as opposed to having to hold back a lot of money to refurnish.

There is an enormous swing in sentiment in many industries. Real estate is one of them. It is my belief that the public want to see a bit more skin. Realism and authenticity should be the aim of every agent.

Tricking buyers into inspecting homes via photoshopped pictures will blow up in your face. They don’t like distorted, wide angled shots and they don’t like viewing homes that have no resemblance to what is online.

Sellers are also looking at agents on the WIFM basis. “What’s in it for me?” Do you value add, are you prepared to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty with their home? You should be instructing the photographer on the shots to take, you should be attending to the barking dog next door, you should be wheeling the bins away and ensuring that the surrounding area is not detracting from your owner’s home.

If there’s gra#ti remove it. Alecia has a bucket of emergency items that are in her boot. What do you have? Your smile and good looks is simply not enough! Your owner is only as good as you.

It is also important that the agent doesn’t look intimidating. Alecia is dressed stylishly yet casually in black jeans, jackets and boots. I appraise properties in jeans and a cap and we have a very relaxed vibe that our clients love.

We even have Toby our FREE makeover hound. We prefer hugs over handshakes and we invite our owners to bring their dogs in to our o#ce!

If your clients are making excuses for their appearance when they see you, tone it down! The same can be said of your office. We have a trio of dogs in our entry, we have a red front door which is great feng shui and my office feels friendly and like the interior of a home. Lose those fluoro

lights, add some colour and go sparingly with your awards.

The public is very aware of the fakes and frauds. They are over the perfect façade that so many are presenting. It is clear that the businesses that display honesty and integrity will be those that will survive the changing times. There has been so much deception on so many levels from media to politics and as an industry we need to clean up our act.

Deception and misrepresentation will destroy any business. It doesn’t matter how big or how much money, the internet can shred credibility in a second. I had such an experience only this week when it was discovered that a huge corporate agency in my town reproduced one of my blogs by simply cutting and pasting my words and attaching their logo.

When this was discovered it became of enormous interest to my network. The feedback was that people are untrusting of agents and they are sick of the spin. It’s one thing to say you are passionate but actions speak much more than words. Putting in the e$ort on every level for your clients is the quickest way to build a loyal, supportive and trusting network.

The reason I decided to go FREE with my makeovers is I didn’t want to have to sell the client on the service. By removing the payment aspect (we do charge for pick-up and delivery) I showed my clients just how much I believe in it. I put my money where my mouth is. They can’t believe that we are prepared to do all this work for no cost.

There is no doubt that every time I leave their home I have made an enormous di$erence to not only the appearance, but the value of the property. At the very least it will photograph beautifully and be a lot more saleable.

Perfect presentation is also great for the agent. You feel con!dent and proud of the home. Who wants to give up their weekend to stand in a trashcan?

My business is entirely web-based. I do not believe in newspapers and I believe less in the ethics behind such organisations. We spend our clients’ money promoting their homes, not ourselves.

Whilst signboards are brilliant for the pro!le of a salesperson they are a stress to a homeowner and we only use them when absolutely necessary, say to identify the property on a busy road.

I believe that a low impact approach is more bene!cial to the client. Having had a number of clients that have been through the ringer with other agencies prior to me taking over, I believe we all have to exercise due diligence and that means complete transparency and honesty when pricing and giving advice.

Property is so much more than bricks and mortar and the agents that are more than a slogan, who will put their clients !rst, will not just survive but thrive in the forthcoming market. I know I’ll be one of them, and if you make some wholesale changes to your business you will be too.

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