I couldn’t have been happier to finally get my dream job. But there was a catch. Why do good things you have always wanted have to come with a catch? You know, I’m starting to think the universe sends us on such journeys for a certain purpose. We don’t get what we want if we don’t also do our bit for it. Just dreaming of something won’t get you anywhere. And I had the choice. Either I’d stay in this one-horse town and remain with the old job that I hated or take the plunge and say yes to my dream. Visit here to find out what was my secret.
First steps
The catch is that moving was inevitable. It would have been too grand to land my dream job where I lived, right? Had I only had a rental, it’d been no problem at all. But I lived in my own house and I had to sell it. Fast. In an area with low property prices. Would you like to know how I did it? I could only manage with the assistance of someone who really knows his stuff. I cannot put into words how much I can recommend digital staging.
An endless list
Of course, the catch wasn’t only that my dream job required me to move to another town. The other catch was that I was supposed to start next week. I drew up a plan and thought, it’ll be alright. Just pack your things and leave them all behind. But no. I had to put this property onto the market and I was determined to sell it within this week. Truth be told, my furniture wasn’t as modern anymore, rather outdated indeed. And I had to somehow make my home more desirable to close a deal asap.
Let the research begin!
So I got onto the internet and read pretty much all about home staging. On my list was a bunch of throw pillows, some artificial plants (because I suck at keeping even a cactus alive), blankets as well as other bits and pieces for decoration. And the list kept on growing next to my to-do-list. I already heard about digital staging, but I thought, Nah, you can do this. With real pictures. And I forgot all about it.
Little time and… little options
Once I had my lists it dawned on me that I actually didn’t have the time to do everything within this short time frame. Basically, I had to do the shopping for decorations, the renovations, and the cleaning all in one day. Ok, at the end of the day I’d also have to take pictures to put my property online. That’s definitely more than one person could manage in one day. And I didn’t quite have the funds for it either. My job here hasn’t paid that well and since I learned about home staging, I already knew that it’d definitely be out of my range of possibilities. I needed those funds to pay the movers.
To the internet again
Grumpy as I was, I just started packing and decided to get onto the internet again in the evening with a glass of wine. I already saw my goal slowly drifting away from me. And just before I wanted to shut down the laptop in my desperation, I finally came across the solution for all my worries: digital staging. I wasn’t too keen on it at first since I wasn’t too convinced of putting up pictures of my property that were edited with digital staging. However, I learned it’s not meant to fake your property pictures. Digital staging is supposed to be a tool to make your property more desirable and to sell it faster.
I gave it a go
Before I’d waste any more time, I immediately jumped up from my sofa and took pictures. The one or the other box already stood around and fortunately, there weren’t too many of them yet. I didn’t have much time to tidy up either, since I only focused on the preparations to do a little home staging myself. But you know, I binned that idea with all the extra costs and the little time I had. As soon as I finished my pictures, I sent them right to a digital staging company. I asked them to do a decluttering and to make it all nice. Before the next day, I’d not receive a reply from them anyway and I went to bed.
A pleasant surprise
To be honest, I didn’t expect too much of it. I couldn’t imagine that they’d actually be able to remove even those socks that I left on the floor when I made myself comfortable. It was probably not a grand idea that I completely forgot about them. Neither could I imagine what they’d do with my pictures and how my home would look like with digital staging.
Lo and behold
My property was still not on the market and time was running out for me. Earlier than I expected I already received my digital staging photos. I couldn’t believe my eyes. That was not my home anymore! But in a good sense. They actually removed all my clutter, all the first moving boxes, gave my walls a nicer color, and… wow.
Outstanding results
The furniture they chose was amazing! I was almost ready not to move at all, ditch my dream job, and instead do a major redecoration. And I already had an offer on the very next day. Yep, believe it or not, it actually happened. The best of it was that the potential buyer even offered 20 k more than I asked for this property! I had him view my place on the very same day and we closed the deal. The extra 20 k were more than handy since I could cover the costs for the painters and junk removers.
Final Words
Digital staging has been such a lifesaver for me. Without digital staging, I’d definitely not been able to sell my home in time and move on to the next chapter of my life worry-free. And since hiring digital staging for the first time, I used it again and furnished my new dream home. Without a dream job, no dream home, right?