Merry Christmas from all of us at StagingWorks.



Independent of market conditions, home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of Toronto area homes and condos.

StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging company. We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging. We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects. Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate. Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

StagingWorks has been voted Toronto’s top home stager by Toronto Life.





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The following article by Susan Pigg was published on Moneyville on November 29, 2011.

It could well become the cocktail-party question of the holiday season: Is Canada’s gravity-defying housing market headed for a fall?

Britain’s venerable magazine The Economist says Canada is one of nine countries in the world where housing is overvalued by 25 per cent or more right now — and among four where prices are in line with those in the U.S. “at the peak of its bubble.”

The others are France, Australia and Belgium, it says under a headline that claims “the bursting of the global economic bubble is only halfway through.”

It’s the B-word being heard halfway around the world and comes in the wake of a recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch report that warned Toronto’s record-setting pace of condo construction could see a significant correction over the next two years.

Are the predictions alarmist, common sense or simply sour grapes from countries being crushed by the economic fallout of the subprime and euro zone crises?

“I think the (Canadian) housing boom is over,” says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets Inc. who agrees that Canada’s housing sector is “overshooting.”

“The only question now is how do we correct? I think the most likely scenario is that the housing market will stagnate over the next three to four years” until prices fall back in line.

The Economist notes that much of the world’s economic woes can be traced back to years of unprecedented growth in house prices in countries such as the United States and Ireland, culminating with “the bursting of the biggest bubble in history.”

Home prices in the U.S. have dropped 34 per cent since 2006. In Ireland they’ve plummeted by almost half since the Celtic Tiger lost its roar.

In the last year alone, they’ve climbed 5.5 per cent across Canada according to October statistics.

“In some countries, such as Australia, Canada and Sweden, prices wobbled but then surged to new highs. As a result, many property markets are still looking uncomfortably overvalued,” the magazine claims.

Real estate watcher Ben Myers of Toronto’s Urbanation called The Economist’s methodology “flawed,” saying it’s too simplistic to properly assess the health of a market as regionally varied as Canada’s.

It also doesn’t take into account how the strength of our banking sector has made Canada a safe haven for investors looking to buy up hard assets like real estate. It’s estimated that some 45 to 60 per cent of the 43,000 condos now under construction across the GTA have been pre-purchased by investors, most of whom intend to hold and rent them out.

Given tough lending standards in Canada, there are very few homeowners — less than 5 per cent — at risk of being overextended on mortgages, statistics have shown. So it would take a “trigger” like escalating interest rates to send real estate prices crashing here, and they’re unlikely to start even edging up until 2013, says Tal.

That should give homeowners time to get their financial houses in order, and there are “encouraging signs” that’s happening.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday in its third-quarter report that the growth of mortgage loans has slowed to an average of $159,740 and the average equity level has climbed slightly to 45 per cent as homeowners focus on paying down mortgages.


Independent of market conditions, home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of Toronto area homes and condos.

StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging company. We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging. We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects. Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate. Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

StagingWorks has been voted Toronto’s top home stager by Toronto Life.





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The article below by Rachel Naud was published in the Calgary Herald on November 10, 2011. It touches on a number of very practical points.

Selling your home can be one of the most personal transactions you’ll ever experience.

Think about it, your home is where you make your memories, mark your milestones, celebrate your achievements and learn from your failures.

It’s hard to put a price tag on the place where you built your life.

Yet when it comes to selling your home, homeowners are wise to leave their emotions at the door.

That’s probably the first thing a homeowner needs to know and do before putting up a for-sale sign.

If you want to sell your home for top dollar, home sellers need to have their home “move-in ready,” says Carmen Paradis, a realtor with Re/Max Real Estate Central.

“Buyers want a house they can just move into,” says Paradis.

“They don’t want to have to do anything. People do not want to do the work. They just like to move in and live.”

And although some home sellers may translate this to mean they have to completely renovate their bathrooms and kitchens before putting their home on the market, Maxwell Canyon Creek realtor Joe Samson says this isn’t the case. In fact, sometimes he even advises against it.

“If you’re trying to sell a home that’s below the average selling price, there’s no point in spending $15,000 on a kitchen renovation,” says Samson. “Renovate to what your surroundings are. Don’t get carried away and out-renovate your neighbours.”

He says if a buyer walks into your starter home and sees high-end appliances and granite countertops, they’ll also most likely see a higher price tag.

“If buyers are looking for a house in the $300,000-range and nine out of 10 houses are $300,000 but yours is $350,000 because you have all this beautiful stuff in there, it’s going to take longer to sell, if at all,” says Samson.

“Doing renovations like that will force you to sell higher than your direct competition. You’ll never get your money back.”

Instead, both Paradis and Samson say the biggest investment a homeowner can make to fix up their homes doesn’t cost much at all – paint.

“Paint is biggest thing you can do,” says Paradis. “Sometimes, even if you wash your walls, you can’t get smudges or fingerprints off. Paint fixes that.

“It can also fix odour in the home. Odour turns people off. Especially if the home sellers smoke.”

When it comes to choosing a paint colour, Paradis recommends going with a neutral colour that will appeal to a wide range of buyers. The same rule applies to carpets.

“Some people really like colour but it doesn’t appeal to everyone,” says Paradis. “So let’s say you put in a carpet two or three years ago but it’s purple. You may want to get rid of that.

“Replacing your carpet is one of the most inexpensive things to do but it will give you great bang for your buck. People walk in and it feels fresh and clean and gives you a lot of value because you have more people interested in your house.”

Paradis also recommends fixing all those little projects you have been meaning to get to for years, such as squeaky door handles and loose railings. “It’s the little things that turn people off,” she says. ” It just doesn’t look good.”

Curb appeal is also huge. So if you have chipped paint, an unkept yard and garbage on your lawn, you could scare away potential buyers before they even step in the door.

“If the house looks unkept, quite often people make the decision even before getting out of car,” says Samson.

“They’ll say forget it. I don’t need to see this house.”

Instead, Samson suggests homeowners make the outside of their home look engaging, welcoming and well maintained.

“You want to create an image so people think your house feels like home,” says Samson. “They want to envision themselves living there, not seeing themselves fixing up the outside for two months.”


Independent of market conditions, home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of Toronto area homes and condos.

StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging company. We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging. We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects. Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate. Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

StagingWorks has been voted Toronto’s top home stager by Toronto Life.





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The article below was published by CREA on Wednesday November 16, 2011.

Sales activity in Canada reached a nine-month high, led primarily by a buying surge in Ontario, according to the latest national statistics.

Stronger than anticipated MLS sales in Ontario helped raise the national total by 1.2%, and convinced the Canada Real Estate Association (CREA) to up its resale housing forecast from a 0.9% gain in 2011 to a gain of 1.4%.

“The continuing strength of home sales activity in the face of ongoing financial market volatility speaks volumes about the confidence of Canadians in our housing market,” said Gary Morse, CREA’s president. “Interest rates look like they’ll remain at levels that are friendly to the housing market for some time to come, and that’s good news for Canadian home sales activity and the overall economy.”

Ontario sales are forecast to rise 1.2% in 2011, compared to 1.4% nationally, but CREA said in a press release the province showed the most significant upward shift recently.

“Activity came in broadly in line with expectations across much of the country in the third quarter of 2011 with the exception of Ontario,” said the CREA release. “Sales there came in stronger than anticipated in a number of regions over the summer, but were held aloft mostly by Toronto activity as the third quarter ended.”

In terms of price, CREA predicted the national average would increase 7% in 2011, then remain the same at $362,700 a year later by the end of 2012.

Leading exceptions in 2012 on the positive price end will be Manitoba, up 4.9% to $246,000, and Quebec, up 3.3% to $269,900, said CREA.

British Columbia will see prices drop 1.8%, however, coming up 11.5% gains to remain the only province over $500,000 at $563,500 this year. No other province will see a price declined in 2012, said CREA, although Ontario and New Brunswick will remain essentially neutral.


Independent of market conditions, home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of Toronto area homes and condos.

StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging company. We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging. We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects. Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate. Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

StagingWorks has been voted Toronto’s top home stager by Toronto Life.





Please take 60 second to complete our poll on the left side of the screen.