September 6, 2023 • 19 mins
Want to elevate your real estate game with the power of interior design? Join us in this episode as my brilliant co-host, the licensed realtor and interior designer Ashley Acra, and I share how we're blending real estate with the art of styling spaces. We talk about everything from comprehensive home renovations to deciding on those final accessory touches that make a house a home. Plus, learn why staging is no longer just an add-on service but a vital tool to boost property resale value.
In the second half, we dive into a whirl of colors, fabrics, and textures as we unwrap our interior design and staging services further. Highlighting our innovative design boards, Ashley and I demonstrate how these function as a visual aid for clients, helping them envision their dream spaces. We also talk about how our professional imaging service and click-through links act as a bridge, connecting our clients to their potential homes. Finally, take a peek into our creative journey, from the first meeting to the sublime moment when we reveal the final design. Ashley shares her passion for transforming spaces, and together, we reflect on the joy and value we bring to our clients. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more insightful episodes!
Thank you for listening! Please contact me if I can ever be of service:
Roni Haskell
www.thatSCrealestatechick.com
843.297.1935
roni.haskell@kw.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am joined today by my very own teammate, a licensed
realtor and interior designerextraordinaire, Ashley Acura.
Join us as we talk about how weare revolutionizing our
business offerings with interiordesign.
I am Ronnie Haskell, otherwiseknown as that SC real estate
(00:26):
chick, and this is for the loveof real estate, Ashley.
I'm so glad that you joined me.
Good morning, yes, and when Isay that you are my teammate,
you in essence are.
You are on my team here atKeller Williams Real Estate and
you come with experience.
You're newer to the low country, but you're not newer to design
(00:48):
or to real estate.
You transferred here fromVirginia.
We are warmly welcoming youinto our community here in
Somerville.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's been wonderful, well good, and your family does,
in fact, live here.
You've got children investedinto schools here.
I've enjoyed the last sixmonths or so of getting to know
you and your family.
We've had some good timestogether, thank you, yeah, it's
been great so far, well good.
Well, you came to me licensedalready here in South Carolina,
(01:16):
so we've put you to work withsome buyers and sellers, but we
also find incredible value as aninterior designer as well, and
you've got a lot of experiencein Virginia working with clients
in interior design.
Tell us about your background.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So this has been a lifelong hobby for me and to be
so bold to say it's a naturalinstinct for me.
And I found, as a young mom youknow, spending a lot of time at
home with my kids that I wasmore aware, I guess, of our
(01:50):
surroundings and how I wanted tofeel inside my home.
And anytime we would havefriends come over or play dates,
things like that, folks wouldalways make comments on how
comfortable my house felt, buthow organized it felt, or,
aesthetically, how nice and warmand inviting it was, and they
would often ask if I could justcome over and give them some
tips.
And so, you know, those kind ofnew friend interactions and
(02:15):
play dates turned intoopportunities to create a
business out of my art, andthat's truly what it is.
To me, it's an art Well we all.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
We share the commonality and the belief that
we everyone deserves to lovewhere they live.
Yes, absolutely, and we can dothat by creating spaces that are
warm, inviting, friendly,comfortable.
It doesn't have to be such asterile environment and
everything placed you know soperfectly that people can't
(02:48):
enjoy it.
But people deserve.
When they buy a new house, say,they kind of have this vision
of what they want, but theydon't always know how to get
there, and so we can help withthat, and we're going to talk
and elaborate more on that herein a moment as well.
But we can also help sellers asthey are preparing for
(03:10):
capitalizing on the highest netgain, and we're going to
elaborate on that as well herein a moment.
So we have titled our businessstyle to design right, and so
you've already been meeting withsome clients and helping them
do that.
Tell us about one of yourexperiences.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, there's a wide spectrum of needs design-wise.
Some people are looking forfull home renovations, top to
bottom.
Some are looking for updates.
Some just need to know whatpillows and throws and
accessories to complete theirspace.
I've been able to touch basewith a lot of different folks,
(03:51):
giving opportunities for us todevelop and grow style to design
in a way that allows us to meetneeds of many clients of
different kinds.
I think style and style needsand home functionality is so
unique that everything we do Ihave realized that we have some
kind of set standards, setexpectations for what our
(04:15):
service options are.
We will always customizeeverything to our clients' needs
to make sure that what we'redoing is never cookie cutter.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, and we can do larger scale.
We can do smaller scale.
I know that there was a ladyrecently that reached out to me
wanting some design services.
She works from home, she hasleft the corporate world, she
works from home now and she, too, feels like she needs a refresh
of her space right, and soyou're assisting her, and I
(04:48):
think you're also involved rightnow with helping someone with
their child's bedroom, and soyeah, whatever the kitchen
renovation that's gonna bestarting soon.
Good Another client.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
In fact I sold that client her home, yes, and so she
said I love everything exceptthe kitchen, can you help?
And I said yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So let's talk about.
So that is kind of a bigspectrum of design services, but
when we really start boiling itdown to, how can we serve, the
concept is is, how can we servesellers right out of the gate,
right?
So, staging a property, let'sdive into that conversation a
little bit deeper, becauseNational Association of Realtors
(05:29):
actually states that you cangain up to 13% more on the sale
of your home if it is staged,and so we've got design boards
that are clickable links so wecan look through a whole.
It's really hundreds ofdifferent boards online.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's really thousands when you think about it,
because each of those boards canbe modified or customized to
the client specs.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So the client, the seller, has to do nothing.
They just have to say we wantyour team to help sell our house
for the highest net gain in theshortest amount of time.
Right, absolutely.
From there we can take it tothe step of selecting a board,
and then we will virtually stagetheir property.
(06:15):
Or, if they would like for usto, we can even follow the click
through links, order thefurniture and furnishings in and
stage that room.
For a true success, either thebuyer that can then buy the
furniture, or the seller now hasthis new room of furniture and
accessories that they will love,carrying it onto the next
(06:38):
property.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, and given our market too, we have a lot of
buyers that come in looking fora second home or come in because
of a relocation, and they don'tnecessarily have all the
furniture to fill the new home.
So the buyers can find suchvalue in having this furniture
already staged and helping themto visualize this space as a
(07:02):
place they can live.
But then they also don't haveto go out and buy everything and
wait for it to show up andfigure out how to arrange it in
the room.
Yeah, so that it's a value tothe buyers, but it is such a
value to the sellers too,because the sellers have a
little bit of leverage With theI would venture to say huge
(07:22):
leverage.
And they are going to naturallyattract more buyers right out
the gate because with virtualstaging they're gonna have all
these people who are looking onZillow and looking on realtor.
They're gonna have thatattraction right away and you
know, eat that.
And that's just with virtualstaging.
And then if we take thoseproducts that we virtually
(07:43):
staged with and place them inthe home, those buyers come
through the home and we havejust doubled the likelihood that
they are gonna make an offerbecause they can actually See
how a cohesive collection ofelements in this space turns
this dwelling Into a home younailed it, it is.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It's.
It takes it from just a houseTo a home, and we do have to
look at when we stage a property.
We want to, we want to useneutral Product that really is
gonna be well liked by a verydiverse group of people and
people that are moving to thelow country.
Oftentimes they have olderfurniture or heavy dark woods
(08:25):
and they just want to get rid ofit.
Right, and they are moving tothe low country where it's light
and bright and airy, and sowhen we stage a product or
virtually stage a product housewith these neutral tones, now
it's a huge, diverse group ofpeople, that buyer pool that
we're we're marketing to, andpeople Can see living in it,
(08:47):
they want to live in it.
Think of a builder who has modelhomes.
Right, though, you havedesigners come in and stage
those homes to be attractive,and so that's essentially
exactly what we're doing.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the boards, and so we have
them categorized into all ofthese different groups, and so
give us an example of some ofthe different groups, and within
(09:09):
each of those groups arehundreds of board selections
that we can order from.
But we've got Well you name.
Oh, I mean, there's just justfor an example.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
There's a collection we have a kind of a tiered
structure for our in-homeStaging and customized design
board sections.
We can use your existingfurniture and Add soft
furnishings to that to create acohesive space.
We can start from the ground up, finding furniture, flooring,
(09:39):
wall paint, you know ceilingfixtures and all the soft
furnishings.
Or we can go even deeper andonce you've ripped up all the
sub floors and tore out all thecabinets, we can help you
visualize a complete renovation.
They say kitchens and bathroomssell a home.
Yes, well, so do frontelevations and we have boards
for all three things.
(09:59):
So if a seller wants to takethe house that they bought in
1989 and then remodeled in 1992and then never again, and put it
on today's market and they wantto attract today's buyers,
they're going to need to updatein order to get the value out of
that home right.
So we can help them visualize aneutral, market, buyer friendly
(10:22):
kitchen that they maybewouldn't have picked on their
own but that is going to draw intons of today's buyers.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
They can choose from modern, traditional.
We even have luxury, a wholesection that's just luxury.
So whatever the price point is,coastal is a big thing around
here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Coastal is a big favorite that we've been
shopping from.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So within whatever the segment is of the house,
right If it's a traditionalcolonial style.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We've even got contemporary bohemian eclectic.
I mean we've got tons ofgeneral options that we then
dive right in and customize forthat client.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, yes, so, but you brought up the renovation piece
as well.
So we're talking about staginga property for a seller to
attract a bigger buyer pool.
Another segment of our businessthat we can also do is we can
take a kitchen and existing andyou alluded to this earlier you
can take an existing old kitchen.
(11:22):
We can swipe that kitchen cleanand show it as a brand new
white shaker style cabinet witha beautiful hood over a brand
new range.
So we don't even have to pickup a hammer to do it.
No, we just take the image thatthe professional photo the
photographer has taken for us.
(11:42):
We will take it.
We will swipe the existingkitchen, put in the beautiful
brand new kitchen and then wecan blow that image up and place
that into the home.
We can take that image and putit into the MLS as a
representative of what thatkitchen will look like once it's
renovated.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Absolutely.
We don't have time to do thatrenovation before the date that
they need to get it on themarket.
It could take months.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It would take months.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But then buyers don't have to be without the value.
They don't have to walk intothis handyman special or this
fixer upper and then turn aroundand leave because they just
don't know where to start withthe renovation.
We've already given the sellersthe value of having that
designed kitchen prominentlydisplayed in their outdated
kitchen and give buyers aninspiration, a reason to get
(12:33):
excited about what that kitchencould be, and then we can meet
up with that buyer, sincenothing's been ordered yet, and
we can customize that.
Maybe they didn't love the white.
They wanted to do dark on topand white on bottom.
We can customize that towhatever their style preferences
are.
But the seller has reaped somuch value now because these
buyers have an inspiration thatthey wouldn't have had otherwise
(12:54):
.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So incredible value from a seller standpoint.
Right, and the seller has to donothing.
Between you and I, we do it all.
We take the photography, wepick out the board.
The seller can be involved ifthey would like to be, but they
don't have to do any of it.
We use our creative flair, weuse our resources that we have
(13:17):
within Style by Design, and wejust roll it out, and that's the
value of our expertise.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
They get the freedom that comes with being able to
say I know, you know what you'redoing, make this work.
Yes, and I spend time lookingat the elevation of the house,
looking at the room structuresto make sure that whatever we're
presenting is cohesive andappropriate for that home.
Not every design style fitsevery dwelling.
(13:44):
It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You know, it's been very relevant to our market as
well.
We've been getting a lot ofinvestors for either short-term
rentals or corporate rentals,and when somebody's coming in
making that investment, theyneed to state they need to
furnish the home very quickly.
These resources that we have tooffer with click-through links
(14:08):
we can also quickly, and whenwe're saying click-through links
, a lot of this is coming fromAmazon.
We're some of the other WestElm.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, let me explain that a little bit.
So the click-through links areessentially just the link to the
sourcing work that I've done,and they could be anything from
Serena and Lily to Wayfair.
It could be Amazon toRestoration Hardware, depending
on the budget and the designstyle that we're working with.
(14:37):
We can make sure that theclient receives a beautiful
product.
In any budget.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yes, so say you were on the lower end of that
spectrum.
A room may cost you what?
$35,000, $5,000?
Yeah.
Or you can, like you weresaying, go to the Restoration
Hardware, the luxury segment ofour click-through links and your
bet alone is going to be $5,000.
And then we're going to be, butfor the right corporate rental
that may be very Apple-able.
(15:05):
Oh, absolutely, Absolutely,Absolutely.
And so, no matter what thebudget is lower end, higher end
we can select the board, do theclick-through links, have it
drop ship to the house or hereto the office, and then we can
take it to the property and setit up.
And again, the owner can be asinvolved with that as they want
(15:25):
to be, or they can hire us justto oversee the whole project.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Absolutely.
Our job is to not just create abeautiful product, but to make
this process as easy for theclient as humanly possible.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Here's what's the interesting thing is, in the 22,
almost 22 years that I've beenin this business, I don't know
of another real estate company,another real estate team, and I
could be in our market, in ourmarket that's doing this, and so
I've asked around.
No one does.
I don't know if anybody that'sdoing this to this magnitude,
(16:00):
with hundreds and thousands ofoptions for click-through links
to create spaces and a greatspace to turnover time.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
That's a key too.
They don't have time.
People who bought Airbnb's theyneed to make their money back
quick.
They don't have time for alarge firm to take six weeks to
pull some swatches together andthen order and then install.
We can get things done insideof a week.
That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's what we do and it's impactful.
It's impactful for the clienton the other side of it, because
we understand that time is avalue as well.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's not just about money.
There's so many more goals inthis process, and time is so
incredibly valuable, and timeequates to money for a lot of
people, and so we want to makesure that our value, that we
offer, isn't just maximized inthe products that we bring to
their front door or the digitaldesigns that we deliver to the
(16:54):
email, but that it enhancestheir lives in other ways too.
It saves them time, it savesthem stress and it gives them a
reason to come back.
And they buy their next home.
And what are we to try to getthem?
Or?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
recommend their friends, their relatives.
We're not the best marketing.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It is.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And so we do appreciate that.
So my degree is in interiordesign.
I came out of college that'swhat moved me to Charleston was
the design field.
I sat in design for a shortperiod of time before segueing
over into real estate, but ithas never left me.
I've always had this passionand I've always been able to
advise my clients, especially mysellers, how to stage the
(17:32):
property for the best possiblegain and results.
However, this opportunity andthis partnership that I have
formed with you, ashley, istaking this to the next level
for these clients, both sellersand buyers, investors equally.
So I'm just so glad to be inbusiness with you and I look
forward to being able to servemore of our clients.
(17:54):
And if there is any questionfrom the public as to how to
reach us, they can go to thatscrealestatecheckcom and we are
all over social media, butreally, if you go to that
website, that screalestatecheck,then it will take you to a link
(18:14):
where you can make anappointment and it would be a.
It's a free 30 minuteconsultation with you.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And we can do it over Google Meet.
I can meet you at a coffee shop, I can stop by your house, but
essentially what?
What we do at that firstmeeting is to kind of explain
how our process works for me, tohear a little bit about your
project and how we can help you,and then just talk about
whether or not this would be agood fit for you.
And if it is, we'll gettogether in your home or in the
(18:40):
space that we're going to bedesigning or styling, and then
we'll take our time, we'll talkabout style preferences, we'll
take measurements, we'll takepictures and we'll really nail
down what the final product isgoing to be.
And then it's all out of yourhands and on my shoulders and
I'm happy to get to work.
I I wake up running to thiskind of thing every day.
(19:01):
This is my joy and my passion,and I'm so happy to be able to
serve other people with it.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Well, I can tell that it is, and I look forward to
continue business with you,ashley.
Thank you for joining us today.
I appreciate it, thank you.
If you're watching on YouTube,make sure to click the bell so
that you get notified for morepodcasts, and I look forward to
seeing you next time.
I am joined today by my very own teammate, a licensed
realtor and interior designerextraordinaire, Ashley Acura.
Join us as we talk about how weare revolutionizing our
business offerings with interiordesign.
I am Ronnie Haskell, otherwiseknown as that SC real estate
(00:26):
chick, and this is for the loveof real estate, Ashley.
I'm so glad that you joined me.
Good morning, yes, and when Isay that you are my teammate,
you in essence are.
You are on my team here atKeller Williams Real Estate and
you come with experience.
You're newer to the low country, but you're not newer to design
(00:48):
or to real estate.
You transferred here fromVirginia.
We are warmly welcoming youinto our community here in
Somerville.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's been wonderful, well good, and your family does,
in fact, live here.
You've got children investedinto schools here.
I've enjoyed the last sixmonths or so of getting to know
you and your family.
We've had some good timestogether, thank you, yeah, it's
been great so far, well good.
Well, you came to me licensedalready here in South Carolina,
(01:16):
so we've put you to work withsome buyers and sellers, but we
also find incredible value as aninterior designer as well, and
you've got a lot of experiencein Virginia working with clients
in interior design.
Tell us about your background.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So this has been a lifelong hobby for me and to be
so bold to say it's a naturalinstinct for me.
And I found, as a young mom youknow, spending a lot of time at
home with my kids that I wasmore aware, I guess, of our
(01:50):
surroundings and how I wanted tofeel inside my home.
And anytime we would havefriends come over or play dates,
things like that, folks wouldalways make comments on how
comfortable my house felt, buthow organized it felt, or,
aesthetically, how nice and warmand inviting it was, and they
would often ask if I could justcome over and give them some
tips.
And so, you know, those kind ofnew friend interactions and
(02:15):
play dates turned intoopportunities to create a
business out of my art, andthat's truly what it is.
To me, it's an art Well we all.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
We share the commonality and the belief that
we everyone deserves to lovewhere they live.
Yes, absolutely, and we can dothat by creating spaces that are
warm, inviting, friendly,comfortable.
It doesn't have to be such asterile environment and
everything placed you know soperfectly that people can't
(02:48):
enjoy it.
But people deserve.
When they buy a new house, say,they kind of have this vision
of what they want, but theydon't always know how to get
there, and so we can help withthat, and we're going to talk
and elaborate more on that herein a moment as well.
But we can also help sellers asthey are preparing for
(03:10):
capitalizing on the highest netgain, and we're going to
elaborate on that as well herein a moment.
So we have titled our businessstyle to design right, and so
you've already been meeting withsome clients and helping them
do that.
Tell us about one of yourexperiences.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, there's a wide spectrum of needs design-wise.
Some people are looking forfull home renovations, top to
bottom.
Some are looking for updates.
Some just need to know whatpillows and throws and
accessories to complete theirspace.
I've been able to touch basewith a lot of different folks,
(03:51):
giving opportunities for us todevelop and grow style to design
in a way that allows us to meetneeds of many clients of
different kinds.
I think style and style needsand home functionality is so
unique that everything we do Ihave realized that we have some
kind of set standards, setexpectations for what our
(04:15):
service options are.
We will always customizeeverything to our clients' needs
to make sure that what we'redoing is never cookie cutter.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, and we can do larger scale.
We can do smaller scale.
I know that there was a ladyrecently that reached out to me
wanting some design services.
She works from home, she hasleft the corporate world, she
works from home now and she, too, feels like she needs a refresh
of her space right, and soyou're assisting her, and I
(04:48):
think you're also involved rightnow with helping someone with
their child's bedroom, and soyeah, whatever the kitchen
renovation that's gonna bestarting soon.
Good Another client.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
In fact I sold that client her home, yes, and so she
said I love everything exceptthe kitchen, can you help?
And I said yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So let's talk about.
So that is kind of a bigspectrum of design services, but
when we really start boiling itdown to, how can we serve, the
concept is is, how can we servesellers right out of the gate,
right?
So, staging a property, let'sdive into that conversation a
little bit deeper, becauseNational Association of Realtors
(05:29):
actually states that you cangain up to 13% more on the sale
of your home if it is staged,and so we've got design boards
that are clickable links so wecan look through a whole.
It's really hundreds ofdifferent boards online.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's really thousands when you think about it,
because each of those boards canbe modified or customized to
the client specs.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So the client, the seller, has to do nothing.
They just have to say we wantyour team to help sell our house
for the highest net gain in theshortest amount of time.
Right, absolutely.
From there we can take it tothe step of selecting a board,
and then we will virtually stagetheir property.
(06:15):
Or, if they would like for usto, we can even follow the click
through links, order thefurniture and furnishings in and
stage that room.
For a true success, either thebuyer that can then buy the
furniture, or the seller now hasthis new room of furniture and
accessories that they will love,carrying it onto the next
(06:38):
property.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, and given our market too, we have a lot of
buyers that come in looking fora second home or come in because
of a relocation, and they don'tnecessarily have all the
furniture to fill the new home.
So the buyers can find suchvalue in having this furniture
already staged and helping themto visualize this space as a
(07:02):
place they can live.
But then they also don't haveto go out and buy everything and
wait for it to show up andfigure out how to arrange it in
the room.
Yeah, so that it's a value tothe buyers, but it is such a
value to the sellers too,because the sellers have a
little bit of leverage With theI would venture to say huge
(07:22):
leverage.
And they are going to naturallyattract more buyers right out
the gate because with virtualstaging they're gonna have all
these people who are looking onZillow and looking on realtor.
They're gonna have thatattraction right away and you
know, eat that.
And that's just with virtualstaging.
And then if we take thoseproducts that we virtually
(07:43):
staged with and place them inthe home, those buyers come
through the home and we havejust doubled the likelihood that
they are gonna make an offerbecause they can actually See
how a cohesive collection ofelements in this space turns
this dwelling Into a home younailed it, it is.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It's.
It takes it from just a houseTo a home, and we do have to
look at when we stage a property.
We want to, we want to useneutral Product that really is
gonna be well liked by a verydiverse group of people and
people that are moving to thelow country.
Oftentimes they have olderfurniture or heavy dark woods
(08:25):
and they just want to get rid ofit.
Right, and they are moving tothe low country where it's light
and bright and airy, and sowhen we stage a product or
virtually stage a product housewith these neutral tones, now
it's a huge, diverse group ofpeople, that buyer pool that
we're we're marketing to, andpeople Can see living in it,
(08:47):
they want to live in it.
Think of a builder who has modelhomes.
Right, though, you havedesigners come in and stage
those homes to be attractive,and so that's essentially
exactly what we're doing.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the boards, and so we have
them categorized into all ofthese different groups, and so
give us an example of some ofthe different groups, and within
(09:09):
each of those groups arehundreds of board selections
that we can order from.
But we've got Well you name.
Oh, I mean, there's just justfor an example.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
There's a collection we have a kind of a tiered
structure for our in-homeStaging and customized design
board sections.
We can use your existingfurniture and Add soft
furnishings to that to create acohesive space.
We can start from the ground up, finding furniture, flooring,
(09:39):
wall paint, you know ceilingfixtures and all the soft
furnishings.
Or we can go even deeper andonce you've ripped up all the
sub floors and tore out all thecabinets, we can help you
visualize a complete renovation.
They say kitchens and bathroomssell a home.
Yes, well, so do frontelevations and we have boards
for all three things.
(09:59):
So if a seller wants to takethe house that they bought in
1989 and then remodeled in 1992and then never again, and put it
on today's market and they wantto attract today's buyers,
they're going to need to updatein order to get the value out of
that home right.
So we can help them visualize aneutral, market, buyer friendly
(10:22):
kitchen that they maybewouldn't have picked on their
own but that is going to draw intons of today's buyers.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
They can choose from modern, traditional.
We even have luxury, a wholesection that's just luxury.
So whatever the price point is,coastal is a big thing around
here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Coastal is a big favorite that we've been
shopping from.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So within whatever the segment is of the house,
right If it's a traditionalcolonial style.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We've even got contemporary bohemian eclectic.
I mean we've got tons ofgeneral options that we then
dive right in and customize forthat client.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, yes, so, but you brought up the renovation piece
as well.
So we're talking about staginga property for a seller to
attract a bigger buyer pool.
Another segment of our businessthat we can also do is we can
take a kitchen and existing andyou alluded to this earlier you
can take an existing old kitchen.
(11:22):
We can swipe that kitchen cleanand show it as a brand new
white shaker style cabinet witha beautiful hood over a brand
new range.
So we don't even have to pickup a hammer to do it.
No, we just take the image thatthe professional photo the
photographer has taken for us.
(11:42):
We will take it.
We will swipe the existingkitchen, put in the beautiful
brand new kitchen and then wecan blow that image up and place
that into the home.
We can take that image and putit into the MLS as a
representative of what thatkitchen will look like once it's
renovated.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Absolutely.
We don't have time to do thatrenovation before the date that
they need to get it on themarket.
It could take months.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It would take months.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But then buyers don't have to be without the value.
They don't have to walk intothis handyman special or this
fixer upper and then turn aroundand leave because they just
don't know where to start withthe renovation.
We've already given the sellersthe value of having that
designed kitchen prominentlydisplayed in their outdated
kitchen and give buyers aninspiration, a reason to get
(12:33):
excited about what that kitchencould be, and then we can meet
up with that buyer, sincenothing's been ordered yet, and
we can customize that.
Maybe they didn't love the white.
They wanted to do dark on topand white on bottom.
We can customize that towhatever their style preferences
are.
But the seller has reaped somuch value now because these
buyers have an inspiration thatthey wouldn't have had otherwise
(12:54):
.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So incredible value from a seller standpoint.
Right, and the seller has to donothing.
Between you and I, we do it all.
We take the photography, wepick out the board.
The seller can be involved ifthey would like to be, but they
don't have to do any of it.
We use our creative flair, weuse our resources that we have
(13:17):
within Style by Design, and wejust roll it out, and that's the
value of our expertise.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
They get the freedom that comes with being able to
say I know, you know what you'redoing, make this work.
Yes, and I spend time lookingat the elevation of the house,
looking at the room structuresto make sure that whatever we're
presenting is cohesive andappropriate for that home.
Not every design style fitsevery dwelling.
(13:44):
It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You know, it's been very relevant to our market as
well.
We've been getting a lot ofinvestors for either short-term
rentals or corporate rentals,and when somebody's coming in
making that investment, theyneed to state they need to
furnish the home very quickly.
These resources that we have tooffer with click-through links
(14:08):
we can also quickly, and whenwe're saying click-through links
, a lot of this is coming fromAmazon.
We're some of the other WestElm.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, let me explain that a little bit.
So the click-through links areessentially just the link to the
sourcing work that I've done,and they could be anything from
Serena and Lily to Wayfair.
It could be Amazon toRestoration Hardware, depending
on the budget and the designstyle that we're working with.
(14:37):
We can make sure that theclient receives a beautiful
product.
In any budget.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yes, so say you were on the lower end of that
spectrum.
A room may cost you what?
$35,000, $5,000?
Yeah.
Or you can, like you weresaying, go to the Restoration
Hardware, the luxury segment ofour click-through links and your
bet alone is going to be $5,000.
And then we're going to be, butfor the right corporate rental
that may be very Apple-able.
(15:05):
Oh, absolutely, Absolutely,Absolutely.
And so, no matter what thebudget is lower end, higher end
we can select the board, do theclick-through links, have it
drop ship to the house or hereto the office, and then we can
take it to the property and setit up.
And again, the owner can be asinvolved with that as they want
(15:25):
to be, or they can hire us justto oversee the whole project.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Absolutely.
Our job is to not just create abeautiful product, but to make
this process as easy for theclient as humanly possible.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Here's what's the interesting thing is, in the 22,
almost 22 years that I've beenin this business, I don't know
of another real estate company,another real estate team, and I
could be in our market, in ourmarket that's doing this, and so
I've asked around.
No one does.
I don't know if anybody that'sdoing this to this magnitude,
(16:00):
with hundreds and thousands ofoptions for click-through links
to create spaces and a greatspace to turnover time.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
That's a key too.
They don't have time.
People who bought Airbnb's theyneed to make their money back
quick.
They don't have time for alarge firm to take six weeks to
pull some swatches together andthen order and then install.
We can get things done insideof a week.
That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's what we do and it's impactful.
It's impactful for the clienton the other side of it, because
we understand that time is avalue as well.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's not just about money.
There's so many more goals inthis process, and time is so
incredibly valuable, and timeequates to money for a lot of
people, and so we want to makesure that our value, that we
offer, isn't just maximized inthe products that we bring to
their front door or the digitaldesigns that we deliver to the
(16:54):
email, but that it enhancestheir lives in other ways too.
It saves them time, it savesthem stress and it gives them a
reason to come back.
And they buy their next home.
And what are we to try to getthem?
Or?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
recommend their friends, their relatives.
We're not the best marketing.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It is.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And so we do appreciate that.
So my degree is in interiordesign.
I came out of college that'swhat moved me to Charleston was
the design field.
I sat in design for a shortperiod of time before segueing
over into real estate, but ithas never left me.
I've always had this passionand I've always been able to
advise my clients, especially mysellers, how to stage the
(17:32):
property for the best possiblegain and results.
However, this opportunity andthis partnership that I have
formed with you, ashley, istaking this to the next level
for these clients, both sellersand buyers, investors equally.
So I'm just so glad to be inbusiness with you and I look
forward to being able to servemore of our clients.
(17:54):
And if there is any questionfrom the public as to how to
reach us, they can go to thatscrealestatecheckcom and we are
all over social media, butreally, if you go to that
website, that screalestatecheck,then it will take you to a link
(18:14):
where you can make anappointment and it would be a.
It's a free 30 minuteconsultation with you.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And we can do it over Google Meet.
I can meet you at a coffee shop, I can stop by your house, but
essentially what?
What we do at that firstmeeting is to kind of explain
how our process works for me, tohear a little bit about your
project and how we can help you,and then just talk about
whether or not this would be agood fit for you.
And if it is, we'll gettogether in your home or in the
(18:40):
space that we're going to bedesigning or styling, and then
we'll take our time, we'll talkabout style preferences, we'll
take measurements, we'll takepictures and we'll really nail
down what the final product isgoing to be.
And then it's all out of yourhands and on my shoulders and
I'm happy to get to work.
I I wake up running to thiskind of thing every day.
(19:01):
This is my joy and my passion,and I'm so happy to be able to
serve other people with it.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Well, I can tell that it is, and I look forward to
continue business with you,ashley.
Thank you for joining us today.
I appreciate it, thank you.
If you're watching on YouTube,make sure to click the bell so
that you get notified for morepodcasts, and I look forward to
seeing you next time.
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