Brilliance was filtering through the air like sunlight from the windows on Thursday, April 27, for the Spring Market Refresh event hosted by daltxrealestate.com and Johnson Development’s Trinity Falls, the 2,000-acre master-planned community in McKinney.
An all-star expert panel included George Bass, owner and interior designer of George Bass Stage and Design; JPAR Realtor Marisol Gallegos; Shay Geyer, owner and interior designer of IBB Design Fine Furnishings; Ebby Halliday Realtor Hollie O’Gorman Siglin; and Sarah Nowak, owner and interior designer of Sarah Nowak Interiors.
daltxrealestate.com publisher Candy Evans moderated the panel discussion, which focused on sprucing up marketing plans and staging for success in an uncertain market.
“We’re going to pick your brains to see how we can get an edge in today’s market,” Evans said. “It is competitive. The National Association of Realtors says there are two licensed Realtors for every listing.”
The Trinity Falls development served as a perfect backdrop for the discussion, as guests toured model homes and viewed the Collin County community that is now home to about 1,700 residents.
Stage For Success
Updating and curating a home can make an enormous difference when promoting a listing, Evans said.
Realtors and designers agreed that high ceilings, sliding doors, chandeliers, and ceiling fans are hot items for spring — and not every room needs to be photographed for a listing or featured in an Instagram Reel.
The experts shared their thoughts about the saturation of the modern farmhouse, their favorite paint colors, and what works and what doesn’t when selling a home.
“Stay true to the design style of the home’s architecture and don’t go too far past what makes sense for that,” Nowak said. “Listen to your designers. Listen to the professionals.”
The designer and co-star of A&E’s “Zombie House Flipping” said social media and networking events have helped build her brand, and she doesn’t underestimate the power of professional photography in showcasing a good staging job.
“People trust you when they’ve met you in person and have had a conversation with you,” she said.
Bass said real estate should be red carpet-ready when it goes on the market.
“Everything has to shine — the windows, landscaping, clean up the clutter,” he said. “It’s all mundane but it is hard work. I tell sellers, ‘You have a lot of homework to do.’ Every stager has their image and their so-called unique style. The competition is wonderful because it’s healthy competition.”
Bass uses white and champagne-colored fabrics and linens.
“We don’t want the stage to take over the listing,” he said. “My aesthetic is it’s about the house. It’s not about me or the furniture, but I’ve got to keep up with the Joneses to tell the story. You know the old saying, you’ve got to let your clients see themselves living in the house. Sometimes a banana-boat sofa is not going to do that.”
Marketing For The Spring
Gallegos shared a little bit about how she’s built a following of more than 113,000 potential homebuyers on Instagram.
“More than 80 percent of our clientele is from out of state,” she said, emphasizing the need for online media rather than print advertising.
But maybe don’t rule out print media just yet, other experts said.
Geyer has produced a quarterly magazine since 2013.
“For us, it’s still a really good marketing vehicle,” she said. “It’s also a way for our designers to get their work into someone’s hands. Social media is also a really good avenue for us.”
Siglin’s O’Gorman Group at Ebby Halliday produces a seasonal Divine Properties Magazine.
“We send out about 25,000 copies,” Siglin said. “We send it out mainly locally but we leave it at country clubs, golf courses, and hotels. One of my friends was playing for the [San Fransisco] 49ers and one of our magazines was in one of the guy’s lockers. I do think that print advertising still works. When we send ours out, our website traffic skyrockets.”
