Mannie Tantawy's (mtantawy) Blog

It might be time to update your fixtures.  When selling your home it is important to upgrade fixtures throughout a home.  If your home looks outdated then a buyer's first reaction will be "this house needs work".  To buyers extra work means extra money.  So make sure you update your fixtures to m...

I was staging an occupied home and one of the rooms was a guest room.  So in order to add something special for the guests or should I say buyers, I added an origami towel rose and some chocolates.  I sure hope the guests or should I say buyers like the origami rose.  I know the homeowner and rea...

Home staging is all about those important details called pockets of emotion that makes a home appealing to a buyer.  You want to show off livable and usable space but also make it inviting and "homey".  You don't want buyers to walk into a sterile, vacant, unstaged home. You want a buyer to say t...

Dear Realtors, let me be the bad guy instead of you.  Why put yourself in a situation you don't have to?  What am I talking about?  I'm talking about the difficult conversation of telling a seller they need to declutter, depersonalize and clean up their home before selling.  This is not an easy c...

Today I was invited to a home buyer/seller seminar that was being conducted by Century 21 AAA Realty in Clinton, Maryland.  I have to say I was impressed with the event as it brought together a number of professionals in the real estate field that discussed the benefits of their services and how ...

This is for all my origami towel fans on activerain.  Here is my latest origami signature prop.  It is so much fun to create these and people love it when I stage them in their home.  And believe it or not these towels sell homes.  Remember my origami towel snail?  That home sold in 6 days!  Belo...

Would you invest $300 in your home for a quicker sale?  If you are selling your home in today's market this is a small investment in home staging that can result in big returns.  If you are a do-it-yourselfer a mere $300 can get you a 10 - 20 page comprehensive written consultation report for a 4...

Home staging can add value and usable space to a home.  This was particularly true for this home that was staged by The Staging Fashionista.  It  had nice basement space but was not showing off its true potential.  Basements add square footage to a home which equals to value so why not show it of...

So I had this dilemna on how to make a small bathroom interesting. There were not many foundations to work with on which to place accessories.  All I had was the toilet and a small area on the pedestal sink.  So I started thinking about how I could make this small half bath something to remember ...

Don't forget the closets when selling a home.  Staging your closets is just as important as staging your rooms.  Most if not all buyers look in closets, cabinets and drawers and it is important to have them organized or staged properly.  I'm big on creating unique and interesting scenes in rooms ...