Local Real Estate Agent/Retired Professor Gives “Homework” a Whole New Meaning

Five years ago, Judy Spector took early retirement from teaching at a small extension of IU in Columbus, Indiana. She needed to sell her house in Columbus before she and her husband could head to Bloomington where they planned to retire. After watching (countless!) episodes of real estate programs on HGTV, and regularly attending Sunday open houses for years, she staged her Columbus home and got a great offer in 48 hours.

This past year (2012) in Bloomington, Judy staged a client’s home and got a full price offer 6 hours after the first showing. She also founded two companies, Seller’s Advantage Real Estate and Seller’s Advantage Staging and invited local artist Tim Lynch, M.F.A., to join her as a design consultant. Today Judy is a licensed Associate Broker at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Indiana Realty (Bloomington); she is also a Certified Professional Stager. Seller’s Advantage Real Estate offers free consultations and staging design plans to clients who list their homes for sale with her; staging installations are available to those clients at heavily discounted prices. Judy hasn’t really given up teaching—her clients gain an understanding of exactly what it’s going to take to sell their homes at top market prices. She has created an in informal formula, “Real Estate 101,” which explains the fundamentals of selling and marketing a home.

Seller’s Advantage Staging also works with other real estate agents (other agencies respected) and independent home sellers; a two-hour consultation costs $150, and a detailed (room-by-room) written design plan usually costs only an additional $150, bringing the overall total to $300. At the client’s request, Seller’s Advantage can select paint colors, lighting fixtures, and accessories either as part of the design plan or the actual staging process. Full staging of a 2,000 square foot home is very affordable and usually costs less than $1,000. Clients are free to purchase only the consultation and design plan and do the staging themselves.

The company’s website, WWW.THEWAYISEEITSTAGING.COM, includes a link to a second site which offers prints of original artwork by Tim Lynch (WWW.ARTWORKBYTIMLYNCH.COM). Seller’s Advantage has also developed the concept of “gallery staging” which showcases your home with art and accessories. Tim also does work on commission with gorgeous art designed to complement your preferences.