Today we’d like to introduce you to Lydia Bass.
Lydia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The ‘aha’ moment went off in my mind when I discovered home staging through the sale of my personal property.
A few years back, My husband and I decided to sell one of our rental properties, which at the time had a tenant in it. The lease didn’t expire until November. This meant that the home would be on the market during the holidays, which is considered the “slow time” in real estate.
After committing to sell the home, I realized there was no going back so I decided to perform some research in the Atlanta area and truly began to analyze what is it that makes some homes sell super-fast, while in the SAME neighborhood other houses will sit, and sit for long periods of time. That’s when I realized that PRESENTATION and PERCEPTION are everything in real estate!
I worked with my husband to prepare the home to sell. I designed the renovations, upgrades, and repairs (less than $10K) and staged the property myself using my design talent. My husband is a realtor so he listed the home.The house didn’t go on the market until the week of Thanksgiving and received a verbal offer after only one day on the market! Plus, it sold for $30K more than other homes in the same neighborhood listed at the same time!
After experiencing and seeing the power of staging first hand, the light bulb went off, and I became extremely inspired to help others sell their homes fast and for top dollar and decided to start Fruitful Home Staging Company.
Since then, Fruitful Home Staging has staged more than $1 million dollars in real estate and has partnered with homeowners, realtors, and investors to help them reap the most out of their home sales.
We now not only stage homes, but also work with new homeowners to decorate and furnish their homes as well as partner with Airbnb host to bring their furnished rentals to market.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I would say one major struggle along this journey was managing the growth in our first year. Our first year in business, we managed to stage over 10 vacant homes and every dime that was made went right back into the business. Working so hard and not seeing any financial gains was a hard pill to swallow at times, but my passion and love for design are what got me through it. We are reaping the benefits of our hard work and dedication now, but managing the growth is still always a struggle.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fruitful Interiors and Staging story. Tell us more about it.
Fruitful Interiors and Staging is a home staging and interior design company. We are small in size and scale and cater to a very specific niche market of investors. We specialize in staging flipped homes. Our staging style is very unique in that we stage homes to appeal to the widest demographic while keeping the décor on trend and visually interesting with a luxurious appeal.
There are so many ways we are different than other staging companies. One being, we simply offer more value by including a higher caliber of furniture, a custom design catered to that property (every house we stage is different), and we include complimentary top-notch professional photography.
With my husband being a realtor, we also offer joint packages with the option for clients to list with us as well.
For our Interior Design business, we offer flat rate packages based off of the room and cater to new and first-time homeowners as well as the super high-end clientele.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I honestly believe whatever is for you is for you.
So, that being said, there has been many things throughout my life, I have looked back on and thought, man that wasn’t fair or maybe I just lucked out… but in all actuality, those things were part of God’s plan and everything happened for a reason.
Sometimes you don’t understand the reason until years later, but it’s all part of a master plan.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fruitfulhomestaging.com
- Phone: 7705953350
- Email: info@fruitfulhomestaging.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/fruitfulinteriorsandstaging
- Facebook: facebook.com/fruitfulhomestaging
Image Credit:
Jennifer Wall Photography
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