Page 20 - San Diego Woman Amy Haber Issue

Women of Distinction

“At that point, I was pretty con-
cerned about the transition from
being a buyer’s market into a seller’s
market. I was unsure what would
happen with my staging business. We
had established ourselves really well
and most people in the industry knew
us. We ended up doing 30 to 50 stag-
ing projects per month. We were on
national TV shows, and we appeared
on HGTV a lot. We were a very large
operation, and we won all kinds of
awards. It was all pretty exciting. I
absolutely loved it. I had gained a
great deal of knowledge through my
real estate career. I understood what
Photo by Dawn Nicoli/Nicoli Productions experience, she had a strong design
buyers liked.”
Aside from Cheryl’s real estate

background. “I have lived all over
the world. I lived in London for three
years and, spent time in Paris and
Italy. Even the time I spent in Man-
hattan, New York helped to give me
a sense of style. I brought that to the
table, and I think it helped a lot in my

Cheryl had been doing this for
over ten years and one day in 2019 it
occurred to her that there was a far
Cheryl Holmes staging business.
better way to accomplish the same
results. “No one was doing what I
Selling with Style had in mind, so I decided to give it a
shot. That year I changed my busi-
ness from a Home Staging business
to a Home Styling Business. The main
By Judith A. Habert difference is that with Home Staging
new furniture was brought in, rugs
were added or removed, and paint
Cheryl Holmes spent many years the most potential buyers. “At the time colors were changed. The process was
selling real estate and when the econ- I was in real estate and at one point I very expensive. I figured out a way
omy failed in 2008 she decided to try was sitting on a home forever because to keep the cost low and accomplish
her hand at Home Staging. This was nothing was selling. It was a horrible the same end result, a home that sold
a brand-new concept at the time, and time. So, I asked the owners if I could quickly. I found ways to use the cli-
Cheryl was one of the first realtors in put some furniture in and sort of stage ent's existing furniture, artwork, and
San Diego to offer this service. She the home? At the time they didn't color schemes. I would simply restyle
always had an eye for design and loved even understand the concept. There the home.”
real estate, so the combination was a was only one stager in San Diego and Not only is Home Styling a less
perfect fit. What exactly is staging? she worked only on the very high-end expensive endeavor, but many homes
The simple explanation is that staging properties. I even offered to do the just could not be staged. The pro-
means preparing the home for a poten- staging free of charge and brought cess can be done if the house is va-
tial buyer by redecorating, rearranging furniture from my own home. The cant, but almost impossible to stage
furniture, bringing in new furniture, house sold in two weeks.” The owners if the family is still in residence.
painting, cleaning, and other aesthetic of this property were so thrilled that “People had pets, kids, and active
strategies to present the home in the they asked Cheryl to work with them lives, so it was difficult to work
best possible light. The goal is to make on several other homes that they were around someone else's furniture
the home as appealing as possible to flipping. and sense of style. So, with styling,

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