Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Mashler, real estate broker at Signature Real Estate Finder. And with me is my co-host of the Real Estate Founder podcast,
Staci Garcia:
Stacy Garcia.
Matthew Maschler:
Hi, Stacy. How are you?
Staci Garcia:
I’m good. How are you?
Matthew Maschler:
I am doing great. And the reason I’m doing great is because we have a special guest in the studio with us today. Yes.
Staci Garcia:
Awesome.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. We have, um, Bridget King, and Bridget is a, uh, stager. And not only is she a stager, she’s a great stager. Not only is she a great stager, she’s my stager.
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>, not best.
Matthew Maschler:
So, Bridgette, welcome to the
Bridget King:
Show. Thanks for having me this morning. Great to be here.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. We posted, uh, our show on Facebook last week, and Bridgette said, I wanna be on the show. And I said, absolutely. Come in. So if you would like to be considered for being on the show, feel free to reach out to me and Stacy, we love having, uh, guests on the show because then we don’t have to think about what our subject will be. <laugh>.
Staci Garcia:
And you know what, Bridget? I’ve always been fascinated by, um, staging, and more recently people are doing virtual staging on the mls, and it it’s one of my pet peeves. I absolutely hate it. So,
Matthew Maschler:
Matt, I hate, I hate virtual staging.
Staci Garcia:
So virtual staging is when people put in a computer graphic that makes it look like there’s furniture in a house that there isn’t furniture in.
Matthew Maschler:
I, I I think it’s a lie.
Staci Garcia:
It is a lie.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Do you, do you do virtual staging?
Bridget King:
No. Okay.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>.
Staci Garcia:
Okay. So now we’re on the same page.
Matthew Maschler:
We didn’t, um, practice questions in advance, Stacy, and I don’t like to do that, because when we do, we’re like, oh, we wish we would’ve recorded that. Right.
Staci Garcia:
So, so Bridget, um, now that we’re all in agreement about virtual staging, and then it is a lie, um, tell about regular staging. How does it
Bridget King:
Work? Yeah. Now you’re talking my language. Yes. Okay. <laugh>. So when I think of virtual staging, I think of a potential buyer walking to a home and going W Wow.
Staci Garcia:
Absolutely. Hmm.
Bridget King:
So the, there’s different types of staging. So I always like to educate the agents who have not used a stager before on the three, what I would call the three types of staging. One vacant staging. Nobody lives in the house. The homeowner has vacated the property and has taking all their belongings with them. Number two, occupied staging, that is for homeowners who are living in their home while selling their home. And then thirdly, would be like a virtual staging, right? Right. I am a occupied listing specialist. That is my jam all day long. Right. I like working with homeowners who are going to be living in the property while selling it. I like doing what I call home edits.
Staci Garcia:
So you go in and you say, hi, I love, I love what you’re doing here. Or, and, and then you use their items. Do you add items to their property?
Bridget King:
Yes, we do. So it all begins with a home staging consultation. Right. I can’t tell you what you’re gonna need or what you don’t need until I see the property. Right. So the agent will call and say, Hey, Bridget, I have a listing coming up. I need you to go see 1 23 Banana Street. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. I make the appointment, I do a property preview walkthrough with the client and or the agent, and we determine what is needed and what needs to go. 90% of the time we need to remove things. <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
Right,
Bridget King:
Right, right. 90%
Matthew Maschler:
Collections.
Bridget King:
Oh, tons of collection. The yaros, you know, the precious moments. Right. All of that stuff. What I like to tell my home sellers is we are selling your space, not your things. Right. Right. And the more things that you have, it actually makes the space feel smaller. Absolutely. Right. So we have to keep in mind when we are selling our homes that we wanna show the livability of the space. Right. We want to feel like a home. When you walk in, you’re like engaged with the kitchen and the family room, because that is where people spend most of their time, right. In those two spaces. So we wanna make sure that the home feels warm and inviting, but we don’t need something in every nook and cranny.
Staci Garcia:
So what do they do with all that stuff?
Bridget King:
Pack it, sell it, donate it. <laugh>.
Staci Garcia:
Or in your case, put it in
Matthew Maschler:
Story. Those are the choices. Well, that’s Packet. Packet. Sell it. Donated. Don’t need it. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
Because I met Bridget at Matthew’s, um, property, and it was the WrestleMania themed house.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, we, well, that was different because we weren’t staging it for sale. We were staging it for me. Right. And, and I was actually creating a, uh, uh, a room that was rest, like a wrestling themed bedroom. Right, right. Um, and one of my actual rooms was partially cause I had the collection. Right. Um, and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I went really wanted to make it nice. And we create the room was the room came out spectacular. So, but then, right.
Bridget King:
So, so that’s stage to live. Stage to live. Right. Which we do that, and that’s part of the interior decorating service that we offer to our clients, because selling your home and living in your home are two different things. Right? Absolutely. We wanna appeal to the mass market. And so people need to see the property in its truest, purest form without all of the stuff. Right. Clutter eats equity.
Staci Garcia:
Ooh,
Matthew Maschler:
Nice. Oh, I love that line. That’s nice. Clutter eats equity.
Bridget King:
Absolutely. Another one I’m gonna give you, if you smell it, you can’t sell it.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. I hate when I go to people’s houses and there’s a very, very distinct odor, and I can’t quite place it.
Bridget King:
Yeah. So,
Staci Garcia:
Or you can place it. Yeah. Well,
Matthew Maschler:
No, no. If I can place it, it’s fine. Really.
Bridget King:
Not necessarily.
Matthew Maschler:
If I, if I know what it is, at least, at least that thing is there and there’s a reason for it. Right. But if it’s just this weird smell, I’m like, do they not smell it and they just live like this? Yeah.
Bridget King:
So here’s the deal, right? We, we live in our homes and there’s smells that we’re just, we’re just used, we’re
Staci Garcia:
Blind to it. Right?
Bridget King:
So, but somebody from the outside coming, maybe I have allergies to pets. Yeah. And you have three dogs and a cat.
Staci Garcia:
Uhhuh. I do. Yeah.
Bridget King:
And so
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>, well, no amount of staging’s gonna help, right. If you have allergies to pets and you have pets.
Staci Garcia:
Well, I like that. I do like it on the mls when they do say pets are present and so forth.
Bridget King:
Right? Yeah. It’s important to kind of let people know in advance mm-hmm. <affirmative> if there is a situation like that, but, um, walking into a home that’s beautifully decorated, but it smells like curry <laugh>. Yeah. Because you decided to make a curry dish the night before. The showings is not attractive. That is a turnoff. Also, we have a lot
Matthew Maschler:
Of, well, maybe some people like Curry. Well,
Bridget King:
Okay, we’re trying to appeal to the masses. Right? So there might be out of 10 people who preview their home that day. One person might like her
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. I’m trying to stay straight with my Fair Housing
Staci Garcia:
Obligation. Funny thing is, um, I have Pura, did you ever Yes. You see the Pura, they, they, um, so I use Pure for two for my, uh, listings. If I come into a house and I’m supposed to sell it. And exactly what you said, if you smell it, you can’t sell it. Right. I, I have, um, you plug them in and you can control them on your iPhone. And it, um, what is it? It gives out a smell. And usually I try to put on something like beach mm-hmm. <affirmative> or something fresh so that it doesn’t, so the house doesn’t smell like people.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s an app.
Staci Garcia:
It’s an app that goes with the smelling thing. Oh, I a
Bridget King:
Deodorizer. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
I was trying to figure out how an app can create Odorant app,
Bridget King:
But everything is an app. Now <laugh>,
Matthew Maschler:
But smell all right. It’s great. I’m downloading
Staci Garcia:
It. I’ll show them to you. And, um, I use them. Uh, someone introduced me to them, and I think they’re fantastic because I’m not con well, in most cases, I’m not even controlling it. My client is, so I have to tell her now I have my own now. But she was controlling it from another state. She, I said, can you amp up the Pura downstairs? And she was absolutely, because, you know, people, there’s traffic and people are coming in and it’s just,
Bridget King:
Well, I think that, um, smells are important, right? So think about it, when you go to a luxurious spa,
Staci Garcia:
Right. Have the spa smell, it
Bridget King:
Smells so amazing. Like, you wanna get a facial, you wanna get a massage. Even when you’re doing a massage, they always have a nice light, absolutely. Scent in the background to relax you and to calm you. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Now that is different from sticking a plugin <laugh>, right, right. In every room. Yeah. Because then it’s kind of like this
Matthew Maschler:
Spot spots don’t put plugins. No,
Bridget King:
No. They don’t use plugins. <laugh>. But, um, people do. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> use plugins. And I’m like, sometimes those scents, they’re so overpowering. That’s true. That, that kind of doesn’t even really smell good. Right. So here’s a number one rule when you are preparing to sell your home. Number one rule when preparing to sell your home from, that’s Bridget King. Even if you don’t have a big budget, guess what that rule is? Clean it. Clean, clean, clean. Yep. Deep clean, not surface clean. Not wipe the countertops down. Clean. I mean, you gotta put some elbow grease in there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Or hire a company to come in and deep clean your home. What do I mean by deep cleaning? We’re talking clean your windows. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> inside and out. Do you know that clean windows lets, in a lot more natural light than a dirty window.
And don’t just clean the inside, clean the outside as well. Right. And you can hire a professional company that will come in and clean your windows for you. Fairly reasonable. Right? Okay. So clean your floors, the grout, especially in those high traffic areas, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> the kitchen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> gets a lot of traffic. The family room, the entryway into your home, clean the grout. Especially the people that have older tiles where the grout line is wider. Right. Right. Now, you know, in a new home, we’re doing like credit card grout lines. Right? Right. Which is nice and tight, butted up. But back in the day we did an eighth of an inch. And that’s a wider grout line. Yeah. So, and it does get dirty. So you do need to clean that, clean your carpets. Carpets hold odors. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that’s area rugs as well as room to room carpeting as well.
And make sure you clean your bathrooms. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like, I’ve walked into homes and there’s like a ring around the toilet mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. There’s a ring around the tub. The faucets and the fixtures look dirty. Come on guys. Right. You gotta do better than that. You know, I think some of what has happened since C O V I D is of course, are housing prices are up like, what, 80% in the last two years. They are, they are up. And so this whole selling my house frenzy took on a life of its own. And people say, you know what? I’m gonna sell my house, stick a sign in the front yard, and I’m done. I’m not putting anything into the house. Absolutely. And that’s not good. Right. Because now the market is starting to soften and things are not, you’re not seeing 42 offers come in on a house.
Right. It’s cooling off. Right. So now I think you really need to pay attention to the details. Love is in the details, and nobody likes anything more than a clean house. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> clean your house from top to bottom. You know what I see often ceiling fans with dust so thick. Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah. That’s a pet peeve of mine. Absolutely. And you know why even people have cleaning companies come to their, like my, I had my cleaning lady here last week. She didn’t clean the ceiling fans. You know why? Because maybe you have a 12 foot ceiling and nobody wants to get on the ladder. Right. To clean that.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and that could also be a source of smell.
Bridget King:
Absolutely. And allergies. So make sure you hit those ceiling fans. And here’s another pet peeve. Oftentimes two things happen. I walk into a bathroom and either the light bulbs are mismatch <laugh>. Oh yeah. Guys, I’m getting really like micro here. Right?
Matthew Maschler:
But that’s the level of scrutiny that the, that traditionally buyers put on a house.
Bridget King:
Yeah. So you have a l e d light bulb, and then you have a regular incandescent light bulb. And so it’s all looking really crazy, like unify the light bulbs. Really simple. So,
Matthew Maschler:
But what would you say if the house is, you know, is very well lived and you know, the, the people have been there 30 years, they raised the family. It is cluttered. There is stuff, there’s a life in the home. Yes. And presumably the buyer is going to come in and, and really renovate. Right. They’re gonna take everything out anyway. They’re gonna take out the floors, they’re gonna, you know, paint the walls, maybe move some, redo the kitchen, redo all the bathrooms. So how important is it in that situation to remove all the clutter and get it showable and show off the, the, you know, the potential of the house? If the buyer’s really, especially right in this situation where, where you don’t have inventory, it’s a great house on a great lot with a great view, has a lot of potential, the buyer’s gonna come in anyway and redo it. So if the buyer can see past the, the, the, the fact that the house is dated, can they also see past that the house is cluttered?
Bridget King:
Some people can, but the majority of people, I think, need to see it visually mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so why give them an excuse to maybe even discount your property? Because they, they, there’s something that’s there that they, they couldn’t even see the fireplace because it got so much stuff around the mantle, on the mantle below the mantle around the, like, set it up for a potential buyer. So they’re not trying to guess what this could be. Like. They can see it, even if it’s a dated kitchen with four Micah countertops and four micro cabinets. I can see, I can see that, you know what, this kitchen is a big kitchen. It has a lot of prep space. Yeah. I’m gonna need to put in my cords and my new cabinets. But I can see the potential. And it’s neutral enough that if I can’t do my kitchen next month after I close, I can live in it for a little bit until I kind of feel my way around the house and kind of see what I would like to, to do to the house in terms of construction and knocking out walls and putting in new floors.
There are so many materials available now for, for a home rehab that people are getting confused. Should I do vinyl? Should I do wood? Should I do a large format tile? That’s 32 by 32, 24 by 48. You know, there are so many flooring options. You know, we were in the whole gray phase, gray and white mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And now we’re starting to see that people want a little bit more color. Yeah, definitely. They’re kind of tired of the gray and white, gray and white.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. It was never, for me, I always, uh, it always read cold to me. I always thought people were living in a, a hospital in an apple store Oh, okay. Or something like that. And I, I think you know that about me because Yes. You know, I’m not afraid of color. Right. So, you know, you know, in, in some of the houses, Bridget’s stun for me, uh, to live in the, uh, staging to live, um, you know, we, we, we, we, we based in gray, but we added color. So
Bridget King:
Color is a good thing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so when I was, um, I’ve been staging now for 18 years, and when I went to, uh, get my accreditation, you know, the training taught us light and bright, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> when selling your home neutrals. And I’m very, um, careful about depending on the client, the house, the situation on suggesting paint colors, because I think it’s okay to still be neutral, but have a little bit of color for warmth and it, and so this is where I say that my home staging consultations are curated for the client because every client is different. Every home is different. So if you have the right furniture that can work with a little bit more color, then we may go that route. But if your furniture is like a lot of white, a lot of gray, then we might keep it in the same kind of snow bound or pure white or, uh, a light gray just to stay with the theme of the furniture of the house. Right. You don’t wanna go sticking like a green <laugh>, right. In a home that is mostly, you know, a, a white and gray, it may not work for that scenario. So
Matthew Maschler:
Green is making a comeback
Bridget King:
Green, I love, and I always stage like with whether it’s art or accessories. I love green. I love blue. I love teal. It’s the water. It’s calming here in South Florida, you know, it’s all about that lifestyle, outdoor living, the pool, the beach, the ocean, and those, those are great colors. Like if you wanna just add a little oomph, you know, and it up it up, those are great colors. We kind of stay away from like, very loud, um, blaring colors, like a, maybe a pop of red here and there, but it’s not like my number one go-to staging color.
Matthew Maschler:
So another, um, so we talked a lot about staging. We also talked about decorating. Um, but I wanna talk about another, uh, service that, uh, Bridget offers in her, um, design, uh, interior design, uh, portfolio in her, in her, in her tools. And this is something that I’ve always wanted to hire Bridget to do, but I can’t because, um, anybody who knows me knows that I’m Jewish, Jewish guy, Jewish family living in Boca Raton. But, um, Bridget makes the most amazing holiday displays. And, uh, I really want, I I’m gonna talk to Wendy soon about this. Inside
Bridget King:
The house.
Matthew Maschler:
Yes, inside the house. Oh, really? Yes. Um, and I want, I want to, I want, I wanna do a nice blue and white Hanukkah display. I gotta talk to Wendy, uh, soon. It’s May, it’s May, June so soon. But she books up. So if you’ve ever wanted to make your house amazing for the holidays, Bridget, tell, talk about it for a minute. Oh,
Bridget King:
That is one of my favorite times of the year is the holidays. And when we were in lockdown in Covid, like I thought, oh my God, nobody’s gonna put up a Christmas tree. It was the exact opposite. People were calling me, I need a tree in my house. I need joy. Yeah. And they were starting as early as November 1st. Right. So you come in and decorated tree, we come in. So we have, again, different curated services Right. For our clients, but we don’t do exterior decorating. Like we’re not gonna put lights on the exterior of your house, <laugh>. I gotcha. I stay on the inside. Right. But, um, your tree, your Christmas tree, we decorate Christmas trees. We do staircase banisters. We can do custom wreaths for the front door. And I love it. And it’s designed based on the client’s home decor. So some clients already have some decor that they’ve used, but maybe, like, I’ve been using that for the last six years.
I’m on something new mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we can add in a different color, work with some of the things that they have, but then also add in a few new pieces. Uh, we can shop for your tree. We can buy all the holiday decor. We’ll come in and based on, you know, your design setting of your home, we’ll select colors that will look nice with your home. Um, we can custom, like I said, a wreath for you, two wreaths. And then we can also do curated little vignettes, um, around the house. So say you have a big, you know, wall unit and you have some shelving and you wanna do some nice curated pieces there. That’s as that. We can do that as well. I have basic
Matthew Maschler:
Staging questions.
Bridget King:
Where do you get this stuff to do that? So for the holiday decor mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we shop all over. So we have vendors that specifically sell holiday decor, and then we also hit all mass retail. Oh, you do everything from your target, your home goods? Um, we have a, a couple places, uh, here actually in Palm Beach County, it’s called at Home. Oh, nice. And they sell a lot of holiday decor. So we mix and match. Right. I don’t buy everything from one place. And it also depends on the client’s budget. So for the more specialty stores, you’re gonna pay a little bit more, but then your pieces are gonna be so unique and different. Do they get to keep them? They do. Oh, nice. They are theirs. And then we can come back and we pack everything up for them, label it, and then next year you call us again. So what I do like about some of the specialty stores is for the clients that have large trees, like say a 12 foot tree, they have bigger pieces Right. To work with.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. And that’s what I was gonna say for the client. For those of you out there, my, my clients or others who are in the big homes. Right. The big homes in Royal Palm or, or in the country clubs or, or just anything on, on the water. If you really want, wanna make a wow and make your f have Bridget come in, do a spectacular tree, or, or, or five trees or 10 trees do garland up and down the stairwells and she can just make the wow factor in, in your house and, and then take it all down for you. So that’s a, it’s a, it’s a great service that I, I really, uh, I really think that’s, uh, helpful to people, but also to take a note that if you need something staged, if you needed your house staged, like after Thanksgiving mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you might, you might have to wait till after New Year cuz she is busy, busy, busy. Yeah. So get on that calendar. Yeah.
Bridget King:
Early, early. We start promoting it in September. <laugh>,
Matthew Maschler:
How does somebody contact you if they wanna get on that calendar?
Bridget King:
You can reach me on my cell phone directly at (954) 205-6555. You can also find me on all social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram,
Matthew Maschler:
Facebook, under your name. Bridget King.
Bridget King:
Bridget
Matthew Maschler:
King. And the website
Bridget King:
Captiva. C a P T I V a, home design.com.
Matthew Maschler:
And where did Captiva come from?
Bridget King:
Uh, people always ask me that question. The west coast of Florida, west Coast,
Matthew Maschler:
West
Bridget King:
Captiva Island, captive Island. Right. That’s
Matthew Maschler:
Always what I would think. So
Bridget King:
There’s this little tiny story behind that, right? So when I was first starting my business, I was listening to a, a business coach and, uh, trying to determine what, how you should name your business, what should you name your business. And, and he said you should pick a name that will engage people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Like they’ll wanna talk to you to find out where does that name come from? And I always love going over to the West coast for vacation and Captiva Island and Marco Island. Those places are just absolutely gorgeous. And I said, I’m gonna come up with Captiva design. It just like came into my head and he was absolutely right. There is no time that I meet people and they’re like, I know Captiva Island. Is that where your name came from? Or where did it It drives conversation and it, and
Matthew Maschler:
It, and it, and it works here, you know, with, you know, you wanna capture people’s attention.
Bridget King:
Yes, exactly. It was a good, good thing. You could use a lot of taglines, captivating, interior decorating and home staging, you know?
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. And I want to ask you about, um, celebrity clientele. Uh, so I, I want to ask a question. Like, like, you know, have you ever worked with like a very, very famous celebrity? Um, but before, uh, anybody worries that like, you know, um, you know, Bri, Bridget keeps everybody’s confidence she doesn’t talk or, or reveal secrets. Uh, the reason I’m asking is cuz I watched it on TV <laugh>. So if it’s on tv, it’s fair game. It is fair. You’re not, you’re not revealing a confidence. So that’s, that’s why I’m asking. So that, Bridget, can you tell us about any, uh, famous celebrities you’ve, uh, worked with?
Bridget King:
Oh, yeah. Um, so Dwayne Wade, former heat player for the Miami Heat basketball team. His wife, Gabrielle Union <laugh>. Uh, I worked with them on a project in Miami a few years ago. Uh, I got contacted by one of the producers for H G T V about doing a celebrity flip. It was just a one-time show, it wasn’t a series. And so I decided to go in and do it. And it was like the best experience of my life. So a little nervous. Right. Um, cuz Gabrielle is a big time actress. <laugh> big time. And her husband of course is a big time. He’s my
Matthew Maschler:
Full-time all-time favorite basketball player.
Bridget King:
Yes. And so essentially what they filmed was they purchased a house in North Miami and they totally gutted it. It was built like in the late fifties and, um, added a second floor edition and from top to bottom, everything brand new. And then they brought me in now as the stager. So they were selling the property this, and people asked me all the time, was this their personal? I said, no, <laugh>. This was not their personal home. This was an investment property that they purchased. And then they were flipping it and the proceeds from the sale of the property went towards the charity. Um, the D Wade Fund. Nice foundation. So that’s the money went to his, his foundation. It
Matthew Maschler:
Wasn’t that That makes sense. Cause like I’m sitting there, you know, I do flips and I have some customers that do flips and I’m sitting here going, why is Gabriel Union? Wait, flipping the house? Yeah. Like, why? How’s that worth their time? It’s a nice twist
Bridget King:
Though. Yeah. It, it was, it made good storytelling on H G T V and it was well received. And, um, if anybody out there can get me back in touch with Gabriel’s agent, I’d love to do another one. <laugh>. Yeah. That was a great experience. Um, prior to that, I, I did a show, it was a local show on DIY network. It’s DIY network is no longer on, on cable, but we, it was a local contractor slash flipper, um, from Columbia. And she was spicy and a lot of fun. And we did a show, flipping show, um, as well for that network. Uh, it, it ran like two series I did with her. All of this is also on my YouTube channel as well as my, my, um, website. So if you wanna take a look at those projects, you just go to captiva home design.com and click on media and you’ll see all of the work that I’ve done. My, my latest passion, um, Matthew that you may have seen is the yacht staging.
Matthew Maschler:
I was gonna ask you about yacht staging.
Bridget King:
Love it. Yeah, love it. So that has been in my portfolio now for the last three years mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and, you know, social media, you gotta pay attention. There’s opportunities. I saw a, a yacht that was being sold and, um, it happened to be an agent’s husband who was the broker for that yacht. And I said, you know what, I wonder if they do yacht staging, like just some pillows and some accessories
Matthew Maschler:
Are, are you staging for sale or Yes. Or, or for Yes. No, or for new
Bridget King:
Owners. No, no, no, this is for sale. Just like a house. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so I made contact with him and they gave me an opportunity, uh, Dennis and yachting to, uh, stage, uh, a resale, a yacht, older yacht. But, you know, they wanted to sell it needed a little oomph mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I went in there and I did my magic and bam, nice. Sold <laugh>. And that started the whole yacht staging, uh, from there on. And so for the last three years, I have been doing staging for Dennis and yacht staging also for one water yacht group. And, um, been staging beautiful Sunseeker yachts for all of the boat shows that we do here locally in South Florida. Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. So we have West Palm Beach. Um, we did that show in March. We had Miami in February, and the next show coming will be Fort Lauderdale in October.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. I’m gonna come
Staci Garcia:
Check that out. That must be fun. Yeah.
Bridget King:
You should come check it out. If you love boating. If you love yachts, you gotta come.
Staci Garcia:
That’s really cool.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and if you ever see one that does day charters, you know, gimme, gimme a heads up <laugh>.
Bridget King:
Well,
Matthew Maschler:
Well, I’m not into buying a yacht and I’m not going for a week like low deck, but I will do a, uh,
Bridget King:
Well for your clients who have these beautiful homes here in Palm Beach County and they have a yacht in the back <laugh>, if they wanna sell the house and the yacht, you know, I can stage both. Right, right, right. Get two for one <laugh>.
Staci Garcia:
When people do the staging, do they, do they say, Bridget, I wanna like the, maybe the buyer. Do they say, Bridget, I wanna buy it? Or do they say to the buyer, to the seller, I wanna buy it as is with everything that’s in it?
Bridget King:
Oh, yeah. We’ve had several clients wanna buy either all the furniture, maybe not the accessories, but the furniture. Listen, there’s been a really big backlog of furniture. Right. Like, you can’t get furniture. Right, right. Since Covid. And so, you know, you’re waiting months. I know people waiting six months to get a sofa. Right. It’s crazy. Right. So if they can find a property and they like the stuff, at least to hold it until they figure out their furniture design plan, um, that has worked well for several saging companies. And, um, yeah, we definitely, I, I even do for redesign, I have inventory and I will bring my inventory to the client’s house. Mm-hmm. And they’re like, you know what, I’m just gonna buy it and take it with me to my new house.
Staci Garcia:
It’s, yeah. Yeah. So it’s easier. So it’s if you bring the store to the person
Bridget King:
Exactly. In-home shopping, again, curated, personalized for you, for what you need, your budget, your timeframes. That’s awesome. That’s what we do. Yes.
Staci Garcia:
I, I noticed that when, when the house, what I have to tell a buyer sometimes is they fall in love with the way the house is designed, uh, interior designed, and they’re not really looking at the actual house. Right. And then they’re, they are trying to, they’re saying, well, I really, really want it. I’m like, you want it because it’s designed interior is perfect. Yep. But the actual house is not what they were looking for.
Matthew Maschler:
I, I have this story where, um, I was, um, my clients were interested in the house and the, and this was right at the beginning of the runup. It was before the runup. And, um, the house was, was beautifully, beautifully staged. And, um, and my clients couldn’t see past the staging and they didn’t see what they were buying. And it was, the house was double more than double what the comps were showing. And it was, you know, and, and, and there was upgraded. The house was upgraded. And they were telling me how upgraded the house was. I really loved it. I’m like, yeah, but you, you gotta be careful because a lot of what you see doesn’t come with it. The bedroom was magnificent. The bed doesn’t come, the art doesn’t come. The, you know, just there was a, it was a house filled with staging equipment.
And anyway, they ended up buying the sta so they just have buy all the stuff, the stuff. Right. But then it has to like, be careful because a lot of this stuff isn’t like real furniture. A lot of it’s prop. Like if you have a tv, a flat screen tv, that’s a prop tv. That’s not real tv. Oh, yeah. Right. But, so it wasn’t fake prop like that, but like, the bed wasn’t a real bed, it was a box spring that was made with pillows and whatnot. Right. So you still had to get a mattress. Right. So, and, and the chairs, they weren’t comfortable to sit on, but they looked good. They looked great, but they were meant for storage, I guess. Right. So, so a lot of the furniture that they put, but it was really, it was really difficult because they couldn’t just, like we said before, like the clutter and they couldn’t appreciate the house.
This was the opposite. They couldn’t see that. So a lot of, they, they ended up having to do a lot of work afterwards to, to um, to uh, address what needed to be address in the house. They’ve made a lot of changes in the house since, even though it looked on that, you know, when, when you shop for a car, right? You go back to the dealer two, three times at the same car. Right. So many people shop for a house even before this crazy market one time, maybe one time maybe see it a second time before they make an offer. I’m like, I can’t buy a car without seeing it the second time. How do you buy a house on one time? Obviously in this market it’s, it’s different. So, so sometimes the staging comes out. So,
Staci Garcia:
So I just showed a house that was staged in, um, Boynton Beach. It was the house closest to the railroad tracks. And as soon as we walked in, I was like, wow. Stage. You know, I didn’t wanna say that the stage cuz someone lived there. So I didn’t know if it was actually staged or if the person who lived there did an amazing job at decorating their house. But I said to my client, pretend nothing is in this house because it’s absolutely gorgeous on the inside, but the railroad tracks are directly outside your window. And that’s why the inside is absolutely stunning because you forget, oh my God, what’s going on outside? So my client was like, well maybe we can live with that. I’m like, you’re saying that because you’re seeing this amazing interior. If this interior wasn’t here, I then you would say, I would, I don’t wanna live here. Right. So staging makes a hundred percent of the difference.
Matthew Maschler:
When I was on in law school, I lived on Railroad Street <laugh> and about once an hour, when the train came through the house shook, shook, <laugh>. But I couldn’t have afforded that nice of a house with a swimming pool and everything if it didn’t have that train. So I loved that train. But, um, as going back to staging. Yeah. Um, so we’re sold on staging. How does it work? One of my agents or one of my customers calls you up and says, says, um, Bridget, we’re, we’re selling the house. We would love you to come in and stage it. What happens, how does it work?
Bridget King:
So depending on whether it’s a vacant, uh, you know, the, the initial phone call I have to do some q and a to see what are we working with here, you know, townhouse, condo, single family, how large is the space? Um, will the house be occupied by the home seller or have they vacated the property? We even have situations where they have vacated the property, but they’ve left some of the furniture, Uhhuh <affirmative>. And so we can work with that. Right. And then we set up the consultation. The consultation, depending on the size of the house, typically would run an hour to an hour and a half. And then I would include a very detailed broken down report room by room of what is needed. And then also if they would like me to do the work or assist them, then I can provide a preliminary quote to get the work done.
So typically, um, there would be some what we call deferred maintenance issues. <laugh> uh Sure. That have to be addressed before you can stage the house. Right. Right. And so that might be painting, A lot of times I have to put in the report that a room with baseboards, the doors, the casing, this needs touchup paint. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I’m not saying you need to paint the entire house, but there are certain rooms that need to be painted. And if you have lived in your home for 20 plus years and you haven’t painted that house in the last seven to 10 years, it’s time for a paint job. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I highly recommend that. And it makes the house feel fresh. Right. Right. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So during the consultation and I’m walking through with the client, I’m verbally telling them these things as well because I think if you hear it and then you see it, that it’s gonna motivate you to get the job done.
Right. Ultimately the staging is not decorating, we’re not trying to decorate your house for your personal taste. Mm. Right. We’re trying to neutralize it and showcase all of the features that will help you sell your home. So clean walls is definitely important. And then again, as we mentioned, the clutter, that that usually is one of the biggest obstacles. So we can assist the client in maybe recommending people who could come in and help. Cuz I don’t declutter people’s homes. Right. <laugh>. But you know, if it’s light packing that they need help with, of course I can help them with that. But if it’s major stuff mm-hmm. <affirmative>, then we can recommend people who could, or sometimes the agents, they have their own team of people. Right. They just need me to tell them what to do. Yeah. And they’re good. So one, you can follow the recommendations of the report and you could get the work done yourself.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, right. If you want to mm-hmm. <affirmative> or you can hire in a painter, a plumber, I might say, you know, change the faucet, it looks horrible. Right. Just go to Home Depot, buy a faucet. Um, or a lot of times the client can do some of the work themselves and then they can bring me in now to do the filler work. So you need a new bedding set. Right. Your bedding looks a little tired, it’s the same bed you’ve been sleeping with or you know mm-hmm. Sleeping on for a year plus let’s go shopping. They can hire me to go shopping for them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or with them and helping them to select the items that are needed. And then some of the accessories and artwork, if I have it based on the type of home that they have, they can rent pieces.
Like maybe they’re downsizing and they’re like, you know, I don’t really wanna buy anything. I’d rather just rent when it’s sold. You come pick it up. I’m on my way. That’s perfect. So we, again, it’s all about curating what your client needs, the budget. Right. And I know that some of the real estate companies have programs that can assist a seller if maybe they don’t have a big budget to do everything. Right. They’re programs that are in place that can assist them. And then at closing, you know Yeah. They get paid. Exactly. So that’s something that an agent can look into as well. But ultimately to me, a real estate agent should have a stager or a staging company in their wheelhouse. Right. Just like you have an appraiser, you know, to do the appraisal, you have a recommendation for pretty much everything. Mortgage companies. Absolutely. Whatever you need. Insurance companies in the real estate industry, you should have a stager.
Staci Garcia:
So if we came into, uh, I’m not in this market necessarily, but we’ve had houses that haven’t sold right away. And, um, they were being lived in and you could tell. So it was difficult to show. Also, I know that I showed a house probably 800 times <laugh> before, before Covid. And um, it could have used either a stager or it could have been vacant and then sold much sooner. But since it was being lived in, there wasn’t much we could do. Would you come in before everyone shoots pictures before it goes on the MLS so that it’s staged, then we do the photos, then we post it, and then all the, the furniture is, and, and do you put up a sign or something that says the furniture is available for a purchase?
Bridget King:
I don’t put up any signage for that, but the order in my is, as soon as you sit down to have that listing presentation mm-hmm. <affirmative> you should be talking about, I have a stager that I work with. And as a compliment, if you list with me, I’m going to bring stager abc Right. Company in to do a walkthrough. Cuz we wanna help you sell the house in the shortest amount of time. Right. For what, the most amount of money. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it’s part of your marketing plan as a listing agent to have a stager come in. Sometimes the house is really in showcase state and you don’t need a stager, but you’ll know that Right. When you <laugh> you’ve been doing real estate long enough. Right. You’re gonna know if they need a little bit of help Right. To, to get it ready for the listing photos. But I would say majority, from entry level to high end, all homes need some level of maintenance done. You know, if you live on the water, probably the outside of the home needs to be power washed, maybe painted, because you know, just the elements of the environment. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, even though it’s a 5 million house, all homes have to be maintained. <laugh>. Right. And just because you live in a very high-end neighborhood doesn’t mean that your home on the inside looks good.
Matthew Maschler:
You know, when I lived in New Jersey and there were a lot of people, there was a lot of new construction, uh, and bigger houses than all the existing inventory. But whenever I’d visit people on those bigger houses, they’d be empty. They had no furniture, they were all
Bridget King:
Stockbrokers.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, but no, they all, instead of buying an older house and having money for furniture, they bought a newer house. Right. But they didn’t have money for furniture. Right. So it was just, it was the strangest thing. And whenever we’d go places that didn’t have furniture, so like you said, you could have a beautiful house outside. Outside, you go walk in and there’s no furniture.
Bridget King:
Like I’ve been into houses that were like, you know, over a million. And I’m like, oh my gosh, what happened? <laugh> on the outside, it looked great. Yeah. It’s a beautiful gated neighborhood. But on the inside it’s a totally different story. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I think the expectations now too of a home buyer. They’re expecting a lot. They’re expecting quartz countertops. Right. They’re expecting stainless steel appliances as before might have been a little bit different. But now with all the home improvement shows and all these real estate shows, um, I think people are a lot more educated on design and, and, and the features that they wanna see in the house. I will say a must is the kitchen. Kitchen. Hey, even if your kitchen doesn’t have top of the line, everything, if you’re just, it’s clean, it’s neat. You know, everything has order to it. I tell clients, you only need to have 90% of the countertop staged. You don’t need stuff everywhere. So all the knives and the, the, um, flour and sugar containers and microwaves on the countertop and just things all over the refrigerator, you know, magnets, that’s all gotta go.
Staci Garcia:
Right. And all the personal photos,
Bridget King:
Well, a few are fine. Right, right. Because we’re humans, we’re not robots. <laugh>. Yeah. And especially if you’re buying in a very family friendly neighborhood. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. People expect to see
Staci Garcia:
A few. One of the things that I’ve, I’ve noticed on the MLS is really amazing staged backyards. Mm-hmm.
Bridget King:
<affirmative>.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. Especially now that staged backyards. People are
Bridget King:
Coming down. Absolutely. Listen, we’re in South Florida, it’s all about outdoor lifestyle living. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And if you have a beautiful pool and a patio, you should stage that. Yeah, absolutely.
Staci Garcia:
People are coming down here for the weather.
Matthew Maschler:
I need, I need to do more in my backyard. Especially lighting,
Staci Garcia:
Lighting’s important.
Bridget King:
Lighting is super important. Um, and we talked just a smidgen about the incandescent versus the L led mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So if you already have, say you, your home was built in this eighties, you probably have incandescent, recess, high hats. I would change those out to LEDs. Right, right. Lighting will enhance the look of your home. It’s an enhancement. So, and, and it’s very affordable. You can go to Home Depot and you just buy a retrofit kit mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you have an electrician or a handyman, just pull out the old and pop in the new. Right. Yeah. It
Staci Garcia:
Makes a difference. A lot of people mention that when they go in houses
Bridget King:
Now. Yeah. Yeah. And put all your lighting on dimmers. Super important.
Staci Garcia:
Uhhuh. That’s important.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So I wanna ask you a, a non staging question. Personal question. Uh, I, my, both my kids are, uh, juniors in high school. So they’re, we talk about college a lot, uh, in, in my household. Uh, where, where did you go to college?
Bridget King:
I went to the University of Miami. Go Canes. Whoop,
Matthew Maschler:
Whoop. University of Miami. Are you from the Flo, Florida?
Bridget King:
No, I actually was born in Connecticut. My, my, my family’s Jamaican Uhhuh and I grew up in south Florida. So I went to Nova High School. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then I transitioned into my undergrad at University of Miami. So
Matthew Maschler:
You were already here, you were already in the area. Yes. You wanted to go to University of Yes. Tell me about it. How, what did you study?
Bridget King:
Oh, I studied telecommunications. <laugh>
Matthew Maschler:
Telecommunications.
Bridget King:
So yeah, so I wanted to be a broadcaster. That’s that’s awesome. Yeah. I
Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the podcast. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
Welcome
Bridget King:
To the podcast. Right. Um, but that’s not where I went.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>, we can make a staging podcast.
Bridget King:
Yes, absolutely. So, um, little bit of history. I, I’ve been married, uh, 29 years. Congratulations. Next month I have two children, adult children. I have a son who’s 24. He’s a Marine. Nice. Wow. Uh, based in North Carolina. And I have a daughter who is 26 and she works in cryptocurrency.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, that’s amazing. That’s, that’s one of the things that scares me. If my, if one of my kids does decide to go to University of Miami, there’s so much crypto, like, I’m not scared about the drinking in the clubs and the nightclubs and South Beach. I’m scared of crypto.
Bridget King:
Yeah. That’s, that’s a whole nother world that I don’t even fully understand. But, um, yeah, I guess we’ll be buying our homes in crypto at some point down the road. <laugh>, so they say possibly, but, so a little bit of background on me. I’ve been, uh, working in interior decorating and home staging for 18 years. Actually, March was my 18th year anniversary. I absolutely love what I do, passionate about it, and will continue to, to grow and evolve in the years to come. I stage everything and anything I tell people, I’ll stage a box. Did <laugh>
Matthew Maschler:
You did stage A box recently, didn’t you? The, the tr the
Bridget King:
I did. Right. So that’s another thing. So I just finished DA staging, um, a trailer. It’s my first time staging a trailer. So we are looking, my team and I are looking into staging mobile homes. Uhhuh. Yeah. There are some very nice mobile home
Matthew Maschler:
Communities. Brown breezes.
Bridget King:
Yeah. And on the west, west coast of, of Florida as well. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like over Naples. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Fort Myers up that way. So listen, you have a home on Wheels? Home on land. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> home on water.
Matthew Maschler:
The, the tr the trailer that you, that you, um, staged It was, it was a sales.
Bridget King:
Right. So I stage for model units for ALS assisted living communities, Uhhuh for assisted living in memory care facilities. And we do the models here in Palm Beach and Broward County. And so there’s a brand new development, um, ALS development going up in Boynton Beach. And we stage the trailer as a sales center. And then once the facility is built, then we’ll actually stage the model units.
Staci Garcia:
So I don’t think people recognize that when they go into a sales center how beautiful they are. Oh yeah. Right. Oh yeah. It sets the tone for what they’re expecting. Something amazing.
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely. Well, the models that GL built in the, in the Bridges communities, bridges, book bridges. Oh yeah. They would, um, each model would have the name of the decorator. Yeah. Um, so that way if you know, and, and, and there were several mm-hmm. <affirmative> that were there, but that way you could call or, or try to get that furniture or try to mimic because they were amazingly staged. Uh, the very different than, uh, the product that you bought and that you would get at
Staci Garcia:
Closer. They were like, well you have cement floors.
Matthew Maschler:
No, you got, there’s flooring, but there’s Right. There’s a lot of upgrades.
Bridget King:
Upgrades. Right.
Staci Garcia:
So here’s the question. Do you go, cuz there’s a lot of new products, uh, if some people are moving in and then they have a special room for all of the products that you can upgrade to, right. So would you be hired to go in with them and pick out Yes.
Bridget King:
Yeah. Yes, we do that.
Staci Garcia:
I would imagine that
Bridget King:
Right. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming buying new construction. It’s very like, I need help. So people will hire us an hourly rate to come in, walk through with them, and pick tile to our hardware.
Matthew Maschler:
That’s a great that’ss. A great idea for people. Oh
Bridget King:
Yeah. It’s
Matthew Maschler:
Great. So if anyone out there is interested in Lotus Palm, the new geo community on, on Glades Road, feel free to reach out. I will. We’ll, we’ll get you in, get you settled and, and, and then we will have, um, you can hire Bridget to, uh, help you with your selection. So basically, CAPTE, Bridget, king of Captiva Design’s full service, interior design firm. So if you move into house, if you need blinds, if you need help, wallpaper, wallpaper, paint, color selection. Uh, Bridget and I did a project, uh, on one of my properties where we did, uh, some beautiful wallpaper in the foyer mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, that was a, that was real, really special. So, um, in full service, interior design, uh, for, for property that either you’re buying or that you’ve lived in for a long time and you just wanna refresh. And, uh, full service staging, um, and, uh, and, and yacht staging and, and holiday staging and holiday staging and any kind of decor, any kind of decoration, anything you need. Um, and if she doesn’t do it yet, uh, and it’s in the decor world, she, she, she will do it. Um,
Bridget King:
I don’t do events. I don’t do weddings.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>, you don’t do the events. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. It’s a different animal. I can see how that’s similar. Similar but not exactly the same. Yeah. Try to create that. It’s a lot
Bridget King:
Of high pressure timing. That’s, yeah. You don’t get a second chance on that. <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
You know what, one of my, I, I just had this flashback, you said that, and I just had this picture in my head, one of my favorite movies growing up, uh, Brewster’s Millions. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you’ve seen it. Have you, have you heard of it? I’ve heard of it, yeah. Yeah. It was Richard Pryor. Oh yeah. Yes. And, um, and, and he hired, uh, the stager Angela. Yeah. I’m pretty sure Angela was her name. And, uh, she had to make him a room that he could die in <laugh>. Like, it was so spectacular. He would wanna die in this room. I’m gonna go rent that movie. I said, rent a movie. You can’t say rent a movie nowadays. No. Change your
Bridget King:
Words. Go to Netflix. But,
Matthew Maschler:
Um, yeah, Netflix. Netflix. I’m so old that Netflix used to be the place where you could, any movie you wanted, it would always be there. Now you have to figure out where the movies are. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But, um, but everything’s changing. But anyway, I, I’m curious what that room looked like. I remember the, I remember the scene. I don’t know know what the room looked like. It was probably horrible by today’s extent. We probably have to redo it. Yeah.
Bridget King:
Well, I, I know, uh, since C O V I D and then, you know, there’s a lot of, um, work at home or hybrid Yeah. Office home. So offices are really hot right now. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like creating a nice office, um, space in the house that is separate from the kids and everything else. That’s, that’s trending really strong right now. And, um, also like fitness rooms. Yeah. For yoga or Peloton or, you know, biking. It’s, that’s, that’s trending really high
Matthew Maschler:
Too. Yeah, that’s, so, I, I didn’t do a lot of social distancing. I was probably out more than I should have been, but the gym is something I’ve, I’ve, I stayed away from during Covid and I, I’m still staying away from just, just until things are safe. <laugh> again. Yeah. Cuz Yeah. Covid is at the gym.
Bridget King:
Yeah. It’s everywhere. <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. So thank you for joining us. Do you have any, do you have any last minute, uh, remarks or anything else that you wanna say to potential customers or to our listeners?
Bridget King:
Well, um, for all the real estate agents out there, uh, if you haven’t connected with a home stager or home staging company, you should, um, I’m gonna plug my business Yes, please. With design. But I speak on behalf of all the stagers because I am part of our International Association of Professional Home Stagers. It is important that we connect with realtors and make sure that their listings look amazing. The staging is part of your branding. So connect with a home staging company and let us help you sell and market your listings for more money and the shortest amount of time. Thank you. Appreciate, you are great. Thanks for having me.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. Captiva designs the website again.
Bridget King:
Captiva home design.com. That’s c A P T I V A H O M e design. D e s i g n.com.
Matthew Maschler:
And then Bridgette King on social media, Instagram, house, everything else like this. LinkedIn. LinkedIn. Okay.
Bridget King:
ATS C, you name it. I’m there. Great.
Matthew Maschler:
And we are, uh, realestate finder.com. Matthew Ashler real estate broker, Stacy Garcia, a real estate salesman, salesperson at, uh, signature Real Estate Finder, part of the, uh, signature real estate companies, uh, in the state of Florida and growing recently expanding to Jacksonville. So wherever you are in the state of Florida, uh, please reach out to us at Signature Real Estate Finder.
Speaker 4:
The future looks bright blue when it’s almost that time. Light shows cameras flash when I pass living in the moment, forget about the pass. They saved the best for last Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp turns, gotta keep pace while the hands on the clock turns hot. Sticks five star running. I run the show. You can tell the boss place electricity, energy, vibrate. I’m even make dreams come true.
Speaker 5:
Know,
Speaker 4:
You know, time, it’s, you know what time. It’s Matthew Mania. The says, you know what time its, you know, who’s, you know What Its, yeah. Scared. We’re not afraid. Big bad wolf first comes the right.
