Kellee Baker and Khaliah Hall, both 28, are a dynamic duo in real estate sales. Through their two (and don’t be surprised if it is soon three) companies, City Dwellers (a real estate brokerage) and Modern Home Staging, Baker and Hall help real estate investors through all aspects of purchasing and selling property.

“Our focus is to help investors. We specialize in investment property because we own investment property and have been through so much ourselves – finding buildings, finding tenants,” explains Baker. “And we also work with investors and developers and sell their properties quickly at or above asking price through staging the property.”

Baker and Hall began their partnership in 2005 when Baker got her real estate brokers license (during her second year of law school). They originally met in 2002 at a mutual friend’s party. Baker had just earned her real estate license, and Hall was looking for an agent to sell her Baltimore home so she could move to DC to be closer to her job at the Navy Yard, where she was an industrial cost engineer. “I would do the numbers on the president’s budget so he would know how much he was spending on ships next year,” explains Hall. She ultimately found a property in Eckington, and together they bought investment properties. Soon thereafter, Hall quit her job at the Navy Yard, got her real estate license and joined Baker in opening City Dwellers and Modern Home Staging. Now, City Dwellers has 20 licensed realtors.

The pair began staging properties after Baker saw a staged home in Baltimore. “The stager quoted me $5,000 to stage three rooms for up to four months,” says Baker. “We already had design experience, so I thought we could offer staging services as well.”

“You cannot just put anything on the market now and have it sell. You have to be realistic. The cream rises to the top,” says Hall. “And vacant properties sit longer.”

“Stagers are really marketing professionals that create the model based on the target demographic. Is the likely buyer single? Married? What is the age group? The income level? You have to have the appropriate furnishings for each demographic. The key is to make a great first impression,” says Baker. “Buyers will make up their minds in the first 30 seconds after they enter the unit. What will they remember? Even making it memorable for when they leave will help, so they say, ‘(t)he one with the _____.’ All vacant units have granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.”

“When the market shifted from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market, we tried it on one of our investors, and it worked. There is a lot more competition for sellers. For investors, it is purely a financial decision (whether or not to stage a property). They want to sell the property as fast as possible and move on to the next deal – not carry a vacant property. For a homeowner, it is an emotional decision. They are not ready to pare down and clear out the clutter,” says Hall.

“Of course the property has to be priced right, but staging will help the property sell quicker, close to or above the asking price,” says Baker. “We also suggest that the seller do the staging first, before it goes on the market, but we have had people wait and come to us after the house has been sitting empty for months.”

“The key things for the seller to keep in mind regarding the staging process and the cost are to furnish the property based on the taste and budget of the target market and the trends of the neighborhood. Also, you can select the rooms that are most important to furnish, you do not have to furnish every room,” Baker continues. “It could be only $300 a month to stage a studio apartment – that’s not a large investment to have your property sell quickly in today’s market.”

“Before, you did not need a lot of knowledge to profit in real estate. Now, the market has caught up to investors and some of them are still paying the price for past mistakes. You have to do a lot of research and be realistic. That said, I still think there is tremendous growth potential in this area, but you always have to be cognizant of price and location,” Hall states.

This unique combination of skills and knowledge employed by City Dwellers and Modern Home Staging sets their sales team and their listings apart from the pack, helping their listings to sell quickly at or near the asking price.

Jessica White, also known as “Ms. Mortgage Maven,” is a mortgage consultant with Tenacity Mortgage, a division of Tenacity Group, the capital region’s leading financing, real estate advisory and tenant condominium-conversion company. Call her with your questions at 202-607-4449 or e-mail her at Jessica@msmortgagemaven.com. You can also apply online at www.msmortgagemaven.com.