HABITAT PROJECT IN HOME STRETCH
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B.C. LIQUOR LAWS FINALLY EFFECTIVE
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NEXT MONTH IS A CULTURAL BONANZA
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FRIDAY
AUGUST 17 2012 www.burnabynewsleader.com
Bosa says all the company’s new projects are getting them ‘charged up’. See Page A5
Local man killed
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Kristy Mattiazzo is up to her chin with colourful pillows at her Burnaby warehouse. She owns Private Property Staging, filling vacant homes for sale with stylish furniture and accessories to make them more appealing to potential buyers.
All the home’s a stage Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
Don’t invite Kristy Mattiazzo to a pillow fight. She has a seemingly endless supply of ammunition. Dozens of pillows in every colour of the rainbow, and some that defy it, fill floor-to-ceiling shelves in a corner of her Burnaby warehouse. Plain pillows and frilly ones, square and round, big and small. They share space with scores of bedding sets, towels, floor and table lamps, dining chairs, easy chairs, couches, end tables, candles, vases and even paintings.
fresh fish daily
Mattiazzo isn’t a hoarder run amok. She’s a property stager for Private Property Staging, filling vacant homes with stylish furniture to make them more alluring to potential buyers. As a realtor herself, Mattiazzo knows the importance of good presentation of a property as a marketing tool. Empty houses take a lot longer to sell, she says, especially in a market where there are more sellers than buyers, as has been the trend in Metro Vancouver this summer. In a
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FISH MARKET
4020 Hastings Street, Burnaby • 604-298-9828
hot market, a staged home can sell for more. But staging a property is more involved than just plopping furniture and accessories into empty rooms to make them look occupied, says Mattiazzo, who was recently named the 2012 Real Estate Staging Association’s North American rookie stager of the year among other accolades. “You have to create an emotional attachment.” She does that by choosing furniture that appeals to the demographic that might be attracted
to a property. For instance, an urban condo will likely attract buyers who do some work from home, so a room will be staged as an office. A five-bedroom home for a family will have a bedroom furnished for kids, complete with an assortment of toys and a giant teddy bear. How that furniture is placed and accessorized is also important, says Mattiazzo, who staged her first property using items from her own home, and opened her warehouse in March. Please see ‘YOU CONTROL’, A4
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A Burnaby man has been identified as Vancouver’s sixth homicide victim of 2012. Ronald William March, 57, was found stabbed in the lane behind the 3400 block of Renfrew Street around 9 p.m. on Aug. 8. About seven hours later Vancouver police found a “person of interest” driving near Boundary Road and Lougheed Highway and followed him into Vancouver on East Broadway to Nanaimo where they tried to pull him over. The man refused to stop and after a short pursuit collided with a police vehicle at Broadway and Slocan. The driver, a 47-year-old Burnaby man, was arrested for dangerous driving, driving while prohibited and obstruction. There was also an outstanding Burnaby warrant for assault. Since then, Lance Wraye Standberg, has been charged with flight from a peace officer and dangerous operation of a vehicle. However, no charges in the homicide have been laid and Vancouver police say the investigation is continuing.