What if your next design client came from a realtor’s referral?  In this episode of Resilient by Design, I’m joined by Toronto real estate pro Wendy Smith of Matter Homes to share real estate strategies every interior designer should know.

If you’re an interior designer, decorator, or stager looking to grow your business, this episode is packed with insider tips on how to partner with realtors, position your services for resale value, and better support your clients through every stage of homeownership.

Wendy breaks down what today’s buyers are really looking for — from powder rooms to curb appeal — and why move-in-ready design is more essential than ever. Plus, she shares the genius marketing strategy she uses with one of our POP alumni (interior designer Meg Rogers) that’s helping both of their businesses thrive.

Whether you’re designing forever homes or staging for resale, these strategies will help you get more visibility, attract ideal clients, and build long-lasting referral partnerships in your local market.

Episode Highlights

  1. The top design features that are actually selling homes today
  2. Wendy’s smart referral strategy that’s landed business for POP alum Meg Rogers
  3. The one upgrade buyers always notice — and why you should recommend it
  4. What to ask your clients if they might sell in the next 5 years
  5. Real talk on paint colors, custom furniture, and what to avoid for resale
  6. How designers can build mutually beneficial relationships with local realtors
Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00:00:00:02 – 00:00:20:14
Rebecca Hay
Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca, and you’re listening to Resilient by Design. Today, I have an incredible interview for you. You are going to love my conversation with Wendy Smith. She’s a local real estate professional. She is the owner of Matter Homes here in Toronto, and she helps people find a place to call home in this beautiful, vibrant city.

00:00:20:18 – 00:00:48:08
Rebecca Hay
She began her career as a marketing professional at some of the top advertising agencies in Toronto and has over a decade of invaluable corporate experience. Wendy decided to lean into her entrepreneurial roots and launch a business in the printing and design field. After the sale of that business, she followed her longtime passion for real estate and joined the amazing team at Bosley, combining Wendy’s passion for helping people with her marketing and her business experience.

00:00:48:11 – 00:01:17:13
Rebecca Hay
Her clients are in the best hands to help them make the most out of life’s big event buying and selling a home. So Wendy and I talk into why it’s more important than ever to partner with a real estate professional, especially as a designer. We share a marketing tip that actually is so amazing. Later in the episode, you’re going to listen to something that I’ve taught my students to do with realtors.

00:01:17:15 – 00:01:43:14
Rebecca Hay
She actually is doing with one of our Power of Process alumni, and it has been a phenomenal experience for both of them. So stay tuned to the end for that nugget. We are talking about what you can advise your clients to do when they’re looking to update their home, with the idea that they may sell in the near future, versus how you can approach it if they’re not going to sell for another ten years.

00:01:43:20 – 00:02:13:09
Rebecca Hay
She shares specifically what is moving the needle in selling homes today in the real estate market. We are in. You’re going to love this one, designers. Get your pen and paper ready because you’re going to take a lot of notes. Enjoy my episode and my interview with Wendy. All right. I’m Rebecca Hay, and I’ve built a successful interior design business by trial and error, podcast, online courses, and so many freaking books.

00:02:13:11 – 00:02:43:21
Rebecca Hay
Over the last decade, I’ve grown from an insecure student to having false starts to careers. And now I’m finally in the place where I want to be. Throughout my journey, it’s been pretty obvious that I’m passionate about business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same. Each week, I’ll share tangible takeaways from my own experience and the experiences of other badass women to help you build your confidence and change your business.

00:02:43:23 – 00:02:48:10
Rebecca Hay
Wendy, welcome to the podcast! I’m so stoked to have you here today.

00:02:48:14 – 00:02:54:16
Wendy Smith
Hi, Rebecca. I’m very excited for this podcast and a bit of a bucket dream of mine, so I can’t wait!

00:02:54:18 – 00:02:57:13
Rebecca Hay
Yes, I’m so excited I get to be your first. Yeah.

00:02:57:15 – 00:02:59:20
Wendy Smith
It’s amazing. Thank you for having me.

00:02:59:22 – 00:03:10:17
Rebecca Hay
So why don’t we dive right in? I’ve got tons of questions for you. It’s gonna be a really great conversation because you’re such a dynamic speaker. But before we go there, can you just introduce yourself to my audience?

00:03:10:19 – 00:03:34:08
Wendy Smith
Of course. So. Hello, everyone. My name is Wendy Smith. I’m a full time, real estate professional with Bosley Real Estate, here in Toronto. I have a background in business, marketing and design. And for the last few years, I have had the honor of helping numerous clients transition from, on their moves from home to home.

00:03:34:10 – 00:03:39:21
Wendy Smith
So I absolutely love what I do. It’s super rewarding. A little wild at times.

00:03:39:21 – 00:03:40:02
Rebecca Hay
I will.

00:03:40:02 – 00:03:51:03
Wendy Smith
Be honest. The real estate world is. I like to refer to it as a roller coaster. But it’s amazing. And, yeah, I’m just truly grateful that I found my thing. I love it.

00:03:51:05 – 00:04:03:07
Rebecca Hay
I love it, I love that you say it’s a bit of a roller coaster. I always say to designers that being an interior designer is a little bit like living in the Wild West, but I think actually that probably applies even more to real estate.

00:04:03:09 – 00:04:22:08
Wendy Smith
It’s just so unpredictable. Like every day is just different and it keeps you on your toes. I have the personality for it. But it definitely takes, you know, it takes a certain type of person. I think at the end of the day. And you’d agree with this, Rebecca, is that we’re entrepreneurs. We’re running our own business. So you’re always kind of running into things that you didn’t expect to happen.

00:04:22:08 – 00:04:32:08
Wendy Smith
So you just have to be prepared for that. And especially working with clients during emotional times and all that. So yeah, the Wild West is a good way to put it. Yeah. For sure.

00:04:32:10 – 00:04:54:20
Rebecca Hay
There’s a lot of unpredictability. I know designers, oftentimes we talk a lot about the unpredictability in your revenue flow. Right. Because similar real estate, similar to design in the sense is it’s project based. Right. So you’ve got a client who comes to you. It could be big, could be small, and then they’re done. It’s not this repeat. I mean, ideally all of us have repeat clients, but it’s not you know, every month they’re paying us a retainer.

00:04:54:20 – 00:05:03:17
Rebecca Hay
It’s a very different model. And so it’s finding ways to mitigate those ups and downs and have the stomach for it a little bit. Right. And be ready to.

00:05:03:21 – 00:05:19:19
Wendy Smith
I think it’s similar to in the sense that like it could be you could be with a client for six months, you know, on the project. And then, you know, you move on. Or you could have a client for three weeks and then you move on. It’s hard to forecast what it looks like. You know, I have a lot of buyers that will come to me.

00:05:19:19 – 00:05:33:06
Wendy Smith
And, of course, you know, on the other side of it, they want to sell their home, but it might take us a year to find their dream home. Yeah. So it’s hard. It’s unpredictable in the sense that you’re in it long term. But then there are those clients that, you know, they call you and just say, I just found my dream home.

00:05:33:06 – 00:05:34:23
Wendy Smith
I need a buyer today.

00:05:35:00 – 00:05:35:13
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:05:35:15 – 00:05:48:09
Wendy Smith
So then it’s like everything drops, everything in my life, and then you just. You move forward, you help them, you know? So it’s it’s it’s just wild. It really is. It’s a one word I can describe. Real estate is wild, you know?

00:05:48:10 – 00:06:04:17
Rebecca Hay
Totally, totally I love it, I love it. I have such a passion for real estate. I pretty much live on realtor.com every day, looking. And so take my clients there looking, and I’m like, oh, that sold for under asking, I think. I think I fancy myself is expert in real estate, which I’m obviously not. It’s fine.

00:06:04:20 – 00:06:22:16
Wendy Smith
You know, it’s also it’s also just managing what’s happening out there, you know, and I’m happy to kind of share with, you know, I mean, I can tell you what’s happening in the market. It’s a little unpredictable right now, but I can tell you what works. And design is a huge part of that, of what works. And selling homes right now, like it’s more important than I think it’s ever been.

00:06:22:18 – 00:06:32:09
Wendy Smith
So I’m happy to share my insight on that. And I think your, you know, all the designers that you help and you mentor, I think they’re really going to get some good, good tips from this.

00:06:32:11 – 00:06:58:24
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. So let’s let’s go there because let’s start with oh God. There’s so many questions I have for you. I’m just like, where do I start? The first question that comes to mind is really specific when it comes to selling a house. What is involved from a design standpoint? Because I know many of us are seeing, especially in Toronto, maybe bigger, more metropolitan cities, that you need to stage the home to sell it.

00:06:59:01 – 00:07:20:13
Rebecca Hay
Gone are the days where your house, you just tidy it up a little, declutter, and then homeowners come through and they know it’s for them. Talk to me about I mean, we’ve seen that shift change, I think, over the last decade. But talk to me about the psychology behind that, because I think there are also stagers listening. We have a lot of stay home stagers in our community, but for the interior designers as well, so that they can better prepare their clients.

00:07:20:13 – 00:07:37:15
Rebecca Hay
So let’s first just I want to talk first about that, because then I do want to bring it back a little bit to talk about, what do you do for design when they’re not immediately looking to sell? But first of all, let’s talk about the sale. Let’s just talk about the sale. What what is what is involved nowadays?

00:07:37:17 – 00:08:01:12
Wendy Smith
Okay. So when you’re talking about selling your home, you then have to shift to the buyer mindset. So the buyer mindset out there right now is that they will not purchase a home if it is not move and ready. And that does not just include staging. So a big part of my job is I develop a house plan for all my clients before they before they, before they’re like in prepping to sell.

00:08:01:14 – 00:08:21:20
Wendy Smith
So that means that we’re doing minor renovations. We of course, we have to paint everything, but that includes, you know, fixing the cupboards in the kitchen, the backsplash in the kitchen, updating the bathrooms. Interior is a really big one to, like, just better the flow of the house. But then, Rebecca, it’s not just the interior, it’s the exterior too.

00:08:21:21 – 00:08:39:09
Wendy Smith
It’s the curb appeal. So I think that’s interesting. I don’t know if you’re if the designers that, you know, you mentor or work with, if they actually consider the exterior as a part of their package, because that is huge for us. It’s, you know, it’s really funny. The first thing I do when I have like a new listing and I get a call from a client, I drive by their house.

00:08:39:11 – 00:08:56:09
Wendy Smith
It’s the first thing I do. And so I come in with a recommendation for the exterior of their house immediately I change the numbers. I change the lights, I paint porches. So the buyer mindset these days in this type of market is that they want move in ready. They don’t want to do a thing to their house. They want it to be perfect.

00:08:56:09 – 00:09:24:08
Wendy Smith
So of course, after all these house improvements are done, then we come in with the staging. So it’s a layered approach, you know, but it’s also, you know, I mean, one of the biggest stresses for people when they’re selling is that there’s a time crunch, right? There’s a really fast time crunch. Sometimes I have to sell a house in two and a half weeks, and that list that go that I go in there and say, we have to make these house improvements because the market is demanding that we sell like move in ready homes.

00:09:24:12 – 00:09:41:17
Wendy Smith
It can be very stressful. So that’s that’s the biggest thing that like and I’ve been very fortunate just with my background in knowing how important design is, that I, I put a lot of time and effort into my homes that I sell. They are they are moving ready and they’re staged beautifully.

00:09:41:19 – 00:09:56:22
Rebecca Hay
So what happens when you walk into someone’s house? I first of all, I love that you do that with the exterior. It’s like you’re coming already proofing your value. You’re like, boom, here’s what I see. Here’s what we need to do, which is awesome. Immediately I’m thinking about my house. I’m like, oh, shoot, what do I need to change before, before, when he drives by my.

00:09:56:22 – 00:09:59:23
Wendy Smith
House, I was going to say, if you are going to drive by it, no problem.

00:10:00:00 – 00:10:18:22
Rebecca Hay
I already know that things, I just haven’t done them. But what I was, what I was going to say was, why don’t you walk into this person’s house? Do you ever have a reaction, like internally where you’re like, oh, wow, I’m so glad they’ve done. Fill in the blank.

00:10:18:24 – 00:10:35:11
Wendy Smith
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, there’s a release, you know, that kind of comes in when I know I walk in and a lot of it is just, you know, just minor touch ups, you know, like, I know the kitchen’s good. I know the bathrooms good. I know that the light fixtures don’t work, but that’s fine. I can change that.

00:10:35:11 – 00:10:52:03
Wendy Smith
You know, I can do touch ups of paint when I start seeing like, big furniture. And I see a lot of, like, clutter and things like that. I’m worried about what the walls look like, you know, because I don’t know what’s happening behind those walls. And painting is so expensive. It really is expensive. And it’s an investment.

00:10:52:05 – 00:11:07:17
Wendy Smith
So, you know, I always I try and explain to my clients upfront, Rebecca, is that when you’re going to get your house market ready, especially in this type of market we’re in right now in Toronto, is that I recommend that you budget about 1% of the sale price for home improvement.

00:11:07:17 – 00:11:13:02
Rebecca Hay
Wow. 1%. So what is the average home in Toronto like 1.5 million?

00:11:13:05 – 00:11:27:17
Wendy Smith
Yeah, 1.5 to 2 million. You know, I mean we’re talking I guess more like, you know, the main central areas. So you’re looking at 15 to $20,000. Right. And that is surprise people.

00:11:27:19 – 00:11:28:07
Rebecca Hay
I think.

00:11:28:07 – 00:11:50:05
Wendy Smith
Because I set it up upfront and then I explain to them the value that they’re going to get from that. I think it helps the blow a little bit. You know, I haven’t run into that quite yet where they’re like, oh, well, I’m not doing that, you know. Because I really walk through the value it adds and what the market is going to is, is going to value that.

00:11:50:07 – 00:11:58:02
Wendy Smith
So it’s yeah, I mean, I’ve had some pushback, but I mean, that’s I also it’s also deferred maintenance here. We’re going to talk about this today.

00:11:58:05 – 00:11:58:17
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:11:58:17 – 00:12:10:02
Wendy Smith
So because deferred maintenance is a huge thing. You know there are there’s this mindset. And I’m going to talk to your designers about this. There’s this mindset where it’s like, well I’m going to move one day. Why bother doing that?

00:12:10:04 – 00:12:10:13
Rebecca Hay
Yes.

00:12:10:17 – 00:12:27:10
Wendy Smith
Say the exact opposite I like. So for example, right now I have a couple buyers that are looking for they’re upgrading their house. They’re going from like a semi to detached and we’re looking for their dream home. What I say is let me come into your home now, you know, let me do a walk through with my stager.

00:12:27:12 – 00:12:48:02
Wendy Smith
And then we put together a house plan and let’s work on that. Let’s chip away at those tasks now, because what’s going to happen is we’re going to find your dream home, and we’re going to turn your house around in two weeks. So instead of, you know, instead of like, having to paint everything and fix the backsplash and the cupboards and things like that, let’s do that now while we’re looking.

00:12:48:04 – 00:12:58:14
Rebecca Hay
At my God, I love that you’re saying this. This is so validating because I keep saying to my husband, we need to do the fence in the backyard now because, you know, what’s going to happen is we’ll be scrambling, won’t be paying top dollar to do all the things.

00:12:58:16 – 00:13:19:07
Wendy Smith
Yes, I’m funny, Rebecca. I’m painting my house. This summer, the entire house interior, because my husband are looking for a house potentially in the fall. And I’m so crazy that I’m having someone come in when the kids are camp and I’m painting the whole house. So when they’re out, you know, because I’ve just learned and I’ve seen these clients, and I feel for them like, I feel like I.

00:13:19:09 – 00:13:34:05
Wendy Smith
I’m the one, the bearer of the bad news saying, if you have if you’re going to get your house market ready, you have to do these things. And it’s very stressful and it’s a lot of money, you know, it’s it’s another barrier for me is trying to explain, like a lot of people think, well, why am I going to put money in for something I’m selling?

00:13:34:11 – 00:13:45:22
Wendy Smith
Right. There’s a lot of that too. So of course, and I have to explain the value of that. And you know what? What it looks like and the price, the number, the days on market will improve and your price will improve.

00:13:45:24 – 00:13:54:21
Rebecca Hay
Right? Because that’s something that has changed for sure. But houses are not. All houses are selling like within a couple of days of hitting market with bullish offers the way they were a few years ago.

00:13:54:24 – 00:14:16:09
Wendy Smith
Not at all. Especially right now currently where we’re sitting. But I’ll tell you something. Here’s the formula. I believe in the Toronto real estate market right now. If you price your home correctly and you pair it with a very strong marketing campaign strategy, but that includes staging and getting it move in ready, you will sell the home, you will attract the most amount of buyers and you’ll sell the home.

00:14:16:11 – 00:14:22:16
Wendy Smith
So it’s the formula works. It’s just a matter of getting, you know, working with the clients as partners to get there.

00:14:22:18 – 00:14:41:19
Rebecca Hay
But okay, so let’s take this back a step. So we’ve got the interior designers and decorators here who whose clients? I can tell you from personal experience, a client will bring us in and they’re like, well, we’re not we’re not ready to move yet, but we’re thinking that in five years or the kids are going off to university next year.

00:14:41:19 – 00:15:06:09
Rebecca Hay
And so, you know, we might then consider selling. And so they turn to us as the interior designer sometimes, like we’re the experts, which obviously I’m also a real estate expert, as I just, shared. But they come to us and they say, you know, like, well, we don’t want to invest too much or we want to make sure it appeals to the greater number of buyers, which as a designer, you hate hearing.

00:15:06:09 – 00:15:31:15
Rebecca Hay
That’ll be I’ll tell you honestly why? Because that means where I’m like, what? So I can’t design with any personality. I can’t have fun with the draperies. Like the beautiful drapes that are behind you. If you guys are watching this on YouTube, you can see them. And so what do we do in that situation as a designer, when a client brings us in short of bringing in a realtor as well, which we could do if the client is serious about wanting to make sure they’re updating their home for resale, I would highly recommend a designer partner with a local realtor.

00:15:31:15 – 00:15:39:08
Rebecca Hay
Right to bring them in. Yeah, I’m sure many realtors would come. They’re not going to charge you, they’re just common. They’ll get in front of the client and they’ll say, here’s what you if you’re planning on selling in a year.

00:15:39:08 – 00:15:40:09
Wendy Smith
To do this.

00:15:40:11 – 00:15:41:17
Rebecca Hay
Do. That’s right.

00:15:41:21 – 00:15:42:05
Wendy Smith
It’s a great.

00:15:42:05 – 00:15:58:01
Rebecca Hay
Idea. And also for the designers listening, you’re always looking for work. And I always say connect with local realtors. This could be a great opportunity, a great way to show your clients the value that you bring, and also to partner and get in front of a local realtor. Anyhow, the marketing brain is like tick, tick, tick, tick.

00:15:58:01 – 00:16:04:21
Wendy Smith
We’ll get back to that because you’ll see how I partner with, Meg Rogers as a closing gift. So there’s ways to partner with Realtors.

00:16:04:21 – 00:16:06:15
Rebecca Hay
Yes. Let’s talk about that. Love it.

00:16:06:16 – 00:16:24:09
Wendy Smith
It’s been very it’s so popular like my gifting. So we’ll talk about that. But no, you ask a really good question. And I’m going to tell you the mindset that we come in when we’re looking to, to get a house ready for resale. And I think there are tips in here that can really help designers in how they can lay it out.

00:16:24:09 – 00:16:38:13
Wendy Smith
First, I think it’s important to ask them, you know, what is your time frame here? Like, you know, how long is this house? Is this your forever house? Is this your five year house? Now, truth be told, Rebecca, they’re not always going to tell you that. You know, they’re going to say, oh, no, you know, this is our forever house.

00:16:38:13 – 00:16:45:23
Wendy Smith
And then they have a 1 to 3 year old and they have one bathroom. You know, you can. No, you actually you can. Yeah. You can see that, you know, they’re going to have.

00:16:46:01 – 00:16:51:19
Rebecca Hay
A seven and a ten year old and you have one bathroom, right? Yeah. Exactly. I need to brush my teeth getting the bathroom.

00:16:51:21 – 00:17:06:17
Wendy Smith
So you can kind of see like, okay, they’ll tell you it’s their forever house, but no, it’s not. So then you have to kind of you have to kind of take the lead yourself a little bit. So the first thing we do when we go into a house, the biggest thing is decluttering, okay. We have to declutter houses.

00:17:06:17 – 00:17:23:16
Wendy Smith
Like, I mean, you know, I mean, I’ve lived in my house for 12 years. I’m terrified to declutter this place. But you know what? I think from a designer’s perspective, I think that you can help with storage solutions like I really do. I think if you can offer some, especially for kids areas, you know, doors are always good.

00:17:23:21 – 00:17:26:02
Wendy Smith
You know, like cabinets with doors.

00:17:26:04 – 00:17:27:10
Rebecca Hay
Hide inside it.

00:17:27:12 – 00:17:50:11
Wendy Smith
Hide it. But but be able to make it an easier step for when that’s resale has to happen. I will tell you walk in closets hugely value valuable. So they’re expensive. I realize that, but I’m especially in North Toronto. That’s where primarily I focus in North Toronto. The houses have the smallest closets possible, and I’ve had clients just walk out and say, I can’t do this.

00:17:50:13 – 00:18:09:09
Wendy Smith
So if you’re able to offer storage solutions for kids gear, you know, things like that, or, you know, walk in closets or like a front hall closet that’s organized, those things go really far and they help us. So and I believe that it’s also beneficial for the clients because they need the storage options and it’s great for resale.

00:18:09:11 – 00:18:26:12
Wendy Smith
So that’s the first thing. The second thing that we look at immediately we walk in is a sense of flow. So the flow of the house. So keeping this in mind and I understand what you’re saying, like you want to be able to like get to know your clients and really recommend like their personality. For example, my curtains, those are my personality.

00:18:26:14 – 00:18:44:02
Wendy Smith
So you just you want to and that’s okay to do that. So like we say, you know neutral more neutral colors are beneficial, you know, but if you want some personality like wall one accent wallpaper wall is fine. We work with that in bedrooms a lot. Like we’ll make it a little girl’s room or something like that.

00:18:44:07 – 00:19:07:04
Wendy Smith
So little accents of personality, but overall just kind of more neutral. Does work a lot better. So we don’t have to repaint it. And then, you know, maximizing light, you know, just wherever you see that we can maximize light and flow in a house is really is really great. And then furniture size. So coming into a home that’s designed, you know, yes you’re going to get higher value for that house.

00:19:07:04 – 00:19:13:15
Wendy Smith
Absolutely. Kate Young loves to talk about the house that she sold that had the kitchen that you redesigned and the price was.

00:19:13:17 – 00:19:14:14
Rebecca Hay
Oh yes.

00:19:14:16 – 00:19:31:15
Wendy Smith
Yeah. She loves talking about that story. And it’s true. If you have a designed house, you’re going to get a higher value. But what happens is sometimes, you know, the furniture might be, like, made custom for that space and it might be really big. And what happens is typically we’ll go in and we’re going to want to make smaller furniture.

00:19:31:17 – 00:19:50:05
Wendy Smith
We actually set up the house for photos, believe it or not, sometimes we don’t have coffee tables, which and you’ll walk in the house and, and it’s like, well, that doesn’t make sense. Like this, you know. But it does because it’s the it’s the flow of the house. So it’s very it’s a very different perspective when you’re selling a house versus living in a house.

00:19:50:07 – 00:20:10:15
Wendy Smith
We, my stager in particular, doesn’t have TVs in any room. There’s not one TV in the house, maybe in the basement. So, you know, it’s just kind of like just being aware of the sense of flow of the house and just, you know, neutral tones, not too big of furniture. You can have personality, but maybe accents of it and things like that.

00:20:10:17 – 00:20:11:23
Wendy Smith
Does that help.

00:20:12:00 – 00:20:18:01
Rebecca Hay
Yeah I know that’s interesting. I mean I still want to wallpaper all the walls. Yeah. Because accent walls are out okay.

00:20:18:01 – 00:20:26:05
Wendy Smith
Oh good. Good to know I’ve seen a lot of accent walls. But I’m also selling homes that were like potentially designed like five years ago. So that does make sense.

00:20:26:07 – 00:20:29:04
Rebecca Hay
You got to go all or nothing. Come on people. And we see it.

00:20:29:04 – 00:20:57:02
Wendy Smith
A lot with bathrooms. Bathrooms are wallpaper and that’s fine. Again that’s a good use of personality, you know. Or like we see a lot in kids bedrooms, you know, little girls rooms with like one wall of just all flowers, you know, and we work with that. We absolutely do. But, you know, when we go into a kitchen, I have a listing right now in the kitchen is gorgeous, but they have black cupboards with gold, with gold hardware, which looks beautiful.

00:20:57:04 – 00:20:59:22
Wendy Smith
Horribly, photographs.

00:20:59:24 – 00:21:11:17
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. You were saying that was it? We were in a call, because we’re doing an event together. We’ll talk about that later. Let’s not forget to talk about that. But you were saying about red. Red does not photograph well for real estate.

00:21:11:19 – 00:21:14:01
Wendy Smith
Yeah. My stager is going to hate these. No.

00:21:14:01 – 00:21:15:22
Rebecca Hay
But I actually love Red.

00:21:15:24 – 00:21:36:24
Wendy Smith
I know, so I have an accent of red in my house. Red and yellow and blue and. Yeah, you red. Just. You know what it is from a, A photography standpoint, it just it’s too overpowering and it doesn’t allow for the natural highlights of the house. So the important thing is, is that, you know, design is not and, you know, this design is not about making things look pretty.

00:21:36:24 – 00:21:56:20
Wendy Smith
It’s really about, you know, highlighting the best features of a house. And so, you know, when, when we have photos, we need every single feature to show. And when you have a very prominent color, like red or black kitchen, it takes it all away. And people just like when they buyer’s like they’re so picky right now Rebecca.

00:21:56:21 – 00:22:04:15
Wendy Smith
Like I can’t tell you like the comments I will have like the most perfect beautiful house. And someone will say well you know the baseboards are like the wrong color.

00:22:04:17 – 00:22:08:01
Rebecca Hay
Oh my god, the basement. You can change yourself.

00:22:08:03 – 00:22:25:09
Wendy Smith
I know, but it’s interesting. It’s a generational thing, to be honest with you. Like they’re they’re not you know, they’re not really. Yeah. They’re just not want to do any work. So, hopefully that helps. I think the storage is really big and just, you know, keeping in mind that just the flow of the house, you know.

00:22:25:11 – 00:22:30:04
Rebecca Hay
Well, I think designers are going to love hearing the storage because that means we get to do all the built ins.

00:22:30:04 – 00:22:50:07
Wendy Smith
Yeah, I think they’re worth it. The only time that I’ve found that it’s I know it’s a huge investment and sometimes you don’t get the return on it is a lot of, you know, clients will want their their front room to be a library. Right. So they’ll want like the wall to the floor to ceiling bookshelves. The custom those are very expensive, as we all know, right?

00:22:50:07 – 00:22:58:18
Wendy Smith
I love them personally. Like, I can’t wait until I get my forever house because I’m building them. But I will say, you know, you won’t get the return on that. So.

00:22:58:19 – 00:23:00:07
Rebecca Hay
So why is that?

00:23:00:09 – 00:23:04:21
Wendy Smith
Because it’s very personal. It’s very crucial. Yeah.

00:23:04:23 – 00:23:06:18
Rebecca Hay
Because I don’t read as many books. Maybe that’s.

00:23:06:18 – 00:23:18:08
Wendy Smith
No. And I think it’s, you know, they want to make it like a study, and then some people, like, prefer to have it like, just as, like a very simple formal family room, you know, like it makes it very intentional.

00:23:18:10 – 00:23:24:03
Rebecca Hay
Right. As opposed to there’s flexibility in this home you can have this is your dining room, but you could also flip the dining room.

00:23:24:05 – 00:23:46:07
Wendy Smith
Exactly. It’s very intentional. And even though I love it, it looks beautiful. And I’m one that will do that eventually. Not everyone. Well, you know, I’ve had some clients walk in and go, oh, and I’m like, no, no, we can fix that. Like these are little things that we can yeah, we can fix that. But again, on the other side of it, sometimes the sellers know how much they spent on it and they think it’s an added value and it’s not right.

00:23:46:09 – 00:23:52:22
Wendy Smith
You know, there will be that one buyer that says, oh my God, I’ve been looking for this. But, you know, that’s doesn’t always happen.

00:23:52:24 – 00:24:25:12
Rebecca Hay
So what I’m hearing is it’s kind of a tricky balance, which I mean, I it doesn’t surprise me, but it’s a tricky balance for designers between wanting to encourage our clients to personalize their home, make it function for them, take that. You know, turn it into the study. Let’s make this a mudroom or whatever it might be. It’s a tricky balance between that, but then also recognizing that, okay, if you’re only going to be here for a couple of years, you may not want to invest the $20,000 there in your built ins.

00:24:25:14 – 00:24:39:07
Rebecca Hay
And perhaps maybe we spend it somewhere else. Now, did you just buy this home and you’re planning on being here for a decade or more? Go all in, because within the decade, man, who knows what’s going to change ten years from now. And I understanding that correctly.

00:24:39:07 – 00:24:58:16
Wendy Smith
Absolutely. Yeah. You just want to be intentional with what you decide to place your money on, you know, and it also it does help to have a realtor come in and talk about, you know, what buyers are looking for. It’s about the buyers. And I’ll be honest with you, Rebecca, that changes, you know, like 4 or 5 years ago, we didn’t have to do it.

00:24:58:16 – 00:25:15:15
Wendy Smith
We’re doing now. And I’m sure in four and five years from now from here, it might change. Right. So it’s about just understanding and working with someone, you know, local. But it’s really and when I, I don’t know if you notice when I introduce myself, I am a full time real estate professional.

00:25:15:21 – 00:25:19:18
Rebecca Hay
And that’s what I did. Notice that I thought that was really interesting. Talk to me about that.

00:25:19:20 – 00:25:47:20
Wendy Smith
Well, because a lot of realtors are part time, I would say I think it’s 72%. So you want to find somebody who is really like, who knows what’s happening, is following the market trends, understand is happening. The market is on the pulse for buyers and knows what they’re looking for. This is the most important thing. So to stay in touch with a realtor, a local villager who knows the area that you’re designing in, I think is really is really important to just connect with them and say like, okay, so what’s happening right now?

00:25:47:20 – 00:25:51:20
Wendy Smith
What are buyers looking for? So I think.

00:25:51:24 – 00:26:07:23
Rebecca Hay
There’s a lesson there for designers because there’s a lot of designers who are part time as well. And for those designers who are full time, who are taking it seriously, what a great way to introduce yourself. Because you’re right, there is a perception. Sometimes you meet, oh, they’re a designer. Everyone’s a designer these days. Everyone’s a decorator.

00:26:07:23 – 00:26:08:08
Wendy Smith
Everyone.

00:26:08:09 – 00:26:15:16
Rebecca Hay
So I’m a full time interior designer with an interior residential design firm in Toronto, blah blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

00:26:15:18 – 00:26:31:02
Wendy Smith
And I have to call myself a real estate professional, too. You know, so there’s definitely there’s ways that I am, you know, I’m obviously trying to do my best to kind of stand out from the rest. And, you know, it’s it’s it’s a, you know, letting people know that this this is a, this is a this is a hard job.

00:26:31:07 – 00:26:49:03
Wendy Smith
It’s changing of evolving every single day. And you have to be involved full time to understand it. And we may do, we may do another podcast and you know like a year from now and it might change you know like it might change and it might. Well everyone wants you know red in their house. I don’t know.

00:26:49:05 – 00:26:50:03
Wendy Smith
You know I don’t.

00:26:50:03 – 00:26:52:20
Rebecca Hay
Know I will come back here and be like remember what.

00:26:52:21 – 00:27:13:05
Wendy Smith
I know. And then I’ll be like, Rebecca, we need to we need to do a follow up. But it does change. But I think that’s, you know, I think that’s those are two really important things just to keep in mind. And I think it’s I think for a good tip for your designers is that when you’re meeting with a client, do ask them what their current and future plans are like.

00:27:13:05 – 00:27:22:20
Wendy Smith
Really make sure that you have that conversation up front because that will help. And and again, it’s just you’re adding value. You’re like, yeah. Then you’re standing out from the rest.

00:27:22:22 – 00:27:38:10
Rebecca Hay
So I have to tell you a story. I’m not going to drop names of who any of these people are, but I went to see a potential client. I did a consultation and did they hire me? I feel like they did hire, I can’t remember. This was a few years ago and they were in Cabbage Town. It was a couple older couple.

00:27:38:10 – 00:27:54:09
Rebecca Hay
I don’t know if they have kids or not. If they did, they were out of the house and they wanted to do all these crazy redesigns. New kitchen, the kitchen that they had in their row rowhouse, beautiful, you know, tall ceilings, all that Victorian. For those who don’t know, Toronto, these are Victorian homes. And they brought me in.

00:27:54:09 – 00:28:15:12
Rebecca Hay
I don’t know how they found me. And they were showing me their kitchen that they had worked with on an interior designer 5 to 10 years prior. The kitchen did not have a full size fridge. The kitchen only had a bar fridge. There was an under the counter fridge so they could maximize their counter space. And they said to me, and now I don’t know.

00:28:15:12 – 00:28:36:11
Rebecca Hay
Now knowing that potential client who I never went, we never we had like a first date. We didn’t go further than that. It could have been them. They blamed the designer, but somebody had the poor decision making to say, we don’t need a full fridge. We’ll just do a little fridge because they said it was a mistake. They should never have done it.

00:28:36:11 – 00:28:40:02
Rebecca Hay
This is for them. Now consider reselling a house.

00:28:40:04 – 00:28:42:15
Wendy Smith
We’d have to put a virgin. There’s no there’s no question.

00:28:42:17 – 00:28:55:12
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And then where would you put it without having to redo the kitchen? Like it’s like a whole can of worms. So I saw that story of just it’s a great example of there are certain choices you could make that are just maybe a little too extreme.

00:28:55:14 – 00:28:56:03
Wendy Smith

00:28:57:09 – 00:29:02:18
Rebecca Hay
And they’re throwing that designer under the bus to me. And this was a very well known designer.

00:29:02:20 – 00:29:14:23
Wendy Smith
One that I see as well. A lot in design houses that you take out the front hall closet and I’ve seen this in a few houses and I’ll tell you for resale you need that closet.

00:29:15:00 – 00:29:17:03
Rebecca Hay
Yes. I would like to have a front hall closet.

00:29:17:03 – 00:29:37:15
Wendy Smith
Everyone wants a front hall closet, you know, like. And the houses that just, you know, the houses you come in and then the living rooms right here. And there’s nothing like those are harder houses to sell. But if you come into the traditional entrance of foyer, you’ve got the closet here, you’ve got, you know, a little place for a bench and then you have the stairs, you know, the quintessential North Toronto home.

00:29:37:17 – 00:29:50:11
Wendy Smith
The closet is very valuable, but I’ve seen a lot of designers come in and take it out, you know, and now I don’t put it back in. But then I do have to watch my stager. I then have to create a mudroom out of that area. I have to create a bench.

00:29:50:11 – 00:29:52:03
Rebecca Hay
Where are you going to put things. Yeah.

00:29:52:04 – 00:30:08:19
Wendy Smith
Oh, the other thing I want to give a really big tip on and I’m very big on this is that side entrances okay. So I actually really encourage family. All my clients with young kids and families is that if they have a side entrance in their house, build a mudroom at the bottom of the stairs.

00:30:08:21 – 00:30:10:09
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. It’s, it’s.

00:30:10:10 – 00:30:27:06
Wendy Smith
And I every single I can’t I don’t see them a lot but I encourage every single client to do it. And Meg I know is working with a few clients of mine right now, and she’s helping and doing that. So I think, you know, those kind of things, those are really value. And that’s also like, I’m I’m a mom of a nine and 12 year old boy.

00:30:27:06 – 00:30:45:20
Wendy Smith
So I understand the value of like them not coming in the front door. I don’t want them to come in the front door. They need to come in the side door with all their crap. And they do downstairs, you know, like I don’t. So it’s also like looking to see, like to spend money on something like that. I think there’s huge value, you know, build a mudroom at the bottom of the stairs.

00:30:45:22 – 00:30:56:23
Wendy Smith
We did it here at our house and it’s just changed our entire lives. So like again, those are things that like resale wise that will help. So there are like I could do a list of everything that helps, you know.

00:30:56:23 – 00:30:57:16
Rebecca Hay
But yeah.

00:30:57:16 – 00:31:00:06
Wendy Smith
There’s certain things that do benefit from a resale.

00:31:00:06 – 00:31:05:07
Rebecca Hay
So it used to be tell me it used to be kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. Is that still true?

00:31:05:13 – 00:31:09:15
Wendy Smith
Yes yes, yes. Oh, and curb appeal.

00:31:09:17 – 00:31:11:05
Rebecca Hay
And curb appeal of course.

00:31:11:07 – 00:31:28:19
Wendy Smith
Yeah. Curb appeal is big. I at least I feel it is big. I want I’d like to showcase I want to I want to attract as many people as possible. And the first thing they’re looking at is at that front door. They’re looking at what it looks like from the front. So I spend a lot of focus on the curb, the curb appeal.

00:31:28:19 – 00:31:53:00
Wendy Smith
I change numbers, I paint porches, I actually change the numbers in all my houses. It’s just a thing that I do, change the, you know, the lights on the top, and things like that. So curb appeal, kitchens and bathrooms for sure. And, you know, there’s also the biggest thing actually, buyers are very particular right now a lot of them are mandating main floor powder rooms.

00:31:53:02 – 00:32:10:09
Rebecca Hay
Right. Yes. Let’s talk about this is interesting because that is definitely a selling feature. When I bought my house now that was 13 years ago. I can’t believe I’m still in the same house. There was a powder room and I remember back then it being like a perk, not a requirement. Just feeling so lucky we had it.

00:32:10:11 – 00:32:14:16
Rebecca Hay
But now I feel so lucky. I have and it was for resale.

00:32:14:16 – 00:32:18:16
Wendy Smith
Just so you know, you’ll be okay, right? Now, do you have an en suite? No.

00:32:18:18 – 00:32:21:09
Rebecca Hay
No, that is our biggest downfall.

00:32:21:09 – 00:32:37:14
Wendy Smith
Here’s the thing. I will say, the powder room will help you. You know what I’m saying? If you didn’t have the powder room and no en suite, that’s like a double hit. But I feel like, you know, having the en suite is a very big thing for families. And the main floor powder room. So it’s the amount of bathrooms.

00:32:37:16 – 00:32:53:19
Wendy Smith
It’s also, you know, there is a desire to have a dug out basement, you know, that is there. There’s definitely return on that. Because what happens is every time I go into a house and it’s like, oh, the the ceilings are only six feet. They want them eight. They say, how much is that going to cost? And that just adds on top.

00:32:53:19 – 00:33:12:04
Wendy Smith
Yeah. You know, so dug up basements are quite valuable. And I think it’s worth the investment for sure. Like I tell my clients, I’m like, you do it. You’ll get it back one day. Yeah. Kind of thing. So the the main floor patterns, people love it. It’s it’s almost not a mandatory now, but like a lot of my clients will look at houses without it.

00:33:12:06 – 00:33:31:20
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. It’s interesting. I mean, I’ve had these thoughts. Just, for those listening, you guys probably know my house. You’ve seen me post on Instagram. I haven’t I haven’t professionally really photographed it, but I should before we move. Whenever that happens one day in the next ten years, I’m. But what I was going to say is we had this, we had this choice.

00:33:31:20 – 00:33:48:02
Rebecca Hay
And this is for the designers listening. I think if you have clients who are indecisive, the way I was, where we didn’t know we wanted to renovate, but there was nothing wrong with our house. Everybody who came into our house is like, why would you renovate? It’s great. We had an Ikea galley kitchen. The house had nice moldings.

00:33:48:02 – 00:34:03:04
Rebecca Hay
It had been owned previously by an interior designer, so it was like very nice. Not my personal style, but very nice. And we hung and hard for like the first 8 or 9 years. And finally it was pandemic times and I was like, screw it, we’re doing it. And we took out the wall between the dining room and the kitchen.

00:34:03:04 – 00:34:21:00
Rebecca Hay
We opened up the back to bring in more light designer, add it to, you know, the Rebecca J designs torch and now I absolu lutely love it. Will it get more money? I don’t know, I hope so, but my regret is we did the second floor. We renovated, but we did not extend. So tell.

00:34:21:00 – 00:34:22:11
Wendy Smith
Me I added on the back but not the.

00:34:22:11 – 00:34:46:14
Rebecca Hay
Top. No, we did not change the footprint. There was already an extension, a one storey extension. So we did not do anything structural other than like removing that load bearing wall. Through cost considerations. We did. We considered I had drawings done for it. We could have bumped out the second floor above the initial, above the one story room that is also has a foundation, like a dug out basement.

00:34:46:14 – 00:34:50:24
Rebecca Hay
So we could do a second story to give us the en suite.

00:34:51:01 – 00:34:51:17
Wendy Smith
The primary.

00:34:51:17 – 00:35:11:03
Rebecca Hay
The primary suite. I mean, I don’t know how big this suite would be, but it would be a suite, and we didn’t do it because the cost to do that was like 200 and $300,000 more. And I struggled with the value of our house at the time to really I didn’t want to live through that. And at this point I don’t envision us doing it.

00:35:11:05 – 00:35:27:04
Rebecca Hay
But I do wonder if I had been in that situation, like if someone else is listening is in a situation like that with their client, where their clients trying to get them to help them decide, where do we invest? Do we do this because like sometimes you have to decide where your money goes. You don’t have the money to do everything.

00:35:27:06 – 00:35:37:20
Rebecca Hay
And I know that that might affect our resale value. In your professional opinion, Wendy, would it have made sense, like is it always worth the investment to do that?

00:35:37:22 – 00:35:55:16
Wendy Smith
Yes, absolutely. I think I think it’s because you also had the foundation already, like you had the footprint, you know, and I think it’s you know, we go into houses all the time, Rebecca, you know, my colleagues and I and there’s like there’s a bump out in the back and they didn’t do upstairs. And our question is why didn’t they do that.

00:35:55:18 – 00:36:10:00
Wendy Smith
Because then I mean it increases it may cost you you know, it would cost you about 200. That’s on average I’ve had clients who do it. The increase could be upwards of like 3 or 4 of the value to your house. It is either.

00:36:10:02 – 00:36:13:20
Rebecca Hay
And when it cost me 200 because I would pick really expensive bathroom finishes.

00:36:13:22 – 00:36:14:09
Wendy Smith
Yes.

00:36:14:09 – 00:36:14:15
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:36:14:22 – 00:36:29:11
Wendy Smith
So I think on average I mean and it’s also like you already had the foundation done. So it just would, you know, and it would have been a pain, let’s be honest. It would have been a pain. And I can totally see where you’re coming from. But I think if I were in your life then, Rebecca, I would have told you.

00:36:29:13 – 00:36:46:17
Wendy Smith
I would have told you. I think it’s worth it because then we’re able to sell this, you know, potentially as a four bedroom, you know, with an en suite and like, you have a four bedroom with a family room and an en suite, you are you’re naming your price. You know, that is the most desirable thing out there is to have.

00:36:46:19 – 00:36:56:19
Wendy Smith
Yeah, four bedroom en suite. You’ve a powder room on the main floor, you’ve dug out basement and you have a family room, right. So I can count how much more from a value standpoint that just increases your house.

00:36:56:19 – 00:36:58:09
Rebecca Hay
So I think.

00:36:58:09 – 00:37:02:02
Wendy Smith
Also for you, I think it would have been nice for you to have that personally.

00:37:02:06 – 00:37:22:10
Rebecca Hay
Well, I think it probably would have extended the usability of the house just for us. Yeah. Like my desire to move is growing stronger with every day. And it’s not just that I for the longest time that it was never an issue having one bathroom, to be honest. I’m like, we’ll be fine. But now as the kids are getting older and yeah, we have a full bathroom with shower in the basement, but I don’t want to go down to the basement to.

00:37:22:15 – 00:37:32:07
Wendy Smith
Make my hair. Nobody uses that. Nobody uses the base. The shower in the basement I have. I live with three boys. Like I have a basement shower. No one uses it. They all use the one upstairs.

00:37:32:11 – 00:37:33:01
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:37:33:03 – 00:37:36:09
Wendy Smith
You know, and I mean, my boys are nine and 12, so like, it’s it’s.

00:37:36:09 – 00:37:38:07
Rebecca Hay
Getting just starting. Yeah.

00:37:38:08 – 00:37:42:23
Wendy Smith
And they’re getting bigger and they’re entering adolescence. You know, it’s a lot of things.

00:37:42:23 – 00:37:43:20
Rebecca Hay
All the things.

00:37:44:00 – 00:37:54:22
Wendy Smith
You know. So I mean I think for your designers, if somebody is considering and say they’re going to live there for another five years, say, I think it’s worth the investment, I really do.

00:37:54:24 – 00:38:01:00
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And I think if I had known I was going to be in the house as long as I am, I probably would have done it too.

00:38:01:02 – 00:38:02:07
Wendy Smith
Right? Yeah.

00:38:02:09 – 00:38:17:16
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. These are the things that are that are hard when you’re doing it for yourself. And maybe as a client, when you bring in a designer and they have the help of a realtor. Okay, talk. Let’s talk about that. So I don’t want to run out of time before we say what is the you mentioned Meg Rogers. So Meg, for those who are listening, she’s an interior designer here in Toronto.

00:38:17:16 – 00:38:38:16
Rebecca Hay
She’s actually a pop alumni. She’s a member of my community. That’s how we all got connected. She’s amazing. Yeah. And she and you have been working together. Talk to me about the client, because I have actually talked on this podcast and in my community, two designers about ways that they can connect with a realtor so that the realtor can gift their services to their client.

00:38:38:16 – 00:38:43:03
Rebecca Hay
But I’ve never actually heard from a realtors perspective about this idea, so please tell me about that.

00:38:43:07 – 00:39:09:06
Wendy Smith
Absolutely. So makes a dear friend of mine and she is incredibly talented. And she is just getting started. So, you know, of course, we kind of partnered up to say, how can we help support each other? And that’s a big thing, a part of what I do, and I love that it’s a collaboration. So we decided that, in for my closing gifts for my clients who buy new homes, we give them a gift certificate, of interior design consultation with Meg.

00:39:09:08 – 00:39:13:01
Wendy Smith
And so it’s funny, though, because I go to the consultation to.

00:39:13:07 – 00:39:13:18
Rebecca Hay
Say.

00:39:13:20 – 00:39:15:05
Wendy Smith
Because I want to learn.

00:39:15:07 – 00:39:17:09
Rebecca Hay
Oh, you’re so funny. I know.

00:39:17:11 – 00:39:20:23
Wendy Smith
I’m like, so then the next, like, you really want to call them, like, I want to come. You’re like.

00:39:20:23 – 00:39:23:05
Rebecca Hay
Tagging along. Do you take notes for her?

00:39:23:07 – 00:39:44:16
Wendy Smith
Oh, I have measured for her. So laugh when she hears this, I, she’s like, can you measure? I’m like, I can measure, no problem. So what it is is that as soon as they close, I give them. I wish I could show you. I have a postcard that I’ve developed. It’s like a marketing postcard and it just says, my closing gift to you, and it has a bio about Meg and says, you know, my gift to you is a, you know, consultation with Mike Rogers.

00:39:44:18 – 00:39:57:07
Wendy Smith
She comes to the house, she’ll go through the whole house. So then provide a plan of what she would do with the house. And then it’s actually it’s great. It’s led to a lot of business for her. She’s she’s gotten incredible business from it. So we’ve done it. Now I think.

00:39:57:09 – 00:39:58:14
Rebecca Hay
I want to say 5 or 6.

00:39:58:14 – 00:40:14:05
Wendy Smith
Times I give it to every single client and they love it because I’ll tell you something, Meg. I’ll tell you something. Rebecca. Like, they don’t know that clients don’t know what they’re doing. They have no idea. And they get very overwhelmed because it’s a new house. It’s bigger. Like, what do they do? And my my solution is like, don’t worry, that’s going to help you.

00:40:14:07 – 00:40:15:07
Wendy Smith
And so.

00:40:15:09 – 00:40:18:09
Rebecca Hay
It’s like he says their transition into their new life absolutely.

00:40:18:09 – 00:40:31:21
Wendy Smith
Love it. And so Meg will book the consultation. And we’re there for about 2 or 3 hours in the house. And and then she follows up with the plan. And then usually, like I think about 90% of the time she’s and it’s resulted in good business for her.

00:40:31:23 – 00:40:40:10
Rebecca Hay
I love it. Okay guys, listening. You’ve you’ve heard me talk about this today. Wendy is proof that it works. It’s just break. Do it I love it great.

00:40:40:10 – 00:40:41:18
Wendy Smith
It’s great.

00:40:41:20 – 00:40:48:24
Rebecca Hay
Okay, before we wrap up, we have an event. Can you tell everyone about the event that, I get to be your guest at? Yes.

00:40:48:24 – 00:41:12:02
Wendy Smith
Okay. So, as a part of my, pillar of my business, community is very big. And so as a part of that, I have been hosting these, Bosley speaker series, and they’re all about home. So we have our next spouses. Speaker series is going to be on May 7th, and Rebecca is our headliner, and it is about all about design, and we’re calling it design with purpose.

00:41:12:08 – 00:41:25:19
Wendy Smith
And we have three different sections of this kind of panel. We have experts up there. We’re going to be talking about refreshing, renovating and resale. So we have Rebecca there. We have, Evelyn, she’s from.

00:41:25:21 – 00:41:26:18
Rebecca Hay
Allaire Homes.

00:41:26:21 – 00:41:39:14
Wendy Smith
Allaire Homes. And then we have, Katie and myself from Bosley Real Estate. So we’re each going to be talking about different parts of design and it’s going to be at the Granite Club. And it is complimentary. And the invitations are going up tomorrow.

00:41:39:16 – 00:41:49:06
Rebecca Hay
So by the time when you’re listening to this episode, there may or may not be spots left, but we’ll put a link in the show notes. So if you want to join us, you can it will feel fast.

00:41:49:08 – 00:41:57:24
Wendy Smith
It will feel fast. We’re we’re 40 to 60 people. So we’re very excited as this is our third installment of the series. And we’re just so grateful that Rebecca.

00:41:57:24 – 00:42:07:03
Rebecca Hay
Is going to be headlining it. I can’t wait, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be all right. Before we wrap, what is your last nugget of wisdom for the designers listening today?

00:42:07:05 – 00:42:36:17
Wendy Smith
I think think big picture. I think think big picture. When you’re going in and you’re meeting your clients, think about opportunities that you can work with them long term. You know, like you mentioned before, like, you know, you go in there and it might be a very short project, but if you can, if you can help me as a realtor and kind of plan to work with your clients on like an annual basis to maintain their home and keep it refreshed, this will help me one day when they want to sell.

00:42:36:19 – 00:42:52:11
Wendy Smith
So I think it’s just looking at it from a big picture. And of course you want the opportunity to go back in there and offer your guidance again. So I think I don’t know if I don’t know if you can, you know, offer that as an added value to to what you, you, you give to your clients is saying, here’s what I can do.

00:42:52:11 – 00:43:00:21
Wendy Smith
But as a part of this, there’s another option that I can come in annually and kind of help you kind of refresh what we’ve done, and that will just help me that really well.

00:43:00:21 – 00:43:07:24
Rebecca Hay
So brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Thank you so much. Wendy. Can you let everyone know where they can find and follow you?

00:43:08:01 – 00:43:20:01
Wendy Smith
Yes. So, so I am with Bosley Real Estate, and I have my own business under that. It’s called Matter Homes. And you can find me on Instagram at at matter underscore homes.

00:43:20:03 – 00:43:23:02
Rebecca Hay
Fantastic. Thank you so much for being my guest today.

00:43:23:03 – 00:43:26:23
Wendy Smith
You’re welcome. Thank you so much for having me. And I can’t wait to see you on May 7th.

00:43:27:00 – 00:43:46:18
Rebecca Hay
Well, how about that conversation? Okay, first of all, I just have to say that it totally blew my mind that Wendy brought it up. Like, I didn’t even know she was going to say this, that she offers a consultation as a gift to her clients. A consultation with Meg, her interior designer friend. She’s one of our Power of process alumni.

00:43:46:20 – 00:44:07:12
Rebecca Hay
I have advised designers for at least a year, if not more, to do this exact thing, but have never really heard back from anyone if it works well. Wendy has told us today that it is an incredible gift for her clients. It makes her look good. It adds value to her clients and it helps the interior designer to get more business.

00:44:07:14 – 00:44:31:00
Rebecca Hay
I hope you took a lot from that episode. I would love to hear from you. Send me a DM on Instagram. I would love to know what aspects of this episode surprised you? Was there anything that Wendy shared about reselling a home that totally blew your mind? Or is there anything that she said that sounds totally crazy and in your area, in your geographic region, totally does not apply.

00:44:31:05 – 00:44:53:02
Rebecca Hay
You know, it can be very different depending where you’re from, city, town, country, all the things. So I would really love to have this conversation. And if you are able to join us on May 7th at the Granite Club, we would love to have you join us for our Designed with purpose event that Wendy is hosting, and you can just click on the link in the show notes to join us is an Eventbrite link.

00:44:53:02 – 00:44:59:05
Rebecca Hay
It is a complimentary ticket. It’s going to be an amazing time. All right. Thank you for listening and we’ll see you soon.