From Unsellable to Unstoppable: Jason Saft on the Art of Selling a Home

People do not buy square footage. They buy a future version of themselves. 

In this episode of Deal Flow Diaries, we sit down with Jason Saft, founder of Staged to Sell Home, to unpack how design functions as a powerful form of visual marketing and why the right presentation can change the outcome of a deal. With a background in real estate and over $3 billion in transactions influenced by his work, Jason approaches staging not as decoration, but as problem solving grounded in data, buyer psychology, and execution. 

Jason shares how his business was built by listening closely to what buyers were actually saying and translating that feedback into action. From struggling listings that sat on the market for years to record-setting sales that went into contract in days, he explains how small, strategic changes can unlock significant value without the need for full renovation. 

Join us as we talk about: 

• Why staging is best understood as a visual marketing strategy rather than interior design 
• How listening to buyer feedback becomes a data set that drives real estate decisions 
• The early days of building Staged to Sell Home⁠, from air mattresses to full-scale inventory 
• Turning unsellable properties into high-performing assets through targeted, cost-effective changes 
• The mindset shift from aesthetics to ROI and how to measure success through days on market and price achieved 

Jason also opens up about the personal side of building a business, including overcoming self-doubt, taking risks without a traditional safety net, and finding clarity during the pandemic that ultimately led him to fully commit to his vision. 

Whether you are a broker, developer, investor, or homeowner, this episode offers a clear look at how perception shapes value and why the smallest details often have the biggest financial impact. 

Follow Jason Saft & Staged to Sell Home: 

Website
IG: @jasonsaft, @stagedtosellhome 

Questions and comments; reach out to us at inquiries@dealflowdiariespodcast.com

Find out more about the dealflowdiariespodcast.com 

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If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts.

Recorded at The Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center.

Thank you for listening.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

DealFlow Diaries, where the Dealmakers Talk. A podcast that takes you inside the minds of the Titans shaping today's global economy. I'm Alexandra Fairweather.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

And I'm Elaine Chamberlain. Together, we sit down with visionary founders, fund managers, and deal makers across private equity, real estate, fashion, tech, and beyond.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Each episode, we uncover the untold stories behind their biggest deals, hardest setbacks, and boldest bets. Lessons in strategy, risk, and ambition you won't find anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Smart, unscripted, unfiltered. This is DealFlow Diaries. People don't buy square footage. They buy a future version of themselves. Today's guest understands that better than almost anyone. This is DealFlow Diaries, where we unpack how perception shapes value, how emotion moves capital, and how transformation begins long before the contract is signed.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Jason Saft is the founder of Stage to Sell Home and a visionary leader in the home staging and design industry. His contemporary curatorial style seamlessly blends eras, integrating modern pieces into historic settings and allowing antiques to feel fresh in new builds. With over 20 years of experience in real estate and interiors, he has overseen more than 3 billion in sales and possesses a unique ability to transform unsellable properties into a sale through the art of interior staging. By realizing every space's inherent potential, he creates homes where buyers envision their most aspirational lives. Jason, welcome to DealFlow Diaries.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Hi, thank you for having me. What a introduction. I love that. And I love the theme music. I found myself kind of like chimney. It's totally a vibe.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

It sets the tone for a busy morning in New York City at Rockefeller Center. So for someone hearing about yourself for the first time, how do you explain what you build and who is it for?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, so really interesting. A lot of people are somewhat mystified by it. But at the end of the day, I really do consider myself a marketing company, like a visual marketing firm. And I think now with over the last like 10, 15 years away, experiential marketing has grown and people experience things and activations and being a part of it. That's really how I look at what we create in these homes that people walk through, see, experience, feel, touch, and all of that. Like we're really a visual marketing firm that's focused on interior design.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

On Instagram the other day, you posted the Asseline bookshelves that you were doing, and that apartment looks so beautiful. And I immediately I was like, is this available for sale? And then I saw it was already sold.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

You get good at your job.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I mean, you really are so talented.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Thank you. You know, it's interesting. I don't really consider it talent. Yeah. My background is in real estate. I was a real estate agent. That's how all of this started. I actually think I just I listened to what people say. I mean, this really all came from I often talk about, you know, we're not really designing, we're problem solving. A lot of the projects that we do have struggled to sell. A lot of them notoriously have been on the market for five, seven years, which seems so uncommon in such a, you know, a thriving market like New York City. But for whatever reason, a lot of things don't transact. And so that's when we're called in. And so in my years of being a real estate agent, when I was the buyer's agent or when I was repping a property that couldn't sell or rent, people told you why. They said, I don't like this because get me the fuck out of here because. And I just remember thinking, well, this person said that and that person said that. And then this person said that. It's like getting a data set, right? And all of a sudden it's like, here's the data. And it's like, okay, so do we just sort of hope and pray, right? Like there's a lot of people who their marketing strategy is, we'll just wait for an offer. Or you can take that data and fix the problem. And that's how all of this was built. The the early portions of stage to sell home was me as a real estate agent fixing up properties and building a business from problem solving.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

That's amazing. Can you talk a little bit about the beginning? So you're a real estate agent. How do you convince the first owner and say, I'm going to start fixing up your property?

SPEAKER_00 4:51

You know, it's funny. It um very early on, this is back in probably the the end of 2004, which is when I got into real estate. Um the managing director of the firm that I was at introduced me to a landlord that had a 200 square foot one bedroom apartment that he couldn't rent. And so he has the whole building. And in these tenement buildings, typically that one bedroom, there's a mirror image on the other side, and then it repeats itself. So everything's a mirror. Everything you're he hearing happens again and again and again. And so he was having trouble renting it. The managing director knew that I liked interiors and just was a problem solver and said, Can I introduce the two of you? Maybe you can help him out. It was in the Greenwich Village, which was an area I focused on. And so I met with him, he gave me the listing. A few weeks went by and everyone kept saying the same thing. You cannot fit a queen size bed in this bedroom. And so I took a tape measure and I would measure it, and it was awkward. You're in this tiny little awkward-shaped room along an air shaft. You're with a stranger, there's other people at the door. It was just uncomfortable. And okay, you stand over here. This is the headboard, and it just didn't feel right. So then the next thing I did was I got painter's tape and I put it on the floor and showed the measurements. But there were a few people very early on that said, Did something happen in here? And I realized it looked a little bit like an episode of Law and Order SBA. And so I was like, okay, like I'm kind of halfway there, but this isn't working. And so the landlord and I were on the phone and I was giving him, you know, the traffic report. I came from a marketing background where you went through who came through, feedback, why this hasn't happened. And I said, you know, we've had this conversation like five times already. Like, aren't you exhausted by this?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

The typical route is drop the price. Yeah. So I said, okay, so here's what I prepared. I said, you can drop the rent by this and on a two-year lease. So you're out by just adjusting the price. It's$5,000. Then a rental renewal, you're going to be lower. However, I went ahead and I researched to get an air mattress, a bed frame, sheets, and pillows is going to be like$420. And I think I can set this up within an hour or so. And again, it's his building. So I said, there's space in the basement. If the apartment rents, we could put it there. And then because it's the mirror image next door, when that comes up, we just rinse, wash, and repeat. And so this apartment had been on the market for months and then it rented. Like within, I think it was a day or two of doing this. And he said, okay, that makes sense. And so it was really like understanding the information you're provided, doing some research, putting it in front of someone so they don't have to think about it, they don't have to wonder what it is, and then project managing and saying, I will deal with it. I will take care of it. And so from that, we started to do the DIY stuff I was doing, you know, at the time and like the two-bedroom I rented with four people, you know, fifth floor walk-up apartment that you like decorated and tried to make nice, you know, when you're just like a broke starting out post-college student. I said, what if instead of renovating, we just do these tricks? And so those apartments started renovating for the same amount. And so that apartment became the next one, became, he gave me the building, then he gave me two other buildings. And then from there, interestingly enough, some other landlords had shopped the building. And I didn't realize this. I just thought, you know, it was a dad with his kids looking for an apartment near NYU. And it turned out they bought a portfolio of 30 buildings from a family that was, you know, retiring. And they said, you know, we've been to 20 apartments, and you are the only real estate agent we've met who talked about the work that they were doing, had the information, you had a schedule for the showings, the applications were here. There was a bullet pointed list. Like, we have this portfolio, we just bought it. We have, you know, 40 apartments ready to go. And so that was how it really then just kicked off from there. And as my career grew and I moved into sales, I just slowly started doing it. And basically what it was at the beginning, I will take care of everything. You don't have to deal with a thing. And most of the time I was working with either what was there, or I'd bring in my own stuff, or I'd say, like, for$400, I can buy all of these things and get them here. And at the beginning, I was losing money, but I I secretly always wanted to be a designer. So I was just so happy to it was the creative outlet. Like I'd be in these apartments at eight, nine o'clock after work, like just decorating and doing my thing, and it felt so good.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

What year was this?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And this is like 2006, 7, 8, 9, 10.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Okay. Wow. What was the biggest risk you took in starting this business and branching out?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I'll be honest, I I'm fairly certain I finished college.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Questionable.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

If I'm short of credit or two and I didn't actually graduate, it wouldn't be shocking. Details. You know, I never imagined or had the faith in myself that I could do any of this. And so it was in the pandemic that I said, okay, the world stopped. It was the first time since I was 14 years old. Like I didn't have to go to work constantly or go to school. And I never really had the time to process. And in the pandemic, the city was, it was so scary and different than the rest of the country. And I was trying to finish two sales as a real estate agent. And there were two projects that I was asked to handle. And it was just me. I would get on my bike and like wearing a mask and gloves and go from at the time I lived in the financial district to the Upper East Side, just like go work on this house. I'd put on some music, burn some sage. And I was like, this is just what I want to do. Like I feel so good. And I was working on these two sales, and the both of them were, they were going to put me in the grave. That's how I often felt about being a real estate agent. Like it just that passion wasn't there. And so up until that point, I always talked myself out of it. I just said, like, you're not smart enough. You don't know how to run a business. You're not going to be able to manage all these people. The other part is it's an extremely expensive business to start. We're in an economy where everyone is figuring out how do I no longer carry physical inventory? How do I no longer have this? How do I move towards something where, you know, I'm selling an idea or a course? I'm not selling physical. Everything is your inventory. And so I'm the kid of a single mom who worked two full-time jobs. I started working at McDonald's at 14, like not for fun. And the resources weren't there. And I just kind of said, you know what, with every project, I started building up a little bit of an inventory. And after a while, I started to realize, like, oh, I'm doing this for next to nothing. I'm often losing money, but I was fine with it. But what a few people said is, well, why don't you tell them, like, if you have a client who wants you to stage their entire apartment and you're handling everything, and if it will cost$20,000 and you are doing it for$8,000, why don't you just you own the inventory afterwards? And I thought, oh my God, what a great, like, I never even thought of that. I was like, oh yeah, that's a great idea. Most everyone was moving out of state. So no one wanted to like, oh great, now I want to have all of these things shipped to me that were bought for show. So everyone was like, wait, if it would cost$20,000 to redo the entire apartment and you will handle everything for$8,000, like, knock your socks off, go for it. Because I'd been doing it in all of these rentals for so long, I had a portfolio. And that was, you know, I think for anyone out there who's starting a business, you know, the one thing I knew very quickly about my work, even though it was about visuals and making this attractive and making it appealing, the people I was telling to hire me, they don't care about that. Right. It's not of interest to them. We're not having a discussion of how beautiful this is or how, you know, fantastic this is going to look. They're like, how quickly can you sell this and how much more money will you make me on this investment? And so from day one, I always had here's the before, here's the after, here's your days on market, here's the return. And I realize like that formula to this day, 20 plus years later, is still like the bedrock of all of our marketing because that is for the service that we provide, that is what they want to know. The visuals and all like the beautiful fine art and the antiques, I think that's like the cherry on the Sunday for a lot of people. Like they see a space they know so intimately completely different. And that's become another interesting part of it for so many people. They've never seen or experienced their home designed.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And that's the really fun part now is like when people come back and see it, or a lot of the spaces that we work on are estates where, you know, a family member passed away. We're often dealing with the grown adult children who are older than I am and I'm old, who grew up in a space and then walk in four days after we start, and they're like, oh my God, you know, like I grew up here and I don't recognize this space. And we're not filing permits, there's no construction. It's just all like surface level cosmetic work.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Have you ever found that you've made it look so good that they just change their mind and say, I'm not gonna sell anymore? Maybe me.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

A lot of people get that, like, oh my God, if I knew. But you know, at the end of the day, with the exception of one which we're gonna go to, um, when you make this decision and you make this investment, you're already gone, right? Whether it's physically or mentally. And so we haven't had that. But what ends up happening now, which has been really like the fun part, like I was saying before, I have a lot of people coming to me and saying, I didn't realize what it's like seeing a space designed. We just move. Will you design our next space? And then we don't we don't do long-term interior design now. Yeah. But I have a whole arsenal of interior designers who they'll tell me the sort of aesthetic, vibe, budget, whatever it is, and I can partner them with them. That's to me the really nice thing is that I don't always believe there's an understanding of what good design can do for you, for a family, just for your own peace of mind and the way that you live and operate your life. And so a lot of people come back and say, now I want to live in a space that someone actually puts some consideration into. I did many years ago, and this was like a great learning lesson. I got suckered into a project in the, this is probably 10 years ago, a real estate agent who was seeing the work that I did and said, Hey, I have this owner of this house in Harlem, was on the market for a year, didn't sell, the house needs to be completely redone. Can I bring you in on the listing? You'll get half the commission. You don't have to show it. All you have to do is like work your magic in the house. And so it's really interesting. In the 20 years I was in brokerage, I have never once worked on a listing where the seller didn't give you keys to the house, didn't accommodate the majority of showings. This person would not give us keys. He barely would let us do showings. The house has never come back on the market. But to be frank, and this is something you know a lot of real estate agents or other people who work on commission experience like there is a point in your career if you don't have connections when you don't have a sphere of influence. You take and say yes to every single thing, no matter how many red, like I mean, this house was just like one giant red flag. It was like a Jean-Claude and Christot, like, you know, red flag installation, right? But it was like, I'm here and I gotta try and make a buck and pay my rent, buy groceries. Like that's how things were 10 years ago, like just trying to survive. But sometimes you want to tell people to avoid those situations. But I think now, like as I try and mentor some people, I think you need to experience those situations. Like they're just they're red flags. It's like dating or anything else, right? Like someone tells you something, you're like, oh yeah, I know what that means. Like I'm out of here. And so all of that stuff just helped get to the point now where we are and just knowing how to, for the most part, run a business, listen to context clues, know which clients are just not for us.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

How do you determine which clients are not for you?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Like a magic eight ball.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I mean, I'm assuming you have intake questions that yeah, there's intake questions.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

I mean, look, at the end of the day, I'm running a business. I'm not looking to turn business away. So the business that we're typically turning away, like right now, we're in peak season. We are currently only booking in April. Like the first week, I think, is is booked as of now. So we're turning away business and referring it out to other people. Right, right. If the timing doesn't work, we're doing a lot of larger projects. And so the smaller projects that are not interesting, we're referring out. Oddly enough, a lot of like 57th Street Billionaires Row, like 87th floor, I tell them like, call these two firms. They're just not of interest to me.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I love a challenge. Like, and I love a lot of my work is in these, you know, sort of older buildings that most people don't really understand how to approach. And a lot of our work is the unsellable apartment. And I love those. Like it's it's challenging, they're fun. It's um You can say creative. Yeah, it's it's it's not only that it's creative, but it's like you can make an impact, right? Like I was with someone who's like their parents' apartment has been on the market eight months. It's a beautiful space. And, you know, he was telling me what the soon-to-be former real estate agent has been giving him his feedback, and it was very clear their marketing strategy is like hope and pray, and eventually someone will come along, maybe, but drop the price. And it, you know, we we just walked through the space and identified everything that would need to be fixed. And it was so easy and so simple. But I love that.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to ask a question going back to your pivot, right? From real estate agent to now what you're doing. Where did you find that confidence to make that change? Obviously, you know, the pandemic helped, you had some time to reflect, but was there a moment that you just realized this is what I have to do?

SPEAKER_00 19:04

It was really like a combination of a couple of things. And it wasn't easy. Like I said, I didn't really believe in myself. Right. I didn't grow up having self-confidence. I wasn't told at an early age, like you'll do whatever you put your heart to and your mind to.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

There were a couple of things that happened that it was like a huge wake-up call. Number one, it was the pandemic that gave me the time to think. Number two, I just became a parent. I had a young child. You start looking at things differently. I was bringing her, she was a baby, my boyfriend at the time, her other dad, he traveled extensively overseas for work. And so, you know, these were the early days when you're just like working late at night and on the weekends, and I would have her in the projects with me, and it was just, it felt so good. And the other part was about nine and a half years ago, I got sober. Yeah. Um, time flies. I never really thought clearly, you know, like I was also always like recovering from a hangover. So it just was like those three things, and it was just like, oh, like it is, I don't mean to sound like some born-again whatever, but there does come a point, I think, for some people where all of a sudden like your brain just operates differently. And there were absolutely all of these things, and I was like, no, I love like I started like just seeing the years passing by of like, oh my God, I like I was there until one o'clock in the morning. And like not complaining, not not I have to be here. No one asked. Like I was just doing it and I loved it. And so that was that started hitting in the pandemic when I was like, oh, I don't have to run around and be on calls or talking to people or doing paperwork all day. Like I can just think and then make a plan. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

What level of it was intuition, gut, listening to that inner voice.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Like I said, I think the scariest part for me is the cost was the other part of it. Like it's just it's all physical inventory. And again, at the beginning, like I wasn't buying wholesale. Like I had accessories. I was like, you know, I'd go to like home goods and marshals, and if there was like a broken geode for$3, like it came home with me and it went underneath my bed. And that was like my storage. And at one point I was like storing stuff in my fridge, my closet, at my desk at Compass. Over time, the inventory started building up, and all of a sudden it got a little bit easier. Like it used to take a week to do a one-bedroom apartment because it was like, okay, I have to run and get the pillows. Now I have to go get this. Now I have to go get that. I wasn't just buying what was in front of me. It was like, no, no, no, I have this vision also, like, I'm not trained. There's no computer, like, there was no system, there was no process. Like, it was just like, this would be great. Okay, this would be cool. And then I'd, you know, be like flipping through a magazine. And it was like, okay, now I want to like go in this direction. And so it was really fun. It was taking so much. And now it's just funny because it like it takes like a couple of hours to do a one bedroom. Or now that I have a team and a warehouse and we have all this stuff, like my Brain, even though there's like accolades and things are different, like I'm still there and I actually really like that. I don't take the space for granted. Like sometimes I'm in the warehouse, like when it's a holiday, like President's Day weekend, I went in and I'm just like, I love walking through it. Like it's like I've I've built this, like it feels so good. And I As you should. You should I still will like I I clean up. I, you know, like if I have to clean someone else's bathroom, I clean the bathroom. If I have to, well, I'm not doing dishes and I sent a firm email to everyone letting reminding them we do not have a cleaning lady in to wash your dishes.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

That's where you draw the line. Yes. You've said something that really stayed with us. People don't buy square footage, they buy a future version of themselves. When did you first understand that?

SPEAKER_00 22:49

I think one of the most interesting parts of this is all the stuff that I was doing in the early days, the people who were coming had absolutely no idea. I was just the agent. And so I was always in the apartment and I would be listening to people at Startups, like young college kids, like, oh my God, this is so like, God, every place we saw was so disgusting. This feels so good, and this art is so cool. And like, oh my God, like who are these people? And then they would realize, like, if they opened up the kitchen cabinets or the refrigerator or went into the closet and saw that there were no clothes, like someone wasn't actually living there. And that is when I realized was in that same way that in the early days as an agent, I listened to people tell me what was wrong with everything. I would be in the apartment and people just kept going. And where it really crystallized was so I'm one of the first employees at Compass, which back in the day was Urban Compass. And I did their first new development. It was Naftali's rental conversion on 25th Street, the Arthur's. Oh, cool. 245 West 25th Street. And it was a really cute, like six-story Art Deco building that they converted, you know, from older rent stabilized to luxury apartments. And so in that quarter of Sixth Avenue in Chelsea, it's all the high-rises. I would look at all the advertising. If someone did a model apartment, it was the most generic, like just banal, like nothing. You don't know if you're at the airport near Atlanta or like a best western executive state. Like there, it just was nothing. And so I was like, I'm gonna do the opposite of nothing. And I just I did this really layered apartment. I took the idea of we're in an art deco building. Like there are still some nods to it, even though the bulk of it has been gutted, but I'm gonna go full color, layers and details. And then I was there. And everyone was coming in and say, I didn't believe that advertising was real. And they would say, like, oh, I want to go see that piece of art that's in the bedroom. And I was like, oh, and so that one model became four model apartments in the building. And at the time, the building was under full construction. There were no amenities aside from a doorman, but the model, the furnished model apartment was renting for more than a unit at the Caldonia, which is a related property. This is like the the start of the Highline. Yeah. Um, condominium and rental boom. And so it was one of those things. It was like I realized like people really respect it, they'll pay for it. The I'll be getting projects, but it there was a difference. Like people kept coming in and just saying it. And that even now, like I get feedback. I'll go to open houses. I like the minute a listing comes out, I talk with the agent and find out what the responses are like, how is it? And it just, I think for whoever is thinking about either starting a business or has one, you have to listen to feedback. You don't just have to listen, you have to ask for it. And sometimes it's uncomfortable. Sometimes you hear the things you don't want. But like I think to be a business owner and to be successful, you want to hear the things that you're maybe not supposed to are a problem because then you can go fix it.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Absolutely. And it seems that you're so solutions-oriented, which I think we've talked to a lot of different entrepreneurs, and almost all of them are focused on that solutions aspect to their business. What advice would you give when starting out from a solutions-oriented mindset?

SPEAKER_00 26:16

I think number one is like the passion has to be there. Like you have like I I really enjoyed solving those problems. Like I, as a real estate agent, you don't have a paycheck. You don't know if you're going to get paid. And so all you have is your time and you have to close a transaction in order to survive. Right. And so I realized that by fixing these problems, I was able to close a deal faster. And everyone was happy. The person who was running around looking for rental apartments for months was like, I'm finally done. I don't have to keep doing this. The landlord doesn't have to worry, and I can move on to the next thing. And that, I think at the beginning was a big part of it. This this understanding of this efficiency will help everyone involved. This wanting to do better and make something better will help everyone who's involved.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

I love that. Thank you. I love that answer. What's the biggest deal that you've been a part of to date?

SPEAKER_00 27:12

So one that closed last year, we did the most expensive townhouse that sold in New York, 973 Fifth Avenue, which had been on the market for four years.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

It went as a contract in 14 days. Wow. After. And that that's a very interesting case study. And that can be explored in a lot of ways. Like it sounds impressive, like if you don't dig into the meat of it, but you know, at the beginning, they started at$80 million. And for anyone who's in sales, there are those times where you work with a client that says, again, sort of like if I get my number. And these numbers sometimes are just completely fabricated. Now, here's the thing though. When you talk about real estate and you talk about, you know, uh one of the last remaining Stanford White mansions located across the street, you know, from the Metropolitan Museum, I understand why someone said, let's go for 80 million. And the people who own it said, sure, why not? Like we're living here. You know, we have the means to do other things. So it makes sense. But after four years, and they did need to sell, there does come a point and the price came down, but the physical appearance didn't, the brokers changed, the physical appearance didn't. And so the seller finally got to a point where like, we need to sell and something needs to change. And so we came in, we redid the house, made it feel a lot more contemporary. What was really interesting is the feedback was the house needed to be gutted, which at something of that level is probably a five to 10 year process. And so that rules out the majority of people. But what was interesting is if people did their homework, the house had been renovated to the core. It's just that the handbag and the dress and the jewelry were all really heavily traditional. And also, like some of it was a lot. Like it, and it was a it was so hyper specific that, you know, again, people can't see through. Like that bed is not coming, that dining table is not coming, those drapes are not coming. Like you're just buying the shell in the home. But within two weeks, it went into contract.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

That's amazing. There's something about selling that aspiration, right? And and providing that.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

But it was also listening to here was all the feedback. And so we just like it was interesting because I wanted a little bit more of the traditional elements just integrated differently, and they were like really pushing for just severely modern. So it was like a delicate balance of figuring it all out and getting it there. And right now we just did, it's not on market yet, but 105-107 bank is$75 million double townhouse in the West Village. And that's$75 million, and that's our biggest. But it is funny, like it's great to have all that stuff. Some of the smaller projects and the ones that are really fun and really interesting. Like I got to do the Roman off estate, which was 1136 Fifth Avenue. What made it so special is they were there for over half a century, but they bought it from in the 70s, the estate of the architect of the building. And so the architect built this apartment for himself in like an Italian palazzo style, and it has never been on the market. And it's actually the so 1136 Fifth Avenue, some people will know it as Blair Waldorf's uh building. And so this apartment is sort of a little bit of what the Waldorf apartment is based on in Gossip Girl. Oh the original Gossip Girl for those of you under 40.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

How original is better. I'm sure there's a lot. Yes. Are there key things that you look for when touring a home that you know right off the bat could be redone to become more appealing to a buyer?

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Yeah, it's always sort of like what is a glaring problem. So, like last night, for example, the feedback he received from his agent was this is a gut job. Everyone comes in and says this is too much work. And what was interesting though is the seller also shared that the agent or the junior agent who was often doing the showing had said that to him before it was asked. I was like, oh, he's telling people this needs to be gutted. And it doesn't. I walk through the space. Like, someone may want to update that one bathroom, someone may want to update this kitchen, but this is a pristine pre-war apartment. Like, yeah, the carpeting in the primary bedroom can go, but that's not a gut renovation. And so interestingly enough, the kitchen was done in that sort of like faux provencile sort of style with the cabinets. But after like 20 years and heavy usage, they start to come apart. And it's like some of them are distressed, like when you're buying like golden goose shoes, but now they're like distressed. Like they're distressed for real. Reworn. And so it was like, but it'll cost$2,500 to paint this. Like once you paint this, the kitchen no longer needs to be gutted. Like the configuration is great. The appliances are within the last five or 10 years. The materials here are quality. It's just peeling paint. Like, yeah, at the end of the day, like this faux stone sort of tile is not great. But here's the thing for every person that says this isn't great, someone else walks in and says, Oh, I love this. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And that's the one thing I learned years ago was to shut my mouth on my own personal preference and style. Because you really do come to understand like what I like, someone else may not. And if that works for someone, you don't need to tell them that this needs to be got renovated because they may be like, this is perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

You also never know what someone is coming from.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Right. And that's the thing. Like, someone who's buying this apartment, they may have never renovated their kitchen. So to them, this is great. And like, what's the point of ripping it out and throwing it in a landfill if someone's perfectly happy with it?

SPEAKER_01 32:44

You must have great EQ. I mean, you have to read people, you have to read the room, you have to understand how people think. And I think that's such a skill that so many people don't have nowadays. And in your business specifically, you have to.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

It took a long time. I mean, I used to say, like, ah, this and that. But and then I realized, like, oh, they're not complaining about this. And like, you know, it's funny, someone will call me and say, like, oh my God, it's never gonna sell. It's a dark apartment. I'm like, welcome to New York City. Like the apartments are dark. Like, not everybody needs to wake up at 5 a.m. with like stunning Eastern light and like sits in the corner and does a transcendental meditation. Like some people sleep until two o'clock in the afternoon. Like, let's be real. Like they're happy with a mausoleum.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Absolutely. I feel you're building such an amazing brand and I love your social media videos. Could you talk a little bit about that and how it's felt to build the brand and any advice you have for people that are building a brand right now?

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yeah, I think again, like my background before all this is marketing and PR. I just really enjoy it. Like it's me on Instagram. There is no other person. I'm writing everything, I'm communicating, talking with people. Like I'm genuinely really interested in it. And I think that's one of the like the biggest things is it's not just the people who were saying, like, I love this and what's a paint color, but I've met so many artists that I never would have. And I've discovered so many other brands and objects and things that I would never see. And also like I educate myself through it. And so I think, you know, when I talk to a lot of real estate agents will come to me, like seeing what I've done with it and how I did it back then. Everyone always says the same thing. Like, I'm so overwhelmed, I don't know what to do. And it's like you just have to find two or three things that you deeply enjoy that are important to you and just work that and just do it. Like you do have to realize you're going to be uncomfortable. You do have to step out of your comfort zone with it. And so, you know, I've told like real estate agents who are parents, like, well, if you're involved in all your kids' stuff and you work the school and all of that stuff. So just focus on family type of homes, activities, things like that. Like if that's your thing and that's what you're doing and you just love it and you want to like, that's it then. You don't need to pretend to be someone else. I think that's sort of the biggest danger is we watch a lot of people and think, I need to do that, and I need to be like them, and I need to be, it's like, well, you're you're not. Right. You know, I think for me, and this comes with age, I always, especially living in New York, working and starting an entertainment, and then being in real estate and now design, there's a lot of people who are very fortunate and come from wealth and from other things and are just born into stuff. And I never had that. I would say up until probably around the time I got sober, used to resent it and think, like, why don't I have this? Why, and then you realize, like, okay, like I don't. I can either sit here and cry about it, or I can just grow myself and like move forward. And I think all of those things factor into growing your business, especially if you're an entrepreneur, it's one thing, it's something so specific to you and who you are. You have to just find what you love.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Yeah, I love that. I mean, we definitely harbor authenticity here. Yeah and we support and encourage that. So we end every episode with a lightning round. Yeah, I know. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 36:00

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Minimalism or maximalism?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

D, all of the above.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Love. One routine you swear by in your daily life.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

I'm now obsessed with a neti pot. I didn't know this, but I have really bad sinuses and I snore. I had no idea. And I cannot like start in the morning without a neti pot.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Neti pot. Let's get him a sponsorship. Yes. The hardest room to stage.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

I don't think there is one. It's like once once you know what you're doing, like what's your favorite room to stage? I like the entry. Okay. I know it sounds silly, but like that. First impression when the door opens, you're either like, oh my God, what is this? Or you're like, okay, next, please.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

I love that. Something you're still refining.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Of myself.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Absolutely. Always. If someone listening feels stuck in their home or in their life, what's one shift they can make today to move toward that feature version of themselves?

SPEAKER_00 36:56

I mean, you gotta figure out how to like lubricate yourself, right? Like if you're stuck, you gotta figure out like what is the system, what is the thing to help you move forward. I think like I will tell you from getting sober, like admitting you have a problem and being like, I got a problem, and am I either gonna be dead or I'm gonna figure this shit out.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Good for you. Congratulations on on sobriety, really. And where can listeners learn more about you and what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Stage to sell home, Instagram, and it's S-D-A-G-E-D, and Jason Saft as well. And uh yeah, who knows where else I'll be. There's a there's a couple little things in the works, maybe other places. Oh wait, you gotta go more details.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Can you come back when you can announce it? Yeah, maybe a little hate. Well, until next time. Thank you so much for joining us on Deal Club Diary. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

I think the studio is gonna need its own podcast, like its own episode. We agree. Yeah, we're gonna make it a moment. Like, this is very special here.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Thank you. Thank you so much.