Robin Huckenpoehler, a Realtor with The Maryland Group of Long & Foster Real Estate, recently earned the Certified Home Marketing Specialist designation of advanced real estate, a course taught by Martha Webb, on Sept. 19.

According to Huckenpoehler, the new skills she learned will help to decrease the amount of time a home she is selling spends on the market, and maximize their selling prices. She said this new approach will result in timely, efficient home sales.

Addressing in-depth market analysis, strategic pricing and effective home staging, the Certified Home Marketing Specialist Course provides agents with expertise to excel in today’s competitive real estate environment. This results in homes that sell faster at better prices.

Webb is the author and producer of Dress Your House for Success, and is one of the country’s foremost authorities on home staging. She has taught her CHMS program to thousands of real estate agents nationwide. Following her participation in the course, Huckenpoehler has now joined this prestigious group and achieved a higher level of professionalism.

“This certification is truly great for agent interested in providing the best service possible,” Huckenpoehler said. “Having this certification means I can offer my clients a level of expertise that you just don’t learn in standard real estate classes. Now, I can go through the house with my clients, room by room, and strategically design a pre-market plan to help potential buyers connect emotionally with the house faster.”

“Strategic pricing is key to moving properties quickly in any market,” Huckenpoehler continued. “Add strategic staging to the equation and you have the enviable position of being able to give buyers a true feeling for what it would be like to live there while sellers get the benefit of faster sales at the best price possible.”

Home staging strategy has become much more prominent in the real estate industry in the past several years, one which Webb believes it is an integral component of any successful home sale. According to Webb’s website, real estate agents who have completed the Certified Home Marketing Specialist course offer their clients concrete, market-specific guidance to position properties to make a direct emotional appeal to potential buyers.

“We talk a lot about ‘buyer’s market’ and ‘seller’s markets,’ but what it all boils down to is knowing how to effectively reach out to home buyers regardless of the market,” says Sharon Crisafulli, managing broker at Long & Foster’s Frederick sales office. “The Certified Home Marketing Specialist Course presented by Martha Webb gives agents those skills.”

For more information, visit www.LongandFoster.com.