Community Partner Spotlight: Thank you, The Shaw Team with Keller Williams
Chris and Matt Shaw are The Shaw Team with Keller Williams, and when they sell a home, they do it a little differently.
Chris has a professional certification in staging. The personal touches she adds to the homes she and her husband, Matt, sell help homebuyers envision actually living in the new space. Chris stages each of the rooms in a home minus bedrooms. Each of the furnished rooms is professionally photographed, which allows the Shaws to share the pictures on social media and Zillow. The staging is a free service for the sellers, and the Shaws supply what’s needed — furniture, pillows, artwork, lamps, accessories and more. Chris changes things out every three months or so, which keeps homes current with the latest design trends. That leaves plenty of leftover inventory, items that are truly barely used.
The Shaws donate everything to the ReStore in Newport News operated by Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg. The ReStore sells them at discounted prices with all proceeds going to the local Habitat affiliate, which cycles the money back into the community so that more homes can be constructed.
“I love the fact that Habitat is trying to look out for the community and give back to the community,” Chris said. “I want to get involved more and more as time goes on. As Realtors, our job is to help people find homes. I like the idea of helping people find homes in a different way, also.”
Chris Shaw found another way to support Habitat, too.
When the Williamsburg ReStore hosted a car show in April, Chris used her staging prowess to set up a coffee bar with doughnuts — also donated by the Shaws. The hospitality tent was a welcome sight on what turned out to be a chilly morning. Everything was free with donations to Habitat encouraged.
Chris said she is always searching for more ways to give to Habitat and one day hopes to stage a Habitat house.
“I love giving back to where we live,” Chris said. “It’s a neat thing to help people who are really trying hard to realize their dreams.”
Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg is always in need of new community partners to donate to its ReStores. For information, contact Jennifer Pye, Procurement Manager, at jennifer@habitatpgw.org or call 757-913-5656.
