Staging to Sell
6 Top Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Faster
You know your house should appear neat and clean to appeal to buyers, but staging your home for a faster sale goes beyond that. It makes your home as attractive as possible while appealing to the widest number of buyers. Good staging not only helps homes sell more quickly, but for a higher price.
While you can hire professional stagers, most people can do the work themselves. Your real estate agent can give you suggestions for accentuating the positives and diminishing any negatives, and you can take it from there.
Curb Appeal
Your home gets one chance to make a first impression, and that starts at the curb. While it’s important to mow the lawn and keep plantings tidy, make sure your house looks fresh and inviting. Paint trim, clean windows until they sparkle and give your house, driveway and walkways a good power wash. Make sure it’s easy to read the house number. If your house sports a porch, remove everything but one or two pieces of attractive outdoor furniture and blooming plants. If a buyer is coming to look at the house in the evening, keep the porch lights on. They add a lovely, welcoming glow.
Get Rid of Clutter
While getting rid of clutter is rather obvious, you’re so used to seeing certain items you may not even realize strangers perceive them as untidy or obtrusive. Your want your home to look as large and spacious as possible. That won’t happen if rooms are full of furniture. Remove unnecessary pieces, and rearrange the furniture so the room boasts good flow for movement. In the kitchen, hide away all the non-essential items on the counter. Non-essential means anything you don’t use on a daily basis. The same holds true for the bathroom. Store your personal items in a drawer.
Avoid using closets as a storage space for temporarily unwanted things. Buyers will look at the closets, and they don’t want to see clutter – or junk – there either. Quite the opposite – they want to see closets with plenty of room. Consider having a yard sale or donating useful but unwanted items to charity. Renting storage space for your possessions is another option.
Put Away the Personal
You love the family photographs, awards and other mementoes scattered throughout your home. That’s fine, but a potential buyer wants to visualize the house as their place. It’s harder to do with constant reminders that other people live there. Pack away the personal, and display them again in your new abode.
Let There be Light
Bright and airy are powerful selling points. Allow as much light into rooms as possible, and augment that with attractive and strategically placed fixtures and lamps.
Neutral Colors
A fresh coat of paint brightens any home prior to sale, but it’s especially crucial to use subdued, neutral colors. Such shades allow buyers to imagine their furnishings and art in the room, which isn’t necessarily the case with louder tones.
Cleaning and Repairing
When you’re readying your house for a staging, don’t forget about the carpets, curtains and hardwood floors. Have carpets and draperies professionally cleaned, and replace any worn curtains. Your hardwood floors require polishing, and may need sanding and restaining if they appear worn.
Preparing your home for sale involves a lot of work and a certain amount of money. Good staging is worth it – you should soon entertain offers.
