Blog posted On March 25, 2021
Staging your home for sale is always important – even in a busy market. With the help of good staging, you could garner more buyer interest, close on your home faster, and potentially increase your profit. To get started with a solid home staging, follow these six easy tips from REALTORS® across the country.
Last minute tips
Declutter
When buyers visit a home, they want to be able to picture building their own lives there – not see the life you have already built. "Staging a home has more to do with removing items than it does with décor, which is why I always recommend decluttering and thinning out belongings before listing a home,” says Egypt Sherrod, CEO & Broker of Egypt Sherrod Real Estate Group.
If you have a bunch of personal items or extra clutter in the house, they might have a harder time seeing their ‘dream vision.’ “Depersonalizing a home will help improve its appeal, as it allows potential buyers to see the amount of space available while also envisioning themselves in the home,” says George Laughton, founder of The Laughton Team. Putting away any holiday decorations, books, sports memorabilia, family pictures etc. will help make the home seem more neutral and help buyers envision the home as their own.
Air it out
Everyone has their own scent, and after living in a home for a long period of time, it tends to develop a scent of its own. You probably wouldn’t realize it because you have become accustomed to the way it smells. But if you walk into a friend’s home, you probably notice it has its scent right away. Before opening your home to prospective buyers, have a friend walk through with a fresh nose. “Emotions are stimulated by scents, and how your house smells will affect how a buyer may perceive your property,” says Veronica Figueroa, team leader at eXp Realty. “Avoid masking odors with scented candles or plug-in air fresheners, which could turn off buyers who are not fond of the scent. Instead, spray upholstery, pillows, and rugs with a deodorizer or enzyme cleaner to neutralize odors,” she suggests.
Turn on lights
This simple tip is a quick fix to help make your home feel bigger and more inviting. Before your open house, “walk through each room, opening the blinds and curtains and turning on all the lights,” says Kenny Truong, founder of Fast Real Estate. “Purchase new bedside lamps, install under cabinet lighting, and add accent lights to fireplace mantles or built-in shelving.”
Longer term preparation
Refresh Walls
“Paint is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to change the entire feel of a room,” says Pam Chmiel, REALTOR® associate of the Gubb Team at Keller Williams. It can help give your home a modern boost or make it more neutral for buyers’ eyes. Again, you want your rooms to be as neutral as possible so that buyers can picture the life they want to build in the house – not reminisce on your time there. If you painted a decorative scene in your kid’s room, it might be time to break out the primer and paint. “If you’re planning on putting your house on the market, consider painting over dark or too bright walls with a lighter and more neutral color, as a softer canvas makes it easier for buyers to imagine their belongings in the space.”
Boost curb appeal
Your home’s curb appeal might be facing a bit of wear and tear after your residency, but there are several easy ways to sprue it up. Make sure toys and bikes are put away, pressure wash your driveway and deck, and check to see if all your outside light bulbs are working. More in-depth changes include cleaning out your gutters and roof, mowing your lawn, and cutting back trees and shrubs. To add to the appeal, consider a little gardening. According to Quentin Dane, CEO of Dash Carolina, “Colorful flowering plants in pots, window boxes, or hanging planters are a quick and inexpensive way to make your home’s exterior look happy and inviting.”
Add furniture or hardware
Though you don’t want too much clutter in your rooms, you also don’t want to stage an empty or worn-down house. By refreshing outdated cabinets or cabinet pulls, you can update your house in a fast and easy way. By adding in furniture, you can make your house more ‘homey’ and welcoming. “Adding [some] furniture to an empty house will sell a house faster, because most buyers have trouble imagining the space for themselves when they’re looking at blank floors and walls,” says Carmela Laurella, president of CL Properties. “They often have trouble figuring out where they’d put a couch or whether their own furniture would fit in the new space.”
Following a staging checklist can help you not only sell faster but may even help your home sell at a higher price. The more buyer interest your house gathers, the more likely you are to receive competing offers that could exceed your asking price. If you would like to learn more about ways to sell fast or increase your home’s value, let us know. In addition to our purchase products, we have Renovation Loans that could help you boost your home’s value as well.
Sources: My Domain
