Top 10 tips to Successful House Staging
Preparing your house for selling can be a daunting and overwhelming task – whether you have lived in your house for just a few years or many more. The longer you have lived in your house the more things you will have acquired. The intent of this Top 10 Tips for Successful House Staging is to help you save TIME, MONEY and ENERGY.
In preparing your house for selling you need to take a step back and have the mind set that this is no longer your house but your investment for your future. You want your house to have broad buyer appeal to your target market. Following these guidelines will help you sell your house sooner and possibly for more money than if you did not prepare it for selling. Remember most people want to move into their new house without first having to make updates to it.
1. Curb Appeal Stand back and view your house as if you were seeing it for the first time. This is the ‘first impression’ stage. Depending on the season you may want to have pots of colorful and attractive flowers to greet buyers, a clean and inviting door mat, new and shiny door handles and/or knockers, or a freshly painted door.
2. Declutter Start your pre-pack as soon as possible. You need to decide what you are going to keep, give away, sell or throw away/recycle. Many homeowners will rent storage lockers or have pods delivered so they can start to clear out what is not going to make the house look good.
3. Clean You would think this one is common sense, but it still needs reiterating. A clean house translates into “They must have really cared for their house,” to potential buyers. Use environmentally friendly cleaners where you can, and use a good all purpose cleaner for those harder-to-clean areas. Bathrooms and kitchens must be sparkling clean at the very least.
4. Depersonalize We know you love your family photos and personal treasures and for living they are perfect. For selling, pack them up carefully so you can showcase them in your new house. For selling, you want buyers to focus on the best features of your house and not your personal things or collections.
5. A neutral color scheme is the way to go. Choose only 3 colors or less to paint your house for selling. If you have an open floor plan then paint the main floor all the same color. Bedrooms look good in light sage greens or warm blues like the new aqua.
6. Highlight your house’s best architectural features. Place your furniture in each room so that you have very obvious focal points that show off the house’s best selling features. For example, if you have a beautiful fireplace then place the furniture in a parallel grouping so that the eye is drawn to the fireplace.
7. Decide on the function in each room. If you were using your guest bedroom as your den for living, for selling turn it back into a bedroom with bedroom furniture in it. If you do not have the right furniture for each room consider renting it. There are more and more rental furnishing companies opening up every day. If you don’t want to rent then borrow.
8. Lighting your house to its best advantage. Spend money on new light fixtures in brushed nickel or stainless steel. Brass is out so don’t fight it. There are many low-cost lighting stores to select from so no excuses for having dated light fixtures.
9. Window treatments that sell your house. The most popular on the market are the 2” faux woods in a white tone to go with your trim. Decorative side panels will do the trick if you need to add warmth and color.
10. Flooring needs special attention and is a good investment for updating the look of your house. Tile or linoleum is great for entryways, bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms; a good quality laminate or hardwood is perfect for living rooms and family rooms; bedrooms are attractive in a neutral carpet.
The Home Seller’s Process
Are you getting ready to sell your home? If so, there are a few things that you will need to do to prepare the house for sale.
Through the Buyer’s Eyes
Seller’s Checklist
Tips for Selling your House
House Renovation Tips
Add Curb Appeal
Should you Sell or Remodel?
The Do’s & Don’t of Presale Updating
The Impact of Overpricing
Staging a Home
When an Offer is Made