Home staging is a popular trend in preparing your home for a sale. Professional home stagers, as well as real estate agents can offer valuable advice on how to prepare your home to make it sell faster, and at a higher price! The suggestions that you get from these professionals come from their prior experience and knowledge of why some homes sell quickly, and why others remain on the market for extended periods of time. The following are the top five things that you can do to stage your home on your own, but remember: your real estate agent has your best interests at heart and wants to help you sell your house for more money!
1. Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover? Well, at least make sure the cover looks nice.
Before potential buyers even step foot through your front door, they probably have already formed some opinions about your home. Don't forget to stage the outside too! Real estate agents often call this 'curb appeal.' If you want to attract serious buyers, you must get them interested, and through the front door.
- Make sure that your gutters and roof are clean and in working order. If necessary, have your roof pressure washed, or your gutters cleared out.
- Check around your home to see if there are any plants or trees that are blocking your windows. If necessary, prune these bushes to allow as much light as possible in through your windows.
- Keep up yard maintenance: mow your lawn, prune your bushes, remove any dead or dying plants and remove weeds from any flower beds.
- Remove clutter from your garage or shed, and place these items into storage. Many companies offer a portable storage service that delivers containers to your door, to make storage easy.
Prospective buyers want to envision how your home would look with their family living in it. While they want it to feel homey, they still want to have room for their furniture and for the house to feel spacious. In order to make your home feel roomy, make sure you have appropriate furniture in each room, while keeping everything simple and uncluttered.
- Make a walk through of your home with your real estate agent or a home staging expert. They will be able to go though with a critical eye, and tell you what will look best to a potential buyer. Don't be offended- they have your best interests in mind! Most people have more furniture than what is actually needed to furnish a home, and professionals can help you remove any extra pieces.
- Rearrange any furniture as necessary to create a spacious and inviting feeling. At times, this may include removing and storing furniture- just think of it as a head start on packing!
- Clear any personal items from counter tops, bookshelves and the tops of furniture.
- Limit any decorative touches to neutral items, such as flowers. If you are going to decorate, groupings of one, three or five items are generally pleasing to the eye.
- Open all shades and window coverings to allow in as much light as possible. Sheer window coverings can be used in rooms where you need to let in light, while masking the view.
- Clean any carpets or drapes that need cleaning, tighten door handles and replace any burnt out light bulbs- every detail counts!
The kitchen is typically the focal point of a home. From holiday gatherings to evening dinners, the kitchen is the place where everyone socializes. There are two important things that your kitchen should be: homey, and functional. If you can highlight these attributes, potential buyers are sure to love your home!
- Make your kitchen appear to have ample work space. One of the most effective ways of doing this is to clear any unnecessary objects from your counters, and store any appliances that you do not us often.
- Though your child's art and refrigerator magnets may make your kitchen seem homey to you, they will not attract buyers. Keep them in a storage container for now, and they can go back up immediately in your new home!
- A bit of touch up paint can make your kitchen look fresh and new! Another great trick- put high wattage bulbs in your kitchen. A well lit kitchen is a big plus in the real estate world!
- The smell if your kitchen is also very important. Aromas such as freshly baked cookies, coffee brewing or mild potpourri will make your kitchen feel like home. Distasteful odors such as cooked fish have the opposite effect. It never hurts to pop some cookies in the oven fifteen minutes before a home tour.
A clean bathroom conveys the impression of a well maintained home. By keeping your bathrooms in tip-top shape, you can make your home stand out. It is important for our bathrooms to impress!
- Even though you are likely still living in the house, it is essential to keep the bathroom clean at all times. This may mean spending five extra minutes switching in a clean set of towels, having a dry floor mat and using the squeegee on glass shower doors.
- To make your shower look like new, a cheap fix is to replace the shower curtain, and to place a fresh bar of soap in each of your soap dishes.
- Before you leave your home, clear off all personal items from the counter tops, tubs, shower stalls and commode tops.
- Deep clean it! Remove any mold and mildew from your bathroom. You may need to re-caulk some areas, but the time you spend here is worth it.
Although this is the most difficult part, it is the most important. If you start a routine of making your bed, putting things away, and taking out the trash- you are on the right track. If you are able to keep your home neat, you will always be ready for an unexpected, last minute visit that just may be your buyer!
- Before you leave your house: make your bed, put away any clothes that are on the floor, put down all toilet seats and hang clean towels by the sinks.
- In your kitchen, remove crumbs from your counter tops, and put away the small appliances that you have on the counter tops.
- Turn on all of your lights when you leave- just in case someone stops by!
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