“Home Staging” Can Make the $$ Difference in Selling Your Home

E.E. Ward Offers Some Recommendations

You want to sell your house fast and for the most money possible.  Staging is a proven marketing tool that sellers and realtors have used to get top dollar and sell more quickly than their competition.  94% of homes that have been staged have gone into contract in 30 days or less.

The most important thing you can do to prepare your home for sale is to get rid of clutter.  When professional stagers come into a home being prepared for sale, they often remove half of the owner’s furnishings to make the house look more spacious. You don’t need to make such drastic cuts; take a dispassionate look at what you have and consider what you can live without – at least in the short-term.Take a look at some of these quick tips for more staging recommendations.

Clean Everything– Cleaning off dirty surfaces will make your rooms look more inviting and open.

Pet Odors– Make sure to keep your home smelling fresh and clean. Though you love your puppy, any potential home buyers walking through the house will definitely not love his smell and they may end up associating your beautiful home with these odors.

De-Clutter– Though it’s important to make sure your rooms aren’t completely empty, having too many of your personal items sitting out can be distracting. For example, having a few books on a bookshelf will give rooms a livable energy, but a completely full bookshelf will make the room feel more cluttered, smaller, and less appealing. Make sure to not have too many photos sitting out, as it will be harder for potential home buyers to picture themselves living there. Wires sitting out from all of your electronics are also distracting, so try to hide them away.

Closets– Potential home buyers love to see storage space. Remember that anyone coming through your home will probably want to peek in the closets. Closets will look bigger with less clutter; simply have enough items in your closet to show how the space can be utilized, but don’t leave it completely empty. An easy way to make your closet look more seamless is to replace any wire hangers and make sure your hangers match.

Pantries & Kitchen Cabinets– These are other storage areas that are important to potential home buyers. Having too many cardboard food boxes will make the spaces look smaller, while bringing in glass jars or other matching containers for your food items will make your areas look more modern and organized.

Emphasize Your Spaces– One of the main goals of staging is to emphasize the areas that you have and spark interest in potential home buyers. Ideally, they will be able to picture how they could use the areas. One way to do this is to make your rooms look bigger by utilizing furniture arrangements. This can be done by moving furniture away from the walls and making sure the furniture that is in the room fits and isn’t too close together.

Lighting– It’s important to have luminous lights all around your home to make the areas look bright, larger, and more inviting. Replacing any burnt out light bulbs around your house is an easy fix to help highlight your spaces. Bright white lampshades will also highlight the light from your brand new bulbs, as opposed to darker lampshades that absorb light.

Painting– Lighter, more neutral colors will make your spaces look bigger and brighter, whereas bright, bold colors will distract the potential home buyer and make it more difficult for them to picture themselves living in your home. Softer colors in rooms such as the bedroom will make it feel more relaxing.

Decorating– Decorating is a huge, valuable tool in staging a home, but it is important not to overdo it. While showing your home, take out your mismatched towels and replace them with fluffy white towels and place candles in areas you want to be associated with relaxation. Make sure your decorations blend and that not one item is stealing the show. It’s important that you don’t have conflicting patterns in one room, as this can get distracting to a home buyer. Make sure all frames are hung at eye-level and that you utilize any windows you may have. Adding curtains to plain windows will dress up a room.

Plants– Add some life into your home with some fresh flowers, even if you just grab them from the backyard. Make sure not to use noticeably fake plants!

Unfinished Projects– Maybe you got a little over your head when you decided to take on your latest home DIY project. Try to finish it up or make sure it’s not visible, as it may ward off potential home buyers.

Kitchen Cabinets– If you don’t have the time or money to replace your old kitchen cabinets, spice them up with a fresh coat of paint or a quick stain treatment.

Stainless Steel Is In– That doesn’t mean you need to run out and buy all of the latest stainless steel appliances, but any of these appliances you do have can be played up to appeal to home buyers.

Things That Date Your Home– Getting rid of or at least storing away noticeably dated items can help neutralize your spaces and keep them from being a distraction. So if you still have a pink carpet toilet rug with a matching pink seat cover, this might be a good time to let them go.