By: Danielle Harris
So are you ready to put your home on the market? The first obstacle is always out with the old, meaning you must get rid of that place you’re currently calling home to allow you to move into the next dream estate! We only get one shot with potential buyers coming to view your home. So you want them to envision themselves living there. They need to walk in and feel at home and not as if they have entered into a strangers place. Too many personal items around the house can be distracting and off putting. but completely bare rooms can also come off as cold and impersonal. So what do you need to do when you are getting ready to list your home for sale? In my opinion, home staging is the perfect solution to add a little boost in selling your home! Does it really work you ask? Well according to agents it most certainly does! Based on a survey by the NAR, 80% of real estate agents representing buyers said staging made it easier for their buyers to see themselves in the home. 23% of agents said that home staging led to increased offers between 1% and 5% compared to similar homes that weren’t staged. Staging can even get your home sold faster! According to HomeAdvisor, homes that have been staged spend between 33% and 50% less time on the market! So what does staging your home mean exactly? Well it can look a lot of different ways but overall staging a home means preparing a property for sale by temporarily furnishing and decorating various rooms to make it more attractive and appealing to the masses. If you think home staging is the way to go for you, here are a few of my quick tips to make sure you are getting it done right:
- Get a consultation first. It’s always important that whoever you are hiring to stage your home does a complete walk through consultation of the spaces. Not only does this help the stager to get a feel for what is needed per room, but it also allows full transparency if the stager feels you need to do some larger improvements such as remove wallpaper, paint walls, replace carpets, etc. even if you are planning on staging the home yourself, paying for a consultation to make sure you are getting the best advice is always recommended!
- Do a deep clean. The last thing you want is for grimy baseboards and dirty bathrooms to detract from a beautiful home! If you decide to stage your space, before you move in the staging items, have your home deep cleaned so that it’s move-in ready! You might want to hire a professional cleaning service to really get all the nooks and crannies!
- Take the smell test. Our sense of smell is sometimes our very first impression and many times homeowners don’t even notice the odors of their own home! This can be a huge red flag and deterrent to a prospective homebuyer walking in for the first time. So make sure you have your agent or a friend do the “smell test” to make sure there isn’t anything lingering that is unpleasant. During showings I always say your best bet is to bake cookies or use cookie-scented candles when showing a home. This makes it feel more homely and welcoming. Buyers will always be more fond of the fresh cookie home than the stinky home!
- Choose key rooms. Staging an entire house can get expensive and rather overwhelming. While staging is important, you don’t necessarily need to stage every room. Instead, focus on key rooms area such as the great room, kitchen, and owners suite. This way potential buyers can get a sense of how the space feels in the areas of the home they are living in the most!
- Stage according lifestyle. If you’re selling a cozy cottage, it wouldn’t make sense to stage it with luxury leather furniture and expensive art pieces. Similarly, if you’re trying to sell a modern condo near downtown, a farmhouse look probably isn’t going to inspire buyers. Think about the prospective buyers and what their ideal living space would look like.
- Keep it minimal. You don’t need to fully furnish rooms as if someone were actually going to be living there. Instead, you want to provide the space with a certain aesthetic and general feel of livability and coziness! Make sure there isn’t too much clutter and the furniture is placed to make the room feel its largest. Keep the number of nick nacks in each room to a minimum, and accessorize the walls with taller oversized artwork so that you can just lean against the walls preventing to have to patch holes etc. If you need to paint walls, make sure it’s light and airy colors to help open up the space up.
Overall, there are so many ways to stage a home that will more than likely help you sell it faster and at a better price. Whatever steps and direction you decide to take, keep in mind that you are doing it to make the new buyer feel at home. Remember to keep your personal style out of the equation and you will be on to designing your new home quicker than you can say “where do I sign?”
