Staging Your Home

Home staging is the process of preparing a house for sale in such a way that it creates immediate buyer interest.  Its sprucing up your home in small inexpensive ways. The result...a house that is market ready and appealing to a wide variety of buyers.  Studies indicate that most buyers make a decision about a home within the first fifteen seconds of walking in the door.  The message here is you never have a second chance to make a first impression. 

1.  De-clutter: Start the packing process early by removing the clutter in your house.  Small knick-knacks, collectibles, excess toys and miscellaneous papers should all be removed before showing your house to buyers.  Take pictures off the refrigerator and remove papers on the desk. Go room by room and decide whether you will keep it, store it, donate it or sell it. Removing clutter will instantly increase the visual size of  your room. How you live in your home is not how you sell it. Remember, you are selling your house not your stuff!

2.  De-personalize: Start removing personal photos, awards, collectibles, and other individualized items. Be ruthless.  The goal is to have your home look like a model home. Deperso-nalizing your home allows buyers to envision themselves living in the house.  When buyers see your personal photos or collectibles displayed in the house, the only person they can imagine in the house is you.

3.  Arrange Furniture:  Furniture layout determines the visual size and "flow" of the room.  Take note of how the furniture is placed in your house.  Is there a  focal point in each room?  Are there easy pathways around the furniture?  Try to arrange the room in a conversational way and experiment with different layouts to see what looks best.  Move unneeded pieces to the garage or a storage unit.  Use size appropriate furniture.  You don't want massive king sized furniture in a small bedroom.

4. Re-Arrange Closets and Cabinets:  Buyers love to snoop and will open closet and cabinet doors.   Make sure yours are well organized by neatly stacking dishes, alphabetizing spice jars, turning coffee cup handles the same way, hanging shirts together buttoned and facing the same direction and lining up shoes.

5.  Accent Placement:  Place only a few key decorative items in focal points of each room.  If you have a  mantle make sure it is not overloaded with knick knacks. Leaving minimal decor pieces allow buyers to see the house and not be distracted by the decorations.  Properly placed home accents will help sell the life-style when you are marketing your house. 

6. Color Choices:  Freshen up outdated or dirty walls with a new coat of paint.  Painting is the least expensive way to update a room.  Consider soft, neutral colors that appeal to a broad range of buyers while avoiding start white or paint that is too bright.  Choose wisely, wall color sets the atmosphere in a room.

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7.Clean: Deep clean. You are in competition with many other houses as well as new construction homes.  Make your house feel as  fresh as possible by throughly cleaning everything from light fixtures to baseboards.  Cleaning will also help to eliminate any odors left by pets, smoking, or cooking.  Don't rely on candles or heavy room sprays to cover up unwanted scents; it is best to get rid of the source of the odor.

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8.Consider Curb Appeal: Curb appeal is exactly what it sounds like.  When potential buyers pull up to the curb in front of your home you want the home to appeal to them as much as possible. If a buyer won't get out of the car because they don't like the exterior of your home you won't get them inside. Keep the sidewalks cleared, sweep the porch, mow the lawn, paint faded window trim, trim your bushes and make sure visitors can see your house numbers. Eliminate outside clutter and clean up oil stains on the driveway.  Fix any broken gutters and replace or polish door hardware.  Fresh flowers in a pot and a new doormat at your entry are very inviting!

9. Rent A Storage Unit:  Almost  every home shows better with less furniture.  Remove pieces that block paths and walkways and put them in storage. Remove the extra leaves from your dining room table to make the room appear larger.  Leave just enough to showcase the room's purpose and plenty of room to move around.  Items that are seldom used should also be put in storage.

10.  Other Suggestions:  Let in some fresh air, consider having soft music in the background, open the window treatments, grind a lemon peel in the garbage disposal, add some fresh flowers, bake cookies in the oven for an Open House.  Don't forget to always leave the lights on even during the day to make the home as bright as possible.