Home Staging Tips
Once your home goes on the market, it becomes a product. Home Styling or Staging simply allows you to highlight the best of your home and de-emphasize its flaws. It’s not about decorating, but actually turning your home into a model, to appeal to the broadest range of prospective buyers. The goal is to make people feel like they could live there, and the best way to do this is to “neutralize” the surroundings.
Below you can find the best tips from stagers and real estate pros-things you can do for little or no expense to put your home in prime showing shape.
Curb appeal
Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, shovel the snow. Don’t go crazy with landscaping but consider a potted or hanging plant as you approach the front door. Clean the front door, railing and deck.
Declutter
Clear out closets and clutter one room and closet at a time and remove everything you don’t use or won’t need in the next few months. Donate it to charity, let a friend re-use it or rent a storage space for things you really can’t part with, Sellers can give away or pack up toys, linens, and small kitchen appliances to store offsite. Buyers are also forgiving of storage boxes neatly tucked away in a garage or basement. Focus most on the most visible areas such as the foyer, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, and family room.
Edit the furniture
Many rooms look better minus one piece of furniture. If you see that’s the case, put the extra easy chair in storage along with your clutter.
Paint to please
Walls that need to be painted should be done in neutral colors. Strong or vibrant colors need to be painted.
Nix what you notice
Walk up stairs, down halls and into every room and see what draws your eye. Chipped paint, old nail holes, peeling wallpaper. These are all buyer turn-offs. Fix them.
Light, air and flowers
Before your home is shown, open all curtains, turn on some lights and air it out for 10 minutes. Fresh flowers are a nice touch in a couple of places.
Bring in another pair of eyes
Even if it is not a professional stylist, the person may see problems you and have missed.
This helpful article is provided by Setting the Stage – REALTOR® Magazine Online.