There are many reasons out there why would you want to sell your home. You might be in a financial struggle and you need the money as soon as possible, or you just want to relocate and upgrade your property. The reasons are not that the house appeals to the potential buyers is important, but in any case, making sure crucial. Sometimes selling processes can prolong for quite long periods, so you have to make sure that you do anything in your power to not have that happen to you. It might be necessary for you to do
some repairs around the house to make it look prettier, but you can also stage some things to make it more appealing.
According to a study by The International Association of Home Staging Professionals, the houses that were staged before being listed got offers averagely in 10.3 days which is around 7 times faster than the houses that did not bother to take this very helpful step and went under contract in an average of 83 days. So if you are wondering what you can do to stage your house better for selling, then keep on reading the following tips.
- Start from the outside
In many instances, potential buyers will drive by the house before setting a foot inside to check it out and see if it’s worth seeing at all. Because of that, it is important that the house looks good from the outside, at least as good as it can look. For this purpose,
you can wash the walkways and sidings, you can put the street number that is easy to spot, put some flowers and greenery, mow your lawn, wash your windows, tidy up your porch, etc.
- Pay attention to the porch
It doesn’t matter if you have a small porch, you should do all that you can to make it more inviting. First of all, make sure that you leave a light on even during the night because, as previously mentioned, some potential buyers might drive by. Clean everything thoroughly, and have a clean doormat. Add some plants or pieces of porch furniture like porch swings, etc.
- Clean up everything
If you are living in the house, you probably
clean it regularly. However, the staging requires a different type of cleaning. You need to wake up the neat freak inside of you and go through all the parts of the house. Every surface of the house should be as clean as possible. If you are not willing to do it yourself, you can hire some professionals to do it for you, but do not skip this step! While you’re at it, make sure that all the unnecessary clutter is gone. For this, you may want to get a storage unit or something that will help you keep all your stuff. The less the clutter, the more the space and openness of the house in the eyes of the buyers.
- Depersonalize the space
If the house that you’re selling is the one that you have been living in for some time, then you surely have things that make it feel like home. Things connected to you and your family, things that make you who you are. However, when staging a house you have to keep the personalized items to a minimum, so the potential buyer can imagine how it will look like with their personal items in. Start with the family photos. Then move on to things like specific décor, political memorabilia, religious items, sports team items, etc. Instead of things like these, put generic neutral décor and art that appeals to every type of people. This may seem like too much, or even hurtful—you need to “hide” your precious belongings. However, it is very important to let the imagination of the buyer run wild on how they would put their own personal belongings at their new home.
- Re-organize your furniture
Now, you may like your home arranged the way it is. Especially since you’re probably used to it. However, when it comes to staging the house for potential buyers, you have to think of another thing and that is
space. You need to make the illusion that the place is more spacious than it actually is, and you can optically achieve that by arranging the furniture in such a way that it gives the place space. Know
how to detox your space visually. Put things in a way that gives as much walkable space as possible. Buyers will go through that space and visualize how their own things will fit in. Take away all the furniture that is damaged, too old, too big, or doesn’t go well with the other things in the house. It is better for the house to be emptier, but prettier than the other way around.
Make sure to work with a professional Stager to properly advise you on what to keep and what to store or donate. Guessing at this could lead to you emptying your house too much that it feels stark and then had the opposite effect on buyers you were hoping to achieve. To locate a professionally trained and accredited home stager, go to www.Stagedhomes.com and search the online directory.
- Fix things
Even though you’re going to be selling the home, fixing things is sometimes necessary. If things are falling apart then the selling process of the house can go longer. Try your best to fix any nicks, holes, scratches, and similar things to make sure that the impression of the home will be positive. You can hire somebody to do this for you, or you can do it yourself. It doesn’t have to be very well done, it just has to look good for the potential buyers. The condition of the home and how well you maintained it through the years will tell a lot to a buyer. Take time before you go on the market to address any issues of repair.
- Think like a buyer
Put yourself in the shoes of the buyers. Imagine that you are the one that comes in your home and looks at everything for the first time. This way, you can easily spot things that are out of place or might leave a bad first impression to the potential buyers. Clean up thing, fix and re-patch things, remove unnecessary objects, let a lot of light in the rooms, put fresh flowers, etc. If it’s winter, put some cozy things in sight, if it’s spring put plenty of plants. Do all the things that you would like to find in the new house that you’re perhaps buying.
Author bio:
Gary Peterson is working at NCSM. He was born and raised in New York. Gary is a professional writer who specializes in SEO, social problems, email marketing, and healthcare. He likes traveling and taking gorgeous photos of nature. Rock music is something that inspires him. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter. 