Stage your house to sell and attract potential buyers and receive multiple offers. Multiple offers are the ideal situation when you desire the best price and conditions for the sale of your home. Home staging highlights your homes best features. Staging doesn’t have to be difficult or costly. A staged home makes it easier for buyers to visualize the property as their future home.
1. Impressive first impression with curb appeal
Make buyers excited to see your home. I’ve had buyers change their minds about seeing the interior of a home when the exterior cries of neglect and disrepair. Most buyers will first drive by a home for sale before making an appointment to view. Ensure the exterior of your home is in tip top shape. Paint the front door if needed. Make sure the fence is not falling over. Trim back hedges and clean up gardens. Ensure the exterior has working lights for evening viewings.
2. Declutter and depersonalize your home
A decluttered home looks and feels spacious, clean, and inviting. A clutter free home presents the impression that the home has been well cared for and maintained by the seller. A cluttered house is distracting to the buyer and can feel short on storage space. Remove family photographs and store collectibles to aid in depersonalizing your home. Buyers want to envision themselves living in the home.
3. Thorough clean inside and outside your home
Have your whole house cleaned from top to bottom. Organize every drawer, pantry, closet and room. Buyers will look inside closets, bathroom, and kitchen cabinets. Thoroughly clean those areas. Clean your windows, trim, carpets and furniture. Carpets and furniture hold odours that you may be immune to with everyday exposure. Don’t forget to clean up your yard of any garbage or debris.
4. Kitchen staging
Make sure your kitchen is shiny clean. Declutter your counter tops of appliances and make room for them in your cabinets. All appliances should be clean and in good working order. Upgrade your lighting in the kitchen and update cabinets with modern fixture.
5. Bathroom staging
A fresh look in the bathroom can be accomplished with new towels and shower curtain. A display of flameless candles, soaps and fancy hand towels can give a bathroom a spa like impression. Make sure your bathrooms are spotless and that all plumbing is functional. Declutter bathroom counter, cabinets and shower of personal items and shampoos. Make a space in your linen closets for these items.
6. Living room staging
The living room is usually the first room buyers will enter and assess. Make sure to remove excess furniture to make the room feel spacious and inviting. Clean the entire room and all surfaces, declutter of excess pillows and blankets. Use a combination of lighting from natural light to lamps and dimmers to make a living room a relaxing place. Remove and store personal items, books, magazines, and collectibles.
7. Bedroom staging
Clean the room thoroughly from floor to ceiling. Closets should be tidy and not overflowing with clothing and articles. Invest the time in decluttering your closet and storing items you wish to keep. Depersonalize the space of photos, personal effects, and jewelry. Clean all bed linens or replace with new ones. Add lamps in the bedroom for additional lighting. Clean or replace old worn flooring. Paint the room if it hasn’t been done in many years. Remove excess furniture in the bedroom and store offsite or in a rented storage pod.
8. Repairs, replacements, and maintenance of homes equipment
Dirty walls, flooring and chipping paint can be easily fixed. Inspect your home visually for cracks that you can repair. Paint or wash walls to brighten up a room. Chipped paint and broken fixture make a home look neglected and in disrepair. Have your homes equipment maintained and inspected like heating system, cooling system and electrical system.
Roy Thomas SRES® (Senior’s Real Estate Specialist) is a REALTOR® with Sutton Group Professional Realty. Since 1991, Roy specializes in helping retirees with their later in life real estate transactions. Call Roy at 902-497-3031 or contact Roy here
