Staging a Home to Sell

Staging a home to sell is the art of making a house inviting to a potential home buyer so that they can envision living there and an essential first step to selling your home.

Even the most desirable home can sit on the market waiting to be sold.

Careful planning to spruce up your home before you put your house on the market will leave a lasting impression on potential buyers.

Selling a home can be an emotional time but if you want to get top dollar you need to let your emotions go and think of your house as just a structure to be sold.

Staging a home to sell is not like decorating your home where you want to showcase your prized possessions. Your personal stuff like family photos might look great but will only distract a potential buyer.

It is amazing how much stuff we accumulate. Take one room at a time and be ruthless about getting rid of the things you do not use or need.

If you have not used something in three months pack it now and store it away, and if you have not used it in a year it is time for it to be donated or tossed.

You are going to have mixed feelings at first but they will soon be replaced with a sense of order and appreciation for your new uncluttered surroundings. Besides it will be less for you to take to the new house.

Rent a storage unit to store the things you want to keep but are not necessary to show with the house. A lot of us have too much furniture and homes for sale will show better by taking some pieces out leaving just enough to show the home’s potential.

The goal when staging a home to sell is to create a greater sense of space in the home especially the closets. Buyers will go looking and if your closets are neat and organized it sends a message that the rest of the home was properly looked after.

If you will be keeping your window treatments or the dining room chandelier, remove these items before you begin to show your house. This way potential buyers won't want them and possibly blow the deal.

Clean your house really well, especially the bathrooms and the kitchen. Make sure to hit the spots that sometimes get overlooked like behind the toilets.

This may sound obvious but clean out the refrigerator, dust the furniture including the ceiling fan blades, light fixtures and cobwebs and vacuum every day while the house is on the market.

Air out the rooms and remove any odors. Not saying your house smells but odors of any kind are a turn off and since you live there so you may not pick up on any. Ask someone who doesn’t live in the house to give your house a smell check, and remove any trace of a pet, (dog beds, leashes, litter boxes) for those home buyers that are not pet owners.

When staging a home to sell, you want the home to appear bright.

Open the draperies to sparkling clean windows inside and out to allow light to filter in. Make sure to have the highest wattage possible in all of your lamps (and that they all work) and turn them on when showing the house.

For walls to look fresh painting is relatively inexpensive and has a huge impact on how your house will look. Patch any holes in the walls and paint in a warm neutral warm tone, as white can be too stark and not add any appeal to the rooms.

Rent a pressure washer to clean the exterior of the home and the sidewalks. Paint any trim that has faded and trim bushes back so they are not blocking the house and make sure your house number can be seen.

Yellow evokes a buying emotion so group flower pots of marigolds or plant flower beds with yellow blooms.

Enter your home through the front door as though you are a potential home buyer to see your house through their eyes.

Does your house feel welcoming? Do you want to step inside?

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