While staging your home may not seem like an important task when selling your home, it can easily mean the difference between a home selling quickly for the desired price and a home sitting on the market for longer than needed. Many agents will agree, decorating and highlighting your home’s assets has an impact on how the buyer views a home, how long a home sits on the market, and for how much it sells. In today’s market, it’s important to follow some simple best practices to greatly improve your chances at selling your home in a shorter time frame and for more. Here are some quick tips for staging your home
1. Curb Appeal and First Impression
For Sale Sign: First thing to note is that signage is important. It says a lot about how you regard your property: with pride or without. Signs should be clear, prominent, and dignified.
Trees and shrubs: Cutting these back can greatly enhance and accent a home, instead of leaving parts hidden. With a little effort and a minimal toolkit, it’s easy to trim back some shrubs and trees. Add in a little pruning, and you will be impressed with the results, and so will the potential buyers who will surely feel better about the home as soon as they step out of their vehicle. As we’ve all heard before, first impressions are important and you only get one!
Mow lawn: Keeping a freshly trimmed, edged, and mowed lawn is important. I recommend having it done before the weekends, as this is when most showings occur. If there isn’t enough time or energy for you to do it yourself, consider hiring a local professional to ensure your lawn is in order, so that your home stands out in the right way.
Paint the Trim: While it can be an expensive task that pays off well, oftentimes it isn’t necessary to paint the entire front of a house. A simple painting of the trim can offer your home a clean appearance with minimal investment of time or money. Make sure you choose the appropriate color.
Clear the walkways: For some surfaces, pressure washing may be necessary. However, many times, all one needs to do is simply walk through driveways, patios, and walkways and remove any obstructions or debris.
2. Remove Personal Items
When a potential homeowner walks into your home, it’s rather important for them to be able to imagine themselves living there personally. So, to help that fantasy along, it’s wise to remove that picture of you and Uncle Joe at his bachelor party in Vegas. While this may seem like a fun talking point, it doesn’t assist in letting people connect with the house. Don’t get me wrong, it is recommended to have something on the wall, but it’s a better choice to have pictures of landscapes or other scenery.
Additionally, remove any clothes from immediate view, put away any toothbrushes or other hygiene items, and consider removing anything that may be viewed as too religious or spiritual.
Remember, it’s better to feel a bit less at home at this point, because a cleaner slate, so to speak, helps create a better connection during showings.
3. Mind Your Furniture
While most house hunters won’t be making you any offers on your furniture, it’s not about selling them that old couch in the living room. However, worn-out furniture does not help make a house stand out from the rest. A quick tip I often use is purchasing some slipcovers or pillows to brighten up some furniture quickly and easily.
Rearranging furniture isn’t just for feng shui masters. Moving around your furniture to create as much open space as possible serves very practical purposes: it helps buyers get around the space, and allows them to begin visualizing their own furniture in each room.
I recommend storing away any unnecessary furniture, especially anything over-sized or damaged.
Remember, each home is different and my personal recommendations will change depending on the unique features of each home. It doesn’t always cost much to stage a home to sell, while other times it is well worth the time investment. Working with an agent like myself helps to make smart decisions in the home staging process. Specific changes that add value to your home and really alter a home buyer’s for the best are what I focus on when selling homes in the Shenandoah Valley area. Contact me today for a no obligation consult on home staging.
