subject: Giving Your Home A Makeover [print this page] If you are planning to sell your house, it makes sense to do what you reasonably can to increase its value. There are some measures you can take to ensure that you can ask for a good price, whether or not you choose to use the services of an agent. If you have the funds, by all means hire a decorator and restoration team. However, even if your budget is relatively small, some basic work can make quite a big difference. Many of these tasks come under the heading of home staging, the use of superficial measures (as opposed to full-on restoration) to make a property appear to its best advantage.
Many visitors to houses that are up for sale notice a rather sanitized, impersonal atmosphere on the premises. This is deliberate. The home has been carefully "cleansed" of traces of the owners' personal history and lives within the residence. This is to prevent visitors from feeling like intruders or thieves. Such a reaction might seem rather irrational. After all, the prospective buyer has not forced the home owners to put the house up for sale. However, it is true that many potential buyers do have just such scruples when they start visiting properties, so proper home staging must take this into account.
At the very least, you should remove photographs, trophies, diplomas, mementos, and other such "giveaways" from visible spots. If you have such belongings or other things you do not want visitors to see, keep them locked up. Placing them in a drawer might not be enough, as some buyers might "test" the furnishings-or happen to be just plain nosey. Packing up your belongings may also be a good way to jump-start the transfer process. Your final move will be less hectic if most of your things are already neatly packed.
Idiosyncratic decorations (i.e. a chandelier made out of antlers, unusual paintings, etc.) may also be inadvisable. Try to go for generic design elements, mostly in bright colors so as to make the house look larger. The fact that basic home staging favors generic elements works in the favor of people with limited budgets: you do not have to spend a great deal of money for expensive decorations to impress visitors. Some odd decorative touches may draw attention to desirable places, but the difference between charmingly quirky and off-puttingly strange is quite subjective and difficult to determine. Use soft fabrics and pillows to make a space look more welcoming. A bathroom should probably display a few brand-new products, like sweet-smelling soaps still in their wrappers. The products prevent the room from looking too sparse, but their unopened state prevents the room from looking too personal or sloppy. Home staging is full of such delicate balancing acts.
Home staging is, of course, not just about the inside of the house. You must give the property some "curb appeal" by attending to the exterior, as well. Keep the yard and porch in good condition with regular sweeping and mowing. If the paint on the exterior is a looking a little worn, invest in a fresh paint job. If your property does not really have a yard, or if your yard is very plain (only grass, perhaps), try making your exterior appear brighter and more welcoming with some easy-to-manage potted flowers.
