subject: How To Sell Your Home With Home Staging [print this page] Selling your home can be stressful - you are leaving an area you know, a home you have lived in possibly for years, and your future plans can depend on the successful sale of your home. A show day is an indispensable element in the home selling process, and it can really get to you at times if you don't equip yourself with some valuable home staging tricks.
Home staging is the process of arranging your home in a way that will make it more appealing to prospective buyers. For that to happen you need to start looking at your home through a client's eyes.
The first place to start is obviously out in the street. Does the pavement need to be swept, trees trimmed, fence painted? Can you see the number of your house from where you're standing? Once inside the yard, you need to make sure the lawn is neatly mowed, trees and bushes trimmed and toys and garden implements packed away. Windows, windowsills and corners should be clean and free of cobwebs and outdoor light fittings clean and working. If you want to make your house look more appealing, then place some potted yellow flowers where they can be seen by visiting buyers.
Inside the house go from room to room and check the following:
There is no speck of dust on your light fittings and they are all working; Holes in the walls that need to be patched and painted; If possible, the entire house should be painted in the same color, preferably a neutral one; Remove clutter and excess furniture The whole place that needs to be spotless, even the areas you don't usually bother to clean; The carpets and rugs are thoroughly vacuumed; There is no inch of your floor left unpolished.
Buyers will look into every cupboard and kitchen cabinet, so make sure they are clean and packed neatly. Clear the kitchen counters of appliances, and empty the bookcases. Remove all personal photographs - these tend to distract buyers from the house itself.
When you've made sure that the whole place is in apple-pie order you can start the make-up process. You are creating an illusion, making your home look bigger, brighter and more welcoming. To the buyer, your collection of fridge magnets is distracting, possibly even irritating, and could put them off the rest of the house too.
If your house is in need of a more inviting look, soft fabrics will do the trick. Plants and flowers add life to a room, as do a few strategically placed knick knacks in a bookcase or on a shelf. But remember to put them together in uneven numbers.
If you want to attract attention to a specific feature, such as granite countertops in the kitchen, put a bowl of bright, shiny fruit or some colorful cookbooks on the counter. You can make your bathroom look more spa-like if you place a basket with soaps and rolled hand or face towels, wrapped in ribbon, or if you place around some scented, nicely colored candles. If you don't have some new and fluffy towels, you can always put in some older ones that you washed and conditioned first.
As difficult as it may be, it is advisable to remove all pets from the property for the day. Since there are people who are not particularly fond of pets, there should be no sign of them inside or outside the house.
A warmly scented home makes for a more welcoming one, and one of the secrets to achieving that is to put a few cinnamon sticks on a tray in the oven. All you have to do is warm them up and leave the oven open for approximately thirty minutes to allow their spice to spread around the house. Freshly ground coffee and baked bread are great smells in a kitchen too.
Home staging is like putting on a show, and you may feel like you are trying to trick people into buying your home. However, much the same as stores arrange their shelves and merchandise in a particular way to entice shoppers to buy their goods, home staging is the real estate equivalent. Remember that you are trying to make your home appealing to different people, and neutral decor, not personal decor, will appeal to a broader spectrum. Home staging can make the difference between interested and buying.
