24 Easy Staging Tips that will Help Sell Your Home in a Tough Market
Posted by Ben Roberts on February 23rd, 2009
There are a lot of homes on the market in Northwest Arkansas and around the country. Depending on the area and price of your home, you may be competing with ten, fifty, even hundreds of other properties. Here are easy staging tips to help you differentiate your property and make it stand out in a buyer’s mind.
You never get a second chance…at a first impression
The view of your home from the road should be as stunning as possible. Make sure…
- Lawn is mowed, edged, and free from debris.
- If your door and shutters are different colors, repaint the door to match or paint to the one that is more neutral in color.
- Make sure gutters are clear and free of debris.
- Power wash windows and siding or brick. This makes your home sparkle .
- Clean up and put fresh mulch in flower beds. This makes the house seem brand new.
- Put potted plants outside in strategic areas to provide color and embellishment.
- Decking should be freshly sealed or painted with any unsightly or misshapen boards replaced.
- Buy a new welcome mat.
Kitchens and Living Rooms – Deal makers and deal breakers
Your kitchen and living room are the two most important rooms in the house to prospective buyers. Make sure they look their best by…
- Making them warm and inviting with good use of space, light, and decor.
- Clear the rooms of family portraits and anything that makes the home seem like the buyers don’t live there.
- Sparse is better than cluttered…too much furniture is usually a turn-off to buyers
- Don’t overload mantles, shelves, or counter tops with personal things.
- Replace dim 60 or 75 watt bulbs with 100 watt bulbs (or CFL’s) to brighten up the room
- Open blinds…let the house be seen!
- Clean…clean…clean! It’s cheap and it makes quite an impression. No one likes dust bunnies.
Bathrooms and Bedrooms…the icing on the proverbial cake
- Think about comfort in everything you do. Nothing sells a home like comfort.
- Use neutral color and paint schemes. Earth tones are safe…pastels are not. Never have I seen a buyer LOVE a purple bedroom.
- Limit the furniture in bedrooms and bathrooms to make the space appear larger and feel roomier.
- Clean out your closets! Buyers hate to see their own cluttered closets…they certainly don’t want to see yours.
- If you have nice matching bedding great…if not…get it. It will more than pay for itself in the sell of your home.
- Remember to remove personal pictures. Leave art, landscape and building photography, sculptures, etc. in the home as part of the decor.
Your home will sell because of what you do or don’t do just before it shows
- Strong fragrances are a complete no-no when showing any home. If you have to cover up a smell…bake some cookies or use some febreze one hour before the home shows. Here’s a good example of polishing your home before a showing…the right way.
- If you have pets…do something with them. Whether the buyers love dogs or not, no home was ever bettered by Fido following buyers around the house or barking the whole time.
- Keep the house ’show ready’…shoes in the hallway, towels in the bathroom, paperwork on the kitchen counter…all these things are like personal pictures…it reminds the buyers that this is not their house and distracts them from the showing.
While home staging can be a lot of work, it benefits far out weigh the costs in most situations. If you need justification to spend the time and effort here you go:
- Staging helps you organize and de-clutter your home, in other words, it helps you get ready to move.
- Staging helps you justify the price you are asking. The better staged the house, the less concessions buyers will ask for.
- Staging helps reduce the homes days on market…effecting a quicker sell.
- Staging differentiates you from your home’s competition…creating demand for your home, increasing showings, increasing offers, and creating a home that sells for a higher price.
If you would like additional staging tips by email or a list of reputable staging companies in Northwest Arkansas please contact me for more information.
Are there some off-the-wall staging tips that you would like to share? Please leave a comment below.
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