Your Home, Your Style, Our Expertise.

Seven Secrets to Successfully Staging Your Home

Just Listed! – Seven Secrets to Successfully Staging Your Home

  1. Remember, it is no longer your home

Of primary importance when preparing to sell your home, accept that it will soon belong to another owner, so be ready to let it go. Distance yourself from your home and remember it is a product for sale. Next, remove personalized items in your home including family photos and items. You will want the potential buyer to see their own family in the home, not to see your family is still living there.

  1. Increase curb appeal

Your home’s exterior can be underemphasized when preparing to sell, but it is one of the most important. When a potential buyer visits, you want them to be impressed with the home upon the first look. To help ensure a great first impression, realtors always recommend a fresh exterior coat of paint. Remember to select a neutral color and to make the paint congruent to the overall look of the home. This is not a time to test out new color schemes.

Here some additional more quick tips for increasing curb appeal:

  • A well-groomed lawn will speak volumes
  • Keep the bushes and trees trimmed
  • Remove weeds, plant bright yellow flowers and lay down a new mulch to give your garden a fresh look
  • Power wash the sidewalk, driveway and exterior to make them like new
  • Clean the windows
  • Feed your lawn so your grass is green to invite new buyers
  1. Messes do not sell houses

It’s not much of a secret, but a cluttered house detracts from your home’s appearance. and if you do nothing else, clean up the messes around your house and clear the clutter. Remember, you want a buyer to be able to imagine living in your home, which means making it look like no one lives there. Think of a model home staged by a builder. Notice any clutter? If a buyer sees that things are picked up and well organized, the home will not only be more appealing visually, they will also assume that you have taken care of your home.

  • Pick up junk and clutter
  • Remove all books from bookcases
  • Do not leave things on the kitchen counters, including appliances like electric can openers and blenders
  • Put items used daily in a box out of sight but easily accessed
  • Neatly stack dishes in the cupboard
  • Clean and organize closets with shirts buttoned and facing the same direction and shoes lined in a row
  1. Some things have got to go

Most houses show better with less furniture, so rent a storage unit and store furniture that crowds your rooms. Remove furniture that block paths and walkways. Since you have cleared your bookshelves, put those in storage, too. Anything you can do to make rooms feel more spacious without making them seem desolate is advantageous. Take a leaf or two out of your dining room table to expand the size of the room. You still need furniture to showcase each room, but chances are good you could remove some.

  1. Want to keep it, then store it

Remove any items you want to take with you that are currently a part of the house. If the in grill bolted into your patio out back is going with you, do not leave it out back for potential buyers to see. Any light fixtures that you are particularly attached to should be remove, put in storage, and replaced. When people see something and find out they cannot have it, they suddenly want it. Avoid this hassle by removing it before you list your home.

  1. Make minor repairs

You do not have to spend a fortune, but look at your budget and find out what minor repairs you can make to increase the value of your home.

  • Fix the leaky faucets
  • Replace cracked tile
  • Paint your walls neutral colors
  • Patch holes from walls, even little nail holes
  • Replace burnt-out light bulbs
  1. The little things count, too

Walk through your home with a fresh set of eyes, and do the little things around the house to make it shine and keep it looking nice.

  • Dust (do not forget to dust the top of ceiling fan blades!)
  • Vacuum daily
  • Sweep and mop
  • Clean out the pantry and refrigerator
  • Clear out old cobwebs
  • Get rid of raggedy old rugs
  • Get the carpets cleaned and remove stains
  • Keep the beds made
  • Have fresh towels in the bathrooms
  • Bleach or clean dirty grout
  • Get musty rooms smelling fresh