Trying to sell a home in todays market is tougher than ever. Home staging is a proven method to selling homes more quickly. With the state of the economy, it may be hard to justify spending the money on a home stager. Below are some hints and tips to help you stage your own home.
First, make a good impression at the front door. Keep the entrance to your home neat and inviting. Make sure the mat is in good condition, the door hardware finish is not worn, the plants have been watered, etc.
Once the potential buyer gets through the front door, continue the good impression by making sure to rid your home of clutter and unnecessary items. It is a good idea to remove most of the personal items like family pictures or kids school drawings from the fridge. You want the potential buyer to feel like they are in a home environment, but not so overwhelmed with knick-knacks that they can’t see the structure of the home. Removing your personal items will help them be able to visualize their things in the home.
Remember that less is more. Think of when you see a model home. Only the basics and necessities made the cut. Remove any unnecessary furniture items, pieces of artwork or collectibles. The goal is for each room to be open and inviting and not too distracting.
If you have a junk room or room without a purpose, while the house is on the market try to make this room have a purpose. Organize the room so that a potential buyer can visualize that same room for their purpose. Let’s not neglect the garage either. A cluttered garage says that it is not large enough to hold the necessary items. This will translate to the new buyer. Try not to pile everything you remove from the cluttered interior into the garage. Renting a storage space for a few months may be worth the cost.
When the house is being shown, open all of the blinds and window treatments as well as overhead lights and lamps. The brighter the house seems, the more appealing it will be.
It can be very difficult, but try to remove emotion from this process and think of what you would need to see in order to visualize your personal items in a home. Often when you think you have de-cluttered enough – you can stand to go one more round and de-clutter again!
For more tips from HGTV on staging your home, click here.
