Home Staging Tips to Help you Sell
Home staging is a method of decorating mean to highlight your home’s most impressive assets and help buyers imagine themselves living there. Even in a strong selling market, sellers who want to see the strongest, most competitive offers coming their way can benefit from consulting with their REALTOR about home staging.
The term was thought to have been invented in 1972 by Barb Schwartz, a top selling real estate agent, interior designer and educator. Not wanting to use the words “design” or “decorate”, she began referring to a home as she would a theater performance, with the home being the star of the show. “The house is the platform, it’s a stage,” she began saying. As news of the phenomenal success of her staging techniques spread, real estate agents began to use staging as a key listing and marketing tool.
According to the National Associations of REALTORS (NAR) 2021 Staging Report, 47 percent of buyers’ agents believe that home staging has an effect on how a buyer views the home, with 82 percent saying that it makes it easier for buyers to visualize the property as their own.
With so much to gain, it makes sense for sellers to put time and effort into staging their home, and fortunately, many of the best staging tips don’t require spending a lot of money.
Your agent should be able to help you make specific changes that will add value to your home and entice the buyers to come for viewings. Once you know you have done everything you can to show your home in the best light possible, you can sit back and wait for the right buyer.
Tip One: Focus on Rooms that Count
Not all rooms are considered equal when it comes to home staging. You want to focus your efforts on the rooms that have the biggest potential to influence buyers’ decisions, and spend less time on the rooms that won’t make much of a difference. According to the 2021 NAR Staging Report, the rooms that have the most impact for buyers are the living room, master bedroom, and kitchen. The least focus was on children’s bedrooms and bathrooms.
Tip Two: Put a Blank Space on it
One of the primary objectives of home staging is to help prospective buyers visualize the space as their own. The fastest way to accomplish this is to set as blank a canvas as you can. The home can have style and charm, but it should be devoid of personal touches that suggest the home belongs to the seller and not the buyer. Start by removing any personal photos, and clear the bathroom counters of personal items.
Tip Three: Don’t Call it Clutter
Opening up spaces in your home will make it look bigger and more desirable. While if may not be considered “clutter”, consider packing up things you won’t be needing and getting them to the garage, at least, of preferably out of the house. This includes un-seasonable clothes and coats, most home decor, files and paperwork, and children’s toys and games.
Tip Four: Squeaky Clean
You want every square inch to shine, from the baseboards to the corners of your ceilings and everywhere in between. If your REALTOR doesn’t offer a professional house cleaning with their listing service, consider asking them for recommendations on cleaners who focus on getting a home ready to show. If you’ve neglected certain projects such as cleaning out the refrigerator or dusting your blinds, now is the time to tackle them.
Tip Five: Shift into Neutral
Bright colors on walls help people express their personality in their homes, but they can be a major turn-off for buyers. When you are staging your home to sell, one of the very best things you can do is paint over any bright colors with neutrals, such as gray white and taupe. Bold colors can distract from a room’s assets.
Tip Six: Make a Good First Impression
You only get one chance for your home to make a good first impression. This means making the porch and front door area seem welcoming and neat. Remove any outdated seasonal decorations. If you have a front stoop, consider power washing it, or at least scrubbing away any dirt. Then add a touch of homeyness with a simple doormat and perhaps a potted plant or two.
Tip Seven: The Nose Knows
Making sure there are no odors is key to a positive showing. A deep clean should take care of any lingering smells, but also be sure to always clear out your trash bin before showings so buyers aren’t hit with any offensive scents. You may want to install a small, scented plug-in on each floor. If you do that, keep it on a low setting, you want the smell to be pleasant, but subtle.
Tip Eight: Let the Outside In
Open the blinds on all the windows, which in addition to letting in more light will also make rooms seem bigger. (If your yard needs a bit of work, keep the blinds down but open the slats to get a similar effect without showcasing any problem areas.) Turn on all the lights in your house for the showings, including lamps and closet lights.
Tip Nine: Less is More
Put extraneous furniture in storage to get it out of the way, focusing on getting rid of any oversized pieces, damaged pieces and those that don’t match the rest of the room, suggests the relocation website moving.com. With the furniture that’s left, rearrange it to make the room look and feel as spacious as possible.
If you are looking to sell your home and work with a realtor who can guide you through the staging process, contact The Cobb Team today. Liz is a certified Home Staging Expert and will share her expertise to stage your home to sell.
