Most homeowners know that staging is an important part of selling your home but not everyone realizes that it can be done poorly or way overdone so that many benefits are completely lost. While it might seem pretty straight-forward hiring a stager—or even doing the work yourself—home staging can be trickier than you think.

From looking at MLS listings, you can easily see that some homeowners are unaware of even the most basic staging strategies. Even before you consider hiring a professional stager there are some simple steps that you can take to either perform a do-it-yourself staging or prepare to have a professional put the finishing touches on the staging of your home.

The first step in staging should be to de-clutter your home. Box up all of your knick-knacks and put any unnecessary furniture and seasonal items into storage. Excess belongings in your home can make it look smaller at best, or at worst like a hoarder lives there. A large amount of excess belongings can also make it difficult for prospective buyers to see what the bones of your home really look like, as well.

The next important step is repairs; when someone looks at your home with a fresh perspective, the little repairs that do not look very important to you tend to look far more obvious to a prospective buyer. Replace any worn weather stripping around your doors, replace any cracked or broken fixtures, repair any broken concrete on your driveway or walkways. Make your home look to buyers that they are not just going to purchase a fixer-upper home; homes that need work will net you a smaller offer from buyers.

Another vital area is painting; even if you’re just covering the walls and ceilings with the same colour of paint, a fresh coat will make your home brighter and cleaner looking. If the inside of your home is painted pink or turquoise, you should seriously consider painting in more neutral tones to better appeal to buyers.

If you are considering hiring a professional stager after you complete these steps, make sure that you see pictures of their work, or even better, tour a home that they have staged so you can see how it looks in person. Many home stagers have websites where you can also see examples of their work and easily compare between different stagers in your area.

You don’t have to make your home look like the inside of a catalogue, but it is a good idea if it looks clean and inviting. Remember, buyers want to be able to look at a home and see themselves living in it; home staging can help them accomplish that.

Original Article

Posted in: Sell Your Home
Tags: clutter, home staging, neutral tones, prospective buyer, selling your home