Basically, home staging is a method of decorating your home by highlighting its most impressive features, helping potential buyers to imagine themselves living there and moving in. Once you do it right, you’ll have no problem selling your house quickly. There’s a huge chance that your realtor has already discussed the importance of home staging.
Many homeowners ask, “do I need a realtor to sell my home?” The truth is, anyone can significantly benefit from working with a real estate agent. For one, they’ll have someone who can assist them during a home sale. However, that’s not really the big question when it comes to selling your property. A more important question to ask is whether or not you should hire a professional staging company, especially if you want to sell your house fast.
The answer to that question is most likely a yes, unless your home is in a really excellent state in terms of both its interior and outside appearance. However, if professional staging is beyond your budget, you can still do it on your own using the following tips:
1. Remove Any Clutter
When it comes to selling houses, space is a big factor. For this reason, do your best to remove any clutter that takes up space. Decluttering can make your house look more desirable and much bigger.
Clutter often includes unseasonable clothes, some decorations, games, papers, and other things that you don’t need on a daily basis. Take note that some buyers open closets to check their storage potential, so take your time removing non-crucial and miscellaneous items. With less clutter, your home will look more appealing to your buyers.
If you’re too busy to declutter your home, it’s wise to hire professionals to help you. Besides, proper waste disposal is important, especially if you’re planning to show your house to the buyer at the soonest date possible.
2. Pay Attention To Your Flooring
When you stage your home, start with what’s underneath your feet. It doesn’t mean that you should act on what you find immediately, but it’ll provide you a better idea of what should be done to achieve the feel and look you’re after to sell your house immediately.
Check for the creaky floorboards, particularly along the route buyers would take when viewing your house, and have those fixed before you let your buyers in. After that, make sure to look at the floor coverings. Does your hardwood floor become scratched down, or do you have dirty carpets that should be cleaned? Regardless of your flooring problems, ensure to make your floor presentable by replacing the carpets or hiring professionals to clean them for you. In fact, a flooring upgrade is one of the things that most real estate agents will suggest to clients who want to sell fast and for a higher price.
Remember that poorly maintained floors can be a major turn-off for buyers, which may delay your home sale. Plus, you might not be able to sell your house at a higher price if your flooring doesn’t look good. Making things right can make the world of difference, which can be beneficial in order to sell your home fast. So, pay attention to your flooring and do your best to make it more presentable to your potential buyers.
3. Focus On The Freshness Of Your Home
Some potted plants may do wonders to your home, making it fresher and more inviting. If you have many plants, space them out strategically so they won’t overwhelm any area. Ensure that your greenery is dust-free and healthy as well.
Another way to make your house seem fresh is to eliminate odors. Kids, pets, damp bathrooms, last night’s dinner, and some conditions can make your house smell. Cheaper tricks to rid a home of odors and giving it a great aroma include baking cookies in the oven or cinnamon-coated apples.
Essential oils, beeswax candles, flowers, herbs, and some air purifiers are chemical-free ways to improve your home’s indoor air quality and maintain the freshness of the surroundings.
It’s also a great idea to clean your kitchen sink with a lemon, grinding it in the garbage disposal to eliminate sink odors. While you can use air fresheners to deodorize your house, it’s wise to avoid those things because they can trigger asthma and allergic reactions in sensitive people. If you’re a smoker and you smoke indoors, make sure to deodorize indoors and take out your trash.
4. Improve Your Curb Appeal
Ask any realtor, and you’ll learn that the entryway and exterior, which factor into your home’s curb appeal, are essential points of focus since they can impact the buyer’s first impression. These might even determine somebody’s interest in viewing your home’s interior. Therefore, ensure that your hedges, lawn, plants, or trees are pruned, and remove any weeds.
You should also wash your windows well and add flower boxes to brighten them up more. If possible, opt for a power washing service for your home exterior. This can make it look freshly painted, without spending more money and exerting too much effort.
Make sure that your sidewalk is clean and clear, and purchase new doormats for the back and front doors. If you have a swimming pool, ensure that it’s crystal clear. You may also consider installing above ground pool frames.
Creating an outdoor living space may also come in handy to level up your home’s exterior. Depending on your preferences, you can consider a patio or a deck with furniture or a porch swing and even add patio covers or deck shades. With such changes, you can be assured that you’ll be able to sell your home fast.
5. Add Pops Of Color
An easy and quick way to stay updated with the trends is adding pops of color once you decide to sell your home. Even if neutral colors are always a safe option for interior design, being bold with colors may also be a great choice to sell your home fast since most home buyers are attracted to bold interior designs.
Just ensure to keep your décor pieces inside neutral, and then only add pops of bold colors. If you don’t know how to incorporate stronger colors into your home design before you put it on sale, consider the following:
- Incorporate accent pieces of furniture into your family or living room
- Add some colorful bathroom accessories, including a bathroom rug or bold shower curtain
- Hang sophisticated and brightly colored curtains
- Display various colorful kitchen appliances
- Purchase bright, colorful area rugs
- Get a floral comforter for your bed
- Embrace different patterns in your home décor
- Hang some colorful pieces of art
- Add throw blankets and colorful pillows to your couches
Taking advantage of colors when staging your house won’t only make your property stand out, but you’ll also be able to sell it as soon as possible. If you don’t have a clue on what colors match your home décor perfectly, you can always ask for help from an interior designer.
6. Touch Up Your Walls With Neutral Paint
In terms of walls, the best color choice is a neutral one. It’s appropriate for rooms, whether big or small. In fact, you can even incorporate neutral pain into your bathroom and living rooms. Neutral colored walls let you experiment when decorating a space to make it more attractive to potential buyers.
It’s also essential to note that most real estate agents recommend neutral colors because they appeal to the widest range of potential buyers. Furthermore, earth or neutral tones create feelings of calmness and balance in a room, which are feelings that everybody wants when they’re at home. Painting your wall with neutral colors can brighten up your room, making it look more welcoming and fresher.
A fresh coat of paint will also get the attention of potential buyers since touching up such areas is something people need to do once they move in. Once they see it’s freshly done, they’ll be more intrigued about your property.
7. Rearrange Your Furniture
One of the staging tips you should consider if you want to sell your home fast is to rearrange your furniture. There are times when homeowners don’t use their space as best as they could, making it challenging for potential buyers to envision what rooms might look like once rearranged differently.
Take some time to rearrange your furniture in an attractive manner, and in a way that shows how your room can be used and set up. An ideal way to rearrange your furniture is to stage a room that you think most people like to see.
Do you have a big master bedroom with several windows? If so, try showing off the big space by staging with furniture around the room’s perimeter instead of placing them in the center. In addition, use some windows to your benefit and open your curtains up to let the natural light illuminate the big space.
If you have awkward spaces or rooms, rearranging your furniture can be a selling point. For instance, if you have a small room or nook somewhere in your home, consider staging it as a sewing area, workstation, or a mini space. This will give your buyers a few ideas on how to transform that space, or they might even enjoy your concept and be more willing to purchase your home.
However, keep in mind that it’s a trend that comes and goes in interior design because some people are getting more interested in the DIY lifestyle. So, be smart when rearranging your pieces of furniture, and get some great ideas online for better results.
8. Focus On Lights
Any dark room is considered a sad room. It’s also uninviting and appears small. That’s why realtors hate poorly lit rooms and always advise clients during a home sale to improve the lighting in their homes by consulting a trusted electrical contractor.
Brighten your home up by letting much natural light shine inside it. Open your window blinds, which can help let more light in, making your room seem bigger.
If your backyard needs a little work, keep your window blinds down, but try opening the slats to get the same effect without highlighting the problem areas.
For house viewings, turn on all your lights, and these include your closet lights and lamps. It’ll help make your house more welcoming and save potential buyers from having to figure out which switches to use for turning on the lights.
9. Make Space
Once you’re done decluttering, it’s time to focus on altering your buyer’s perception of space. The simplest way to do it is by adding big mirrors in small rooms to make it look more spacious, but ensure to do it properly if you want to achieve maximum effects.
For instance, placing a mirror opposite your window works great. It won’t only give the appearance of another window, but it’ll also help to maximize the natural light within your room and give your buyers a beautiful outdoor view from different angles.
Another amazing staging trick is to place a mirror behind your light sources, such as a bedside lamp or a pendant light. The reflective powers of the mirrors create an effect that grabs one’s attention, and they increase the amount of light within the room, making your space feel brighter and airier.
10. Spruce Up Your Kitchen
The kitchen can either break or make a buyer’s overall opinion of your house. However, when done right, realtors agree that it’s money well spent. You don’t need to consider a complete renovation to maximize your home’s ROI, though. Even a few changes can improve the area, like covering the old floors with a runner or replacing your old appliances.
Ensure that your kitchen is spacious and bright, so get rid of various things on the countertops and don’t forget to remove the magnets on the fridge. See to it that the floors, counters, appliances, and grout lines are clean, and avoid cooking meals with strong smells once you have showings. The only thing left out must be a beautiful bow of fruits or a vase with fresh flowers.
11. Depersonalize Your Home
Once you decide to put your home on sale, take note that you’re not just selling a property, but you’re also selling an idea. You have to let prospective buyers see themselves living in your house before they’ll agree to sign on the dotted line. With many personal items all over your place, it can be a big barrier to your buyers’ imagination.
The best thing that you should do to depersonalize your house is to get rid of your photographs. Photos of your family and friends may mean everything to you, but they won’t mean a thing to buyers. As a matter of fact, having many personal photos in your house is more likely to be off-putting to buyers, so remove them while staging your house.
With that said, you don’t need to leave your property feeling devoid of personality. Some small things, like fresh flowers, can bring warmth to any room without intimidating your buyers.
Bottom Line
Home staging doesn’t require a lot of money. Just be smart with making decisions, and you can be assured that you’ll be on the right track. Most real estate agents also act as renovation architects on top of assisting clients who are trying to sell their properties these days. So, it’s also a good idea to consult your realtor regarding your house improvement plans. Regardless of how big or small your house is, make sure to keep the above tips in mind to get started in staging your home and sell it fast at the price it deserves.