Staging Your Home

Staging is the process of decorating a real estate residence to make it more alluring for sellers. It can be one of the best and easiest ways to sell your house at its maximum potential value.

Staging can positively impact a buyer’s purchase decision because it displays your house to the buyers in the best light and shows how good it can be if some effort were to be put into it.  

Staging is not very financially demanding, nor does it require a great deal of time. However, since the first impression is crucial in real estate, it can be one of the most profitable investments for sellers.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while staging your own home for sale.

External Appearances Matter

In real estate sales, first impressions can dictate the entire transaction itself. Many buyers might not even consider giving your home a chance if its exterior appears run-down and disorganized.

Hence, improving your curb appeal should also be at the top of your priority list for the staging process.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make yours in tip-top shape:

• Make sure that your yard is well maintained, shrubs are trimmed, and the lawn mowed. 
• Clean your windows, especially the larger ones and those that face the road.
• Apply a fresh coat of paint to your porch floor. The paint should be neutral in color. Also, make sure to place new doormats on the front and back doorways.

Cleanliness is Next to Second Impressions

The cleanliness of a property is one of the first things that most buyers check for during their personal visit, which is why cleaning your home should be at the top of your list as part of your staging process.

Here are a few ways to do just that: 

• Clean Your Kitchen and Dining Room – Make sure that your kitchen and dining tables are spotless, the dishes and glasses are cleaned and kept organized, and the kitchen appliances have no food stains on them. 
  
• Clean Your Bathroom – Make sure that your bathroom floors, bathtubs, and sinks are cleaned and free from any offensive smell that might turn sellers off.
  
• Avail the Help of a Professional Cleaning Service – You can try out a professional cleaning service to make sure that every nook and cranny of your property is kept clean, polished, and as “new” as possible. 

Prioritize Decluttering

A real estate investment is always measured in terms of a property’s value per square foot. It goes without saying that every foot of that property holds some value.

Apart from being very distracting for potential buyers, clutter is nothing but junk that takes up a chunk of that valuable space. It makes your home look less spacious than it is.

Decluttering is an essential part of the staging process and is one that most people can do themselves.

An easy way to do this would be to put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer and what you would expect from a home where you might be spending the rest of your life. Then, you can organize your things into labeled boxes and keep them tucked away in a place that you would not normally show the buyers.   

Ensure Proper Lighting

Proper lighting can accentuate the decor of your home and create an illusion of spaciousness that it might not necessarily have. You can do this by ensuring that all the windows, curtains, and shutters are open while showing your home to any potential seller.

In case your home does not have adequate natural lighting, you’ll need to purchase and install or use existing external lighting systems. Make sure that you don’t go overboard with your purchases since the entire point of staging is to make a profit.

Remove All Personal Attachments

The sole purpose of staging a home is to make it more appealing for buyers and make it look as “brand new” as possible.

Hence, it is very important that your home is free from any personal connections that might give it the “lived-in” impression and ultimately depreciate its value during a showing. These might include:

• Personal Items– These include family photos, children’s paintings, refrigerator art, collection sets, etc. 
  
• Room Paints and Wallpapers– These are highly subjective in nature, and the chances are that the taste of most buyers would not align with yours. Hence, it is always recommended to revert your wallpapers and room paints to a more neutral theme- neither too flamboyant nor too bland. 
  
• Furniture– Staging furniture should complement a neutral home theme. You should also make sure furnishings are neither too big nor too many so as to not make rooms feel cramped. If you’ve always been using inexpensive furniture, you should also consider leasing premium choices, if only for the staging process.

Remember, selling a home is akin to selling a blank canvas rather than your own painting.

Patch Up the Ceiling and Wall Cracks

Ceilings and wall cracks can be a nuisance at best and structural issues at worst. Either way, even if they aren’t overly conspicuous, legally, you’ll still have to notify any potential buyer of their presence since they’d have to be the ones to fix it.

This can severely impact the impressions of any buyer. Thus, in order to avoid any unnecessary complications, you should make it a priority to fix any wall or ceiling cracks that your home might have.

Staging Can Make Buyers Feel at Home

A critical mistake that many sellers make is confusing staging with renovating. Renovating makes a home more appealing to the seller and helps to meet their needs. Staging, on the other hand, is to make a home more appealing to buyers while severing the personal connection it has with you. 

A well-staged property can create an emotional connection with prospective buyers and make them feel at home. When staging your own house, you should keep in mind the points above to make the process as inexpensive and effective as possible.