Home Staging
What is Home Staging?
"Home Staging" is the latest popular tool to attract homebuyers, enhance your home's appearance, and boost your home's sale value. Home stagers are professionals whose job is to make your property appear instantly appealing and attractive to prospective buyers by suggesting clever design tips and strategies. According to the experts, a few hundred dollars' expenditure on basic landscaping or de-cluttering your home can reap dividends of up to $2,000 dollar on the sale price of your property! Given that first impressions are lasting impressions, many home sellers are investing time and money to 'stage their home' in order to gain a competitive edge in a competitive market.
Interior Home Staging
Whether you hire a professional or stage your home yourself, you are striving to enhance your home's appearance and ambiance in order to get the best selling price.
To stage your house's interior involves sorting, cleaning, discarding, organizing, decorating, and creatively making your house as buyer-friendly as possible. Indeed, it has been said that professional home stagers are not only interior decorators, but also premium organizers and creative wizards for beautifying your home without blowing your budget!
In order to increase the sale value of your home, here are some expert tips for staging your house interior:
•- De-clutter: To make your space look larger and more inviting, de-clutter your rooms and cupboards by organizing, sorting, folding, and/or discarding. Consider getting rid of or re-arranging excess/crowded furniture.
•- Depersonalize: The experts recommend putting away/hiding personal photos, trophies, collections, et cetera, which could impair buyers' ability to envision your home as their own. Towards this end, stow personal bathroom and beauty items away when showing your house, and make sure bathrooms are odor-free.
•- Clean Until it Sparkles: When it comes to selling your home, remember the adage: Cleanliness is next to Godliness. In particular, sparkling bathrooms and kitchens make a lasting impression. Don't forget to vacuum, dust, wash/replace old rugs, and lay out fresh towels (and even a Welcome mat!)
•- Brighten Up: To create a fresh, new, and inviting feeling, brighten up by cleaning windows, polishing glass and other surfaces, opening shades, and replacing light bulbs (high-watt bulbs are recommended)
•- Paint: According to real estate experts, a new coat of paint is considered the most cost-effective home improvement (neutral colors and tones are recommended)
Exterior Home Staging
Landscaping is an important part of how buyers perceive your home and property.
•- Clear and repair sidewalks
•- Trim overgrown bushes and trees
•- Mow and weed lawns
•- Re-paint window and door trims for a fresh look; replace broken or weather-damaged screens/related items
•- Ensure outside lights are working and that the house number can be clearly seen
•- Organize garage, de-clutter pathways from bikes/toys/tools, arrange patio and backyard furniture
Tip: Become a Prospective Buyer
To get a sense of how your home will be perceived by prospective buyers, pretend you are a buyer coming to assess your property. Begin by approaching your house from the outside, and then work your way inside, all the while considering how the house might be perceived (physically and emotionally) by a buyer. For a set of fresh eyes, invite a friend or neighbor to do the same and to offer suggestions or give feedback on their estimation of the sale value of your home.
