How Important is Staging Your Home?

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Picture yourself meeting someone to buy their used car. You get in to test drive it and there is junk everything! Decals on the windows, a lei hanging from the rearview mirror, trash in the middle console. You can’t even bring yourself to imagine it being your car, because their stuff is just so prominent. This is exactly what buyers are thinking when you haven’t staged your home. If your personal stuff is out there prominently displayed, how will a buyer picture themselves living there?

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Myth: But staging is so expensive! False! It is if you hire a professional stager, cleaner and rent furniture and art! However there are less expensive ways to make your home appeal to a wider audience.

Here are seven tips on how to stage your home on a budget:

  1. 1. Get FREE advice! Your Shorewest, REALTOR® is there to help you. Put away emotional attachment to your things and let them give you advice on what should stay and what should go. They are professionally trained and work in the present market to give you the best advice possible.
  2. 2. Put away personal things. As tempting as it is to leave out your collection of over 100 origami animals that you have worked so hard on, these things need to be packed away. This includes pictures of your family, even the family pet. Depersonalizing lets your potential buyer picture their own things in the home, which is very important
  3. 3. Clear the clutter. After your personal things are put away, take a hard look at your home. Do you need all that stuff on your kitchen counter? And what about the kid’s toys laying everywhere? Or that stack of magazines in the corner that no one reads? Let your Shorewest, REALTOR® help you in deciding what can stay and what should go. You may think your home will be bare but the fewer things in the way of your potential buyer’s vision, the better!
  4. 4. Scrub a dub dub! Time to clean your place from top to bottom. Nothing turns a potential buyer off faster than a foul odor coming from your home. This can be from cooking smells to the cat’s litter box. After you clean every square inch, baking cookies in the oven, adding air fresheners or boiling cinnamon sticks in a pot of water are all easy ways to mask smells before a showing.
  5. 5. Enhance what furniture you have, or thrift for new pieces! Do you have a couch that you can’t bear to part with but it is a big eyesore? Try putting a slipcover over it! This can be great to neutralize busy patterns or colors or a piece that is out-dated. Or let’s say you are looking to brighten up your entryway with a new art piece or table, try going out thrifting! Those pieces will be cheap and can make a big impact in your space.
  6. 6. Don’t forget the curb appeal. The first impression may be the last impression depending on your front yard. Easiest step to take would be to weed, prune, water and spruce up your yard. If you are looking for a quick fix, mulch can make even the most tangled of yards look consistent and clean. Plus bags of mulch are cheap!
  7. 7. Create homey vignettes. This means you will want to stage your home for everyday living. Bouquets of fresh flowers, bowls of fruit and place settings on your dining room table will go a long way. An idealized version of home will make a warm impression on your potential buyers.

Staging a home is a necessary step to take while selling a home. It doesn’t have to cost much but it will take some sweat equity! Make sure to include your Shorewest, REALTOR® throughout the process so that they can help you decide what your game plan will be. Happy house selling!

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Categories: Home Improvement, Home Selling, Homeowner, How to, Real Estate Tips

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