8 Ways to Stage Your Home to Sell
Properly staging your home adds value to the asking price, helps you sell your home more quickly, as well as give your potential buyers a visual idea of what the home could look like if they lived there.
It is also true that furnished homes are much more likely to sell than an empty home. So by putting up just a small investment to stage your home to sell, you could possibly get greater and quicker returns.
Exterior / Curb Appeal
This is the first thing your potential buyer will see, and it should leave a positive lasting impression. Make sure your lawn is mowed and weeds are pulled, keep your flower beds clear of trash, as well as dead leaves and grass.
Remove all unnecessary items from your yard such as children’s toys, bikes, muddy shoes, trash cans, lawn mowers, etc. Keep the area clean, sweep the walkways and patio, and clean windows with glass cleaner.
Add a welcoming feel to your exterior entry way by adding just a couple nicely potted plants or flowers. Here are a few that will survive and look nice in any season; Golden Sword, Green Mountain box wood, and Golden creeping Jenny.
Use of Colors
As a rule you should keep walls neutral in color and bring color into the room through accents and accessories. A simple coat of paint on the wall could really help to freshen up the look of a room. Keep the color of the walls and furniture neutral, and do some of the following to add color to the room.
In the main living areas or great rooms, use toss pillows with warm colors such as a deep cranberry, golden tones or deep yellows, and dark orange. These colors will add a feeling of warmth and comfort to the room.
In children’s rooms or game rooms, add bright primary colors such as blues, reds and yellows. You can easily find inexpensive accessories such as over sized pillows, bean bag chairs, or papasan chairs.
In the master bedroom try to keep it neutral, remember everyone has different taste and you have to try your best to appeal to all. If possible remove the pink flower comforter, purple wall paper or paint, pink faux fur rug, and definitely be sure to remove any kind of stuffed animals, these should be completely off limits in any adult bedroom.
Strict – NO Clutter Policy
The house should be clean and organized before a potential buyer walks through. During this time until you sell your home, enforce a household policy of no clutter and no mess. Counters absolutely need to be wiped down, floors mopped or vacuumed, and no extras (toys, books, papers, shoes, clothes) laying around.
Be sure to put away any dishes, clear the counters as much as possible putting away or out of sight extra appliances such as a waffle maker or sandwich maker. Take down all the little notes, pictures, magnets, etc., attached to your refrigerator (tell the kiddos it’s only temporary, and that you are still very proud and the love the family picture they drew in class).
All beds should be made and absolutely no clothing laying around on floors or chairs, bathroom counters should be clean, toilets flushed (you would be surprised), trash cans emptied.
Lighting
Keep all spaces through out the home warm with light. During the day, open up all curtains or blinds, in rooms that tend to be dark, be sure to turn on the lights during a showing. In the evening, find ways to illuminate all the rooms with lamps or lights. If one of your selling points is your amazing patio or court yard, use candles (you can use something like Scentsy which is fire free) to add that extra ambiance to the space.
If you have dark walls making a room feel dim and cold, you may want to consider adding some light to the room by painting it over with a lighter and more neutral paint and bringing in some lamps and mirrors for the walls.
Walls
The best things you can have on your walls is mirrors and nicely framed landscape prints or paintings. Mirrors help to open up the space and make it feel larger. Paintings or prints of the outdoors and nature is sure to bring a calm feeling to the room. Remove any family pictures throughout the house as this could give your buyer the feeling that they are in someone else’s home, and not theirs.
Pets
If you know a potential buyer is coming through, try your best to find a place for fiddo or mittens. Some people may not be as much a lover of pets as you. If you can try remove or reduce the evidence of your beloved pet, it will help you that much more in selling your home. Consider placing them (only temporarily during the showing) in a kennel in your garage (of course weather permitting).
Plants
If you have plants in the room, make sure they are watered and the leaves attached are all alive. Remove and discard any dead leaves you may have.
If you don’t have plants, consider buying just a couple to place throughout, just this small touch of life can do wonders for a room. You can even find some really great looking fake plants these days and you won’t even have to worry about watering or removing dead leaves.
Furniture Placement
Try to keep the furniture in the rooms to a minimal, just the necessities is all you should have. Your moving anyway (as soon as you sell your home), so start packing up or removing anything you can live without for a month or two. Items such as workout machines, extra tables or chairs, or any items that can make the room feel cramped or small.
Consider replacing your larger coffee or end tables with other smaller tables you may have in other rooms of the house.
If you space is lacking furniture, try to find ways to bring small pieces from other rooms of the house, to make the space seem more livable and warm. For example, you can make a seating or living room more inviting by bringing in 2 dining room chairs placed next to one another across from a smaller couch or love seat.
Sources: http://www.finegardening.com/plants/articles/10-plants-for-year-round-containers.aspx
