When selling a property, there are a lot of things you need to think about: the asking price, the documents, and even whether you’ll get help from real estate brokers. But if there’s one thing that amateur real estate sellers fail to take into account often, it’s home staging.
Ever seen pictures of gorgeous homes in real estate listings and imagined yourself sipping coffee in that living room or preparing delicious food in that state-of-the-art kitchen? Home staging made all of that happen.
This article will let you in on what home staging is and the top five tips interior design experts and fit out companies swear by.
What is Home Staging?
As the name suggests, home staging is the act of rearranging furniture, adding décor, and “dressing up” a home or property to make it more appealing to potential buyers. It is a marketing tactic that realtors use to make even the shabbiest, drab-looking property look well-maintained and worth buying.
5 Best Home Staging Tips from Experts
There are many ways to stage a home, each varying in difficulty and cost. The trick is to choose which one is cost effective for your property.
Here are five tips from experts that could help you do just that:
1.Start with a good clean.
While this may sound too obvious, you’ll be surprised at how many people neglect this important part of home staging.
A clean slate always makes tasks more manageable, and home staging is no different. In fact, cleaning is one of the most important tips that interior design experts and real estate developers recommend to boost property value and marketability.
You should keep in mind that this isn’t your average run-of-the-mill cleaning. It should be a deep clean that would leave the house sparkling and looking new. Polish surfaces until they shine, wipe down windows so they become clear again, and have carpets shampooed and dried well.
Remember that what you’re aiming for is an excellent first impression, and dirt- and dust-free home makes all the difference. So, if your house is too big for you to do it on your own, consider hiring a professional. The investment will surely pay off.
2.Make your effort count.
Sometimes, the part of the house that matters to you most isn’t the one potential buyers would be looking at. In fact, certain rooms are more important than others in home staging.
So, to make your efforts count, you need to focus on spaces that have the highest chance of influencing their buying decision. According to a 2017 Staging Statistics report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), these include the following:
- Kitchen
- Living room
- Master bedroom
When you focus on high-value rooms, you should also worry less about others, like the children’s bedrooms, guest bedrooms, and the bathrooms (although some studies say that bathrooms also matter).
Remember: Working smart is much better than working hard, so brush up on your knowledge about what your target market usually considers and focus your home staging efforts there.
3.Declutter.
People dream about living in hotels for the rest of their lives. Unless you’re a millionaire with an unlimited source of income, this may not sound realistic. Still, it remains one of the most appealing things people want in a home.
Why? Because hotels don’t have the usual clutter in their homes.
Remember that space is what sells in real estate, and clutter takes up valuable space. Therefore, you need to make room and clear away clutter to make your property look bigger and more desirable.
The rule of thumb is, if you leave anything, keep it to the basics.
Of course, this isn’t just about the spaces immediately visible to the buyer. You also need to minimize closet content, as it is likely that prospects will be opening them up to see the house’s storage potential. As much as possible, remove all clutter, personal and miscellaneous items.
Besides leaving a good impression, another purpose of home staging is making sure that buyers can see themselves living in the space before they even buy it. You can achieve this by disconnecting yourself from the place so that other people can connect with it. Remove pictures of relatives from the wall, but you can keep framed photos of scenic views.
Since doing these things will influence their buying decision, they’re definitely worth the effort (see tip no. 2).
4.Fix and touch up.
When home staging, you also need to look at smaller details in the house and determine what needs fixing. See any scratches, nicks, holes, stains, and other flaws? Deal with them, no matter how small they may seem.
Such flaws are red flags because potential buyers see them as signs of neglect. Remember that your goal is to leave a good impression, so this is something you wouldn’t want to shrug off.
With a melamine foam eraser pad in hand, get rid of any scruffs from the walls of each room. Found areas that need more TLC? Spackle and caulk as needed.
You can also renew the beauty of a room with a fresh coat of paint and a simple change in cabinetry hardware.
Like cleaning, touching up spots and repairing parts of the house will showcase how well you maintained the property and that it is worth the price tag on the listing.
5.Pique interest with the house façade.
Hours of cleaning the kitchen and fixing and repainting priority rooms are time well-spent. But after doing all you can to stage the house for selling, your efforts would be for naught if you were not able to pique buyers’ interest with the house façade.
The façade of the property isn’t just the doorway, though. It runs all the way to the side of the curb. This is why realtors put so much effort into ensuring that the properties they are selling have the best curb appeal in the area with proper landscaping.
Here’s a pro tip: If you’re running out of time and need to sell fast, a simple addition of potted plants along your front door would make a lot of difference.
Set the Stage
Preparing a house for selling sets the stage for a meaningful transaction. If you want to get potential buyers to consider your home, implement the best tips that interior design experts and fit-out experts recommend, and you’ll do just fine.
AUTHOR BIO
Rachel Hennessey manages the Pools and Landscaping Division of Hennessey LLC. She also works on Tender and Pre-Qualification and brings in new business to the company’s Construction, Interiors, and Civils Division.
