The presentation of your home during open houses and tours can sometimes make a big difference in the price a buyer is willing to pay for a home, or even determine whether the sale is made at all. But if you can’t afford to hire a professional home stager, don’t worry. There are plenty of things you can do yourself to turn your house into a buyer’s dream home and help your home to sell.
Eliminate clutter.
De-cluttering your home is a major aspect of staging. When professional home stagers prepare a home they sometimes remove as much as half the home’s furnishings. Put your sentimental feelings for your belongings aside and cast a critical eye at how they contribute to the presentation of your home. The buyers aren’t going to be taking your possessions when they buy the house, just the house, so don’t obstruct the view. The less clutter in your home the bigger it will look.
Position the furniture to the best advantage of the home.
Another way to make the rooms look bigger is in the way you position the furniture. Stage your furniture so that it is “floating” away from the walls, which will open up the space. Additionally, keep an open mind about what rooms certain pieces of furniture will be staged in—you might have purchased that armchair to go in the sitting room, but it could add a cozy feel to the home office.
Highlight your home’s best features by taking care of small repairs and updates.
Wood floors are a great selling point, so replace damaged boards to enhance their appeal. If you have updated appliances, make sure they are visible. If your kitchen cabinets are no longer stylish looking, stain them in a more up-to-date color.
Make sure the house is spotless.
This seems obvious, but it’s one of the most important things you can do. Not only should all the rooms be neat and tidy, they should be vacuumed, swept, mopped and scrubbed, including walls, baseboards, doors, fans and appliances. Sparkling clean surfaces will catch the buyer’s attention and may increase the value of the home in their eyes when they observe how professional looking and well-cared for it is.
When you think you are ready, have your real estate professional walk through the house with you. As someone less familiar with the way your home normally looks, he or she may be able to point out certain aspects of the home that stick out. The unsightly cords on the computer desk or dirty shower door might be invisible to you, but a pair of fresh eyes could catch these blemishes and give you a chance to correct them.
Staging a home is hard work, but compared to the money you will gain from the sale and the shorter time your home will spend on the market, it is well worth the extra effort. Find a real estate professional on Homes.com to help you stage your home today!
Christine is the Content Marketing Coordinator for Homes.com. She's a small town girl at heart, who currently lives in Norfolk, VA with her husband and their fur baby. When she's not working, she enjoys cooking, decorating, traveling, and binge watching Netflix. As a proud Virginia Tech alum, she also loves cheering on the Hokies!
