In a buyer’s market with many homes to choose from on the MLS, Home Staging is arguably the most important thing you can do to sell your home before the competition. And while hiring a professional home stager is the best way to ensure your home is set up to its absolute full potential, there are plenty of things you can do on your own to make a big impact in the eyes of the buyer. Here are 10 of the best tricks to help you prepare your home for sale and make sure it’s as attractive as possible to every potential buyer.
1. KITCHENS SELL HOUSES
Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and travertine tile are beautiful additions to kitchens, but don’t think that fixing up a kitchen has to be such a big investment. A fresh coat of paint on the walls, updating the hardware, and simple faucets and fixtures on the counters can give a kitchen a major facelift. Before you replace your cabinets, consider refinishing or painting them and adding some updated hardware with a brushed nickel or bronze finish to give them a like-new look for a lot less money.
2. OUTSIDE APPEAL IS CRUCIAL
Your home needs to excite the buyer from the moment they arrive: hedges need to be trimmed, lawns mowed, and pine islands tended. Replace tarnished exterior sconces, doors and hardware, place eye-catching potted plants on the steps leading up to your front door, and lay out a new welcome mat to greet guests as they arrive. With over 80% of people searching the internet before setting foot in a home, that first exterior photo that appears on the MLS is crucial in encouraging buyers to explore further.
3. BUYERS DON’T WANT BATHS ANYMORE, THEY WANT SPAS
Make sure your bathroom walls are a calming color and place a stack of fluffy towels by the tub and a basket of soaps and lotions by the sink. Again, updates don’t have to cost a lot: consider painting or refinishing your vanity, hanging a new framed mirror, and updating your faucets and light fixtures.
4. ILLUMINATE AND ILLUMINATE
Lightening and brightening is the cheapest thing you can do with the highest return on investment. Open the blinds and curtains and turn on all the ceiling lights and lamps in the house before all projections. Do you still have those heavy window treatments you put up in the 70’s or 80’s? Roll them down and let in the light: you’re selling your windows and the view, not the walk-in closets that surround them.
5. AVOID COVERING THE WALLS WITH FURNITURE
This is one of the most consistent mistakes I see when doing staging for clients. Most rooms not only have 1 or 2 pieces that just aren’t needed, but everything in the room has been pushed into the walls, so there’s a big, empty, unusable space in the middle! Pull sofas away from the walls, remove extra furniture that doesn’t serve a necessary purpose, and allow buyers to see the periphery of the room. This will add instant visual square footage.
6. DEPERSONALISE
When looking for a house, the goal is to find the one that you can best imagine living in. That said, shoppers need non-personal style and decor to feel “at home” as they walk by. Take out personal photos, deer heads or plate collections and replace them with a beautiful framed mirror or landscape piece of art. Flip through the Pottery Barn and West Elm catalogs, then do your best to implement that style in your own home.
7. PAINT, PAINT, PAINT
Ornate wallpaper, nickel-plated walls, and ultra-dark or bright colors should always be covered with paint. Nothing provides an easier and less expensive facelift than a fresh coat of paint in a nice neutral color, which will at the same time curb odors. But don’t let the word neutral lead you to paint your entire home beige – the variety of colors in a natural palette will give your home unforgettable warmth and charm. Use colors that you see in nature, such as beige, sage, soft yellow, and grayish blue. If you’re overwhelmed by the thousands of colors in small swatches at the paint store, try ordering a professionally-recommended paint colors shelf like “Paint Colors That Sell” to narrow your choices down to only the best paint colors they’ve ever seen. proven to help. Sell houses.
8. FRESH BEDDING = MAJOR BEDROOM MAKEOVER
In bedrooms, and especially in the master bedroom, the bed should be an attractive and beautiful focal point that invites buyers to come in and rest. An updated bed in a bag can be purchased for $40 – $100 at TJ Maxx, Linens-N-Things, Marshalls, or Target. Shop for bedding that matches the feel and color of your room in updated patterns like jacquard or damask. Or play it safe with a sleek white duvet with some throw pillows to bring the color of your walls!
9. KNOW YOUR BUYER
Is your home a two-bedroom townhouse in Buckhead or a five-bedroom house on one acre in East Cobb? The location, size, and layout of your home are good indicators of who is likely to look at and eventually buy your home. Once you’ve identified your buyer, cater to them with the style of furniture, colors, and general lifestyle you present in the home.
10. DECIDE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SELL
While staging your home is necessary to ensure you get the best price as quickly as possible, you shouldn’t just stage your home, put it on the market, and then sit back and wait. You can never be sure which action will actually secure a contract, so do it all. Print your brochures in color, not black and white, and keep the box full. Make sure every inch of your home shines at every visit and that there’s a fresh scent when buyers walk in. Open your doors for an open house when you are available on Saturday and Sunday. Email friends and family in the area with photos and specs of the home to let them know it’s on the market. Decide that you are going to sell, and then do everything in your power to do so.
Good luck!