Best Practices for Staging a Home for a Sale
Did you know it takes upwards of six months to sell your home? For anxious homeowners ready to move, this can seem like a lifetime. To speed up the process, give DIY home staging a try.
When you stage your home, you’re essentially decorating, renovating, or furnishing it to increase the appeal for potential buyers. Think of it this way — you want to help them imagine living there. You could hire a professional to do this for you, but that can get pretty expensive.
The good news is you don’t have to be an interior design expert to give your living and bedroom a little pizzazz, and you certainly don’t have to recreate a full home-magazine photoshoot to get an interested buyer. You can easily stage your home by yourself, inexpensively, with a few charming and practical touches.
Clean and Tidy
Keeping your house clean is absolutely essential when home staging. Dust is the enemy! Showcase natural light from your windows and keep them free from fingerprints. Tidy up the house, declutter, and organize. You don’t want so much of your possessions and clutter in there that the potential home buyer can’t see themselves in it.
Consider decongesting your home by carting away unnecessary furniture from the house, as well. It’ll make things easier when you move out, too. Just make sure you’re prepared to store away your furniture safely.
Simplicity is Elegant
Decorate to give an idea of simplicity and elegance. Use clean colours for your walls, upholstery, and curtains. Plain white works particularly well and allows accent colours to draw attention to the perfect parts of your room. You don’t want too much decor in the room, either, but adding a few pieces to a countertop or bookshelf works wonders.
Keep Your Possessions Safe
Organize for the potential home buyer, but also organize for yourself. It is not unusual for buyers to look through your cabinets and closets. Keep your valuables tucked away. Again, this is so the buyer can see themselves in the home (and keep your things safe, too).
Closet Space is Prime Real Estate
Closets should be well-organized to show off storage space. If you have a particularly large or walk-in closet, then really get creative. A walk-in closet is practically a shoe and clothing paradise. Add shelves, shoe racks, or anything you may need to make it a dream come true.
Curb Appeal
Give potential buyers a stellar first impression. You want them to drive by and say, “Wow!” Tidy up your front garden or add some potted plants to your porch. Re-paint the exterior of your home and fix up broken or missing front of house elements. This can also increase the value of your home. Don’t forget the small things either. Replace old mailboxes or house numbers that may be rusting; sweep off the sidewalk and move garbage bins out of sight. These quick, DIY tips can really enhance your curb appeal.
Fix It Up!
Repair any minor damages to your house. These usually include small cracks, scratches, broken door handles, and such. Like with home staging, you don’t necessarily have to hire an expert. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to spruce up a home with uncomplicated repairs and quick hacks by yourself.
Alternatives routes for a quick sale
If you are short on time for selling your property and the idea behind home staging is to get a buyer through the door as quickly as possible there are certainly alternatives to traditional estate agents. Some few companies in many instances will buy your home regardless of the condition such as We Buy Any House, but you will always get a better price if you have followed the rules above.
Save For Your Move
You don’t have to hire the expert to stage your home. All you need for DIY home staging is a little creativity, motivation, and some practical organization. Save your money for the big day when you need to hire movers to bring you to your new home.
