We all know that the best way to sell your home is to price it right, market it right with the right Realtor ®, have professional photography, and stage the home. In a buyer™s market, the above should not even be an option in a seller's head. Doing all this will help sell your home, get the most for your home, and get it sold faster.

Staging is a huge aspect of selling your home as the average staged home sells for 6.7% more than a non-staged home. Just think of it like selling your car. If you were going to sell your car, most of us would wash and detail both the inside and the outside to make it look the best it can and that is on an asset that is probably 5 - 15 times less in value than your home which also never has a chance to appreciate. You could be losing A LOT of money on your home if you decide not to stage it top notch.

Let's first start off with the 3, 4, 5 of staging a home. And remember, not only is it a buyer's market, buyer's are more picky then ever, expect more, expect a deal in terms of price, and do not have an imagination to see through our stuff and personal decor. There is a reason why builders spend tens of thousands of dollars decorating and staging to perfection their model homes. So the best advice is to put your personal taste and ego aside and stage your home to sell to get the best overall value out of your home.

  • 3 subliminal items that sell your home
  • 4 main areas that that sell your home
  • 5 main upgrades that sell your home

The 3 subliminal items that help sell your home

  • Smell - must smell clean, fresh, and/or new
  • Declutter - less is more
  • Brightness - the more natural light the better

Make sure there are no pet smells, baby smells, or food smells in the house. A clean smell or new smell or freshly baked goods smell works best. A clean house and good plug-ins can really make a difference.

Take out as much furniture, nic nacs, and personal pictures/diplomas as possible. All rooms should look as big as possible, walls should be slightly decorated, but not too much, and buyer's should be able to imagine their items (not yours) in the home.

The more natural light in your home the better. I recommend to all my Clients to take off their screens and store them some where safe. Open up the blinds on the windows that do not have something negative on the outside of it like a close neighbor. And have all the light bulbs in and at the highest watt each fixture will allow or even try natural light bulbs.

 

The 4 main areas that sell your home:

  • Curb Appeal (front of home)
  • Kitchen
  • Master bed/Master bath
  • Back yard

There are a lot of things you can do for curb appeal. Paint or stain the front door, pot of flowers by front door or door mat, take out or trim down any bushes that might be covering up the house, plant flowers, brick or stone flower beds, paint or power wash the home, power wash the drive, trim trees, green grass and trimmed/mowed carefully, fresh mulch, etc.

The kitchen is a big selling point so a lot of people put a lot of time and money into it. Buyers look at appliances that stay with the home, counter tops, back splash, cabinets, lighting, and where it sits in the home.

The master bedroom needs to look large and feel like a retreat as the master bath needs to feel like a spa. The feeling of how large the closet is, is huge as well so 2 fingers between every hanger, no storage items in there, and make sure you double or triple decker the closet shelving to make small closets feel larger.

Make the back yard feel like a getaway and again as big as possible. Privacy is huge and it's always my recommendation to my buyers to plant trees and bushes in the back yard as soon as they move in to create privacy and resale value. Any kind of garden or design may help as well.

 

The 5 main upgrades that sell your home:

  • Fixtures - updating on most homes is well worth it
  • Flooring - completely changes the buyer's perception of the home
  • Counter tops
  • Cabinets
  • Paint - the best neutral paint in our market today is a taupe color

The upgrades speak for themselves which can also be a list to see where you stand compared to the competition.

The last thing I'd like to mention is don't forget to œset the mood. You can do this by playing music in the back ground, have candy or chocolate to eat, and bottled water or sodas to drink. It is all about setting the stage or the atmosphere. Heck, set your dining room table, have a fake or fresh bowl of fruit in the kitchen, and have a tray in your master bedroom with two fake Champaign glasses and a bottle on it. I heard a statistic that 90% or more of homes are not staged. And the homes that are selling for the most value and quickest amount of time are those homes in the top 10%. You are loosing thousands of dollars if you don't invest in the time and money to properly stage your home.

If you have any questions on staging, feel free to contact me or one of my stagers I use.