Secrets to Staging Your Home: The 3, 4, 5 of Staging
Your home will be judged by its curb appeal before potential buyers walk through the door!
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 an asset probably 5 to 15 times less in value than your home, and also never appreciates. 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. Even though we’re in a seller’s market, buyers are pickier then ever, expect more, expect a deal in terms of price, and do not have an imagination to see through our stuff and personal décor. There is a reason why builders spend tens of thousands of dollars decorating and staging their model homes to perfection. 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.
THE 3 SUBLIMINAL ITEMS TO STAGING YOUR HOME
1. Smell
Your house MUST smell clean, fresh and/or new. 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.
2. Declutter
Declutter children's rooms by removing extra toys from view.
LESS IS MORE! Take out as much furniture, knick-knacks, and personal pictures/diplomas as possible. All rooms should look as big as possible, walls should be slightly decorated, but not too much, and buyers should be able to imagine their items (not yours) in the home.
3. Brightness
Keep the blinds open for showings to increase natural sunlight into the house.
The more natural light, the better! The more natural light in your home makes a huge difference. We recommend to all of our clients to take off their screens and store them somewhere safe. Open up the blinds on the windows that do not have something negative on the outside like a close neighbor. Have all the light bulbs in and at the highest watt each fixture will allow and try natural light bulbs.
4 MAIN AREAS TO STAGING YOUR HOME
1. Curb Appeal
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.
2. Kitchen
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.
3. Master Bed / Master Bath
The Master Bathroom is one of the 4 main areas that sell your home.
The master bedroom needs to look large and feel like a retreat as the master bath needs to feel like a spa. Being able to feel the size of the closet is huge as well, so two fingers between every hanger, no storage items in there, and make sure you double or triple stack the closet shelving to make small closets feel larger.
4. Backyard
You don't need a fancy outdoor kitchen or extended patio to create an inviting atmosphere in your backyard.
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.
5 MAIN UPGRADES TO STAGING YOUR HOME
1. Fixtures
Updating fixtures in bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, etc. on most homes is well worth it.
2. Counter Tops
There are tons of fresh and trending countertop options for affordable prices. There are even ways to do an epoxy/marble faux look on your countertops that bring them in style for a fraction of the cost of some countertop options. We always encourage doing what makes the most sense for your home - and your budget.
3. Flooring
Wood and tile floors are hugely popular right now with most buyers, especially in high traffic rooms.
Refreshing flooring, whether it be new flooring or refinishing current floors can completely change the buyer’s perception of the home. Getting carpeted floors professionally cleaned or replaced can also make a huge difference on their perception of the home (and the smell of it).
4. Cabinets
Be sure to stay in tune with trends for cabinet colors and finishes. There are simply ways to refinish cabinets to give them a brand new look for a realistic price. Simple and neutral can never go wrong and can easily help the buyers picture that as their kitchen.
5. Paint
The best neutral paint color on the market is an 'Agreeable Gray' color. It adapts to both warm and cool tones, making it match almost any style/vibe.
The upgrades speak for themselves, which can also be used as a list to see where you stand compared to the competition. Don’t forget to “set the mood” when you have showings of your house. You can do this by playing music in the background, have candy or chocolate to eat, and bottled water or sodas to drink. It is all about setting the stage or the atmosphere. Take it another step further and set your dining room table, have a fake/fresh bowl of fruit in the kitchen, and have a tray in your master bedroom with two fake Champagne glasses and a bottle on it. 90% or more of homes are not staged - so your house could be the one that truly stands out. The homes that are selling for the most value and in the shortest amount of time are those homes in the top 10%. that ARE staged. You are losing thousands of dollars if you don’t invest in the time and money to properly stage your home.