Some homeowners think they need to add a swimming pool, install a modern fireplace, or build a gazebo in the garden to make their home attractive to buyers. Although these home additions can improve the look and feel of a house, they’re not a deal-breaker for many homebuyers, particularly those buying their first home.
Often, knowing how to stage your home correctly to make it look beautiful and inviting may be the only thing you need to sell your home. Here are nine expert tips to successfully stage your home:
- Do A Deep Clean
Nobody wants to enter a dirty house, more so to buy one. So, the first thing that expert property sellers will tell you is to clean your home thoroughly and get rid of junk and clutter inside and outside your house. Instead of seeing the good things about your home, potential buyers may be turned off by wall and floor stains, dirty bathrooms, cobwebs on dark corners, and piles of boxes and old newspapers.
Rather than burn your cash by installing a swimming pool or jacuzzi, you may want to consider spending on cleaning services provided by a professional crew. Professionals will have all the cleaning tools and materials to deep clean your home’s interior and exterior areas.
- Organize Everything
If you’re still living in the house you’re selling, you can’t help but have dirty clothes, children’s toys, books, and other stuff. To make your home look neat, you can put your things in beautifully arranged storage bins and boxes.
Here are some other organization tips to help you get rid of the clutter and make your home look more spacious:
- Pack seasonal clothes: There’s no need for your winter coats and boots to crowd the front hall closet when you’re selling your home in the summer. Buyers will also want to check your closets to determine their storage capacity, so get rid of any items you no longer need.
- Pack most of your décor: Keep your décor to a minimum, and leave just enough pieces to make your home look warm and inviting.
- Store miscellaneous items: Get rid of the knick-knacks that you don’t need daily. Some examples are papers, keepsakes, games, and even non-essential furniture and appliances.
Clutter can make the space look smaller and distract potential buyers from focusing on your home’s best features. However, don’t just store your things in your cabinets and cupboards. Some people might want to check them out to see if your home has enough storage spaces. Get rid of everything you no longer need or rent a separate storage area.
- Boost Curb Appeal
The exterior is another area in your home that experts want you to focus on improving and organizing. Curb appeal is the first thing that could attract potential buyers. Thus, if you have the time and money, you can clean your lawn, paint the exterior of your house, or consider fixing cracks on your concrete driveway to enhance curb appeal. Check a local contractor’s website to see how they can help you improve the appearance of your driveway.
- Update Your Furniture
Damaged, worn-out, or outdated furniture can turn off potential buyers. You need to find better pieces that can highlight the existing space. However, it may not always be cost-effective to buy new furniture for your entire home.
If you’re working with a professional stager, they have access to pieces that can help you attract more buyers while your home is still on the market. If you’re handling the staging process on your own, you can also go to local furniture rental shops to look for pieces that can elevate the look of a room. However, if you don’t have room in your budget for furniture rentals or purchases, you can try reupholstering your existing ones to give them a fresh, updated look.
- Tick Off Your DIY Fixes
If you’ve lived in a house for so long, you probably have a list of things to do or DIY fixes that you haven’t had time to address. So, before listing your home for sale, it’d be a fantastic idea to tick off things on your home repair to-do list. You want to show buyers that your property is well-maintained.
It’d be best if you started filling cracks and holes in your wall, fixing the gutter, repairing the creaking doors, or replacing damaged cabinets. Before you sell your home, it’s a good idea to restore anything in your home that doesn’t work.
- Depersonalize Your Home
If you want to encourage viewers to buy your house, you’ll have to exert extra effort to enable them to visualize themselves living inside your property. Thus, you may want to depersonalize a home before selling it. Some of the things you can do to achieve this include removing family photographs and eccentric home decors. As much as possible, keep tables free of your stuff like cosmetics, accessories, bath essentials, and similar items.
- Focus On Comfort
Many house flipping experts want to achieve a comfortable vibe in the houses that they’re staging. They want potential buyers to see themselves relaxing on the sofa, cuddling with their loved ones on the sectionals, or sipping iced tea while reading a book on the balcony. Most people want to be able to relax and chill inside their homes. So, if you’re staging your home, make it look comfy and less chaotic.
- Renovate Kitchen And Bathrooms
Aside from spending money to improve your home’s curb appeal, other essential repairs to make before selling your house include updating the kitchen and fixing the bathroom. If you have excess money, you may completely remodel outdated kitchens and bathrooms. But if you’re tight on a budget, you can at least concentrate on fixing the kitchen cabinets, replacing leaky faucets, or updating lighting fixtures.
- Mind The Details
If you want to quickly sell your home at a reasonable price, you should mind even the most minor details when staging your home. Give your home a fresh vibe by replacing stained rugs or reupholstering an old couch. Some other details you may want to remember may include:
- Add mirrors to make small spaces look big.
- Replace old or dated window treatments.
- Use scent to make rooms feel fresh or calming.
- Use natural plants and flowers to decorate.
- Brighten your home with some pops of colors here and there.
Bottom Line
When selling a house, put yourself in the shoes of the buyers. Would you want to buy an unclean property that needs a lot of expensive repairs? Of course not. For successful home staging, you need to heed the advice of experts and make your home look as move-in ready as possible.