Staging is one of the most important steps to add value and versatility to your home. Steps like depersonalizing and decluttering help convince buyers that your house could become their new home, but there are some extra steps that can really make your home stand out. Remember, it’s all about the buyer, which means sweeping away the past to make way for the future. Keep reading for tips on how to most effectively stage your home.
Hide the Mundane
Your home should look like a place where people could imagine themselves living, but it shouldn’t look like someone is already living there. Eliminating clutter and hiding maintenance items, such as dish towels, extra cooking utensils, and laundry detergent is an important step to optimizing the appearance of rooms. Doing this makes the house feel like more of a blank canvas upon which the buyer can create their home, thus making them more likely to buy.
Prioritize Key Rooms
When it comes to staging your home, remember that not all rooms are created equal. If you have limited time or budget, you’ll want to focus on the “money rooms” first. According to a 2017 report by the National Association of Realtors, the rooms that have the most influence on a buyer’s decisions are the kitchen, the living room, and the master bedroom. Giving these rooms some extra love can make all the difference in selling your home. Making a good first impression is also key, so make sure the front entrance of your home looks clean and inviting. Remove any seasonal or personal decorations in favor of some fresh-looking plants or a nice doormat.
Stick to Neutral Colors
While bright colors are the perfect way to add a personal touch to your new home, they can often turn buyers off, especially if the color is on a wall, carpet, or something that would be hard to change. Although this can be time consuming and a little more cost intensive, painting over brightly colored walls with neutral tones (grey, white, beige) can make all the difference in making your home more versatile and appealing to buyers. While some buyers may appreciate a brightly colored wall, most would prefer to choose the color and placement of their statement piece to make the home feel more their own.
Appeal to All the Senses
When staging your home, appearance is the priority, but smell and climate are also important factors. Before buyers enter your home, make sure it is a comfortable temperature and try to have good airflow. This could mean cracking a window and turning on some fans in the summer, or making sure every room is warm (but not too warm) in the winter. Although most people don’t think about it, giving your home a pleasant but subtle scent is also beneficial. You should always deep clean your home before showing it, but make sure there are no harsh chemical smells when the buyer comes. Adding flowers to a room can help, both with smell and appearance, or you could use fake flowers and a subtle air freshener for the same effect.
If you’re thinking about selling your home in Sanibel or Captiva, contact Kingfisher Real Estate to learn how we can help you.