There’s only one chance to make a first impression. You’ve got to put your best foot forward. These are both cliches, but they absolutely apply when you are trying to sell your home, particularly in a challenging market. There are a few secrets to staging a home that will allow you to make a great first impression on potential buyers.
One thing you can do is add extra light to your home, particularly if you live in a traditionally dreary part of the country. Consider adding bulbs with extra wattage to the fixtures or more lamps to your home. Clean windows inside and out and consider changing out window fixtures for lighter, more transparent ones.
Of course, if some of the lights don’t work, you’ll want to get them fixed, and that should really be the first step in prepping your home for sale – fixing anything that’s broken. Whether it is a leaky faucet or a door that doesn’t close all the way, making a cosmetic change to the house will send the subtle signal that it has been well cared for in the time that you were there.
People aren’t interested in buying a dirty house, so it’s essential that the house be clean at all times for visitors. Initially, that means a deep clean of everything that you might have neglected over the years – kitchen cabinets, baseboards, behind doors. When your home is on the market, people could stop by at any time. Visitors will understand a few dirty dishes or an unmade bed, but it is best to keep any actual evidence of your existence as clean as possible. Many people decide to hire a cleaning company. You can do this for the initial clean or have a service come in every week to tidy things up for you, depending on what your budget will allow.
Remove the clutter. If there’s one thing a homebuyer wants, it is space to put their things. If the house is full of your stuff, it can be more difficult for buyers to envision themselves in the home. If you can move large pieces of furniture, perhaps ones you will be discarding anyway, you’ll create more space for buyers. In particular, you will want to remove items that might alienate large groups of buyers, including items of a political or religious nature. Buyers often connect emotionally with a home, and items like these might stop that emotional connection from happening.
While you are removing the clutter, you’ll also want to get the right props. Mirrors can make rooms seem larger and increase the amount of available light. Plants can make a home seem warm and inviting. Professional stagers often use large bowls of fruit, colorfully arranged cookbooks in the kitchen and eye-catching wall sconces to add a touch of elegance and panache, making the home stand out from the others potential buyers have seen.
Of course, professional stagers do exist, and you could certainly employ a company to help you, but you can do most of the work yourself in a few simple steps. Staging a home can interfere with your daily living, but, if you do it well, there’s no reason why it should be an interference for very long.
By Sam Erickson MultiAd.com
