Did you know there’s something you can do to influence directly how well your home sells and for how much? When you take the time and energy to stage your house for sale efficiently, you significantly impact the way potential buyers perceive the value of your property. Here’s what you should know about staging your home for sale.
What Staging Means
When you hear the word stage, do you correlate it with the word show? While your mind may have taken you to Hollywood or the theater for performing arts, the imagery also applies to real estate. You stage your home when you’re preparing it to show. In fact, you want your property to put on such a good show that multiple buyers submit offers.
To stage a house is to:
- Simplify
- Depersonalize
- Neutralize
- Clean
- Repair and Replace
- Decorate
Simplify | The Art of Decluttering
Whether you’ve lived in a place for three years or thirty, you’ve accumulated belongings. Your first goal when staging is to pare down your belongings. The fact is, you’re moving anyway, so it’s a great time to eliminate things you don’t need, pack what you can, store what you’re able, and discard items you no longer need. When you’re finished, you’re left with the bare bones of what you need between now and the time you move. Leave no stone unturned.
You may find it beneficial to take a trash bag, accordion file folder, photo box, and three plastic storage bins. You can mark your bins Pack, Sell, Donate. As you move through the room, touch every object. Will you use it again? If so, will you use it before you move? If you don’t need it shortly, tuck it into the pack bin. If you won’t use it again, put it into the sell or donate bin. If it’s unsalvageable, add it to the rubbish bag.
Depersonalizing | Removing Your Personality from Your Place
One of the best parts of moving into your house was probably the act of infusing it with your personality. You’ve added your color palette and patterns, pictures of your loved ones, religious statements, political paraphernalia, books and magazines collections – all of which reveal a little something about you, what you believe in, and who you are. When you invite potential buyers to consider purchasing a property, you want them viewing a clean slate so they can envision themselves living in the space. The last thing you want is to alienate a buyer because their personal beliefs conflict with yours.
You may have overlooked some of the depersonalizing in the decluttering process because you’d never consider your prized possessions to be clutter. But now that the sentiment is separated from the business end of the deal, you can take another look around your place and see what else you can pack up.
Neutralizing | Desensitizing Your Sense of Style
No one is criticizing the way you’ve decorated your home. You designed your home for your tastes. But now that you’re putting your home on the market, your goal is to make it appealing to all tastes by presenting it as a clean slate, a blank canvas, and a move-in-ready opportunity.
Color palettes should be soft, warm, neutral colors such as beige, cream, sage, gray, or other muted shade.
The Cleaning Crew | Cleanliness Sells
Whether you’re doing the work yourself or outsourcing the task, the house – inside and out, top to bottom, should be spotless and sanitary. People can misconstrue dirt, dust, or grime as lack of care or maintenance. On the contrary, buyers are enamored by clean and move-in ready.
Repair and Replace
Don’t wait until the home inspection reveals problems that could delay or derail your deal. If something’s broke, fix it. If you can’t fix it, replace it. You may be spending a bit of money to get the things done, but you’ll be saving time, money, and a lot of stress down the road.
Decorate
By now, your house should be stripped down to the bare bones. Most of your belongings are packed and stored away, except what you need in the here and now. You’ve scrubbed and cleaned, and you’ve fixed anything in disrepair. Now it’s time to add back in a bit of liveliness via decor. Keep it simple, understated, and subtle. Fresh flowers, thriving plants, live fruit, baked goods, and lit candles all add an element of charm that can romance buyers through staging.
Haftel Estates would be happy to show you homes, guide you through the offer process, and negotiate a sale. Feel free to contact us at 561.526.6990 for answers to your questions!
