10 Tips for Staging Your Home

Congrats, you’ve just listed your home! Now you’re feeling antsy and excited and what better way to channel that energy into something that will make your home sell – staging! Now I’m no expert but here are some simple tips that will help your home look more appealing to potential buyers.

1.   Less is better. A cluttered house is an automatic turn off. If there are too many unnecessary items lying around it will be hard for potential buyers to actually see the space, they’ll just see your things.

2.   Going along with ‘less is better’, not only should you keep your clutter to a minimum but the less furniture you have the more space you have to work with and the bigger the room will look. Stick to the essentials in each room.

3.   An important aspect of photos and showings is helping to show potential buyers your home in the best light – literally. Lighting is key. Make sure before showings and open houses that you open up all the blinds, and maybe add a lamp in a room that still looks dark. It’s recommended that you have at least 100 watts per every square foot of space.

4.   Minimize personal effects. Potential buyers want to envision a home as their own, not someone else’s. Seeing too many family photos and other knick-knacks might deter them from thinking of their own things in those places.

5.   Keep it clean. Not to state the obvious, but make sure to stay on top of your house work. A showing can usually occur at any time, so it’s better to be safe than sorry! Dispel pet, cigarette and other odors by putting a timed Lysol sprayer in the main rooms of your house so you can set it and forget it.

6.   Make a good first impression. We’ve talked about curb appeal before and now would be a good time to mow the lawn, keep those plants water, or slap a fresh coat of paint on an old fence.

7.   Be aware of closets/storage space. This is an important feature for most people and they WILL open up and take a look, soavoid shoving unwanted items into closets to ‘hide’ them.

8.   Don’t push furniture against walls. Contrary to popular belief this will actually make a room look smaller. Floating furnituretoward the center of the room is best.

9.   Clean or replace stained furniture or carpets. If you are waiting to buy furniture for your new home - try a ‘quick fix’ by placing a throw pillow or couch cover over a stain or a piece of furniture.

10.   Although they are outside, don’t forget to ‘stage’ decks and patios. Wipe down tables, chairs, and umbrellas and spray a hose over the surface to get rid of dirt. Also keep up with pool cleaning if you have one!