There’s no doubt about it—home staging can do wonders to improve the appeal of your house to potential buyers. This process can help you get a quick offer and achieve the highest sale value when you’re selling your home. If you don’t stage your home, it can be harder for potential buyers to see your property’s full potential and get a sense of what it might be like to live in the home.
If you’re thinking about staging your home, you’ll need to do it correctly and avoid the common home staging mistakes in order to set yourself up for success. In this article, we will provide you with tips and ideas on how to go about staging your home.
Let’s dive in.
- Keep It Clean and Decluttered
One of the most important parts of home staging is cleaning and decluttering the space. Buyers should be able to see a home’s great features, which is much more difficult when a space is untidy and cluttered. Clutter not only distracts prospective buyers from your home’s features, but it also makes it seem cramped. Adequate space is one of the important things buyers consider when searching for a home, and you want to showcase that. Make sure you deep clean all the rooms and try to free up as much space as you can. A clean home gives the impression that a home is well cared for, which every prospective home buyer is hoping to find.
- Depersonalize
The goal of staging your home for sale is to allow prospective buyers to imagine themselves living in the home. By removing your personal taste from the home, buyers will be able to visualize themselves living in the home.
Here are some ways you can depersonalize your home for potential buyers:
- Take down personal photos—these are not only a distraction, but they also make it harder for potential buyers to envision their lives in the space
- Remove any wall coverings that are old and outdated
- Remove your kids’ artwork, trophies, certifications, and toys
- Remove any objects of a religious or political nature
- Opt for neutral colors. While neutral colors may not be the most exciting color palette, they won’t be a turn off to most buyers.
- Do not forget to depersonalize your outdoors
- Fix What Needs Fixing
Staging a home may be more than just cleaning, decluttering, and depersonalizing. It can sometimes include undertaking minor home repairs and upgrades like touching up paint, upgrading light switches, upgrading some plumbing components, repairing light fixtures, and more. All homes take wear and tear over time, whether they are well maintained or not. Minor imperfections like dull-looking cabinets, holes in the walls, and leaky faucets can hold back your chances of getting an offer. By making minor repairs and home improvements, you’ll add to its visual appeal and make a world of difference. We recommend you walk through all your rooms and identify any minor issues and imperfections that may need to be addressed.
Note: While minor and inexpensive repairs and upgrades can pay off, major home improvements such as new floor installation may not be worth it in the long run.
- Prioritize Rooms with the Highest ROI Potential
For most home buyers, all rooms in a home are not the same. For instance, most utilized spaces such as the kitchen and bathroom offer higher ROI potential. If you have limited time or money, try to focus more on the rooms with the highest potential for return on investment. Spend the money where it matters most.
- Upgrade Your Curb Appeal
Even though potential buyers tend to be more interested in the interior of the home, an aesthetically pleasing outdoor space can create a good first impression. So it’s important to spend some time to enhance your home’s curb appeal. Well-trimmed trees and shrubs, a mowed lawn, a well-manicured flower bed, clear pathways, and a driveway that’s free of cracks can all contribute to your home’s curb appeal. The key here is to ensure that your home’s exterior is tidy and inviting to prospective buyers.
Here are some cost-effective home staging tips to maximize curb appeal:
- Stage your outdoor spaces with some furniture
- Give your front door a new coat of paint
- Pressure wash the siding, driveway, sidewalks, decking, fences, and any other surfaces that have lost their luster over time
- Remove fallen branches, leaves, and debris
- Take down any holiday decor
- Cut back overgrown trees, shrubs and bushes
- Add potted plants to your front porch
Home Staging Is a Worthwhile Investment
Given the many benefits of staging your home for sale, it’s in your best interest to implement these ideas and set yourself up for success. A property that has been well staged can get more interest from buyers and higher offers.
