While the services of a professional stager can’t be discounted, anyone can stage and prepare their own home for a fast sale. To that end, let me walk you through your home, room by room. Let’s start at your front door. Is your front door clean and in good condition? If not, a quick cleaning and/or fresh coat of paint should do the trick and make the buyer’s first impression a positive one. Next, starting inside your entry way, what is the condition of your floors? If you have carpet, is your carpet clean and in good condition? Are your tile and grout sparkling? Clean floors are critical for that initial positive impression. Also, can a potential buyer see the flooring in each room, or do area rugs cover a large amount of your tile or hardwood? If so, remove them.
Next, is there evidence of “you” within your home? For example, are there personal items in each room that may distract a potential buyer from looking at the actual features of your home. Do you have family photos around the room? Those should be tucked away before you list your home for sale, as they make it more difficult for potential buyers to see themselves in your home. Do you have sports paraphernalia or collections of items displayed in your room? While these items may be things you cherish, they are distracting to buyers and may cause it to be difficult for a buyer to imagine themselves living in your home.
Moving into the kitchen and bathroom, are your countertops clean, and free of personal items or clutter? To highlight the beautiful features of your home and the spaciousness of these important spaces, eliminating any and all non-essential items from these horizontal surfaces is a quick and easy task when staging your home for sale.
Finally, how is the lighting in each room of your home? Are all of your window treatments opened to increase natural light in your rooms? Are your windows sparkling clean? Are any of your lamps and fixtures missing lightbulbs? All of these steps are easy ways to increase the ability of buyers to notice and appreciate all of the features in your home.
Of course, every home is different, with different staging needs. I would be happy to walk through your home and to give you more staging tips specific to your own home.
Get started with a free no-obligtion home value estimate.