Appeal to Prospective Buyers
Put away the dirty sneakers by the door. Hang the jackets and coats in the closet and freshen the air with potpourri. Staging your home to sell is important if you want it to leave a lasting positive image in potential buyer’s minds. You want to emphasize your home’s strengths and underscore its weaknesses. With a few easy staging strategies, you will appeal to a greater amount of prospective buyers and leave many thinking, “Wow, this is a beautiful home!”
Captivating Curb Appeal
House hunters looking in particular neighborhoods, often drive up down the streets looking for sale signs or even open houses. If your home has poor curb appeal, looky-loos will likely keep on driving straight pass your address. First impressions are key! Make sure your home is dressed to sell.
- Power wash siding and walkways
- Hang easy-to-read house numbers
- Plant blooming flowers for a pop of color
- Mow lawn, and reseed or add fresh sod as needed
- Wash front windows and screens
- Repaint or stain the porch and rails as needed
Sparkle and Shine
When meeting someone for the first time, you have seven seconds to make a great first impression. Same holds true for your home. The easiest and the least expensive way to make sure your home passes the seven second rule is to clean and make each surface shine. Scrub grout, clean baseboards, touch up scuffs on walls, and don’t forget to clean window tracks. Put your best foot forward by making your home sparkle.
Contain the Clutter
Nothing is less appealing than seeing clutter. Getting your house ready to sell is a great opportunity to purge all that you may have been hoarding. Clutter can include stacks of mail, receipts, lists and phone messages. However, look even beyond the little stuff. Put away unnecessary kitchen appliances and even the coffee mug tree. Too much furniture is also a sign of clutter, so if you don’t absolutely need it, then think about storing it. Put away or pack all the family photos on the sofa table, mantle or walls. Clean and cleared off surfaces equates to more space in the eyes and minds of prospective buyers.
Stash Your Style
Your home may currently reflect your eclectic, vintage, or flower power style, but in order to appeal to the greatest amount of potential buyers, you may want to pull back your style a bit. Make your home look sophisticated by using a more neutral color palette. This is only temporary, so don’t be too disappointed. You can bring back your homes personality in your new place!
Reposition Your Furniture
Rooms with symmetrical furniture groupings are appealing to the eye. Even more importantly, pulling your furniture away from the walls and floating it centrally in the room will open the space and make the room appear bigger. Rearrange sofas, chairs and tables into cozy conversational arrangements and create obvious traffic flow in the room.
Purpose Your Spaces and Rooms
Do you have a catch all room or an awkward space that is used for storage? Re-purpose these areas and make sense of the space. Stage your extra room as a guest room, home office or den. In order for prospective buyers to realize your home’s potential, clearly define each room and odd space. Small spaces, like those under stairs, a small nook or alcove can become unique areas that are useful. Transforming these spaces into work stations, a mail center or a quite reading area will make for a great selling feature.
Fresh, Fruity and Floral
Don’t ignore the bathrooms, make an effort to make them look spa like. No dirty soap trays, no hair ties, brushes or bobby-pins. Add fresh decorative soap to your soap dish, and hang fresh clean bath and hand towels. Also, be sure the garbage pail is always empty and clean. For other fresh accents throughout the house, leave a bowl of lemons and limes or red and green apples out on the kitchen island. Fresh flowers in an attractive glass vase in the dining room, entry way or family room is also eye catching and most often creates a nice fragrance.
Create Closet Envy
Every potential buyer will open your closet to see if it is spacious. Don’t let them down by stuffing it full or having it be completely chaotic. Organize your closets by packing away unseasonal clothes, shoes and accessories. Clear off or at least organize the top shelf by investing in a few inexpensive decorative boxes or baskets to store items that are just laying about. Strive to have 20 to 30 percent open space in each closet to give the impression of large closet areas.
Outdoor Living in Style
Everyone enjoys fresh air and outdoor living. Create an outdoor space that invites potential buyers to imagine hosting family and friend gatherings. Be certain that any features like a pool or fire pit are clean and free of debris and toys. Consider seasonal embellishments by adding out door ambiance. Fresh lemonade in an attractive pitcher with clean glasses laid out on the patio table during the summer or a cozy fire roaring in your fire pit during the winter will add that little extra appeal. If your a condo owner with a tiny outdoor balcony or patio, dress it up with a café or bistro set. Add a cheerful table setting, a service tray with a teapot and tea cups or fresh juice and glasses will inspire your prospective buyers. They won’t be thinking, “oh what a small space.” They will instead imagine this quant space as being a perfect spot for a relaxed breakfast.
Staging your home to sell with these tips will excite your prospective buyers and help them to see the full potential your home has to offer.