Staging a home is an important step in selling. A quarter of real estate agents agree that while staging may not always increase a home’s value, it does attract more potential buyers than an unstaged house would. This raises a seller’s chance of finding a seriously interested buyer. There are many things a potential home seller can do to ensure they make a quick, easy sale. Because the first challenge you may face when selling your home is staging, here is a list of tricks to market your home confidently.
Turn your front entrance into a welcoming enclave
Potential buyers should be instantly awed when they first step into your home. A home’s entrance can easily be cluttered with shoes, coats, and other outdoor accessories. While this clutter can feel cozy to a homeowner, it will not feel that way to a potential buyer.
If you have not already done so, integrate into their foyer hooks for coats and jackets, storage bins for shoes, hats, and gloves, and dishes for keys. Copy and paste the nearest room’s main color scheme onto these functional tools. The hooks, bins, and dishes should be pleasing to the eye. For staging, a person could utilize one hook for a solid-colored jacket and leave the rest uncovered to show off their appeal, inspiring a potential buyer to envision the foyer as their own attractive and functional space.
Put the decorative bins on or below a shelf or dresser, and make sure their placement looks purposeful. The same goes for your key dish. When a potential buyer visits your home, put one or two keys in the dish to show its function. Even though a buyer should be focused on the space rather than the furniture that fills the space, your furniture should still inspire the space’s potential.
Organize and decorate with minimalism
The process of decluttering does not stop in the front entryway. It is important to declutter your entire house when it comes time to sell. Put away your personal items and keep the decor on surfaces to a minimum. Potential homebuyers want to imagine themselves in your space, so personality pieces in the home should be put away when staging.
Depersonalize your space, and if you choose to put personal items in a closet or storage room, ensure that you do so in an organized manner, as closets can be a huge selling point for potential homebuyers. Show off their functionality by keeping them tidy. A person searching for a home seeks out potential, and something as simple as a collection of organized closets can give them a sense of exactly that. It also shows off the size of the closets.
When staging furniture in more considered rooms like bedrooms, living areas, and kitchens, a home seller strives to open up the spaces. The first step in opening up a home is opening up the windows. Open windows welcome natural light to a space. Because a buyer focuses on the expansive possibilities of the room, a seller organizes their furniture to pull focus to the space around it. Keep living room seating away from the walls. By placing your furniture more centrally, a room is opened up. This is a great way to show off the size of a home, and it offers buyers a luxury feel.
Upgrade your curb appeal
The exterior of your home is just as important as the interior. Before a house hunter sees your organized, welcoming entryway, they will see the house from the outside. Keep your home’s exterior clean and green. If you sell in the spring or summer, have bright, lively flowers well-kept in your garden. A garden traditionally offers a warm, domestic feeling. You want potential buyers to feel that warmth as they attempt to imagine their life in your house.
Another way to upgrade your curb appeal is to replace the home’s house numbers. Buy crisp, attractive numbers to hang on the home. This will make your house for sale stand out as an updated, one-of-a-kind haven with charm. A new mailbox also gives potential buyers the sense that your home is special. When updated, these often ignored pieces of the home’s exterior will delight potential buyers. To pay attention to detail is to perfect your home.
Go neutral
When selling your home, it is important to consider it a blank slate. Imagine your home for sale as an empty canvas, then add some paint. A fresh coat of paint in a staged home is attractive to buyers. Even more attractive is a home they would not have to paint on their own. For this reason, it is best to paint the interior walls in a warm, neutral color. Warm neutrals are on trend because they create a cozy atmosphere in a home. Paint all walls the same color for a clean consistency.
Some warm paint colors are sand, grey-beige, and beige. A green, blue, or orange wall could look like a difficult task to a buyer rather than a fun accent. Because of this, accent walls should be painted over unless they are already neutral.
However, accent colors in a staged home are not totally frowned upon. These accents should be minimal. Decorate with two accents in your rooms to not overwhelm potential buyers with color. Remember to draw the eyes to the space rather than the decor. Unchaotic, classy accent colors can liven a space without stealing all of the attention. Use organic greens, purples, or blues as accents; these colors are classy, trendy, and natural.
Hire a professional Real Estate Agent
Staging the home to prepare for sale can feel inauthentic to homeowners who made a haven in their house. A professional real estate agent knows this is not the reality of home staging. Sellers stage to allow others to reimagine. If you, as a seller, are searching for an understanding, experienced real estate agent in the Chicago area, consider Julie Latsko. Julie has experience designing for staging homes and selling Chicago real estate. Contact Julie Latsko today!
*Header photo courtesy of Shutterstock