Want a quick sale? Here are 12 Tips on How to Stage Your Home

We are entering a new era in home sales. Interest rates have doubled in the last year and are expected to go up even more. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates two times after the mid-term elections and before the New Year! Happy New Year!!

But, you still have to sell your house. It used to be just put your house up for sale and let the bidding wars begin! Not anymore. Inventory is starting to pile up and that means your going to have to set your house apart to be competitive. What’s going to differentiate your house from all the others? Well, here’s a start. Whether you’re a flipper or a regular homeowner, you’re going to have to properly stage your house. Here are 12 tips to help you down that road.

1. Clean
A clean home shows potential buyers that you’ve taken good care of the property. Ideally, you should clean every part of the house, from the floors to the ceilings—and everything in between.

2. Declutter
There are two major problems with clutter. One is that it distracts buyers from your home’s features. The other is that it makes it seem like the home has less space.

3. Depersonalize
Buyers need to be able to envision themselves in your home, so remove all the family photos, keepsakes, and refrigerator art. Keep clothes hidden away as much as possible, and make sure the bathroom counters are empty (except for hand soap, of course). Likewise, put away all the toys and anything else that is highly personal or evocative of the home’s current inhabitants.

4. Focus on Fresh
A few potted plants can do wonders to make your home feel fresh and inviting. If you have a lot of plants, space them out strategically so they don’t overwhelm any one area (unless you have a greenhouse). Of course, dead and dying plants don’t do much to make your home look well-tended.

5. Define Rooms
Make sure that each room has a single, defined purpose. And make sure that every space within each room has a purpose. This will help buyers see how to maximize the home’s square footage. If you have a finished attic, make it into an office. A finished basement can become an entertainment room, and a junk room can be transformed into a guest bedroom.

6. Wallpaper and Paint
It is unlikely that a potential buyer will like your wallpaper. Your best bet is to tear it down and paint the walls with a neutral color instead. It’s best not to paint over the wallpaper because it may look shabby and send a signal to the buyer about work they may have to do later.

7. Flooring
No one wants to live in a home with dirty, stained carpet, especially when someone else was the one who dirtied it. And linoleum is outdated and looks cheap. Although pricey, hardwood floors add value and elegance to a home. They are also low maintenance, provide great long-term value, and are perfect for buyers with allergies. In other words, they appeal to almost everyone, and if not, they’re easily carpeted over by the buyer and preserved for the next owner.

8. Lighting
Take advantage of your home’s natural light. Open all curtains and blinds when showing your home. Add fixtures where necessary, and turn on all the lights for showings (including those in the closets). This makes your home appear brighter and more inviting, and it saves buyers from having to hunt for light switches. If you think your existing fixtures are fine, be sure to dust them and clean off any grime. Otherwise, outdated and broken light fixtures are easy and cheap to replace.

9. Furniture
Make sure furniture is the right size for the room, and don’t clutter a room with too much of it. Furniture that’s too big will make a room look small, while too little or too small furniture can make a space feel cold.

10. Walls and Ceilings
Cracks in the walls or ceiling are red flags to buyers because they may indicate foundation problems. If your home does have foundation problems, you will need to either fix them or alert potential buyers to them; fixing any foundation problems would be better in terms of getting the home sold. If the foundation only looks bad but has been deemed sound by an inspector, repair the cracks so you don’t scare off buyers for no good reason.

11. Exterior
The exterior and the entryway—which factor into the home’s “curb appeal”—are important points of focus because they can heavily impact a buyer’s first impression. They may even determine someone’s interest in viewing the inside of the house.

12. Final Touches
Just before any open house or showing, make sure that your staging efforts have the maximum impact with a few last-minute touches that will make the home seem warm and inviting. Put fresh flowers in vases, let fresh air into the house for at least ten minutes beforehand so it isn’t stuffy, light a few candles (soft and subtle fragrances only), bake some chocolate chip cookies and have them out, and put new, plush towels in the bathrooms.

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