Home Staging
It is called staging for a reason, your house is the star of the show and needs to be ready for prime time! Home staging is the art of using interior design techniques to transform a property from a lived-in home to a home that is positioned to sell. Below are our best tips for getting your house ready for sale:
- Remove your valuables. In order to increase your home's chance of achieving top dollar, you are going to be subject to general public foot traffic. Easily removed items such as jewelry should not be left in your home in conspicuous places.
- Remove the clutter. You are going to have to pack sooner or later, so you might as well start by packing up items which cause clutter such as: knick knack decorations, excess furniture and toys, etc. A crowded home will appear smaller than it really is, so the more clutter you can stow away, the better.
- Make it generic. When you take away the family wall of fame, you're enabling potential buyers to see your property as their home. The focus should be on the selling points of your home, not your personal items.
- Control the animals. We all love our pets, but it can be intimidating to a buyer to walk in a home and be harassed by a large, barking dog or a cat that weaves between your legs vying for attention. No doubt--it is a huge inconvience to sell a home. But you could stand to lose thousands of dollars if you don't control or remove animals from a home during peak showing times. It goes without saying that pet odor will also cost you thousands of dollars in sales value.
- Paint. Most painting jobs are inexpensive and will go a long way to adding appeal. Remember, while wood paneling may have been great twenty years ago, it is not today. MyCastle staging and interior decorating recommended professionals have experience with the latest trends in colors and are happy to help. Neutral colors are a must. Plain white walls or rooms with dark colors simply don't attract.
6. Focus on the front. The term "curb appeal" has long been used to describe the feeling a buyer develops in the first 5 seconds. If you have bad curb appeal, you will have a tough time attracting top dollar buyers. If you have a limited budget, even simple little things like adding colorful flowers to the front yard, or trimming back brushes and trees can do wonders.
Hundred dollar musts:- Paint your front door. Use a semi-gloss or gloss color that makes your door stand out.
- Get the lawn green. Fertilize, water, and mow the lawn to get it green.
- Add colorful plants. You can buy plants for less than $2 to add to the front of your home.
- Pare back or remove trees. Less is more. Strive to gain maximum sun exposure.
- Stain or paint fences. Poor fencing provides a bad “frame†of view for your home.
- Clean Relentlessly. Unclean homes create the impression that the home owner did not keep good care of the property. Buyers then begin to think ‘what else is wrong?' Make sure you clean the home relentlessly and keep it spotless. Also, nothing turns off a buyer more than a home smelling of animals, cigarettes, or other water damage. If the home is older, you probably will have to replace carpets. If you try and sell a home in poor condition you will be placed in the fixer upper category and probably forced to sell at a discount.
- Never sell a vacant home. Model homes are furnished because the builders understand home merchandizing. Furnished homes can appear larger and more inviting than vacant homes. If you move out before your home is listed, see if you can leave behind a few larger pieces of furniture or MyCastle can offer staging services to provide furniture, lighting, and accent pieces during the listing period.
Depending on how your home looks in the first place, investing a few thousand dollars to get the property ready to sell can increase the price it can command by much more. MyCastle offers a free initial consultation with a home stager/interior designer for listings with a market value over $200,000. If your home doesn't qualify, you can add this service for a reasonable fee. For more details contact us or contact us or Get Started Listing your Home with MyCastle Now!