One of the best ways to help sell a home is Home Staging. Home staging is the way you present your home when you are ready to sell. The goal of staging is to make a home appeal to the highest number of potential buyers resulting in a property selling quicker and for more money. Staging techniques focus on improving a property’s appeal by transforming it into a welcoming, attractive product that anyone might want. It’s getting more and more popular as the housing market cools and sellers compete for a limited number of buyers.
“The way you live in your home and the way you market a house are two different things,” says Barb Schwarz, the CEO and founder of StagedHomes.com, who has personally staged more than 5,000 homes over the past 33 years. “You have to think of your home as a product.” Staged homes also sell faster, according to Schwarz, an average of seven days compared to 45 days for unstaged home. Here are Barb Schwarz’s top ways to help improve your home staging.
Get on your hands and knees.
OK, so cleaning sounds like a given, but this goes way beyond a vacuum cleaner and a dust rag. To get your home in shape for sale, you need to scrub around the faucets and the light switches. Banish the dustballs hanging around the baseboards and the cobwebs in the skylights. Powerwash the house and the driveway and keep the sidewalk swept clean.”You would detail your car if you were going to sell it,” says Schwarz. “You should detail your house too.”
Follow the basketball rule.
It’s no secret that America is a nation of consumers. And all of that stuff we buy is strewn about our homes. Here’s a rule of thumb: Remove all items that are smaller than the size of a basketball. Pack up at least half of your books. And stash the photographs of you and the kids on your Hawaiian vacation. You want the buyer to be able to envision himself in your home — not you.
Cast a cold eye.
Stand at the doorway of each room and take in the impression it gives. Are there too many accessories on the wall? Too many area rugs? Do the plants look overgrown? Is the furniture clustered on one side of the room? “Most master bedrooms have too much,” says Schwarz. “They tend to look like furniture stores.”In the dining room, remove extra leaves and chairs. In other rooms, take at least half of everything out and see how it looks. Then reintroduce items into the room sparingly. Be sure to visit your garage, basement, and attic for inspiration.
Set the scene.
If you’re expecting an agent to stop by with a potential buyer, there are several last-minute touches you need to do before leaving the house. Empty the wastebaskets, put the toilet lids down, hide your laundry and grooming items, and place baskets of new, color coordinated hand towels in the bathroom. Always leave some lights on. And have soft jazz or easy listening music playing. It will put people in a buying mood.
Call in the pros.
If staging your home is too big a project to pull off by yourself, you can contact the professionals at SystemToSell. We have assembled a platte of colors, fabrics, and furniture that we know sells homes. We have a growing inventory of furniture, art, and accessories. You can use one of our interior designers or we can work with yours.
We are a single source for all your design and construction needs.
Steve Nicholas is president and founder of SystemToSell- a Cleveland, Ohio based company that works exclusively for Realtors and their buyers and sellers helping them maximize the value of their property before and after the sale.