Expert Advice on Staging a Home

Many things go into selling a home, and staging it correctly is no small part. It’s one of the best ways to increase your chances of quick offers from potential buyers and get a higher sale value.

Studies have indicated that staging your home before attempting to sell helps get offers significantly faster. Some staged houses sell 3-30 times faster than their non-staged counterparts. The International Association of Home Staging Professionals recommends staging a home correctly to increase your chances of selling quickly and at a better price.

Yet staging can become complicated and time-consuming – especially if you’re a first-time seller. Most buyers say they prefer looking at staged properties because it makes picturing it as their future home much easier. Staging can also help demonstrate how different spaces are best used and decrease the uneasy feeling that empty rooms can cause.

Get Rid of Unnecessary Clutter

It’s easy for clutter and excess knick-knacks to accumulate. The logical first step when staging a home is getting rid of anything extra. The goal is to help the buyer picture themselves living there, not to make it look messy. Excessive clutter can distract potential buyers and make a space look smaller. By eliminating clutter, you can keep the main focus on the rooms.

Decluttering a home can also increase the potential buyer’s perception of what they think the property is worth. The more cramped a house feels when it’s for sale, the more poorly maintained it will seem. A perception of less maintenance may make potential buyers less willing to pay a higher price for it.

An extra bonus to this strategy is that packing up little-used items before showing the house makes moving after the sale much more manageable. Make it easier on yourself by packing up knick-knacks and other long-term storage items as soon as you know you want to move.

Increase Storage Space

Buyers also prioritize homes with a lot of storage space. Investing in a little extra shelving and self-storage can fulfill this desire. Increased storage can also make a space look more appealing and tell buyers they’ll have somewhere to put their things once they live there.

Potential buyers often investigate closets and cupboards, so it’s a good idea to ensure they’re relatively empty before a house showing. Cluttered, disorganized storage space makes it seem like there’s less of it. There are cheap options for increasing storage space, which can significantly increase a potential buyer’s perceived home worth.

Don’t Neglect Maintenance

Keeping a house clean and clutter-free when selling is essential because it makes the place seem well-maintained. Still, that’s not as important as making sure that it is actually well-maintained. Even if the issue isn’t visible, a lack of maintenance leads to lower property value and may result in non-sale if a home inspection reveals serious issues.

Maintaining a home goes beyond making repairs when needed. It also includes routine cleaning, lawn maintenance, cleaning the gutters, and more. A dirty house can lead potential buyers to believe you aren’t putting effort into making it a liveable space. If the outside of the home isn’t maintained, the buyer isn’t likely to think it’s well-maintained on the inside.

Use the Right Colors

When decorating and staging a room, it’s important to remember that colors influence the perception of a space. Using the right colors can make a space seem bigger or smaller than it is and even more or less welcoming. Using the right colors in the right areas can make a world of difference.

To start, it’s usually a good idea to use light colors in combination with white or other neutrals when staging. Light colors make a space look bigger, causing an illusion that appeals to the potential buyer’s need for size and storage.

If a room is already relatively large, using light colors or white can make it seem too big, empty, and imposing. In this case, opting for more neutral colors like beige and gray may be better. Using dark colors as the central aspect of a color scheme is rarely a good idea. They make great accents, but when a room’s primary color is dark, it can feel gloomy, ominous, and uninviting.

As a side note, repainting your walls before home staging is often a good idea, even if you aren’t changing the color. It provides a cleaner, fresher look and can rejuvenate old homes.

Don’t Forget the Exterior

Lastly, remember that the interior isn’t the only part of the house a potential buyer looks at. The property’s exterior will be the first thing potential buyers see, which will help form their first impression. Letting the lawn get overgrown and filled with weeds can make it seem to the buyers like you aren’t maintaining the home.

Cracks in exterior paint, dirty windows, and a cracked foundation are red flags to potential buyers. Moss, vines, and other plant life growing up the side of the building is also often a deterrent, as it indicates that nobody has tended them in a while.

Finally, use the right amount of lawn decorations. Leaving the lawn empty can be disconcerting, but using too many creates the same issues a cluttered interior causes. It can help to do a bit of gardening and have a flower pot or two. It shows that you’ve put time and effort into making the home look nice.

Moving Out

If you’re selling your home, chances are you’re moving straight into a new one. Moving on your own is a big task and often leads to lost or broken items. Hiring a team of professional movers like Good Neighbors Moving makes the process quicker, easier, and safer. Not only that, but we can offer advice on questions you may not have thought to ask.

If you need someone to help you move, hire people with years of experience and a friendly, professional attitude. We’re more than happy to help and have what it takes to get the job done right.