A Home Stager’s Secrets to Getting Your Property Sold Now!
If you’re thinking of selling your property - you’re going to want to know as many tips and tricks possible for selling it quickly and for top dollar! Staging your property is a great investment and a must if you are trying to maximize your benefits. Let’s start with the definition- home staging is the preparation of a property for sale in real estate. It involves hiring a home stager or interior designer to create a certain ambience through furniture, art, paint, and accessories to assist buyers in envisioning themselves in a space. The more a buyer can envision themselves living somewhere, the more likely they are to put an offer on the house!
You may wonder why you would ever want to spend money to sell your home, when you’re just trying to profit off the sale. Well, staged properties tend to receive more offers, more quickly than properties with no staging. Best of all- staged properties usually sell for more! With so many buyers interested, there will be more chance of bidding wars. For all of these reasons, staging your property is a great investment. Read on to find out more!
THE BASICS OF STAGING YOUR PROPERTY
We highly recommend you reach out to a certified, professional staging company (such as us!) to stage your property. It will ease your mind in the already stress-filled process of selling your house! It will take all the guess work out and ensure your selling process runs more smoothly. Email us today for a free estimate! Whether or not you decide to hire a stager, its your lucky day, because we are going to touch on the basics of getting your house ready to list.
De-clutter and Clean
If you don’t do anything else- do this step! No one likes a messy house. Good luck getting your house sold if your listing photos show dirty dishes in the sink, overflowing shelves, and messy bedrooms. Get rid of any clutter in your home by donating items to goodwill, trashing, recycling, or storing them in a storage unit. Anything that doesn’t need to be on display can also be hidden in cabinets and drawers. Keep in mind that buyers will sometimes open closed doors-especially closet doors, so we do not recommend storing your extras there. Even if your closets are large, buyers will see them as small if all of your belongings are stuffed and stacked in there. Spend some time deep-cleaning your house, especially the places you usually ignore- baseboards, ceiling fans, closets, mirrors etc. Consider hiring a professional for peace of mind.
Pro tip: Make sure all odors are contained, especially cigarette smoke and pet dander. These odors can be absorbed into your furniture over the years, making it extremely hard to get rid of. Starting the deodorizing process early on and consider hiring a stager to bring in new furniture. If you have pets, make sure they are elsewhere during listing photos and open house showings, otherwise people with allergies will immediately be turned off.
De-personalize
Go through your house and eliminate all signs of personalization. When buyers see family photos, degrees, and religious items,-they have a hard time envisioning their own lives taking place in the home. A neutral space fixes this issue.
Design
A professional will know exactly what to do here! But if you are going to DIY, here’s the mindset you want to have: Design each space to highlight the best features and minimize any problem areas. After you have de-cluttered and de-personalized, make sure the room has plenty of light, whether it be natural or through ample lighting. Design the space in a way where furniture is not blocking walkways or making the room look smaller. Not every piece of furniture should be against the wall- add dimension by playing around with layouts. If you have any unique features make sure to highlight them. If you have a small or awkward space to deal with, consider what a buyer might be attracted to. Small space by the kitchen? Try adding a kitchen cart/island or a nice voluminous tree/plant. Small room? Consider making it an office space, a nursery, or a storage “closet”. Even a long closet can be turned into an office if the doors are removed! Again, this is the hardest part of DIY-ing. It will however be a piece of cake for someone with a trained eye. You may end up deciding to hire a professional stager at this point in the process!
Photograph
Make sure you hire a professional real estate photographer for your listing. These days, the majority of buyers are shopping online before ever even stepping foot in a property. If your property is perfectly staged, but poorly photographed, you will be risking your buyer pool. A real estate photographer is specifically trained on how to capture homes in the right angles/lighting to appeal to buyers. Their professional cameras and lighting equipment highlight staging in the best way possible. Some real estate photographers even offer drone-footage as a part of their packages! But, if you are on a tight budget, any basic real estate photography package will do just fine in getting buyers to be interested in your listing.
LTL Media Photography
CONCLUSION
You are sure to increase the success of your home-selling process if you follow these steps! However, if you would rather not deal with all of this yourself, hire a certified, professional home stager. They will take everything off of your plate and ensure a smooth selling process. Again, it is an investment that will pay off in the end! Contact us today for a free estimate!