7 Tips For Staging Your Home For Re-sale And Why It Is So Important

There is quite a bit of inventory on the market right now. Staging your home is the easiest thing you can do to make it stand out and bring in top dollar. When looking at homes, prospective buyers usually spend more time in homes that are staged. The longer a prospective buyer is in your home, the better chance they will make an offer. Top real estate experts claim that homes under $600,000 that are priced right and staged well usually sell within 30 days, even in this market.


The longer your house is on the market the more prospective buyers start to de-value it which often times results in you having to do a price reduction and you will be more likely to get low ball offers. To sell your home quickly, spend just a little time and money staging it. Here are some tips to get you started.


#1 Clean out the Clutter! Every room in your house needs to be minimalistic while your home is on the market. This might be uncomfortable for you but it will sell your house. Order a storage pod or find a friend willing to store your stuff. Clear out half the stuff out of every closet and cupboard. Only keep the clothes, kitchen gadgets and other items that you absolutely need for the next couple of months. There should be empty space in every closet, drawer and cupboard. Often times the first thing prospective buyers do is open your cupboards and closets. They want to know that all of their things are going to fit. If you have full closets and cupboards they will assume that there is not enough space for their things.


#2 De-Personalize Your Home. Clear off your refrigerator and clear out the majority of personal photos. Prospective buyers need to visualize themselves living in your home and many people have a hard time doing that if there are pictures of you and your family everywhere or if there are knickknacks and trinkets cluttering up your walls and shelving. Box them all up and store them. You can put them back up in your new home.


#3 Fix your Home. Go around your house and make a list of all of the little things that need fixing. For example, loose banisters, broken outlet plates, squeaky door hinges, nicked walls and so on. When people see broken things in your home, even if they are small, they see more work they have to do which de-values your home and some people will assume that you do not take good care of your home. Everyone wants to buy a home from someone who has taken good care of it.


#4 Paint, paint and more paint. Paint is the easiest and cheapest way to freshen up your home. Use neutral colors and consider consulting with your Realtor before choosing the colors. If you have any wallpaper, strip it and paint the walls. Most prospective buyers will see wallpaper as work and will want to knock that off of the price.


#5 Relocate your pets. Ideally send all pets to a friend or relatives house while your house is on the market. People will spend significantly less time looking at your house if you have pets and many people have pet allergies and will not even go in your house. If the pets need to stay, keep them kenneled during showings. You may have the sweetest dog in the world but if a prospective buyer is scared of dogs, they will not walk through your home if there is a loose dog. Open your windows as much as possible to keep the air fresh. Continually run your ceiling fans.


#6 Clean Up! A sparkling clean house seems like a well-maintained house. It also gives buyers a chance to notice your house, not your dust bunnies. They will be more likely to want to spend time in your house, which means they are more likely to buy it. Clean your home daily while it is on the market. Just 20-30 minutes a day will make a big difference and keep it smelling fresh.


#7 Set-up your bedrooms as bedrooms. You can set one bedroom up as an office, but no multi-purpose rooms. Bedrooms should be very minimalistic, a bed, nightstands and maybe a dresser, that is it. Everything else needs to go. The nightstands and dresser should be totally cleared off, except for maybe a lamp.


The key is you want people to notice your house, not your stuff. Your prospective buyers need to be able to visualize themselves living in your house and their things fitting in your house. Make your house neutral, minimalistic and show that it is well maintained. This will fetch top dollar and sell your house the fastest.