This is the third in a series of things to do to get your home ready to sell. If you missed them, the previous posts were:
At this point, you should have:
•· Decluttered every inch of your home
•· Started pre-packing for your move
•· Cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more
•· Made any necessary repairs
•· Repainted any rooms that needed to be freshened up
So here we are...the final step to getting your home ready to sell. Staging.
Home staging is the art of preparing your home to make it look the best it can before putting it the market to be sold. In a nutshell, you want to accentuate the positive points in your home and downplay any negatives.
Arrange each room to show its function and focal point
A dining room should be a dining room, not an office, not a playroom, not a catch all spot. It should allow the buyer to feel as if they have found the perfect place to sit down to dinner. Place a nice centerpiece and set the table.
The same rules apply to every room in your home. Bedrooms are for sleeping and should not have exercise equipment in them. Do you have a fireplace? If so, you've got a built in focal point and all of the furniture in the room should be arranged to call attention to it. Have a great view from a window? There's your focal point for the room. Draw the buyers in and make them want to stay. They won't buy a house that they cannot picture themselves living in.
The finishing touches
When you think a room is complete, take a picture from each corner and from the doorway. Review the photos with a critical eye for detail. Is there something you overlooked that jumps out when viewed through the lens of a camera? A little clutter left on a desktop? Too much stuff still on the kitchen counters? The pictures that your agent takes and posts to the MLS and the internet are the world's first glimpse into your home. Be sure they make them want to see more!
Let your nose be your guide. Your home should smell clean and fresh. Avoid cooking anything with a strong
odor such as fish or cabbage while your house is on the market. If you are a smoker, do NOT smoke in your house. You may not smell the lingering odor of cigarettes, but non-smokers certainly will and it can be a real turn-off to a potential buyer.
Ready for that first showing or open house? Take the time to add some fresh flowers to your foyer or entryway. It's a pleasant way to greet the people visiting your home and can make a great first impression.
I hope this series has been helpful to you as you prepare your home for sale. Have a question? Drop me a line at lheindel@latterblum.com.
Your West Bank Real Estate Specialist
Carole, you are so right. How a room looks in person and what jumps out in photos are often 2 different things. I usually send them a draft of their virtual tour before I make it live and often they call and want new photos because they didn't realize how their house would look online. Sometimes you just have to let them see it for themselves.
Tom, people think it's so easy to just stick a for sale sign in the yard without thinking about how they compare to other listings. In this market, they need to be as close to perfect as possible. Thanks for reading!
LISA: I think that you've given home sellers food for thought. If you can't afford to pay someone to stage the home, I would suggest taking your advice and also reading more about it online and in books. You can even watch the multitude of TV shows that address this very subject. Personally, I believe that there are professionals available for every aspect of the transaction, and they should all be used. My home will be staged professionally before it goes on the market. I will hire the professional photographer to photograph my home and prepare my virtual tour. If you take great pictures on your own, then doing it yourself is fine. I thought that I took pretty good pictures until I started using a pro, and now I see that my photos were better than many, but not in the same league as what they are now. Thanks for all of the helpful tips in this series. I've bookmarked it for future use.
Lisa, I like the ideals that you have in preping the house for pictures. I will start taking 4 pictures per room and go back and study which one should be used
again thanks
Mike