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Need to Sell Your House? 7 Steps to Having a Well Staged Home
By Heidi DeCoux
Staging your home prior to putting it on the market is the easiest, cheapest and most effective way to make your home stand out and fetch top dollar. Often prospective buyers spend more time looking at homes that have been staged properly. The longer a prospective buyer is in your house, the better chance they will make you an offer. Top real estate experts are saying that the homes selling within 30 days are usually priced right and staged well.
When your house is on the market for a significant length of time, people often start to de-value it, resulting in “low ball” offers and price reductions. If you want your home to stand out and sell quickly, build value by spending just a little time and money staging it. Below are 7 steps to staging your home. -
De-Clutter!
Create a “minimalistic” feel in every room in your home. This will probably be uncomfortable for you, but it will sell your house. Order a storage pod or find a friend willing to store your things. De-clutter your cupboards and closets by clearing out half the stuff. Only keep the clothes, kitchen gadgets and other items that you absolutely need. The first thing most prospective buyers do is open your cupboards and closets. There should be empty space in every closet, drawer and cupboard. They want to know that all of their things are going to fit.
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De-Personalize
Pack up and store the majority of framed personal photos and completely clear off your refrigerator. You want prospective buyers to visualize themselves living in your home. Most people will have a hard time doing that if there are pictures of you and your family everywhere. Also, clear out all knickknacks and trinkets. Box them all up and store them. Think about what a furnished model home looks like. There are no knickknacks or photos and absolutely no junk. Everything is clean, fresh and easy to be in and visualize living in.
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Fix what needs fixing.
Walk around your house and make a list of all of the 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, they will assume that you do not take good care of your house. They also see more work they have to do, which in their mind de-values your house. Another tip is to put in a fresh furnace filter. Many people will check those when touring your house.
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Paint!
Painting is the easiest and cheapest way to freshen up your house and add value. Use neutral colors and consult with your Realtor, a Home Stager or an Interior Designer when selecting your colors. If you have any wallpaper, regardless of how beautiful you think it is, strip it and paint the walls. Most prospective buyers will see wallpaper as work and will want to knock that off the price.
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Remove your pets.
If possible send all pets, including caged birds and gerbils, to a friend’s while your house is on the market. Prospective buyers will spend less time looking at your house if you have pets. People with pet allergies usually will not even go in your house. If you absolutely need your pets to stay, keep them kenneled or caged in your garage during showings. You may have the sweetest and most darling dog on the planet, but if a prospective buyer is scared of dogs, they will not walk through your house if there is a loose dog. You never know how pets are going to react when you are not home and strangers are in your house. If your pets are making noise, it will distract your prospective buyers. Open your windows as much as possible to keep the air fresh. Continually run your ceiling fans.
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Deep clean!
A sparkling clean house seems like a well-maintained house, and people will want to spend more time in it. It also gives your prospective buyers a chance to notice your house, not your dust bunnies. Clean your home daily while it’s on the market. Just 20–30 minutes a day will keep it clean and smelling fresh.
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Set-up your bedrooms as bedrooms.
You could set up one bedroom as an office but eliminate all multi-purpose rooms and spaces. Every room and space needs to be well defined. Make all your bedrooms very minimalistic. They should only have a bed, nightstands and maybe a dresser in them, and that’s it. Pack up everything else and send it to storage. Clear off the nightstands and dresser, except for maybe a lamp or plant.
You want your prospective buyers to notice your house, not your stuff, and to be able to visualize living in your house and their things fitting in your house. Paint your walls using neutral colors, create minimalistic rooms and spaces and show that your house is well maintained. Do this and you will fetch top dollar and sell your house the fastest.
Heidi DeCoux is a Professional Organizer who specializes in helping people get organized, simplify and save money. She is also a Public Speaker and Author of the Fast-Filing Method audio program, which shows you how to eliminate piles of papers and how to file and find any paper document in 30 seconds or less. For more information on this unique audio program, visit ClearSimpleLiving.com. Heidi offers a FREE e-Solutions Kit filled with tips and solutions on how to make your life easier, calmer and more organized. To get yours, just visit her website at HeidiDeCoux.com and click on e-Solutions.
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