I’ve be in real estate for over 20 years (I started when I was 3) and haven’t heard of home staging until the most recent few years. We did it all of those years, we just called it – cleaning up!
Keep this in mind – your home will not look the same when you are on the market as when you are not on the market. Often some simple but important changes must be made to the house. I am going to offer the top tips to yield a higher return in less time.
Interested in how to prepare a home to sell? Read on!
Curb Appeal
- Show Your Home, Don’t Hide it – Prune all overgrowth, cut back the monsterous tree in the front yard that has offered you solitude at the expense of the neighbors whispering (You’ve seen those houses), weed the garden and add a burst of color around the front door with seasonal flowers
- Make it POP – Repaint the front door and the shutters. You will be shocked at the difference it makes
- If it Lives, Kill It – Mold that is. If you have mold on your siding, power-wash it. It grosses people out.
Inside the home
- Use Plug In’s – Your house smells like something. Adding a lighly scented plug in on each floor will create warmth. (Vanilla is a good choice).
- Tone down the Paint – Color adds character, but remember, it is your character. You will need to neutralize dark colors. Keep them light and warm. My favorite warm and neutral color is Duron, Kiln Beige.
- Declutter- If you don’t use it, remove it. Rent a pod, a storage unit, or borrow some space from a friend, but remove it from the house. Keep the furniture in the room simple. This is critical. You must look at the room from a buyer’s perspective – is there room to walk around? Is the bed too big for the room? Are the closest stuffed to the rim (suggesting not enough closet space)?
- Define the Room - A common mistake seller’s make when putting a house on the market is to have the “multipurpose room”. You know the room. It acts as a bedroom, exercise room, hobby room and ironing area. Although it is common, it needs some tweaking. “Build it and they will come”. For example, if you are selling a home in a first time buyer price range, cater the room to them… perhaps a baby room, or an office, etc. A library, for example, would be more suited to a luxury, or move up home. Prepare your home for your likely buyer profile.
- Keep it Clean – Make the beds, remove the hair balls, do the dishes, put food away,e tc. Remove the pictures and magnets from the fridge, and make sure all food is taken off the top of the fridge. The kitchen countertops should be clear of all appliances, or limit it to the ones you use daily. If you have a pet, especially a cat, keep the litter box clean.
Here is the one everyone asks – Thank you HGTV! Should I take all of the pictures of my family down off the walls? Here is my take on it. Pictures create warmth and an inviting atmosphere. If the house is devoid of all life, it creates a sterile environment. So, having a few in frames on a shelf or a picture here and there will make the house real, lived in, comfortable.
If you are thinking of selling your house in Anne Arundel County, please call, I would love to help!
