First impressions are everything, and buyers form an opinion of your home within moments of entering and sometimes just based on curb appeal alone.
If a buyer doesn’t get excited when they walk in the front door, you may never get another chance to change their mind. That’s why home staging is so important to help you achieve a quick sale at the best price.
Staging doesn’t have to be expensive. In a lot of cases, the seller has everything already, and it’s just a matter of moving furniture around, placing items in different locations, and putting some pieces in the garage or in storage.
Home staging, for little or no cost, still will have a big impact and make the right first impression in the minds of potential buyers. Sellers can find it too difficult to be objective when trying to stage their own homes, as they are filled with the emotions of living there and items of sentimental value.
Free home staging is a complimentary service I offer all my clients. As soon as I enter the home, I will go through each room, making notes of anything I think may distract from a potential sale. My notes also will include what enhancements can be made to highlight the home.
You will be amazed how different a home can look just by rearranging the existing furniture, moving pictures, and reorganizing or adding a rug or other small items. I also have a lot of staging items I can bring to the home to help make it stand out, all at no cost to my clients. If full home staging is needed, I work with an excellent home staging company.
Here are just a few tips for getting your home ready to be listed:
- Curb Appeal—First Impressions Count
Have your shrubs and grass trimmed, add new shrubs, and if needed, weed and freshen up any bare areas of stone or groundcover. Add pots with flowering annuals to the entryway. Curb appeal really does make a difference, and it’s the very first impression the buyer will get when pulling up to your home.
- Clean
Have your home cleaned from top to bottom, including baseboards, fans, light switches and door frames.
- Painting
Touch up both the interior and exterior of the home or have it repainted. If you have any colored walls, such as a lovely purple wall, which matches your purple couch, have it repainted a neutral color. Stay away from white. You don’t want the home to look cold and sterile. A nice beige or gray, which is the new white, can add warmth and style.
- Declutter
It is a good rule of thumb to take down two-thirds of what you have displayed. You are going to be moving anyway, so use this as a great opportunity to start your packing early. Keep countertops clear, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. Reorganize your closets to make them appear larger. Pack away anything you are not going to be using in the next few months.
- Open up the House and Keep It Bright
Buyers don’t like to walk into a home that is dark and feels closed in. Make sure all the blinds are open and the lights are on. Turn on any accent lights, such as under the kitchen cabinets and side lamps. These not only make the home bright but also add warmth.
- Keep Out The Odors
Add a plug-in or oils to keep the home smelling nice, especially if you have pets. Put one at the entryway where the buyer first enters the home. Just make sure not to use too many, or the smell will be too strong.
- Make Repairs
Go through the house and fix any little minor defects, such as loose door hardware and faucets. Replace any burned out light bulbs. Consider hiring a handyman to review the home and take care of any minor issues. After all, the buyer will be having the home inspected. So, the more you do now, the better the inspection will be. If there is a major repair that needs to be done, discuss this with your Realtor before making the repair, as there may be other ways for you to address the matter.
Take the first step in getting your home sold.
If you are thinking of selling your home, please contact me to set up an appointment for a free complimentary home staging consultation to focus on those repairs and upgrades worth doing and how to stage your home to sell.
Lorraine Ryall has been a Multi-Million Dollar producer for the past seven years. You can reach Lorraine at (602) 571-6799. You also can send her an email at Lorraine@Homes2SellAZ.com, or visit her website at www.Homes2SellAZ.com.