The Details That Make a Difference When Staging Your Home

January 24, 2020

Curb Appeal

Selling a house is stressful. It’s so stressful that it brings a third of homeowners to tears! Staging your home the right way can make a big difference in how much time it spends on the market. And, of course, how soon the stress of selling gives way to the joy of closing. Here are a few details that will make a difference when you’re ready to stage your home.

Spotlight on Your Address

No matter how good your house looks in other places, the entryway is what makes an impression on buyers and first-time visitors. Make sure your front door is visible and well-lit, even at night. It’s also a good idea to make sure the address numbers on your home are well-lit and easy to see from the street. Prospective buyers can’t fall in love with a house they can’t find! And they might be turned off by one they had to circle the block several times to identify.

Get a market analysis from Julie & Co. Realty as soon as you decide you’re selling. Knowing what your home is likely to sell for will be a big help in deciding what items to fix or upgrade.

Turn on Lights

A well-lit house looks larger. Clearing out the clutter is a given. It highlights the available space in your home. Show off that space by opening all the blinds and turning on all the lights. Make sure the lightbulbs work, and all of them match.

Smells Like Success

Baking cookies or bread right before an open house might be the oldest staging trick in the book. These scents make a property more appealing, but an unpleasant odor will do just the opposite. No matter how good you are in the kitchen, a musty basement or bathroom will give pause to even a motivated buyer.

Before letting the general public into your home, perform a room to room smell check. Even better, have a friend who’s never been to your house before doing a room to room smell check. Their uninitiated nose will identify smells that you have grown accustomed to. Do the smell test a week before staging to make sure you have time to eliminate sure any sources of bad smells. Take the trash out before every showing.

The Devil Is in the Details

Sure, a big kitchen remodels and adding an extra bathroom can have a dramatic effect on your selling price. But most of us don’t have the time or money for extensive renovations. For the average homeowner looking to sell, it’s inexpensive and more effective to focus on smaller projects.

Tiny changes can make a huge impression. While your friend is smell-checking each room, ask them to mention any little issues they notice along the way. It’s not expensive to fix sticking doors, loose railings, and windows painted shut. And the fewer small problems a buyer encounters on your property, the more opportunity they’ll have to notice all the benefits.

Winter Curb Appeal Issues in Upstate New York

The exterior of your home and the property that surrounds it make a strong impression on potential buyers. If your exterior surfaces, lawn or driveway don’t look their best, that could mean dawdling weeks or months longer on the market. In addition to sweeping walks and shoveling driveways, winter lawn care touch-up can give your property’s curb appeal a boost. Make sure there’s no rock salt on the grass that will have to be cleaned up later.

Written by Elizabeth Early

Elizabeth Early is a former real estate agent turned freelance writer.  She keeps a hand in the market by staging homes.

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