It’s not secret that selling a home can be difficult. It’s also no secret that one of the keys to selling is by staging your house, or decorating it in a way that consumers find attractive.
Here’s a list of five great tips from top websites on staging.
Keep it neutral
Home staging is like anti-personalization.
Is your favorite color pink and did you paint your bedroom in tickle me pink, bathroom in fuchsia, and dining room in salmon?
While you may enjoy the bright colors, there’s a good chance that potential homebuyers will not. Painting rooms in neutral colors is a way to play it safe.
Lush Home has a guide to painting in neutral colors.
Push furniture away from walls in the living room and dining room
This may seem counterintuitive. Wouldn’t you want to push furniture against the walls to open up the space in a room?
According to HGTV, pushing furniture up to walls actually makes a room appear smaller while pushing the furniture away can make a room feel larger.
Another way to open up a room is to add mirrors. They trick the eyes into thinking the room is larger than in reality.
Remember the rule of three
This is perhaps the easiest rule to abide by.
People like odd numbers, and they especially like sets of three.
Don’t believe me? The incredible pictures at Houzz show furniture and design grouped into threes.
Organize and throw away
Clutter and junk can turn off a consumer. The key to organization is to utilize two questions:
How long has it been since I used this?
Do I need this?
If it’s been more than six months since you’ve used something, then it’s probably wasting space in your house and can be thrown away or donated.
How much does organization help? Home Staging says that by staging your house you can increase your price by 10%.
A 10% increase in price can be significant, when you consider the cost to stage a house. The cost-(potential) reward ratio make effective staging a no-brainer!
Rethink lighting
Lighting can be some of the most complicated but most rewarding things you can do to set up your home. With proper lighting you can highlight the great points of a room and hide the beat up nooks.
The website Real Simple has a great guide for lighting.
Photo: WolfeMcKeel
Like with any other purchase, customers have their own preferences in
terms of attributes they value. It’s like buying something at the
store: if it’s packaged poorly and unattractively (or too gaudy), it
might dissuade a customer from objectively considering a purchase. Home
sellers should think of the home as a product to be sold, and keep in
mind what buyers want to see – and conversely, what could be done to
make sure they see it.
Our house may be on the market in 3 years. I already know we are going to have to paint every room except our bedroom. Our paint is very vibrant, and though we get a lot of comments (because it goes well with our area rugs, accent pillows, curtains etc)…it would not meet everyones tastes….especially if staged.