Expert Home Staging Tips

According to a 2021 survey by the Real Estate Staging Association, sellers who invest about 1% of a home’s sale price to hire a professional to stage the house resulted in a 7% return on investment. These home staging tips from interior design experts are can greatly help real estate agents and their clients.

Why Stage?

Staging a house is an activity where you decorate the house to entice the buyers. As they say, “first impression is everything.” It is important to keep the outside of the property as inviting as the inside. For a home to stand out, a prospect buyer needs to feel that the property is a home for him/her. It is our goal for the buyer to develop an emotional attachment to the house you are selling.

Staging the property you are trying to sell is a perfect way to boost the appeal of the house. Home staging is you and your client’s marketing strategy. “Package” the house in the most appealing way to grab more interests, higher offers, and quicker sales. Agents must remember to highlight the property’s strengths and downplay its weaknesses by well-thought staging.

Make that first impression a ticket to a sale.

DIY Home Staging Tips

Start with the curb appeal

Make the home stand out the instant buyers pull up the curb. Here are some suggestions:

• Rent a pressure washer to remove dirt and grime from the deck, patio, siding, roof, fascia, and gutters.
• Remove dead leaves
• Fill in empty beds with small shrubs and greenery.
• If the porch has room for furniture, add a couple of chairs to expand the outdoor living space.
• Buy a new doormat to welcome home buyers.
• Make sure the locks and doorbell function.
• Ensure that the mailbox look clean and welcoming.
• Replace old house numbers.

Make the rooms appear bigger

The bigger the rooms seem to a buyer, the better. Here are some suggestions”

• Declutter by removing rugs and unnecessary furniture.
• Add mirrors to create more light.
• Open blinds and curtains.
• Reposition pieces so that the traffic flow in a room is obvious.
• Do not push furniture against the walls as it makes the room look smaller.
• Light up with lamps.
• Use bright and coordinated accessories like accent pillows and throw blankets.
• Clear everything from kitchen countertops except one or two decorative items like a vase of flowers or a bowl of fresh fruit

De-Personalize

When selling homes, keep in mind that not everyone has the same tastes. Help the potential buyer to be able to envision their lives inside the house by removing personal items.

• Remove personal photographs, kids’ artwork, framed diplomas, and other personal collections.
• Replace personal items with coffee table books, landscape images, or candles.
• Go neutral. Paint over any over bright colors with neutrals like gray, white, and taupe. A neutral home gives the new owners the option to express their personality in their homes

Add Functional Office Space

More people are working from home so a workplace may be essential for potential buyers. If there is no room dedicated to a home office, carve out a nook in a spare bedroom or a corner of the living room.

Focus on Fresh

Well-placed plants and flowers can add life and freshness to the room. Make sure to space them out to avoid cluttering a particular area. Place a vase full of bright flowers in the center of the kitchen table, some small potted plants in the living room. In addition, a larger potted plant in the corner of the living room would pop life in the space.

Adding white towels in the bathrooms can make the area feel fresh and clean.

Fill the home with pleasant aroma. Place a diffuser in the entryway to help make a positive first impression. Aside from flowers, you can add a scented candle in the kitchen that has the aroma of vanilla, strawberry, or other yummy smells. An alternative is simmering cinnamon sticks.

Change the Bedrooms into hotel rooms

Think about your favorite hotel when staging the bedroom. Make the bedroom look luxurious with white sheets and pillows. The white creates a clean aesthetic to the space.

Buyers prefer to see the houses staged. Remember not to over-stage the house by overdoing ornaments or overloading neutral colors that makes the house look too formal. When time and resources are limited, focus on the critical areas that have a larger impact on potential buyers, namely: bedrooms, living rooms, and bonus spaces like a home office.