Maximize Your Results When Selling Your Home by Following These Easy Home Staging Tips.

Easy Home Staging Tips:

• Obtain feedback from a friend, relative or neighbor – Your objective is to get the most honest feedback as possible. Start with the exterior and work your way through the entire house. If your home has a garage, basement and/or attic – make sure you address those places as well.
• Check out your competition – Even if it means driving around and writing down the addresses to view them online, you need to understand how your home compares to the others on the market in your area.
• Create a list, plan and prioritize – Preparing a home for the market can be a bit overwhelming; this is where a well thought out plan will help reduce the stress. As items are completed, check it out the list. Repairs should top your list. Buyers don’t want to own fixing problems in their newly purchased home.
• Think like a buyer, not a seller – Viewing your home as a buyers versus a seller can help reduce the emotional connection you may have with your home. This may be difficult for some sellers as the bond can be quite strong. However, you need to remember that homebuyers come into your home with an entirely different perspective.

How to Ensure Your Home Appeals to a Broad Base of Prospective Buyers

If you’ve ever toured a model home, it’s likely that you’ve noticed that the secondary bedrooms are typically staged as a boys’ room and the other as a girls’ room. The third bedroom, assuming there is one, is typically done as an office. There’s a reason for that. The developer, by design, is positioning the home to appeal to all types of buyers. Smart?  You bet.

As a home seller, you have the same opportunities.  Here are a few tips:

• Avoid “labeling” the room – Typical labels are “children’s names.” For example “Johnny’s Bedroom.” When buyers enter “Johnny’s Bedroom” the subliminal message being conveyed is that it’s Johnny’s, not theirs. You want buyers to envision it being their home. Another example, and one I see quite often as a home stager in Atlanta (although, I’m sure this happens everywhere) is to see diplomas on walls. While you have every reason to be proud of that accomplishment, it’s another label reminding the buyers that the home is yours.

• Don’t make assumptions - Just because you may be using one of the secondary bedrooms as a storage room, don’t assume that the buyer will want to do the same. In addition, it screams that your home lacks storage. Your best bet is to set the room up as a bedroom.

• Use props – Buyers are motivated by their emotions. “Nice things” evoke “nice emotions.”  Props can range from white fluffy towels to new bedding and no, they don’t have to be expensive.