Stay Ahead of Schedule:
Stage Your Home Before You List It

Selling your home isn’t a decision you take lightly, and it takes a lot of work to get your home ready for photos, showings, and open houses, none of which should be taken for granted in your marketing strategy. In fact, homes with photos taken by professionals can sell for more than the list price, so get your home in tiptop shape beforehand. Roll up your sleeves and dive into your stuff, moving what you can out of the home to stage it for potential buyers. 

Pre-Market Preparation Step 1: Declutter and Clean

Once the decision has been made to sell, you should start preparing for success. The next few months can easily become hectic if you don’t get a handle on things sooner rather than later. You can get started by decluttering your home.

A cluttered space is hard to relax in and it doesn’t look great in photos, so do your best to clear the mess away from counters, tabletops, and closets. You’ll naturally build up clutter, so if you haven’t decluttered in a while it can take some time to finish. Go through each and every room, asking yourself some tough questions. Do I really need it? When did I last use it? Am I willing to pack and unpack it if I take it with me? Is it useful?

Once you’ve gotten rid of all the junk, organize what’s left and clean. Every home needs a deep clean before listing. Buyers want to know the home was well-cared for, and if you haven’t cleaned the vents or walls in some time, what else have you neglected? Use a deep cleaning checklist to make sure you don’t overlook anything.

Pre-Market Preparation Step 2: Depersonalize, Neutralize

Now that you’ve gotten rid of all your clutter, it’ll be much easier to sift through remaining belongings and depersonalize the home. Buyers can’t imagine living in a home that’s already lived in, so get rid of any personal touches you’ve made around the home.

Bubble wrap your family photos and any themed décor you might have throughout the house. You can leave a few small things out, but you want people to enter the home and focus on the walls and features of it. So, distracting décor or colors need to go.

No matter how good the wallpaper looked alongside your furniture and accents, buyers only see the time and effort or money they’ll have to put into removing wallpaper. The point is to remove any negative thoughts that might occur. So, you’re striving for a neutral appearance. You need to give buyers room to move-in inside their heads, but you need it to be inviting as well.

Pre-Market Preparation Step 3: Stage

Many sellers pay to have their homes professionally staged because it pays off in the long term. But there are ways to enjoy the advantages of staging a home without the extra cost. First, determine whether your own furniture is fit for a showing.

Do you want to sit down in the room? Is it inviting? This is something that the buyers will definitely consider — even if only subconsciously — and you shouldn’t settle for furniture that needs to be replaced. According to NAR, buyers’ agents admitted it was easier for their buyers to see a property as their “future home” when it was staged.

If possible, float the furniture to create a cozy sitting area and allow traffic to flow from doorway to doorway uninterrupted. If you have a picture window, arrange the furniture so that natural light brightens the rooms. Make a good impression by cleaning up the exterior. Search for more ideas online, and ask for your agent’s input. 

If you’re selling your home, do it right from the start. Get everything ready ahead of time, and you’ll be rewarded for your careful planning and forethought. Declutter, depersonalize, and stage your home to see the offers start flying in.

Image via Pixabay
Guest Post by Alice Robertson