by Rosemarie Root, Macdonald Realty –
The importance of a properly staged home is crucial!
You want to highlight your home’s strengths while minimizing its weaknesses, transforming the house so it’s appealing to potential buyers.
Here are a few helpful tips for a great first impression and a top dollar sale.
Stage where it counts. Not all rooms are considered equal. Focus your energy and efforts on the rooms with the biggest potential to influence buyers. Living room, master bedroom and kitchen are more important than the basement bathroom. Spend less time on rooms that won’t make much difference.
The clutter must go! Purge and clear away anything unnecessary or unsightly. Go down to just the basics. Clutter takes up space and space is what sells. The pictures above are a great example of the difference this can make!
Find a place for your extras and boxes. Attics and crawl spaces are a great hiding spot out of sight. Depending on the amount of “stuff” you have, you may want to consider off-site storage while you’re going through the process.
Furniture. Rearrange and remove any unnecessary furniture. You want there to be as much open travelling space as possible. Remove oversize, damaged or unnecessary furniture and get it out of the way. You are trying to create a clear traffic flow to make the space feel more spacious.
De-personalize. Remove personal things, photos and religious items. You want potential buyers to visualize the space as their own.
Light it up. Bring light into dark areas using lamps or mirrors to multiple the light coming in while also adding depth. Open curtains and blinds, letting in natural light. Replace outdated lighting fixtures. Spending money on a great light fixture has a good ROI (return on investment). Most fixtures can be swapped out within a few minutes, are pretty affordable and make a big difference.
Window treatments. Get rid of ugly outdated window treatments. They look sad and date your home. Good news: just like lighting fixtures, window treatments are affordable and easy to install. Sheer white curtains or new simple blinds can change the entire look.
Colours and groupings. Try to stick to a natural palette with a pop of colour. Grouping small items of similar shape, texture and colour goes a long way.
Don’t forget the sparkle. Get your clean on like you have never done before! Shine floors, dust shelves, scrub and wipe out window frames and door tracks … baseboards and tight corners should gleam. You want your home to look its absolute best for potential buyers.
Staging a home doesn’t require a lot of money; just make smart decisions.
For more information email rroot@macrealty.com.
