Home staging is a project that can be done successfully by you as the house owner without too much effort as the first step in selling your home. A staged home makes it easier for potential buyers to envision what a room will look like when prospective buyers visit your home but when estate agents take the photographs of your property.If you put effort into staging your house, it could be one of the most lucrative things you do as it will help your house to sell fast – and for the highest price. According to a survey, 94% – reported that staged properties sell faster than un-staged ones. 61% said these properties sell up to twice as quickly, while almost one in 10 had seen staging lead to a sale three times faster. Staged homes sell for more – somewhere between 1-3% price increase.
Not all sellers stage their homes so you will be at a clear advantage if you do stage your home. If you cannot put in the necessary time and effort yourself, there are a number of professional home staging companies that prepare all types of properties to go on the market.
An attractive home makes prospective buyers feel confident that they will be able relax once they have unpacked as there are no problems with the property that need to be dealt with straight away. If there are any issues with the house these can deter buyers or be used as a tool to lower the price.
Key areas for home staging are the kitchen, living room, bedrooms and gardens.
Nothing will knock the value of your home more than if it is looking tired, cluttered and old-fashioned.
Home staging requires homes to look minimalistic to highlight the light and size of each of the rooms.
Potential buyers like a property that is like a blank canvas for them to stamp with their own character and style so bright walls are best quickly repainted in a neutral shade. White, magnolia and dove grey are popular choices for colours along with the soft earthy tones.
Before you start the home staging spring clean, check the paintwork in each room objectively and ask yourself: Does it look fresh and clean?
Is the paintwork in a neutral colour or did you paint one wall to be a bright ‘statement’ wall? It is also worth re-painting any walls that are marked where posters used to hang. If your walls are covered with wall paper, are there any places that need re-sticking? Both of these little jobs make a big difference when you stage your home.
Check that there are no minor DIY jobs needed in the room such as damaged light switches, discoloured light fittings or cracked pane of glass. It is absolutely no good if you are going to invest time in staging your home and be let down by numerous small problems that could have been fixed/mended/replaced long before your first viewing.
Clear the Decks of Clutter. Clutters make a house look dirty, darker and its rooms much smaller. Each of the rooms should be tackled in turn to ensure that they are tidy as this is the basis of good home staging. There are many storage solutions that can be cheaply bought including under-bed boxes, stackable plastic boxes and sets of hat boxes in descending sizes.
While tidying each room, use the opportunity to have a good clear out of unwanted clothing and other items.
All clothes and shoes should be tidied into wardrobes and drawers. In the kitchen, all work tops need to be cleared so that they look as large as possible.
In the living areas, piles of old newspapers and magazines need to be dealt with because they will never be read. Discarded books should put back on the bookshelf and all other items returned to their ‘homes’.
The bathroom is another of those rooms that becomes quickly cluttered with bottles of shampoo and shower gel. These should be tidied away. If you have no storage room, there are under sink cupboards that can be bought in DIY shops at reasonable prices.
According to the 2023 Profile of Home Staging, 58% of buyers’ agents said that staging positively affected most buyers’ opinions of a home.
The report also found that 81% of buyers’ agents say staging makes it easier for buyers to visualize a property as their future home, which can help the home sell faster. According to the report, staging the living room was found to be very important to 39% of buyers, followed by the primary bedroom at 36%, and the kitchen at 30%.2
Once you have cleared the clutter, each room needs to be given a thorough and deep clean – top to bottom to ensure that it all looks good.
Clean all the paintwork – especially grubby hand marks on the doors
Dust and polish all wooden furniture and shampoo soft furnishings
Move the furniture around to find which layout gives the best impression of space
Wash all the curtains and blinds- replace any that look tired and faded. Clean all the lampshades. Wash/shampoo the floor and carpets. If cupboard doors look dated, invest in new handles.
Remove personal Items. An important point for the staged home is that personal items need to be stored away. Although you love all the family photos displayed in every room from an interior design point of view, they make a room look cluttered and too personal. Prospective buyers need to see the interior design of each room as a blank canvas where they can quickly add their furniture and decorations to make the room feel like theirs.
Add character to each room. To complete your home staging appeal and to give a fresh, modern look, it is worth scouring for a replacement lampshade or colourful throw to complete the ‘new look’. House plants are very popular at the moment too. These are cheap to buy and are a clever way to cheer up a dull corner or large empty surface – ferns look particularly dramatic and lush.
To emphasise the colour scheme in each room, buy some carefully chosen boxes of tissues! This idea can look particularly good on a coffee table.
Another home staging trick is to increase the amount of light in each of the rooms by switching on wall lights or table lights.
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