Every study demonstrates that a home that follows the basic steps of staging will sell FASTER and for MORE MONEY!! Follow these easy steps to success and you will find that your route to SUCCESS is shorter and easier. Don’t be afraid to put a few dollars in to sprucing up your home upfront! The money and ‘elbow grease’ that you put in while you are preparing your home for sale will pay off, and you will find that homes that follow these steps will sell faster and for a higher dollar value ~ which gets you a much bigger return for your investment and efforts!
One key thing before you start is this: Remember that you are not DECORATING your home, you are staging it! This means that you need to think about the potential group of buyers that will be passing through your home and put their needs, thoughts, wants and moods in your mind. You are making an effort to turn your HOME into a HOUSE!! You will be clearing away personal items, shifting furniture, taking down pictures and cleaning so that potential buyers can picture themselves in their New House … not in YOUR HOME. If you have a hard time with ‘letting go’ of your home, then take a quick trip around each room and take pictures of the way you loved your home as it worked for you and your family. Then put away the camera and start taking the steps below that will lead you to a FASTER SALE and MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET!!
TIP # 1 TAKE A TOUR !!
Knowing that your time is at a premium, the best way to successfully attack this type of project (which, if done well, means more money in your jeans!) is to take a sheet of paper and walk down to the end of your driveway to start your tour. Now, turn around and face your house and try to look at it through the eyes of a total stranger. As you start your way back up the driveway, pay close attention to all the details and write them down as you see them. You may notice the driveway could use a coat of sealant to brighten it up, or the grass may need seed and water. As you move from the front yard, into the house, from room to room and into the back yard ~ don’t forget to take notes of any items that you feel would draw attention to the eye of a Buyer and could make the difference from you making your best first impression!! Think of it this way … if you were heading out on a blind date, would you dress up in your finest track pants, tank top with a spaghetti stain down the front and ripped sneakers? NO!… we only get one chance to make a first impression, so this is your way of taking notice of anything in your home that may need your attention before you list! Better that you should notice it and fix it first, right? Once you create your list, you can start working on it one room at a time!
TIP # 2 CLEAN, DECLUTTER AND START PACKING !!
Start off by working on one room at a time and make a point of decluttering and start your packing! You are going to be moving anyway, right? So, why not use this time to start packing and purging. Instead of throwing things away, you may want to consider having a yard sale to earn yourself some extra ‘moving money’ and / or you may wish to consider taking items to consignment stores, donating them or recycling them (see www.freecycle.org). You also may wish to take items with you when you move, so you may prefer to store them somewhere (not in another room of the house though!!). Pay attention to personal items (i.e. family pictures, religious artifacts.. ) and pack them away as they may not appeal to a potential buyer that is trying to picture themselves in your house. Pare down everything that you won’t necessarily need before moving (i.e. pack away shelves full of books, dvd’s, cd’s, small appliances) to ensure that shelves and counters are clear and spacious looking. Clean out closets and storage areas so that potential buyers will see inviting space rather than overstuffed areas that give the impression of needing a bigger home to grow in to. Pack away kids toys that won’t be needed and keep their toys they will play with in organized bins that can be easily reached if there is a showing on your home. Organize unfinished basements and garage areas to the point where at least all of your storage items look orderly and are moved to one small area rather than scattered all over. The idea of de-cluttering is to create the image of ‘space’ within your home!
Once you finish with the de-cluttering, you will want to grab some cleaning products and a pair of rubber gloves and start cleaning!! Pay close attention to carpets (pet stains and odours are a turn-off to pet owners and non-pet owners alike!), windows and walls. Potential buyers will be turned off from buying their dream home simply because they can’t get past the grime that was there from the previous owner. Clean carpets or replace them if necessary, wash vinyl or hardwood flooring, wash the inside and outside of windows to draw light into the rooms and wash down walls that may have smudged fingerprints around stairways and light switches.
TIP # 3 MAKE INEXPENSIVE INVESTMENTS IN YOUR HOUSE !!
Remember that your current house is the gateway to your next dream home ! Now look back on that list you started when you stood out in front of your house recently to assess your home readiness. Check off at least 5 things that are priority to fix / paint / clean or change that you feel will get you the quickest bang for your buck. Painting is an inexpensive way to give potential buyers a better feel for your home. If a buyer can walk through your front door and feel that they can see themselves in your clean and de-cluttered home, and that the walls are freshly painted so that your house is deemed to be in ‘move-in condition’ ~ that is a truly big selling feature. Inexpensive paints can always be found on sale in one of the local hardware stores and very inexpensive painting items such as rollers, brushes and trays may also be found in your local dollar store if you are really on a shoe string budget ! Watch the hardware stores ‘returned’ bins of paint for even better deals if you have a small area to paint. Just beware of buying a ‘bargain’ colour that will distract or turn off a potential buyer. Keep your colours neutral and it will appeal to the widest audience of buyers.
Also, consider painting over the cupboard doors in an outdated kitchen to give it a fresh new look. Think about making sure that you keep your grass and gardens in good shape ~ and/or pay a local student to help you if you don’t have the time or ability to do that yourself. Attack at least 5 of the jobs from your initial list that you made, and then keep picking away at your list as your house starts to appear actively on the market.
There are tons of other ways to show and stage your home for maximum effect and return on your investment.
Please feel free to contact Donna to receive further suggestions and a ‘no obligation’ walk-thru on your own home so you may get specific helpful hints that are just right for you! Contact Donna today … 905-697-1900 Or email: redhead@royalservice.ca