House prices are rising, but that doesn’t mean you can sit back and wait for the buyers to beat a path to your door if you’re selling. Buyers want to imagine themselves as the owners of your house; they want to picture themselves living there and imagine the lifestyle they’ll gain by moving in. Helping them along in their vision by cleverly staging your house when buyers come to view it will vastly increase your chances of making a sale – and achieving a reasonable price.
But how do you go about staging your home sale? Follow these tips, and you won’t go wrong.
First Impressions
It’s an adage but one you can’t afford to ignore: first impressions are lasting impressions. Clean up your garden, weed the flower beds, cut the grass, and put children’s toys and bikes out of sight. Plant up pots or containers and make sure hanging baskets look fresh and cared for. Clean the windows and paintwork, brush driveways, and, if necessary clean the brickwork or paving. When viewers pull up outside, you aim to put a smile on their faces.
Similarly, the inside of the house must be just as immaculate. If this means hiring a team of professional cleaners, do it. Removing every last scrap of dirt will leave the house smelling fresh and create a welcoming, relaxing atmosphere. House buyers want to move straight in and feel at home; they don’t want to look around and imagine all the cleaning or decorating they’ll have to do first.
Set Your Stage
The next step in staging is taking care of basic appearance and hygiene. Strip out anything overly personal that buyers won’t identify with. It sounds harsh, but items that appear religious or political can put buyers off if they don’t share your opinions or beliefs. De-cluttering is hard for all of us, but the general advice is to remove at least 50% of your items or ornaments. If you’re in doubt about what to take out and what to leave, visit a few showhouses and take note of the way rooms are furnished and accessorized. This is the kind of stripped-back look you’re aiming for.
Fill Empty Houses
Lived-in properties present their staging problems when you’re trying to keep the place show-room tidy and live in it at the same time. Empty houses present the opposite problem. Buyers find it difficult to visualize just what the house has to offer when there’s no furniture or staging to guide them.
The answer is to create a temporary show house by hiring furniture. Even owners of property in more buoyant market areas can reap the rewards. Furniture hire in London, for instance, can give your property the edge in a competitive market.
Going beyond furniture, companies that help owners stage their homes will provide all the accessories too. Items such as mirrors, bed covers, art for the walls, and rugs for the floor, coordinated and perfectly arranged, can be hired.
Home staging isn’t difficult, but it requires thought and effort. However, the time and effort are well rewarded when the result is a faster sale and a higher selling price.
