How do you capture a buyer’s heart for top dollar and get to the closing table faster? By staging your home to sell! And staging your home doesn’t have to be a massive effort or incredibly expensive.
Making small changes to your home like updating your lighting both inside and out allows you to raise your sales price and decreases the time your home is on the market. Home staging is the technique of creating an emotional connection between your home and a potential homebuyer so they’re ready to make an offer on the spot.
Proper home staging has three effects:
- Help buyers emotionally connect to your home.
- Increases the perceived value to get you higher offers.
- Allows a buyer to better “visualize” how they’ll use your home if they buy it.
Fun fact: According to the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, home staging sells homes 5 – 11 times faster! And with the average cost of staging being 1% of a home’s sale price, homeowners usually will sell for 20% over the asking price making you more money!
So how do you perform a proper home staging? Here are 10 tips you can do quickly, easily, and on your own!
Tip #1: Start With Your Curb Appeal
By making basic upgrades like adding fresh mulch, changing your porch lights, hanging easy-to-read house numbers, or installing a new mailbox, you can increase your home’s sales value 17%.
If you invest in a professional landscaper, landscaped homes have a sales price advantage ranging from 5.5% to 12.7% which can be an extra $16,500 – $38,100 on a $300,000 home!
Tip #2: Depersonalize Your Home
Create a blank slate to help your buyer picture themselves living there. By taking down your personal photos, artwork, etc., you remove all distractions. This is especially important if you have pets as non-pet owners may imagine pet smells or stains if they detect an animal currently or previously lived there.
Tip #3: Bake Aromatic Pastries like Cookies
Baking pastries like chocolate chip cookies creates a welcoming and homelike feel, while providing a “sweet” treat as people tour the home. Making sure potential buyers aren’t “hangry” can create a more positive experience while they explore the property.
Pro-tip: If you don’t have the time to bake, put two tablespoons of vanilla extract into a dish at 300 degrees for twenty minutes. Or buy premade cookie dough at a convenience store or gas station and place them in the oven first thing when prepping for the open house.
Tip #4: Make Your Space Light And Bright
Great lighting is what makes staged homes look warm and inviting. Replace lightbulbs that give off a yellow, dark tint with white LED light bulbs to instantly brighten up rooms. Outdoors add floodlights, porch lights, and string lights to brighten the property for evening showings or at night.
Pro-tip: You can showcase your home’s natural lighting by replacing heavy curtains with lightweight ones and opening them during a showing!
Tip #5: Refresh Your Paint With Neutral Colors
When staging your home, paint over bright colors with neutral ones like gray and taupe. These colors make it easier for buyers to imagine themselves living in your home with their belongings.
Pro-tip: If you still want to add some bold colors, add throw blankets, pillows, and accent pieces to the room.
Tip #6: Make Your Rooms Look Bigger
Tricks you can use to make small spaces appear larger are:
- Add a large mirror to a wall or mantel for added dimension.
- Hang your curtains above your window(s) to for the illusion of higher ceilings.
- Add floating shelves to provide storage and to accessorize.
- Paint the walls the same color as your curtains/blinds.
- Remove furniture you aren’t using.
Tip #7: Three’s Company
The right accessories are eye pleasing and make a room more inviting. Group odd numbers of accessories together (especially in threes), and by color, shape, texture or some other unifying element.
Tip #8: Set An Appropriate Temperature
Make sure that your thermostat is set appropriately for the time of year.
In the summer, your a/c should be running but not so cold that buyers need to put a sweater on. For winter and fall showings showcase your fireplace by lighting it to keep potential buyers warm and feeling welcomed in a cozy space. If it’s not a working fireplace, add pillar candles to give it a cozy vibe.
Tip #9: Add Fresh Flowers
Flowers will boost your buyer’s mood, increase their happiness, and decrease their feelings of stress and anxiety. It’ll make your buyer feel welcome and right at home too. As long as it is not allergy season, then flowers can remind the person of their allergies. Use a fern plant or something non-allergenic to add the earthy and fresh feeling to the room.
Tip #10: Use Your “Extra” Rooms Wisely
Each room needs a clearly defined purpose to show buyers how to maximize the square footage of your home. A finished attic can become an office, a finished basement can become a home theater, and a catch-all room can become a guest bedroom or nursery.
Use home staging to keep homebuyers knocking on your door and to sell quickly. Remember all the world’s a stage…and so is your home.
