While buying a house is generally a very emotionally-driven process for most buyers, appearance still sits at the top of the list when it comes to closing a deal. Some sellers are fortunate enough to be able to afford professional “stagers” who prepare their home for prospective homeowners; however, while their services often help create the right buying atmosphere, their expertise can run sellers anywhere from $50-$200 per hour.
Fortunately, hiring an expert to style your home isn’t the only way to get buyers to take an interest. In most cases, you can easily take matters into your own hands and produce a product which will help move your property as quickly as possible.
1.) De-personalize your space—although your family photos and old school trophies may be important to you, they inhibit potential buyers from viewing your home as their future residence. In general, humans are often drawn towards pictures which depict other people, especially ones which portray things like happy family vacations and weddings from years past. Plain and simple, you want your home to show like a model, so the longer your buyers spend looking at that beloved photo of grandma and grandpa, the less time they will be taking to envision it as their space.
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2.) Get rid of the clutter—yes, it’s normal for us to accumulate a lot of “stuff” after living in the same house for an extended period of time; however, many of us fail to realize the affect it may have on buyers looking for a future home. Because of this, it’s important for sellers to step back and accept the fact that simplicity wins out.
A 5-foot by 5-foot storage unit only costs about $45 per month and will help you get top-dollar for your property by giving you someplace to store all of those kid’s toys, knick-knacks, and other various collections which have come to dominate your home.
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3.) Give each room a purpose—don’t be afraid to rearrange your rooms so that they are not only accessible and open, but also have a distinct use and purpose. Perhaps that fourth bedroom served as an “everything room” (office, storage space, play room, etc.), but when it comes to staging your home, you may want to isolate one use so that buyers will have a better vision of how they can turn your space into their own.
With this, make a point to touch up paint where it is needed so that each room will appear clean and new. In fact, studies have shown that sellers who paint the interior of their homes generally see a better return on their investment.
4.) Clean, clean, clean—while it may seem self-explanatory, no one wants to tour a home that not only appears dirty and unkempt, but also carries with it an array of unpleasant aromas. Scientifically, our sense of smell is tied directly into the area of our brain which is responsible for memory and emotion; hence the reason that certain fragrances have the ability to immediately take us back to another time in our lives.
With this, if the goal is to help buyers imagine living in your home, you may not only want to think about hiring a professional cleaning service to make sure things really shine (most will charge between $100-$200 for the whole house), but you might also consider baking cookies or bringing cinnamon sticks to a slow boil in a pot for some added feel-good scents.
5.) Enhance curb appeal—although I’ve already spoken about curb appeal in previous weeks, it would be foolish to downplay the important role it plays in getting buyers interested. Yes, when many of us think of staging a home, we think of the interior; however, part of the process means taking care of what’s on the outside of the house as well.
Therefore, clean those gutters, mow the lawn, and add some fresh mulch around your bushes and trees. Attention to detail will truly make the difference in making everything appear trim and neat.
