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1) Declutter.
Focus on the best parts of the home, not the stuff in it. In order to showcase what is actually for sale, you have to give it some space to shine. Pack up the clutter – that means everything that you can live without for a short period of time that is smaller than a football. Pack it up and send it away. Please. Your home will automatically look cleaner, bigger, and more appealing to the buyers.
2) Depersonalize.
We want buyers to walk into your home and decide that it could be their home. Not yours. That’s the point of selling it. Now is the time to remove some of your family photos, kid’s artwork, paperwork, and books. A few of these items can be used to stage the walls, bookshelves, or tabletops, but not all of them. Also, if you are a collector of anything, please pack up your collections. You can bring them out again at your new home.
3) Deodorize.
I like dogs. I’m allergic to cats. But no matter how the buyers feel about pets, they should not be able to smell them. This is a turn off. Trust me. The same goes for smoke smells, food smells, old house smells (yep, they exist too). Some of this deodorizing will take care of itself after you perform the first 2 tasks, but your home will also need a good cleaning. Then crack open a few windows before showings, use an oil fragrance plug-in near the entry, and hide dryer sheets in inconspicuous places (closet shelves, garbage cans, under beds). We want your home to pass the buyers’ sniff test.
4) Decorate.
Perhaps I mean un-decorate, but I’m not sure that’s a word, and I couldn’t think of another “D” word to explain myself. So here’s what I mean: update and freshen the look of your home. Start outside – buy a new welcome mat, and add a planter next to the front door, and pull the weeds. (Remember the true cliché, 1st impressions are lasting impressions!)
Then un-decorate the walls. Remember my suggestion about Little Joey’s artwork? And, here’s the kicker that will make some people gasp…If you have wallpaper that is more than 5 years old on your walls, either remove it, or… wait for it… paint over it. There. I said it. Painting over your wallpaper is an immediate update and its cheap and easy. If you don’t take care of this, the buyers will walk in and say something like, “Oh, no. There’s wallpaper.” And then they will be calculating all the time and elbow grease they will have to put into tearing it down. So please make it disappear however you would like. And then freshen up the paint on all the other walls with a nice neutral color that screams “Move-in Ready!”
A couple more low-cost tips for updating: Are your bedspreads old? Try flipping them over, maybe the back is more neutral and fresh looking. Change out the lampshades; remove some of the area rugs to show off nice floors. If they are not nice floors, put them back down, please. Remove or replace old window treatments and let the sun shine in. Finish off the look of an inviting home with fresh flowers.
Finally, exhale, and leave the rest to your Realtor. They will help take the anxiety out of selling, market it like a rock star, and work diligently to find the right buyer for your home.
As always, feel free to contact me with any real estate or staging questions,
Gina Trippie
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Certified Home Staging Expert
gina.trippie@huntrealestate.com
