Staging your home is all about decorating, arranging furniture and adding finishing touches to help showcase your home, get it looking it’s best, showing off the main features and making an impact with potential buyers. The result? A quicker sale, for the best possible price.
Not all sellers stage their home for sale, so a few tweaks here and there really could make all the difference, helping your property to stand out in the local market.
Why You Should Think About Staging Your Home
Staging your home isn’t always necessary, especially during a notoriously stringent and busy time as putting your home up for sale, but it can help speed things up and, in some cases, help you achieve a higher sale price.
If you’re looking to sell a house in a higher price bracket than the local average, staging can become incredibly important and make much more financial sense. Potential buyers, no matter how hard they try, don’t just view properties on their bricks and mortar, emotional appeal plays a major role in decision making, that means that staging a property so buyers can see themselves living there can really make a difference.
Speak To Your Estate Agent
In most cases, your estate agent will be able to advise you on the local market and what they’re looking for. Speaking to your estate agent can provide some major insight into what will work best for your home.
Thinking of selling your property but not yet found an agent? Speak to us, we’re one of Wigan’s Best Estate Agents.
How To Stage Your Home For Sale
The exterior and the entryway are an important point of focus because they can heavily impact a buyer’s first impression. The living room, kitchen, all bathrooms, the master bedroom, and outdoor living space, such as a back patio, are also important. The following techniques can and should be employed in as many rooms of the house as you can afford and have time for.
If you’re staging your home on a budget, changes that make the biggest impact should be your main focus, along with rooms and features that will have the biggest difference on your selling price.
We’ve all heard of ‘curb appeal’ so it’s no surprise that staging is pretty important on the driveway, front garden and entrance to your home, giving buyers a strong first impression of your property. Living spaces, kitchens and family bathrooms, along with gardens are all high priorities when it comes to staging too.
Here’s a few simple ways you can stage your home, helping you achieve the best possible sale price, in the quickest time..
A Spot of Spring Cleaning
At an absolute minimum you should clean your home, top to bottom, giving buyers the impression that most fixtures and fittings are pretty new. Focus your efforts on the kitchen and bathroom, ensuring everything is spotless throughout. The idea is to deliver a standard that potential buyers could see themselves living in.
Nobody wants to use a grimy bathtub or greasy oven!
In living areas and the bedrooms, make sure you give skirting boards and woodwork the once over. Any stains on carpets should be dealt with too; buyers may replace carpets, but they don’t want to feel like they have to.
Declutter
Ornaments and added knick-knacks make any house feel like a home, the problem is, they make it feel like your home. Unnecessary clutter can distract your buyers from the features of your home and really give an impression that the property is too small for living in.
Declutter as much as you can, ideally taking your homely extras elsewhere, keeping storage space free and easily accessible, as buyers will undoubtedly check!
Get Rid of Odor
Day to day living can kick up a number of unwanted odors, which you may not even be aware of. As you’re living in your home, you’ll probably be immune to how it really smells, so it’ worth asking a friend or neighbour for their honest advice.
Pets and smokers are the biggest problem when it comes to property smell, so at the very least, you need to take smoking outside in the run up to viewings and give the dog a well needed bath!
Obviously, make sure rubbish is taken out and any out of date foods are thrown away, which could be giving your kitchen a musty smell.
Cleaning with naturally scented products is a much better option that using industrial style cleaning solutions, as buyers will pick up on the chemical smell, which could put them off.
Remove Personal Items
It may seem a little daunting at first, removing all traces of your personality, but it does help when it comes to staging your home. Buyers need help to imagine themselves living in your home, so removing family photos and personalised ornaments can make a difference.
Kids toys should be tidied away too, but consider leaving a few select items out, especially if you’re selling a family home.
Ideally, you want your home to be a ‘blank canvas’ which appeals to most buyers.
A Spot of Redecorating
We understand that not every property or every sale will command a full redecoration during staging, but if your looking to achieve a high end sale price, new paint throughout will have a major impact.
Whilst you may love it, wallpaper is pretty divisive, so we recommend steering clear of bold patterns and sticking to muted paint colours. Greys are definitely in at the moment, but white throughout is also a safe bet.
Don’t be tempted to add splashes here and there, whilst it may look brilliant, it will put potential buyers off. Remember, ‘blank canvas’. Clear walls and a refined palette lets your buyers imagine their own stamp on the property, meaning more engaging viewings.
If you are desperate to add colour or pattern here and there, keep things limited. Bedroom feature walls or framed patterns will add that extra style, without over powering your home.
Flooring & Carpets
Flooring and carpets are pretty contentious issue when it comes to staging a property, with some favouring wooden flooring and others preferring carpet. Our advice is to keep hard flooring to the kitchen and bathroom, with carpeting in the main living areas and bedrooms.
As always, keep things muted, avoiding patterns and wild colour choices so that buyers can more easily see their own style working in your home.
Carpeting is a safe bet and you can often fit the same style throughout, meaning you’ll get a cheaper price for ‘bulk buying’ and provide a lovely continuity throughout your home.
Fix Your Lighting
Simple fixes and updating will make a massive difference to buyers, without you having to jump into complicated rewiring projects.
Replace broken bulbs and light fittings where necessary and always make sure blinds and curtains are wide open on viewing day, to maximise natural light. Large objects such as bookcases and wardrobes should be moved away from windows if possible too, as they tend to ‘suck’ light away from the room.
Add Those Finishing Touches
Unless you’re selling a high ticket property, the chances are you wont be replacing furniture during staging. That’s fine, you can make some pretty impressive changes on a budget, using soft furnishings and finishing touches.
Using muted tones (as a rule of thumb), consider tying your whole home together using soft furnishing, fabrics and cushions.
New bedding can transform a master bedroom into an inviting place for adults to relax and get away from it all, whilst extra cushions here and there will pull the whole property together and really refresh the look.
We also recommend adding fresh flowers in living areas which will really brighten up the room.
Addressing The Outside
As we said earlier, the outside and entry of your home creates that all important first impression, so a few tweaks here and there are a must.
Make sure, at the very least, your front lawn is mowed and plants have been tended too. If you have a driveway or front patio, think about a jet wash, which will really get things looking spic and span.
Bigger jobs include addressing any roof tiles or lead flashing which may be broke, as well as tending to any guttering. Remember, the more work a buyer thinks they have to do, the lower their offer will be.
Painting fencing both on front and back gardens can also help to revitalise your outdoor space and give potential buyers the impression that your house has been well looked after. As well as this, think about outdoor living spaces. If you have a patio, make sure the benefits are obvious! If buyers can’t see it, they wont think of it.
We recommend adding patio furniture and a BBQ where possible, which you can borrow if necessary, to really showcase your outdoor space.
Conclusion
Staging your home doesn’t have to be a money pit, a few tweaks and small changes can make all the difference and help your property stand out in the local market. Generally, sticking to a ‘blank canvas’ approach will appeal to most buyers and help you achieve the best possible price.
If you’re thinking of selling your home, speak to us! We’re always happy to help.
