5 Tips for Staging Your Home for Sale
 by Sandra Rinomato

A majority of the questions I get have to do with selling homes. What should I do before putting my house on the market? Should I do any remodeling before selling? Something known as Home Staging can easily solve these issues facing you when selling your home.

Home staging is mandatory these days. The bar has been raised and buyers will tolerate no less than the expertly staged homes that represent your competition. When someone is looking to buy a home, they’ll most likely know when they walk in if they’re going to buy it or not (or at least consider it). Your job as the current home owner is to make your home look like it could be their home. The potential buyer should walk in and allow their imagination to take hold. Could you imagine your home differently? Does it look like YOU live there, or does it look like anyone could live there? Keep these questions in mind as you’re preparing to put your home on the market.

Tip 1: Clean House
This may seem like an obvious one, but nothing turns a potential buyer off more than a house that hasn’t been cleaned thoroughly. Additional things to add to your normal cleaning regime could be cleaning the windows. You want to make sure the sun shines through to show how much natural light the new owner will get in each room, and nothing turns that off like dirty windows.

Tip 2: Highlight the Best Parts
Does your home have high ceilings, a well-managed garden or a great view? Make sure to highlight these as they could be one of the major selling points to a potential buyer. Allowing these features to stand out will make a lasting impression on people walking through your house, and may help it to stand out amongst the competition.

Tip 3: Emotional Buying
While making sure your home is clean and potential buyers see the best features may be obvious, there are other areas to home staging that you might not have thought of before. One of those includes taking down any personal photos. Or making sure any bedding or accents are in neutral colors. Making simple changes like these will make your potential buyer look at your home in a whole different way, as if it could be their own as opposed to someone else’s.

Tip 4: Home Improvement
Before your home hits the market, make sure you do some touch up work around the house. Put up a fresh coat of paint where it’s needed. You’d be surprised how much of a difference a new coat of paint can make! Any damages around the house should be fixed as well to make sure the house appears in top condition. There’s nothing worse to potential home buyers than a house that appears to be unmanaged and not taken care of.

Tip 5: Outside Appearance
Make sure your front and backyards are tended to. This includes mowing the lawn of course, but also making sure any flowers or gardens are groomed as well. Keep in mind about outside appearance in comparison to your neighbors as well. Adding a pool or basketball court to your property probably won’t allow your house to sell as well if houses in your area are priced lower.

Of course, there’s always a lot that a professional stager and your realtor could do for you, but these simple things should make the transition easy for you to get started if you’re doing it yourself.
--


Jimmy Thompson
Keller Williams Realty
1255 Lynnfield Rd. / Suite 100 / Memphis, TN 38119
901.729.3415 Direct
901.484.4539 Mobile
901.261.7900 Main
901.261.7999 Fax
jimmythompson@kw.com
www.jimmy-thompson.com