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Preparing your home for sale can be a stressful experience. How much furniture do you need to remove? Is painting necessary? Should you fix that leaking faucet? According to real estate agents, a well-staged home can sell faster, attract more buyers and increase your profits. In this article, we share seven home staging tips that’ll spruce up your home and get you the best return on your investment.
Remove Personal Items
Potential buyers need to imagine themselves living in your home. Unfortunately, photographs, children’s artworks and family heirlooms can be distracting during an open house. Before the inspections, remove these items to depersonalise your home. And don’t forget to remove valuables like gold jewellery and collectibles. Store them in a storage locker or safety deposit box to prevent theft or damage.
Declutter your home
It’s easy to accumulate stuff over the years. But excess furniture, wall hangings and trinkets can take up space and make your home look smaller – and even obscure character features. Go through your house room by room and decide what stays and what goes. If you don’t know where to start, see our post on How to Declutter. This will also help you minimise what you take to your new home. If something hasn’t been used for years, like an exercise bike or a pasta maker, donate it to a charity or a friend. If you want to keep something that’s cluttering the space, opt for a self-storage facility. While you need to pay a small monthly fee, the extra space you create could add thousands to the selling price!
Organise closets, cabinet and wardrobes
Just because the doors of your kitchen cabinets and wardrobes are closed, doesn’t mean that buyers aren’t looking inside! Check all your storage areas and make sure they are tidy and clean. Remove leaking cleaning fluids, spilled rice or piles of clothes. Use matching jars, baskets, decorative boxes or dividers if you need to. This will make your storage areas look spacious and well looked after.
Make repairs
Do a walk-through and make any necessary repairs. This could include a new washer for a leaking faucet, a replacement tile for the kitchen or a new downpipe. You could even go a step further and replace tapware, high-pressure clean the exterior and repaint a faded wall. Even though they’re small fixes, they’ll give your home a newly renovated look and boost its value.
Boost lighting
Brightly lit homes look bigger, warmer and more inviting, making them appealing to buyers. Check that all your lights are working. Remember, agents will turn on lights – even on a sunny day – while buyers are inspecting your home. If your house still looks dark, consider purchasing bulbs with a higher wattage to maximise brightness.
Keep it clean
Each time you have an open house, clean your kitchen and bathroom until they’re spotless. Use a microfibre cloth to remove any splash marks on tiles or glass. Vacuum thoroughly and wipe the dust from window sills and ledges. To tackle cooking smells, open the windows and use a deodoriser or oil diffuser. If you don’t have time or you can’t get the professional finish you want, hire a cleaner. They’ll be able to do a deep clean at the start and a quick once-over before each inspection.
Improve your curb appeal
First impressions count, which is why you need to put as much effort on the outside as the inside of your house. Make sure your garden looks healthy and well-maintained. Snip off any dead leaves, branches or spent bulbs, and keep your lawn mowed. Add some fresh mulch to the beds to make your plants pop and suppress weeds. If your plants and shrubs aren’t in great shape, consider pulling them out and planting new ones. But if you do this, don’t go overboard. Buyers may want to put their own stamp on the garden, so the less they have to pull out the better.
Final thoughts
Preparing for an open house takes time and effort, but when you consider the value it can add to your house, it’s worth it. Even a few simple tweaks, like removing personal items, using higher wattage bulbs and making a few repairs can get you a faster sale and increase your profits. However, if you need to store large furniture or you’re using home staging for your open house, you’ll need a secure place to store your belongings. In that case, contact our friendly team and they can help you find a short-term solution for your household storage needs.
