As you work through the process of selling a home, you’ll quickly learn there’s much more to selling your property than simply listing it. One of the most pivotal parts of the journey to a fruitful sale? Home staging. While it can feel a bit overwhelming at first—the great thing about home staging is you don’t have to spend much money to make a major impact. It’s all about simple, strategic swaps, subtractions, and additions that cost you nothing but a little time and thought.
If you’re wondering how to stage a house for sale in a way that’s enticing and effective, you’re in the proper place. Today, we’re offering up our six most strategic home staging tips to ensure your house shows beautifully and sells successfully.
1. Enhance your exterior entrance.
First impressions are incredibly impactful. We humans are hard-wired to make snap judgments—and then allow those snap judgments to inform the way we regard a person, object, or situation. In fact, a Princeton Study found that humans form opinions on attractiveness, likability, and trustworthiness in less than one second when first meeting someone…and homebuying is no different. Regardless of how stunning the rest of your home may be, if the entrance leaves something to be desired, the rest of the property tour will be tainted by that poor first impression.
2. Declutter and minimize.
When it comes to selling a home, remember: people want to be able to envision themselves in your house. Having too much of your own “stuff” in a space can impede a buyer’s ability to see the potential of the property and envision their life there. Less is always more in the world of home staging. You don’t need to add throw pillows or extra wall art in an attempt to make the space feel “lived in” or homey. In fact, quite the contrary—the fewer items you have on the walls and in the space in general, the larger and more open your home will feel.
A few of our favorite home staging tips for decluttering a space?:
3. Engage the senses.
When you’re thinking through how to stage a home, you’re likely thinking about things from a visual perspective (as you should be)—but diving deeper and engaging the senses of smell and hearing is a highly effective way to create an enveloping, memorable experience for buyers.
While there are certainly finances and logistics involved, at its core, buying a home is an emotionally-driven process—and what a buyer hears, sees, and smells plays a major role in how they feel. Below are a few of our favorite ways to think outside the visual realm and tap into the senses that leave a lasting impact when you’re selling a home.
4. Clean (really clean).
It’s no secret you need to keep your space clean for showings when you’re selling a home—but this doesn’t just mean you can do a quick floor-sweeping and call it a day. It’s important to get in all the nooks, crannies, crevices, and hard-to-reach places. Showing a truly clean home makes all of the difference in the world. Buyers’ eyes will go everywhere—from baseboards to ceiling fans—as they analyze your property during showings; if there’s built-up grime or grease to be found, they’ll find it. Something as seemingly trivial as seeing major dust build-up on fan blades could make or break how potential buyers feel about your home.
5. Bring the outdoors in.
From fresh floral arrangements to fresh coastal air—bringing elements of the outdoors inside creates a lovely, inviting atmosphere for showings.
6. Remove signs of pets.
We couldn’t get through our list of home staging tips without touching on this incredibly important point. Removing pet odors is a given—but you also want to lint roll couches and cushions, steam-clean your carpets, wipe away any paw prints, and put away litter boxes, crates, toys, and beds.
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When done thoughtfully, home staging can make the difference between lowball offers and a full-on bidding war. It’s such a low-hassle, high-impact way to increase the appeal of your property and drive up buyer interest.
We would be honored to facilitate the process of selling your home in Southern California as you prepare to embark on the next chapter of your life. Reach out today to schedule a time to chat.
In the meantime, browse the rest of our Journal for even more tips, resources, and insight.
Whether it’s wanting the perfect Malibu home to plant your roots—or selling your property for a price you can feel great about as you move onto something fresh—we would be honored to guide you along the journey to your goals.
24903 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 200 Malibu, CA. 90265
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Copyright 2020 Susan Cosentino & Co. is a team of real estate licensees affiliated with Compass RE. Compass RE is a licensed real estate broker and abides by equal housing opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of real estate brokerage.
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