Staging Your Home

Properly preparing your home is a very important step in the sale process

Read my tips to get you started
Ideas To Help You Prepare Your Home For Sale

The first step in the process is to get yourself in the right mental state. For some, their home is a mere dwelling. For others, it is a very emotional place full of memories. Consider your decision to sell very carefully, but when the decision is made do not look back. Instead, look forward to the excitement of your new home, wherever it may be.

Depersonalize your home to prepare it for showings. Pack up personal photographs and family heirlooms. Most buyers can’t see past personal artifacts, and you don’t want to distract them from imagining their own pictures on the walls. Besides, fewer items on walls tend to make them look bigger which gives the illusion of a more spacious home.

The next step is often the most difficult for sellers: de-cluttering. People collect an amazing quantity of belongings, especially if they have lived in the home for any length of time. Consider this: if you haven’t used it in over a year, you probably don’t need it. If you don’t need it, donate it to a local charity, sell it, or throw it away. Almost every home shows better with less furniture. Remove pieces of furniture that block walkways and put them in storage. Remove extra leaves from your dining room table to make the room appear larger. Leave just enough furniture in each room to showcase the room’s purpose and plenty of room to move around. Clean everything off of kitchen counters. Put essential items that are used daily in a small basket that can easily be placed in a closet for showings. Be sure to secure prescription meds, cash, jewelry, firearms, etc. Real estate agents generally stay with their clients, but thieves posing as buyers think of very creative ways to break away.

Anything that is attached to the home is considered to be part of the home. If there is something that you want to take with you to your new home, remove those items before you list your home. If you want to take window coverings, built-in appliances or fixtures with you, remove them now. If the chandelier in the dining room once belonged to your great grandmother, take it down. If a buyer never sees it, she won’t want it. Once you tell a buyer they can’t have an item, it will be deeply coveted and it could blow your deal.

Now it’s time to make minor repairs to the inside of the home. Replace torn/damaged flooring, patch holes in walls and fix leaky faucets. Consider painting your walls a neutral color so your home isn’t remembered as “the house with the purple walls.” Replace burned out light bulbs, clean out the refrigerator and clean the home thoroughly. Hang up colorful towels and place a bowl of fresh lemons on the kitchen counter. Ask someone you can trust if your home has any strange odors. Most of the time, odors will dissipate if you run a dehumidifier.

Finally, step outside and evaluate your home’s curb appeal. If a buyer won’t get out of the agent’s car because she doesn’t like the exterior of your home, you’ll never get her inside. Paint faded trim, power wash the exterior to eliminate cobwebs and dirt, trim bushes and keep the lawn mowed neatly. Use a lawn edger to trim the edges of the driveway and walks. Plant bright annuals near the front door or place potted plants near the front door. If your home is being showed during winter months, keep the driveway and walks clear of snow.