Home Staging Tips To Help Sell Your House

July 20, 2021

Wondering how to stage a house for sale? Staging emphasizes the good parts of your home to homebuyers, while drawing attention away from its weaknesses. Staging is well worth the effort: Homes that are staged often sell for 17% more than un-staged homes. They can sell faster, too!

Read on to learn more about this effective technique.

How Much Does It Cost to Stage a House?

The national average cost to stage a home is $1,444 — though staging can be done on a budget or for a high cost. The process can be as simple as painting the walls a new color, or as complicated as renting furniture and moving your furniture into storage.

You get out of it what you put into it. The more effort invested in staging, the more reward you can expect when the time comes to sell.

The following home staging tips can help. Here’s what you need to know about how to stage a home.

Paint and Decorate in Neutral Colors

Homebuyers don’t always like the same colors, but most can live happily with neutral colors such as white, cream, beige, gray and brown. Whether you’re repainting your home or just choosing the decor, focus on paint and decorations that come in neutral colors to appeal to the widest audience possible.

Not sure which colors look best in your home? Try consulting with a designer. When in doubt, paint your house white.

Create Focal Points

Want to draw attention away from a dark corner or, perhaps, the old furniture in a particular room? Create focal points with creative and beautiful decorations. You don’t need to spend hundreds to brighten a room.

A simple fruit bowl in your kitchen, a cluster of large pillar candles on your dining room table, or a bouquet of fresh flowers in the living room is all it takes to make your home’s interior appear striking. In some settings, it even helps to create little scenes that encourage homeowners to imagine themselves using that room for their cozy purposes.

For example, set two place settings in your dining room, with attractive cups and nice dishes. Alternatively, you might set up a comfy pillow, throw blanket and a book on your living room couch.

Allow Light Into Your Home

Light-filled rooms look cleaner, more welcoming and more cheerful. They often appear more spacious, too. There are many ways to encourage more light to enter your home, including:

• Clean your windows
• Trim shrubs that block windows
• Replace heavy curtains with sheers

If you feel a room is still too dark even after you’ve taken measures to enhance the light in the room, remember to leave the lights on in that part of the house during home showings. Consider painting that room in a color that is lighter and brighter. Buy lamps.

Focus Your Efforts Where It Counts

You don’t need to stage every room of the house for staging efforts to be successful. Most homebuyers focus their attention on a few key rooms — namely, the living room, kitchen and master bedroom.

If one of these rooms is particularly out of date or lacks modern furniture, a little effort can go a long way. Consider repainting or making small home upgrades that make a big difference.

For example, the kitchen is a room that homebuyers scrutinize. If your kitchen is older and lacking modern amenities, you’d be amazed what a new kitchen table or a fresh coat of paint on your cabinets can do. You don’t have to engage in a $20,000 remodel to make your kitchen look better.

<h2>Put Away Extra Furniture

Extra furniture takes floor space, makes your home feel a little too crowded, and can add to a feeling of claustrophobia. You don’t have to get rid of extra furniture to make your house look nicer. Try putting unneeded furniture in the attic, garage or even in a storage space before the house is listed.

… But Don’t Put Away Too Much Furniture

Empty rooms don’t necessarily look bigger, cleaner or more appealing to homebuyers. Don’t go overboard on the removal of furniture or assume that your house will look more attractive to buyers if you remove everything from your house. Find a happy medium that allows buyers to imagine themselves living in the house, while also ensuring that your home looks uncluttered and spacious.

De-Personalize

As mentioned above, the idea behind staging is to encourage homebuyers to use their imagination to picture themselves in the house you’d like them to buy. Personal items such as family photos and collections of unusual objects can interfere with these imaginings, so put them away before your first showing.

Clean and Declutter

Cleaning and decluttering are essential parts of the home staging process. Do a deep clean before showing your house to buyers. Keep your house as clean as possible — even when no showings are planned. Buyers can come at unusual times.

Removing clutter takes time, so start the process months in advance to assure your house is ready. Put away knick-knacks, stacks of books, old magazines, etc.

Perform Repairs and Complete Projects

Deferred maintenance can get in the way of staging efforts. A dripping faucet, loose cabinet knobs and a broken door handle can make homebuyers wonder what else might be wrong with your house. Complete any home repairs and unfinished projects before showing your home to potential buyers.

Done Staging Your Home To Sell? Call New City Moving

Once the time comes to sell your house, start thinking about relocation. It’s important to hire a reputable mover that cares. Contact New City Moving today to discuss your relocation.