If you’re planning on selling your home, investing in home staging can help it move on the market faster and sell at a more desirable price. You don’t have to spend a fortune on home staging. Enlisting the help of a professional interior designer in Edmonton can help. In a Global News article “How to stage your home to sell without breaking the bank” they shared a very informative infographic from Moshells. Here are some great tips from that infographic:
Home staging sells homes faster.
According to Moshells, you can get on average $2 in increased sale price for every $1 you spend staging. One study showed that 79 per cent of homes staged before listing sold faster than homes staged after listing. It’s important to remember that the first place a buyer will see your home is on it’s online listing. That’s why staging first is so important. It’s all about making a great first impression!
5 Golden Rules of home staging.
1. De-personalize:
You might like to have all your photos and personal items all over the house, but buyers will need to imagine themselves in the house amongst all of their things. That’s why it’s important to put away things like your wedding photos and other personal items and make it a blank canvas for potential buyers.
2. Maximize:
It’s time to get organized and seriously de-clutter. Closets that are overflowing with clothes makes it looks like you don’t have enough space. You can even consider storing your stuff outside of the home.
3. Sanitize:
Clean, clean, clean! The easiest and cheapest thing you can do to stage your home is to clean the floors, walls, baseboards, ceiling, fans and windows. Don’t leave out your dishes and remember to make the beds!
4. Modernize:
If your home is really dated, you can benefit from a few simple upgrades. If a buyer feels the home is dated, it will reflect on their offer. Simple updates could include swapping out your gold hardware and fixtures and a fresh coat of paint.
5. Neutralize:
Just because you love your bright red kitchen and purple bedroom, doesn’t mean buyers will! In fact, all they will see is that they have to paint the house when the move in and that’s a drag! Choose some neutral colours and give buyers a refreshing canvas so they can start imagining life for themselves in your home for sale.
Tips for home staging room by room.
Bedrooms:
As mentioned, use neutral colours in the bedroom walls and coordinate colour wherever possible. Consider the walls, curtains and bedspreads. Adding a headboard adds sophistication to the room and a few decorative items on top of dressers can help too.
Bathrooms:
First things first, make sure they are sparkling clean. Scrub away any soap scum and leave out only the essentials: hand towels, bath towels and hand soap. This will make the room look larger. White bath and hand towels will give the bathroom a more spa-like feel at very little cost.
Kitchen:
Any realtor will tell you that the kitchen is one of the first things a buyer will inspect when looking at your home. The kitchen can really make or break a sale and has a big effect on offers. Modernize dated cabinets by painting or refinishing them and updating the hardware with brushed silver or stainless steel. Remove all rugs from the floor to make the space appear larger and make sure your refrigerator, sink and oven are clean. You should also declutter your drawers and cupboards.
Dining Room:
The easiest thing you can do to stage the dining room is to set the table with your best dishes! This will bring points of interest to the room. Be careful not to over-stage. You don’t need every piece of china out on the table. You can also create a focal point with a vase of fresh flowers in the centre of the table. Remove the leaves from the table to make the room look larger.
Living Room:
Let the light shine in! Lighting is a major appeal for buyers in the living room. Make sure the shades are open and when possible, use light coloured furniture to enhance the lighting and make the room look bigger. If your hardwood floor needs repair, replace the damage boards and have the floors refinished.
For more information and advice on home staging, check out the infographic from Moshells below:
