Staging Your Home To Sell

There are many things to consider when you begin the listing process. One of which is deciding if you are in need of some staging help. Home staging is a very common practice that involves cleaning, rearranging, and remodeling parts of the property to make it more appealing for potential buyers. The most common areas staged are the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, tricky rooms, and the living room.

Staging can help declutter, depersonalize, or make a home more neutral in palette. Stagers can determine what of your existing furniture needs to be rearranged, removed from the home, or even which remodel projects should be taken on before listing to help ensure the biggest ROI. With the help of a professional staging service and depending on your area, having your home professionally staged has the potential to increase the price by 5%-10%!

The price of utilizing a staging service widely varies and depends on a few factors.

1. How much is going in and out of your home
2. Your company of choice
3. Your local rates
4. The demand for the service in your area

According to HomeAdvisor, the lower end of services is around $1,409 and can range to the much higher end of $6,000. Many stagers offer a flat rate consultation fee.

Staging will always be easier when you are not living in the home, but that is also the best-case scenario. If you need to stage and live there at the same time, no problem! Here are some general staging tips to follow as your house is on the open market.

Store your extra possessions, don’t just hide them in the closet. This is no doubt the biggest lesson you will learn when decluttering, or even staging to sell. When storing items, they need to be taken out of the home and stored somewhere else. If they are still in the home it’s only a matter of time before they find their way back to the counter, the floor, or the kid’s room.

Renting furniture is an option. Renting less bulky furniture and putting yours in storage is always an option. Stagers usually have their own inventory of items to choose from. There is always the option to rent from a local furniture store for the duration of the home being listed. If keeping the rented furniture isn’t in your budget, then consider just keeping it long enough for listing photos.

Keep the basic necessities but keep them out of site. Keep bathroom morning routine items off the counters so buyers will think about the spacious lavatory and not all the products you use to get ready in the morning. Get rarely used coffee pots and mixers off the kitchen counters to show off all the space there.

Keep your home show ready. Keeping beds made and fluffed is essential just like keeping laundry up off the floor and the evil feet-gouging Lego bricks in the kid’s playroom put away. It may not be the easiest task to keep the home looking like a model home while you are still living there, but it is possible. It just may take some extra organization!

Stage the weird room. Yes, even that oddly shaped thing at the end of the hallway. With the extra staging help, a buyer may figure out a use for the space. It may even be the deciding factor if they write an offer!

Keep it neutral. Keep your style out of it! Hard, yes, but again essential for a successful staging. Staying along the lines of classic and simple or beige and minimal keep the buyers focused on the home and the space not your super huge avant-garde paintings. Bright and quirky isn’t how everyone operates so it’s best to play it safe.

Avoid discrimination by de-personalizing. Take down the family portraits, religious symbols, kid’s school portraits and things specific to your interests. Buyers can have a hard time removing their own bias from the items they see while touring the home. Remove the chance of backlash by removing personal items.

Keeping it clear. This is pretty simple. Beak out the tape measure (just kidding) and measure out 36 inches around all your furniture! A good rule of thumb is to allow a 36-inch pathway around or in between furniture pieces. This creates a more spacious feeling room. If this method causes your couch to no longer be in the perfect TV position, it’s okay. It’s just for people touring the home!

Landscaping. Landscaping. Landscaping.  Did I mention Landscaping? The front of your house will be the first thing that catches a potential buyers eye. So, you want to be sure that everything is in tip top shape. Be sure that the lawn is mowed and weeds are pulled. Adding flowers or shrubbery could give your home some extra curb appeal.

Now that you’re a staging expert, let’s get your home sold!

If you enjoyed this blog content, make sure to check out ERA Liberty’s other blog articles. We blog about all things real estate, local eats, and happenings in and around our community.

For all your home buying or selling needs, ERA Liberty Realty is always there for you! With two local offices to help you no matter where you are, our agents are knowledgeable of the area and the housing trends happening within them. Reach out to us today to get your journey started in West Virginia, Virginia, or Maryland!