We are in a crazy housing market right now. There are high prices and high demand where I live. It’s a great time to sell your home. One easy way to get the most money for your home is to stage it right. By simply taking the time to follow these steps you will hopefully see a quick offer and maybe multiple offers that will help you get more money for your home.
Tip #1: Declutter: This has to happen before you can stage your home. Go through each room and get down to the bare minimum. Take out bulky or out-dated furniture, take down family pictures or personal items, go through closets and box up clothes and shoes, go through the kitchen and make it look clean and fresh. You don’t want anything on counters. Put all that you can in boxes before you show your home. That will not only help with staging but will help with the moving process as well.
Tip #2: Paint & Touch-Ups: Now that your home is clutter free you want to look around at what needs to be re-painted. Check your baseboards, railings, crown molding, walls, cupboards, drawers and make sure they are clean and scuff free. If they need a little painting then do it. Look at each room and see if it needs updated paint. Paint makes all of the difference and doesn’t need to be expensive. For the most part you could do painting on your own.
Tip#3: Buy a Few New Items: One way to save money when staging your home is to buy a few new items that you would be buying anyway when you move to your new home. If you need new couches, then get rid of the old ones and use the new ones for staging. For sure you’ll want to stage your bedrooms and put on a nice comforter set and pillows- especially the master. Another way to save money is by NOT buying any decor to stage your home. Less is really better. You just want each room clean and fresh it doesn’t need to be filled with decorations.
Tip#4: Add Fresh Flowers: Look around the outside of your home and add a few planters of fresh flowers. If you have a deck or patio add some flowers there too. Inside you could put a vase with fresh flowers on the table or counter. This is something that is cheaper to do than buying decorations.
Tip#5: Miscellaneous Last Minute To-Dos: When you have your home clutter free, freshly painted, staged with a few new items and fresh flowers outside and inside then you are ready for the last minute to-dos. For showings you will want to make sure everything is clean and picked up. Have the last minute vacuum lines in each room for carpet or if you have wood or tile make sure it’s clean. You’ll want to make it bright so open all blinds, curtains, drapes to let in natural light. Turn on all lights in every room. Everything should be wiped down (including blinds) and all beds made and show ready. When people come to look at the house make sure you don’t have kids or animals around.
Tip #6: Make Your Home Smell Good: I learned from my sister-in-law that I could make my own natural air freshener for cheap! All you need is to put in a pan 3 springs of rosemary, 1 lemon (cut into slices), 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract. Then just turn your stove onto simmer. It smells so clean and fresh!
