If you’re hoping to quickly sell your house in the current real estate market, how you stage your home can make all the difference. Staging your home is a way to prepare your property for sale. It allows you to capture the attention of potential buyers and sell your house quickly for the highest possible price. Of course, not all sellers go through the effort of staging their home, especially those properties at a lower price point. By taking this extra step, you give yourself a much-needed competitive advantage.
According to a 2023 report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 58 percent of real estate agents working with buyers report that staging positively affected their clients’ opinions of a home. Additionally, 81 percent of buyers’ agents said that staging makes it easier for buyers to envision the property as their future home. Specifically, the three most important rooms to stage are the living room (according to 39 percent of buyers surveyed), the primary bedroom (36 percent), and the kitchen (30 percent).
So how should you stage your home for a quick sale?
To start, good staging allows buyers to imagine their own lives in the house. It highlights the property’s best features while hiding the less desirable ones. It reveals potential uses for weird spaces, like turning a previously-unused corner at the top of your staircase into a cozy reading nook. Ultimately, it even creates a mood — or “emotional staging” — and makes the home look and feel a certain way in photos.
Unlike decorating, staging is not about personal preference. Instead, think about the universal appeal of your choices. For instance, you may have only added a desk to turn the extra bedroom into a work-from-home office. To better highlight the space, add a rug, couch, and some artwork. After all, complete furnishings and wall art makes a space look more inviting than an empty room and blank walls. In an effort to make your house attractive to the largest pool of buyers, you should also remove personal touches, like family photos, throw pillows, and even pet accessories.
Now, let’s cover three easy tips for how to stage your home for a quick sale.
1. Declutter!
Not only does clutter distract buyers from noticing your home’s best features, but it also makes your house seem like it has less space. Use your time wisely and throw out those items you don’t need. For instance, go through your pantry and toss any expired food. Check your drawers for random takeout menus and extra plastic utensils. Go through closets for outgrown or unworn clothes.
Anything that you don’t use on a daily basis should be boxed up and moved to storage — things like seasonal clothing, knickknacks, keepsakes, and random papers, like school artwork or field trip permission slips. If you have kids and/or pets, try to minimize their footprint in the home at least for professional photos and the open house. Remember: Less is more. A simple vase with a fresh bouquet of flowers adds just enough punch to a clean counter!
2. Clean.
Now, it’s time to deep clean the house. In a perfect world, you would clean every hallway and room from the floors to the ceilings. However, if you’re tight on time, pay the most attention to your kitchen and bathrooms. A good scrubbing can bring new life to older appliances and a highly-trafficked powder room.
3. Add fresh touches.
It’s important that your home feels fresh and welcoming. A big part of that is the way it smells. Get rid of any lingering odors caused by kids, pets, last night’s dinner, cigarette smoke, or a dirty bathroom. You can light a vanilla-scented candle or bake chocolate chip cookies. You can also add some thriving houseplants to your space or add essential oils to a diffuser.
Let The Urban Dog Group help you with your real estate needs. Contact Christine Elias at caerealestate@gmail.com.
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