How To Stage Your Home For A Successful Sale

When it comes to preparing your home for the market, it’s important to consider all aspects of your property before you list it with an estate agent. One important aspect that many homeowners overlook is staging their home. Home staging is a process most homeowners will go through to make their house look more attractive to potential buyers.

The following guide will help you stage your home so that you can get the best price for your property and sell it in a timely fashion too!

Things to consider when staging

Staging is an important factor when it comes to selling your home. Your goal should be to highlight everything about your property that makes it unique and desirable. Make sure that everything featured has at least some aesthetic value. At times, less can actually be more, so don’t feel like you have to fill every single nook and cranny with stuff; just display exactly what buyers need to see.

The art of creating kerb appeal

Kerb appeal is simply the attractiveness of a property as viewed from the street.

When it comes to getting potential buyers through the front door, kerb appeal can make or break you.

Staging is one of many great strategies you can employ while selling your home; and like any strategic element of design, its primary purpose is to create attraction.

So long as you keep kerb appeal in mind while staging, it will help attract potential buyers by creating interest and intrigue.

If you’re not sure how to get started, try some of these practical tips below:

• Keep it bright and airy, by removing any bulky items. There should be plenty of room on either side of walkways so that buyers can easily access your front door. By keeping things open, you’ll help potential buyers imagine themselves living in your space; keep in mind that people naturally tend to gravitate towards spaces they believe they would enjoy inhabiting.
• Make sure all interior and exterior lights are working properly, so that there is no risk of darkness dispelling interest in your home before potential buyers even get inside!
• Pay attention to detail and any potential issues around your house. If you have any cracked or chipped paint, holes in plasterboard, broken doors or handles, these should all be fixed immediately. This can leave a bad impression on potential buyers who won’t want to pay top prices for an aging property in poor condition.
• Remove all clutter that may distract from how clean and tidy your home is. Even if you love your collection of antique plates or photos from trips abroad that are stuck to your fridge freezer, remember that potential buyers want to imagine their own collections filling up those spaces instead of yours. Before staging your house, take some time to assess what items might be worth keeping then arrange everything else in an attractive but still open way so prospective buyers can appreciate it.
• Stage the outdoors too! Although no one is likely to buy a house just based on its outdoor design, there are steps you can take that can have a big impact on overall impressions. Moving wheelie bins from the front of the house, mowing the lawn, pruning the bushes, cleaning the windows inside and out and even jet washing any patios to make them look as good as new again.
• Lastly – but most importantly – keep it smelling good! Use fragrances and scents judiciously and make sure it’s working with, not against, your best interests. Only add smells to rooms where they might naturally occur—like light perfume in a bedroom or an air freshener in a bathroom.

Selecting colours and décor

One of the most important decisions you’ll make when preparing your home for market is selecting paint colours and decor. This can be especially challenging if you need a quick sale, since you won’t have time to repaint before you put it on market. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to go neutral so that buyers will be able to envision their own style without having to work around or change anything.

A few final things to remember

House staging isn’t just about throwing some fresh flowers in vases, it’s about giving potential buyers reasons to love your place as much as you do! Your goal is to get them excited enough to imagine themselves enjoying daily life in your home.

Don’t forget that no matter how lovely your efforts are, they won’t be worth anything if you don’t price your house fairly.

Thinking of selling your home?

HS Homes of Solihull is a small independent estate agent based in Shirley, Solihull. If you are interested to know what your home is worth, call us on 0121 430 4448. Alternatively, click here to book a free market appraisal.