How to Stage Your Home for a Quick Sale

Selling your home is probably one of the most exciting things you’ll ever do in your life, but, if you’ve never done it before, take some time to prepare for this process first. Home staging – i.e. accentuating all the positive sides of your home and hiding everything that’s not representative – is essential if want to get the best price and if you too are selling your home at the moment, here are a few tips on staging that guarantee a quick sale.

Investing or not?

The biggest problem with preparing your home for a sale is deciding whether you want to invest cash into fixing it first or not, knowing that the point of the entire process is earning as much money as you can. Every investment is a good investment and it will definitely make your house more appealing – which is especially important when it comes to making the right first impression – and more valuable, and that’s something you need to think of.

What to fix?

However, instead of rushing into unnecessary renovation projects impulsively, think them through and decide what needs to be fixed to make the biggest impact. Take money, time and appearance into consideration and decide what to focus on. What most people do is repaint the interior walls, install new kitchen appliances, add a couple of elegant round rugs in front of the fireplace or the living room sofa, spice up the lawn and decorate the exterior with lots and lots of flowers, because these are the things that make your home cozy, attractive and inviting. A touch of make-up here and there doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but it actually makes a huge impact on potential customers and can be taken care of quickly.

How to pick the right projects?

On the other hand, every major renovation project takes a financial and logistical toll on your home-selling process which is why you need to pick only two or three things that really need renovating or fixing before you start advertising your home. Leaky roofs, squeaky floors, worn paint and old window frames make a terrible impression on your customers and might ultimately drive them away. Therefore, dig deep into your pocket, see how much money you can spend at the moment and start making viable plans.

Case study: floor renovations

Let’s take an obvious example and use it to analyze the process of home staging. Proper floors are one of the most important assets of a good house and something customers don’t compromise on. Therefore, unless your floors are in the perfect condition – and the chances are they aren’t – you need to shift your attention to them as soon as possible. Old homes usually have a problem with wall-to-wall carpeting that used to be very popular back in the day, but today it’s considered to be quite a big hazardous to your health, so get rid of the carpets right away. Hardwood floors, ceramic tiles and bamboo flooring are all wonderful, yet rather expensive options, so find an alternative. Laminate flooring, for instance, doesn’t have to be that expensive, yet can bring a dose of class and coziness into your home, which is something every buyer will appreciate.

How to save money?

Once you’ve decided what to renovate and how to invest your money so that it pays off the most, it’s time to think about the actual work – that’s where another problems arises: the workforce. Hiring professionals is always good, yet it’s quite costly, so ask your friends for help. Although they have no experience in home renovating, they can surely repaint your walls, mow your lawn, fix your fence, make a proper seating arrangement and tighten up a few screws here and there. This way, you’ll save a ton of cash and be sure everything in your home is up to the highest standard.

What about meeting the buyers?

Some of the other things you need to do in order to stage your home properly is decluttering all rooms, setting up lights perfectly, lighting scented candles and preparing a batch of cookies potential buyers will just love, so once they arrive, all that’s left to do is charming them and explaining why your home is perfect for them.

Additional Resources

• 8 Budget Friendly Home Staging Tips by Kyle Hiscock
• Is Preparing Your Home For Sale A Waste Of Time & Money by Michelle Gibson?

How To Stage Your Home For A Quick Sale was authored by Emma Joyce