10 Tips to Stage Your Home and WOW Your Buyers
Getting ready to sell in DMV? To get the most value and highest price, it's important to make your home stand out from the others that may be on the market. We can help: we offer staging consultations and can help you create the home that will show well and photograph beautifully. Even the simplest home staging and sprucing can be the difference between an impressed buyer... and a buyer who walks away. These DIY staging tips are sure to make your home stand out from the crowd!
The Exterior
The outside of your home is a buyer's first impression. You want to grab buyers when they see your home online (the FIRST place they start) and when they ask to see it in person.
Create curb appeal
Before a buyer enters your home, they must be impressed by the exterior. So make your home as warm and welcoming as possible. Look at your home as they will: does anything need power washing? Does the lawn need to be mowed and the gardens weeded and mulched? Maybe you need to wash your windows, replace old house numbers, or upgrade a tired mailbox. It all matters.
Make your porch welcoming
If you are lucky and have a front porch, buy a new welcome mat, add some potted flowers, and replace your doorknob. Hang a tasteful wreath on your door, and leave your porch light on in the evenings, especially if your home will be shown after work hours.
Spruce up outdoor areas
Whether you have a large backyard or a cozy balcony, your outdoor areas should be warm and inviting. Buyers today love seeing options for outdoor living and entertaining, so make the most of any space you have. Make sure gardens are cleaned up, the lawn is mowed, and any fallen leaves or branches are tidied up.
Cleaning and Repairs
Nothing turns off a buyer like persistent maintenance problems, lingering repair projects, or a home that's just not clean! Routine maintenance and touch ups go a long way in letting buyers know that you have taken care of your home. With the popularity of the home improvement shows today, most buyers want a home like the ones they see on tv! We don't want you to lose out on a sale for an easily preventable reason.
Finish repair projects
Nothing is more intimidating to a buyer than walking into an incomplete project! Ensure your home has no missing floorboards, crooked shingles, cracked windows, or any other sign that anything needs to be replaced or repaired. It may take some time, but getting your home in good condition will mean the difference in your final price and the time it takes for your home to sell!
Clear out the clutterGo through your closets, shelves, cabinets, and counters to clear out anything that's taking up space or making your rooms appear cramped, crowded, or dirty. Donate clothes (we have lots of resources we can direct you to for this), partially empty your closets and cabinets to make them appear larger, or rent a storage unit for furniture that is too large, unsightly, or mismatched.
Deep clean everything
It might not be the most fun part, but cleaning is an absolute necessity! Get all those hard-to-reach places, scrub dingy tiles and grout, and deep clean the showers and tubs. If you're not a fan of cleaning, hire a professional to help; the results will be worth the expense. If you have a pet, you will want to craft a plan for when your home is on the market. We all love our pets, but even the most pet-crazy buyer will not want to smell or see any evidence of them.
Interior Decor
Now that you've created curb appeal and tackled the basics, it's time to start looking for ways to impress your buyers and make your home stand apart from the crowd.
Depersonalize your decor
Not all homebuyers have the same tastes in decor, so neutral and simple are always best. Repaint any bold or brightly colored walls with neutral colors. Remove any personal decor and replace it with tasteful yet neutral art and centerpieces. You want to create the sense of a home that's lived in but not yours, as the idea is to allow buyers to imagine their own lives happening in your home.
Create balance with furniture
The placement of furniture can change the whole feel of a room. You always want your furniture to complement your home and not overcrowd any of the rooms. The goal is to create rooms that have good traffic flow, abundant natural light and that have a purpose. Floating the furniture away from the walls can actually make rooms feel larger and create a cozy, conversational feel.
The Final Details
Now's the fun part—the detailed staging and decorating that adds that "wow" factor, that sparkle, that little bit of something special. Just be sure to keep it simple!
Increase your lighting
Make your home warm and welcoming by increasing the lighting—both natural and artificial—throughout. Open windows if the weather is nice, and pull back the drapes to let in as much natural light as possible. Increase the wattage of the bulbs in your lamps and fixtures, and aim for three types of lighting in every room: ambient (overhead), task (reading or under-cabinet lights), and accent (table or floor lamps).
Bring the outdoors inside
Your decor might be neutral, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. Bring in bright splashes of color in the form of potted plants, clipped flowers, or seasonal branches. This can help increase the sense of warmth and create a welcoming vibe throughout the home.
Your DMV Selling Resource
If you're ready to sell your DMV home, then it's time to contact The Banner Team. These staging tips are just the beginning of the expert advice and knowledge we can use to help you successfully sell your home. Contact us today, and let's list your home.