Home Staging

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Staging Your Home for Sale

Home buyers form an opinion on homes for sale in seconds, starting with curb appeal. Generally, you want to appeal to the largest possible clientele by using neutral colors, for example.

Less is more is the basic concept, by removing your personal signature from the home provides the buyer with a better ability to imagine their own belongings in the home. Results are in, staging homes produces faster sales and at a higher price!

When staging a home, 29 percent of sellers’ agents reported an increase of one percent to five percent of the dollar value offered by buyers, in comparison to similar homes. Twenty-one percent of respondents stated that staging a home increased the dollar value of the home between six and 10 percent.​ *National Association of Realtors®

View 2017 Staging Stats

Staging Guidelines
Following these staging guidelines can add significant value to the sale of your home while adding little in cost, more home value equals more savings.

• View your home from a distance.
  • Stand on the curb or view from across the street. Take note of anything unusual such as loose artifacts, overgrown hedges, dead branches, and remove them from the property. The city schedules free bi-annual brush and bulk item pickups, watch for their announcements in your neighborhood for free removal.
• Organize
  • If you are living in the home during the sale, you want to remove all clutter and organize the remaining items. The Container store has many affordable storage solutions great for between home sale and time of move. Items such as newspapers, mail and laundry should be out of sight.
• Remove Unnecessary Items
  • Remove a portion of your furniture and the rooms will look larger. It’s no longer about functionality, we want to create the perception of larger by reducing the amount of contents. Try to remove up to half of all furniture from each room in the house and outside living areas. The remaining furniture should highlight the best feature of each room.
  • Next up, remove appliances big and small; toasters in the kitchen, tablets and ipads on the coffee table. Even accessories you use on a regular basis should be put away daily. If you can squeeze the coffee pot into the closet, do it! More space on the counters make the counter space look bigger.
  • Closets should be half full, same principles as before apply here, make them look bigger by having less contents inside.
  • For bedrooms, I recommend a bed, nightstand and dresser only. Push all furniture items together in one area of the room to provide clear walking space.
• Tidy Up
  • Bring out the neat freak in you! Straighten the pictures and rugs, arrange the blinds the same way in every room, wash the walls with warm water, towels  and laundry detergent. Touch up paint over all scratches on the walls. Each and every step adds incremental value to the sale of your home.
• Maximize the Light
  • Open blinds and curtains, if in unused rooms, then remove curtains altogether. Clear branches from the exterior that block important views of the front or back yard.
• Clean
  • Pressure wash your home, sidewalks and driveway. Renting a pressure washer for one day can be less than $60, and the difference can be dramatic!
  • Bathrooms should be treated the same, remove from view as many items as possible, organize the remaining items and keep very clean.
• Remove Personal Associations
  • If you are a Boston Red Sox fan and sell the home to a New York Yankee fan, surely, you want the best price possible. Put the sports fan material away. It’s simply best to avoid all statements of influence including religion, political, weapons and even family photos. Our intention again is to produce an ability for the buyer to visualize for themselves.
• If You Do Spend Money
  • The front door should be considered first for replacement, and on the inside, the foyer or entryway is of second importance. These two areas of the home play a big influence in buyer perception.

​Is professional staging right for you? 
​Sometimes home sales can be boosted by professional staging including rented furniture, lamps, artwork and other household items to improve the look and feel of the inside.

Have staging questions? Give me a call.
​Chuma Jerome (512) 423-5507

Contact Chuma