Home staging has become an efficient tool for selling homes. It usually drives up the price by 10 -15 per cent and staged homes are more likely to sell faster than unstaged homes. Sellers sometimes get carried away with adding too many details and forget that less is more. Here’s what you should NOT do if you want staging to work.
Over-Decorating
The main goal of staging is to highlight the best features of your home and not to overshadow them. Using bold wall colors, eccentric furniture pieces or too many home décor items can easily distract the attention from what matters (e.g., the great space and layout, hardwood floors, etc.). You have to present buyers with a neutral depersonalized environment and pastel colors to make it easier for them to imagine a life in the home. Plus, light wall colors will make space look bigger.
Too Sterilized Space
Sellers sometimes go for a sterile look that makes buyers uncomfortable and afraid to touch anything. Gray minimalistic furniture and grayish/brownish floors can make your home appear cold. Try to add some warmth to the rooms with pictures, colorful carpets or sofa cushions. It will make buyers feel comfortable and cozy in their potential new home.
Inadequate Furniture
Opting for smaller furniture is generally a good idea as it optimizes space and makes the rooms look bigger, but going overboard and choosing a too small sofa for the living room or a tiny dining table can give the impression of poor space utilization. The furniture has still to be proportionate to the size of the entire space.
Leaving Personal Items In Visible Places
Depersonalized space is one of the key requirements for successful staging. Buyers need to be able to imagine a life in your home, and it’s harder when they see personal belongings all over the place, like framed photographs hanging on the wall of your wedding, graduation or your child’s first day at school, etc., or a bunch of jackets on the coat rack. All of these things have to go before buyers visit you.
Superficial Cleaning
Sellers are aware that they need to present a decently cleaned home, but they often skip important steps. Maybe you can get away with not cleaning the upper shelves, but you certainly can’t leave out the windows, the bathroom, the floors, etc. Decluttering is also an important part of the process, but sellers often think that they can store all their stuff in the closets, so they pack up all the random items and toss it into the closets or drawers. Sellers need to realize that there is no “buffer zone” during home showings and that everything will be inspected. Buyers, certainly, won’t be thrilled to be presented with overfilled closet shelves. All the stuff that turns out to take up usable space should be packed into boxes and put in the garage or left at the neighbor’s/parents’/friend’s home.
Forgetting the Outdoors
If you have a front yard and a porch it will be the first thing potential buyers will see, so make sure not to forget that. Put some chairs and plants on the porch, paint the fence, and remove any debris for a more delightful ambiance.
For the best staging effect, have your realtor call a professional stager who will make the most of your home in no time. Homebuyers especially like the spring season to shop for a home.
Click here to contact Ron Clappison today for all your Calgary real estate needs.