Home Staging, Preparing your home for sale.

 

With a little effort on your part, your home can be sold more quickly and at a better price with the proper Home Staging. The following tips have proved invaluable to owners and are worth your special attention:

When a home is put in its best showing condition from the beginning, it will sell more quickly and at the highest price per square foot.

My goal is to simplify, depersonalize and de-cluttering the home in order for it to show larger and brighter, giving a more spacious feeling to potential buyers. These steps will provide you with an advantage over the competition. Many items will need to be removed to storage and packed for moving. This is important and should be considered as merely giving you a head start on the move to your new home.

The list of suggestions below will help your home look larger, show brighter and give a more spacious feeling to potential buyers.

“Maximizing Your First Impression”

Lighting: Very Important

Walk around your home and evaluate what kind of lighting is in each you and home much light you received from outside, into the home. When Feasible, upgrade the wattage to the highest, safest level. Avoid low wattage fluorescent lighting—typically; 13-15 watt fluorescent bulbs are suppose to be equivalent to a regular 60 Watt Bulb. However, 13 watt florescent bulbs are not as bright and vibrant as a regular 60 watt bulb. Especially in bathrooms, use about a 20 watt bulb or stagger 13 and 20 bulbs to achieve the same brightness as a regular bulb.

Dust/wash all light fixtures and ceiling fans.

Check for dust ring on ceiling above ceiling fans, especially popcorn ceilings!

Dusting:

Dust blinds, windowsills and plant ledges.

Remove any cobwebs inside and outside.

Clean all door moldings, including the molding above the doors.

Clean and wipe down stained woodwork including doors and cabinets with a wood-feeding product such as “Old English” or “Liquid Gold.”

Windows:

Clean interior and exterior of all windows and glass doors.

Take screens off before washing and leaving off the front of house.

Note: keep all blinds/shades pulled up and draperies removed to all maximum lighting.

Blinds and drapes:

Clean and wipe down all window blinds. If necessary, remove blinds and hose them off. Drapes, besides keeping them pulled back, wash blinds that are dirty, dusty and discolored.

Clean Lavatory Items:

Clean all tubes, shower walls, toilets and sinks.

A/C and Heating Systems:

Clean all A/C vents and intake air grids. Replace filter.

Clean air exhaust vents in floors and ceiling, the vents should look clean and free of dirt. Note: Keep house temperature between 68 and 75 degrees.

Front Door Entry:

Clean front door inside and out.

Replace old and worn out locks and handles:

Restain or paint front door, if weathered or sun faded.

Entry or Hall Way:

Vacuum and sweep all walkways in the deepest of corners.

Dust a base boards.

Install a bright light to illuminate the hallways.

Remove as many personal pictures of family, friends etc. Tasteful art is okay.

Remove any kind of furniture that blocks or impedes an entrance or walk way.

Living Room:

Remove/Pack/Store

Remove all personal pictures; nick knacks, extra books and clutter.

Position furniture to allow the most space in the room

Remove extra furniture, coffee tables and lamps to a storage facility or neatly store in garage.

Master Bedroom/Bath/Closets:

Remove/Pack/Store.

Remove all items off the floor.

See Counter/Furniture Section.

Closets- reorganize all clothing. Remove all old clothing that is not in use. Space items on hangers, in a neat fashion. Clothes hinging in a closet should not look crowded. It makes the closet capacity look smaller.

Bath: Streamline counter tops…leaving only 1-2 items (decorative only)

Remove all rugs

Shower/tub areas de-cluttering all but one shampoo away.

Stow wastebasket under sink.

Stow laundry in hamper, inside a closet, preferable.

Tub-remove all items or use a corner rack system to hold all shampoos--great investment!

Toilet brushes: stow cleaning brush under sink or out if general sight.

Linen closet: Stack linen neatly and DO NOT OVER STUFF this closet. Neatly stacked, NOT over stuffed and organized closets will have the appearance of being larger than they really are.

Pet/Odors = Cost you Cash= $$$$$.$$

One of the hardest tasks that a real estate agent has is telling the homeowner that their pet(s) SMELLS. Many buyers do not like pets or have pet allergies. All pets smell to some degree or another! A NONE pet owner and potential buyer can smell a pet in your home. If removing your pet is possible during the sale of your home, please do so. Otherwise, keep your animals consistently bathed and pick up after them and their droppings immediately. We once had a home owner who said that he waited till his dogs "Poo" dried before cleaning it up because it came up from the carpet easier.

Study

Remove/Pack/Store extra book shelving, books office supplies, etc.

Fire Place:

Remove items that are not decorative in nature.

Clean and remove all debris from inside fireplace.

Clean exterior of soot and dirt.

Dining Room:

Remove/Pack/Store.

Remove all items that enclose the room and make the room feel smaller.

Kitchen/Breakfast Area:

Remove/Pack/Store all unused items.

Clean all appliances.

See “Counter/Furniture Tops.

Pantry- Pack/Store all non-food items.

Reorganize all remaining food items.

Remove all items from floor.

Never fill a shelf to full capacity-always leave room to space items-Think SPACIOUS!

Note: stow wastebasket in pantry.

Remove unnessesary throw rugs- More so small ones, large nice ones are okay.

Utility Room:

Recognize shelf-all cleaners neat and tidy.

Vacuum or sweep- give a clean appearance.

Remove as much as possible off the floor.

Family Room:

Remove/Pack/Store.

See counter/furniture/dresser tops.

Bedrooms:

Remove/Pack/Store.

All items off floor/move items into garage.

All personal items/pictures stored.

Note: Clear closet floors and reorganize closet neatly.

Window blinds should always be up for showing to bring in as much light.

Have beds made at all times.

Do not leave dirty laundry lying out.

Hall Bath:

Remove rugs.

No cleaners in shower or under the sink

Clean extreme corners and dust moldings.

Clean Faucets.

Replace leaky faucets.

Counter/Furniture Tops:

Keep all flat surfaces (counter tops, appliances tops and furniture) cleared off as much as possible. Kitchen counters should have very little on them to show that there is plenty of available workspace. Keep appliances stored when not in use. In bathrooms, use baskets to hold makeup and toiletries so that after use they can be stored under the counter.

Closets

Get rid of all mismatched clothes hangers…red, blue, black, steal, etc. and make them all white in color and uniform. Space all clothes approx. one inch apart from one another. It important that you keep jeans, dress pants or slacks, dress shirts, outer water, tee shirts, dress jackets etc. together and uniform. This gives the appearance of a clean organized closet, with lots of space. Get rid of all items on the floor of your closet except a couple pair of shoes you were often. Your home is “FOR SALE”, not a storage facility. That’s what you had before you decided to sell it.

Refrigerator:

Remove all magnets, pictures, notes, etc. from the front and sides.

Interior should be clean, organized and fresh smelling.

Pantry/Closet:

Thin all closets dramatically and organize remaining items neatly on shelves and be sure to allow space between hanging items. At one very visible spot, leave space so that the rear wall of the closet/pantry will show when the door is opened. Leave a small empty space on each self to show potential storage.

Ceilings:

Inspect the ceiling around a ceiling fan for dust and dirt build up, especially with a popcorn texture. Using a broom usually removes most of the dust pretty easily. Also inspect ceiling corners near the roof line for spider webs. Remove any webs that are there. Using a broom works great.

Bedrooms:

Remove/Pack/Store.

Keep all items off floor/move excess items into garage or storage.

All personal items, i.e pictures, excess trophies, except TASTFUL ART.

Remove large dressers and or extra nightstands that make a room look small.

Note: Clear closet floors and reorganize closets neatly.

Blinds should be pulled up for all Home Showings to bring in as much light as possible.

Have beds made at all times and your laundry picked up and put away. NOTE: Showing a home with someones underware and bra on the floor next to the bed is not very pleasant for an agent showing the home or the potential buyers. Note-Bed coverings should be neutral colors, not bright, vibrant or slippery.

Interior of home:

Have all carpets professionally steam cleaned, especially stairs wells.

Look throughout the house for places that need paint touch ups and scuffs removed.

Exterior

Thoroughly clean corners of exterior of home to remove cobwebs and wasp nests. Inspect the ouside of the home and see if you can visibly see dirt collecting on the exterior panels of the home and front door area, if so, you may consider pressure wash the outside of the home to remove dirt and dust build up. 

Remove all outside debris from the yard and around the house.

Secure trashcans in a designated area.

No visible trash bags or open containers.

Keep lawn mowed and edged near sidewalkes and shrubbs.

Remove all items from front door walk way.

Garage: If not storing items from inside the home.

Drastically clean and organize.

Sweep and clean-remove all cobwebs and any oil/grease from the floor.

If there is time and money-Paint the garage floor.

Remember-there will be several items coming from inside the house and possible stored in the garage but if showcasing the garage was one of your thoughts, make the garage presentable and organized.

Painting and touch ups:

Repaint rooms with unfavorable colors and paint schemes that your in love with!

Absolutely no walls with bright colors are preferrable! Example: greens, oranges, pinks, yellows reds or burgundy’s. (Please ask for agent feed back! Some tasteful color arrangements are possible.)

Repaint or restain trim. Older homes with darker trim looks better painted white, but ask your agent for feed back. Note: White shows better in older 60’s and 70’s and 80’s homes. We recommend white when possible!

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STAGING TIPS

Depersonalize your home! Store personal photos, knick Knacks and memorabilia! Buyers want to visualize their pictures on your walls. They want to visualize their furniture in your living room, bedroom and dining room. They want to visualize your kitchen with their stuff in it, not your stuff, unless you’re Martha Stewart.

Final Note

These are all helpful hints to help you sell your home in today’s competitive market. Home prices and the final negotiating dollar are largely based on how well the property shows and what kind of condition the home was in during the showing. Statistaclly, Home staging does improve price and time on the market, with proper pricing. Please carefully review the staging “BEFORE AND AFTER” pictures to make sure you have a good idea of what needs to be achieved. Yes, market conditions play a part in the price but your homes condition and appearance can affect the overall offering price from a buyer, when compared to other homes. The object is to get the highest offer for your home in the shortest amount of time. Stay in front of the competition, not behind! Make the selling environment conducive for selling your home and achieving the highest offer.