Reduce Market Time with Home Staging Tips

Home staging has become a hot topic these days thanks to shows like HGTV’s “Designed to Sell.” Staging a home for sale normally involves things of an aesthetic nature, such as design, organization, and overall appearance (as opposed to mechanical or functional improvements).

In today’s buyer’s market, you need all the ammunition you can get to justify the asking price. Proper home staging can do that by positioning your home more favorably in the buyer’s mind and reduce market time. The key to this whole thing is appealing to the largest audience—that’s what it’s all about.

Here are some easy home staging tips courtesy of the Home Buying Institute:

• Clear the room of family portraits and other items that say “you don’t live here” to buyers.
• Clean like the sale of your home depended on it…because it does.
• Let the room breathe. If it’s crowded or hard to walk through due to having too much furniture, remove some items, and place them in storage.
• Arrange the room in a conversational way, if it’s not that way already. Try different furniture arrangements until you get the best fit.
• Choose a nice and warm paint color for the living room. Use neutral tones in this space. That doesn’t mean you are limited to beige. There are plenty of warm colors that will neutralize the space, while also adding visual interest. These include the softer shades of green, blue, and brown.
• “Neutral” does not have to be boring. You can liven up a neutral color scheme with colorful accent items, such as pillows and rugs. Color-coordinate these items for a professional and “put together” appearance.
• Consider renting furniture for staging purposes. If your family room ensemble consists of that old couch from college days and a cheap table with wobbly legs, replace them with some nice rental pieces.
• Slip covers are a great inexpensive way to camouflage worn furniture, or to neutralize bright or loud fabric colors.
• And don’t forget about the home’s exterior an equally important (but often overlooked) home staging hot-spot. Curb appeal is exactly what it sounds like. When potential buyers pull up to the curb in front of your home, you want the home to appeal to them as much as possible. This gives a good first impression, so it should be part of your home staging checklist.

Home staging is about illusions. It’s beyond decorating and cleaning. It’s about perfecting the art of creating moods. Staging makes your house look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving, and, best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it.