Home Staging: Make Your Home Shine

Home Staging is the simple, but essential, first element in selling your house. Improve your home's appearance, entice, potential buyers inside, and collect the highest price possible. There are two options for staging your home: hire a professional home stager or do it yourself. The first impression sticks in the buyers mind more than any real estate agent presentation. Make the most of your house before you market it. There are two options for staging your home: hire a professional home stager or do it yourself. In this age of do it yourself projects, Home Staging is no different, and it can be done with little expense, in less than seven days.

First, you must think like a buyer. Dissociate yourself from the house. Look at it through the eyes of an interested buyer. See the flaws and the toll of years of living and family growth. While your house may be clean and comfortable, the buyer will see any and every little thing that may detract from a favorable first impression. Depersonalize the house so it doesn't appear well loved and completely lived in. Remove all photographs and family mementos, those sentimental touches that put the family touch on your home. Allow the buyer to imagine his/her family items and mementos in place of yours. The easier it is for the buyer to picture his/her family in residence, the quicker the sale.

Now, thinking like a potential buyer, the rest falls into place. De-clutter the house! People collect an amazing amount of junk over the years and it can be a daunting task to remove or sort through it. A rule of thumb: if you haven't used it in a year, throw it away or give it away. You probably don't need it. Clear out your books and knickknacks. Take everything off your kitchen counters. Store essential items when not being used. Approach this task as though packing for the move out.

Clean and organize closets and cabinets. Don't let a stack of stuff fall on buyers when they open doors to poke around! If necessary, rent a storage unit for those bulky items and boxes of unused stuff. Take out and replace anything you want to move with you, furniture, drapes, etc. Fix any minor problems that have occurred over the years. Repairs are essential! Scrub it down! Cobwebs, windows, inside and out, walls, ceilings, floors, make it all shine!