Home Staging: Simple Steps to Increase the Value of Your Home

Home staging is the process of preparing a house for sale so that it sells for the highest price possible. There are few simple things that you can do yourself that will increase the value of your home. Most of these things can be done for very little money, but in some cases it may be worthwhile to invest in more extensive work. Depending on your situation it may be worthwhile to consider hiring a professional home stager to help you.

1. Curb appeal: As I'm sure you know curb appeal is the most important thing in selling your house, as the saying you never get a second chance to make a first impression, your house's curb appeal is that first impression. You don't have to do any major landscaping but you should make sure that the lawn is freshly mowed, leaves are raked, snow is shovelled etc. It may be worthwhile to repaint your house if it really needs it but this usually isn't necessary.

2. Take care of minor repairs: It shouldn't be necessary to do any major repair work, just concentrate on the quick and easy repairs. Things like taps that drip, sticky or squeaky doors, cupboards that don't close properly, loose doorknobs and the like. If you see areas with chipped paint a quick touch up is a good idea. It's also a good idea to have somebody else (a friend or a professional) walk through the house and look for these things, your probably so used to them that you don't notice them anymore.

3. Clean: The first thing you need to do is get rid of all your clutter. Hold a garage sell, give it away or get a storage locker but get it out of your house. Next you need to give your house a thorough cleaning, scrub everything, for this your really should consider getting a professional cleaner, it is money very well spent. You will still need to give the house a touch up before each showing.

4. Make your house look like a showroom: Before showing your house you should remove personal items like family photos. You want the buyer to picture themselves living in the house and this is hard to do when it is obvious that another family is living there. Make sure the furniture is arranged in a way that shows the room in at it's best, usually this means you want the room to look a big as possible. If you are selling a vacant house you will need to rent some furniture because nothing looks worse than an empty house.

5. Show your house in its best light: It is important to make your look bright and airy. Open all the blinds, and leave the lights on in all the rooms. If you have a room that is particularly dark put a lamp in it. You should also open a couple of windows at least ten minutes before the buyers arrive, you don't want them coming into a stuffy house.

These are just the basics of home staging there are many other things you can do to increase the sale price of your home, costing from nothing to several thousand dollars. How much you need or want to do will depend on your personal situation.