Home staging is a huge thing in the US and professional home stagers charge large sums of money to transform properties into the kind of home a celeb would live in. Their services don’t come cheap, but the principles of home staging can be utilized by anyone hoping to make a good impression on potential buyers.
Declutter
The first task is decluttering every room. Treat this as a golden opportunity to get rid of anything you don’t need, whether that is furniture you have fallen out of love with, books you read once and hated, or CDs you bought in a manic-depressive state when your first love dumped you on Valentine’s Day.
Sell anything worth something and donate the rest to a Goodwill thrift store.
If rooms still look cluttered, start packing items you don’t need anytime soon and store them somewhere safe, preferably in a garage or lockup. It is important to create a sense of space. This allows buyers to visualize the property with their furniture and belongings.
Weave a Story
One of the reasons why social media is so popular is that it paints a picture of a lifestyle we aspire to. We look at an influencer’s social feed and think “I wish this was my life”. Staging a home does a similar thing to buyers. You are selling a lifestyle, not just a home.
Select a few choice ornaments, books, artwork, photos, etc. This adds some personality to the rooms, so they don’t look too bland and uninspiring. The aim is to create a home that feels warm and nurturing. You want people to look around and immediately feel a sense of calm and serenity.
Show Not Tell
It is all too easy to show a buyer your dining room and say: “this room is big enough for dinner parties”. They might look at the floorplan and agree, but it isn’t the same as actually showing them. The best way to make it real is by staging the room for its intended purpose.
In a dining room, set up the table for a dinner party, with plates, glasses, napkins, and table decorations. Do the same in the kitchen, with recipe books out and some freshly baked cupcakes.
You can do the same outside too. If your garden is perfect for outdoor entertaining, bring out your Vidaxl patio furniture with seat cushions, plates, glasses, and a bottle of wine. It is worth investing in new furniture if yours is looking a bit shabby.
Shop for Vidaxl tables and chairs, and some outdoor lighting. Show buyers what a fantastic life they could have if they bought your property.
Appeal to the Buyer’s Olfactory Senses
How a home smells is just as important as how it looks. Out with the smelly dog bed and cat litter tray and in with the freshly baked bread and percolating coffee machine in the kitchen. Always open windows before buyers arrive and buy some fresh flowers for downstairs rooms.
By following the tips above, you can do a great job of staging your home for potential buyers, and it needn’t cost you a fortune.
Author Bio:
The author Allan Smith is a professional finance writer specializing in personal finance. He has worked in the finance sector for a long time. He believes that everyone’s economic and life situation is isolated, and he keeps this fact in mind while providing personal finance advice in his blog Day to Day Finance. All the people seeking financial guidance are in different stages of life. Allan loves to explore every possible angle of personal finance so that anybody can get help.
