How to Stage Your Home to Sell

Selling your home in today's market takes lots of know-how if you want sell quickly.  Today’s buyers have plenty of houses to choose from so your job is to make sure your house is "the one" they want to purchase.  How can you do that? By properly staging your home to sell.  Staging is a way of setting up your furniture and decorative touches to make your home more pleasing and eye-catching to potential buyers.  It is a way of making your home feel different, special and inspiring.  It can truly be the difference between selling your house and not or selling it for a good price rather than taking a loss.

The first step in staging is to eliminate all the clutter.  You cannot have piles of newspapers, magazines or unread mail on any surface of your home.  Your home needs to look like a showcase home or a store display whenever a potential buyer comes in to view your home.  Clutter is not limited to garbage either; you also need to get rid of excess furnishings and decorations.  Less is more when it comes to staging.  Less furniture will make rooms seem bigger and allow would-be buyers more of a clean canvas to imagine their own furniture in the home.

The next important aspect of staging is neutralizing your paint colors.  You may be happy with a pink room for your daughter and a blue one for your son, but a would-be buyer may have 2 daughters, 2 sons or no kids at all and want the extra bedrooms as an office and an exercise room.  Using neutral colors on the walls helps to avoid turning them off and allows would-be buyers to see the homes potential rather than feeling limited by what you have done with the home.

Staging your home to sell also means having the correct furniture, electronics and artwork in place.  If you have a country home with modern furniture, things will feel out of place.  If your living room furniture is from the sixties it can make your home feel old and outdated.  If you don't want to buy new furniture you can always consider renting some to make the home look updated until it sells.  You will likely make your money back when your home sells quickly and for the right price.

Making sure that you have every possible advantage to sell your home quickly and profitably is an important part of your Realtors job.  Make sure that you choose a realtor who understands the benefits of staging and can walk you through the steps you need to take to stage your home properly.