Tips For Staging Your Home
By Guest Blogger Doug Chapman at www.homedaddys.com.
Selling your house is a process that not only will cause tense moments, but it will also make you do things that you haven’t done since you moved in – CLEAN THE ENTIRE HOUSE! That was a joke, sort of.
Regardless, when you are getting ready to stage your house, you want it to be in tip-top shape so that the prospective buyer can walk right in and feel like it is their home right from the start. There are many things you can do to make it a neutral house, and most of them just take a little elbow grease or some light lifting to accomplish.
Here are four ideas to take into consideration when you are about to put your house on the market:
Upgrade The Fireplace
You need to get rid of the ragged, old brass screen that probably has kinks all through it. Replacing it is inexpensive, but it will go a long way when potential buyers come through the living room. Make sure you also give the entire fireplace a makeover, you know cleaning it entirely like you probably haven’t done since you moved in the house! Polish it all so that it lights up the room, and it will make your living room that much more appealing than you ever imagined.
Light The House
When buyers come into the house, the last thing they want to see are dark rooms. Even if they are coming at night, make sure to open the curtains and let the light come through the windows. Feel free to add additional lighting fixtures throughout each room and make sure the bulbs on each lamp are new so they don’t start flickering during the tour! Increase the watts on your light bulbs and you can never have too many lamps, especially in the living and family rooms.
Replace Old Appliances
Whether you are going to include the kitchen appliances in the sale, which is pretty standard these days, you still want to replace your old ones with updated, clean ones. The last thing you want is for potential buyers to see the old stove or refrigerator and make the rest of the kitchen look dated as well. Even if you are going to try and not spend money to replace every kitchen appliance, you can always scrub them clean like you never have before so that the buyer sees you put the effort into making the house look that much better. You don’t want them walking into the kitchen and be turned off by old appliances.
Clean The Clutter
This might be the most important thing to do when you are preparing to stage your house. You HAVE to remove the clutter from the house and find storage space for all of your “junk”, whether it is renting out storage space or stacking it neatly in the garage. Don’t hesitate to get rid of some of the furniture in each room to make them look bigger as well. Also, pack away all of the personal clutter around the house so that the buyer can look at it as ‘their’ home and not yours. They want to be able to picture what they are able to do with the house rather than seeing your wedding pictures hung or your college sorority sisters collage on the end table. And if you have kids, make sure that their toys don’t encompass the entire house. Put them in a closet or put them in the storage unit for the time being. It will go a long way.
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