Are you selling your property and wishing it would go more quickly? Home prices are soaring in many parts of the country due to a lack of supply and growing demand. Many sellers are receiving offers in as little as a few days! Even yet, if your house isn’t getting the attention it deserves, you may need to get creative when presenting your home for sale.
Staging your property to make it appealing to potential buyers is similar to laying the scene for a theatre or movie production. That is why it’s called house staging, and that’s what you must do.
Before you invite potential buyers, you’ll need to clear out all clutter so that potential buyers have a clearer picture of the amount of functional space they would be able to utilize. Here are a few clever ways of storing your items and making the house appear more beautiful and collected:
Table of Contents
Start by Decluttering
Remove objects that detract from the spaciousness of your living room, family room, bedroom – and any amount of storage space available within the house. Free up the space for impressing potential buyers. If you need to get it done quickly, you can always call Ironguard storage and rent containers and units to have your unwanted stuff removed and kept safe. Moreover, the following are some of the things you should tuck away:
- Unused Furniture
- Photographs
- Games and toys
- Collectables
Depersonalize
Personal images should be removed from the living room and other primary rooms because the purpose of staging is to let potential buyers imagine themselves living there. Walking through a home and seeing images of the current owners might distract a potential buyer from envisioning their family living there.
Time for Some Deep Cleaning
It’s time to shine your home now that you’ve decluttered it. Give deep cleaning a day, and then you are ready to invite the potential buyers.
Apart from the usual polishing, disinfecting, and vacuuming, here are some other important cleaning tasks to add to your to-do list:
- The exterior and pathways should be pressure washed.
- Scrub all visible surfaces, including fixtures, light fixtures, baseboards, and walls.
- Remove everything from the refrigerator.
- Clean the carpets.
- Make sure the bathrooms are spotless.
- Clean the windows.
- Remove all dust from wooden surfaces and polish them.
Remember that you don’t have to do everything yourself if you don’t have the time. You can always call professional cleaning services.
If Needed, Repaint
A fresh coat of paint may drastically improve the appearance of your property. Paint your property in a neutral color if it’s time for a makeover. While it’s hard to please everyone, any paint job will be able to improve the condition of your home and make it more attractive.
Don’t Ignore the Curb Appeal
The exterior of your home will provide a potential buyer with their first impression. Your home must have curb appeal to make a great first impression on visitors and passers-by who may be looking for a new home. Consider power washing the outside of the house, walkways, and driveway to remove any dirt. In addition, fill in any sections of grass that are thin and add flowers to make the front entrance more attractive.
Stage the Important Rooms
The living room, kitchen, master bedroom, and dining room are the rooms most potential buyers are interested in seeing. If you’re on a tight budget, focus just on these four rooms, as they will have the most significant impact on a buyer’s decision. That doesn’t mean you have the license to ignore the rest of the rooms. You must keep the guest bedroom, bathroom, and home office nice and clean, but don’t spend too much time on them.
The purpose of staging your home is to depersonalize it or make it easier for potential buyers to picture themselves in the area. Before adding any minimalist artwork or decorations to give the place an attractive pop, paint the walls in neutral tones to boost the value of your property.
Use Lights to Your Advantage
The most straightforward approach to make a room look bigger than it is and add a welcoming touch is to add plenty of lighting. Open the blinds and sweep the drapes aside to let in as much natural light as possible.
It’s best to schedule house visits during the hours when the sun is shining the brightest. Lamps should be placed in locations with no overhead lighting, and worn bulbs should be replaced with higher-wattage replacements. In your main showrooms, use warm, inviting bulbs. On the other, install bright fluorescent lights in your attic and basement. Add halogen lamps beneath cabinets and in other small and dark locations.
Utilize Your Shed
You can always keep some of your belongings in your garage while the house is on the market. While it’s not recommended to toss a lot of clutter in your garage while your home is on the market, you can get away with it if the space is generally spotless. You’re only storing a few things. Make sure everything is well-organized, and use storage containers. Afterward, you have to pick the containers and move them to a different location.
Make It Look “Homey”
Make sure your decluttering doesn’t leave your home feeling so squeaky clean that the potential buyers cannot picture themselves there. While buyers want to see a tidy house, they also want it to look “homey,” which necessitates striking the right balance.
Find subtle details that will appeal to a buyer’s emotions and inspire discussion about the neighborhood. To start a conversation about your local farmer’s market, consider leaving an organizer loaded with seasonal fruits and veggies. Place a fashionable cookbook in a holder to help potential purchasers imagine themselves in the kitchen cooking. Fill your bathrooms with a beautiful scent and choose fresh, handcrafted soaps. You want to make the buyers feel like “this house is the one.”
Conclusion
Decluttering to show your home is different from decluttering it for visitors. You can store non-essential items in cupboards, closets, and the basement while staging the house. A buyer interested in your home will want to look inside each storage area to see if it meets their needs. It can be difficult for a potential buyer to picture the site if the storage compartments are packed with personal possessions and items. Therefore, do the needful by following these self-storage tips and making a striking first impression!