Getting ready to sell your home? Staging your home for sale offers many benefits, including selling it faster and for more money. When it comes to how to stage your home to sell for the best price, you can improve your chances by hiring a professional home stager, investing in home remodeling projects, and making simple swaps. Get top dollar for your home with these home staging ideas!
Hire a Professional Home Stager
Hiring a home stager can help you get the best offer on your home. Home staging pros not only help you decorate and fix everything up, but they can also help you make solid decisions, sell your home quickly, and put the effort where it belongs. If you want an even better chance of selling your home quickly while getting the best price, hire a real estate agent to aid the process.
Create a Blank Slate
When staging your home, it’s important to remember that buyers want to envision themselves living in your home. If there are too many personal items on display—or even bold decoration styles that clash with their idea of how the home should look—it can potentially keep them from making an offer. Be sure to take out any photos of your family, kids’ toys, laundry items, quirky knick-knacks, and other personal belongings that could be considered distracting during home showings.
Declutter
One of the most important steps to do before staging a house is decluttering. Prospective buyers want to see a space that is clean and organized—even your storage areas, such as closets and other common problem areas, should appear uncluttered so that people can see their full potential. If you want assistance, you can even hire a professional organizer! Decluttering will make the home staging process easier, but it will also mean you’ll have less to pack up when it’s time to move—instead, you can sell excess furniture and donate items you no longer want. If you are moving on short notice and don’t have a lot of time to sort through and donate everything, consider getting a temporary storage unit for excess items until your home is sold.
Rent Furniture
Professional home staging companies may recommend swapping out some of your furniture with newer Contemporary pieces—rather than buying new pieces you’ll only need for a short time, rent furniture for staging! This can create a cohesive aesthetic and prevent different decoration styles from clashing with prospective homebuyers’ ideas of how the home should look. If you’re using a professional home staging company, many will provide rental furniture as part of the contract. If you’re going the DIY staging route, look into furniture rental companies in your area.
Invest in Cosmetic Upgrades
If you have the means to do so, making some cosmetic upgrades before staging can help you get the highest price for your home. Here are some renovation tips for staging your home to sell for a good price:
- Choose the Correct Wall Color: The best paint colors for staging your home are fresh, neutral ones like white or beige, as they reflect light and allow potential buyers to imagine their own vision for the decor. If your walls are already this color, applying a fresh coat is still a good idea to cover up any scratches or stains that may be there.
- Update Flooring: Upgrading or refinishing bathroom or kitchen floors and replacing old carpet can improve property value. Similar to paint, go with neutral colors like white, beige, or grey.
- Update Backsplash, Counters, & Cabinets: Replace any outdated bathroom or kitchen counters, surfaces, fixtures, and tiles. Redo caulking, and make sure cabinet doors and drawers are dent-free and freshly conditioned, refinished, or painted.
Do a Deep Clean
Part of staging your home includes doing a whole-house deep clean. An accredited staging professional will recommend that you hire a cleaning and detailing company for more complex cleaning needs, such as for furniture, carpets, and windows before you have open houses. Put in that last little effort by cleaning your bathrooms, vacuuming and stain-checking carpets, waxing tiles, getting rid of scuffs on walls, and making sure storage areas are clutter-free. Any day you let people tour, spot-clean key areas like the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom, since that’s what most people focus on.
Make Simple Repairs
To ensure your home is in the best possible shape and can demand the best price, make any fixes or small repairs that you’ve been putting off so that buyers won’t have to deal with them. Fix leaky faucets, add caulking to any surfaces needing it, replace broken window screens, oil creaking hinges, and more. If you have a toolbox lying around for these simple fixes, you can quickly add to your home’s selling price.
Remove Signs of Pets
Some buyers may find the idea of pets in the home off-putting. You’ll likely still have to disclose it if you have pets, but you can get rid of visual reminders. Make sure you get your carpets and furniture spot-cleaned, and vacuum up any pet hair. Remove kennels, litter boxes, toy baskets, and food and water dishes from the home during showings. If possible, make your sure your pet has somewhere outside the house to be when potential buyers are touring, such as at a family member or friend’s home.
Add a Pleasant Scent
Lots of home staging experts recommend adding scents to make home buyers feel more immersed during showings—just make sure you don’t choose a scent that’s too powerful, overwhelming, or potentially irritating. Grab a diffuser and some lavender or bergamot essential oil drops for a relaxing and meditative scent. Break out some vanilla-scented candles or wax melts to bring a sense of comfort and relaxation to a room. Avoid cooking foods like bacon or burgers before showings so unpleasant smells don’t linger—though baking cookies or cinnamon rolls beforehand can create a quick, cozy, homey smell. If weather permits, open windows for a bit to let in some fresh air—just remember to close them before anyone arrives.
Let in Natural Light
Get your home ready to sell by letting some natural light into the home—draw back any curtains or blinds, and move any obstructing furniture out of the way of windows with good views. Add mirrors to reflect light around the home, and try scheduling showings for when the home gets maximum natural light. Good natural light is a major draw for home buyers for several reasons:
- It helps buyers get a better feel for living spaces when looking at online listings.
- It’s attractive for buyers who want to save on energy costs (e.g., heating and lighting).
- It typically means better home resale value.
- It makes small homes feel bigger and more inviting.
Add House Plants
Using house plants for home staging is great for bringing in some life, making the home feel more lived in rather than a sterile place, and adding pops of color. Home staging specialists say that adding low-maintenance house plants, like pothos, succulents, or air plants, can be an easy way to make your home feel inviting. For a fresh, floral smell and some extra beauty, add a vase of flowers in the kitchen.
Spruce Up Your Curb Appeal
Potential homebuyers can be turned off by staged homes for sale that look untidy from the outside, so it’s important to stage the exterior as well. Working on your home’s landscaping can even improve home value! Hire a landscaper to prune overgrown plants, add fresh mulch, trim trees, and mow the lawn before an open house. Keep in mind that while some homebuyers may like the idea of more gardening and front yard landscaping work, others could be discouraged by the amount of upkeep that would be required, so you don’t need to go overboard. To go the extra mile for top-notch curb appeal, hire someone to pressure-wash your driveway and walkways.
Showcase Outdoor Spaces
If your home includes a nice back patio, porch, outdoor living room, or deck, be sure to clean and stage it as well. Stage the area with patio furniture and water features to make it more inviting. If you have a grill, be sure to clean and polish it. Make sure your pool—whether it’s above ground or built in—is clean and well-maintained. Most homebuyers desire big backyards and outdoor spaces, so it’s important to give any exterior space as much attention as an interior one.
Hire a Professional Photographer
Most buyers search for homes on real estate websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com before scheduling home showings, so photos that truly show off the best aspects of the property can help you book tours and ultimately sell the house. Professional real estate photographers understand what appeals to buyers in terms of lighting, angles, and attention to detail, and they know how to capture that in the photos they take. High-quality photography can also help you if you choose to use virtual home staging.
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