Helping Buyers Fall in Love with Your Home!
“83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.”
-2019 Nat’l Assoc of Realtors Survey
Buyers aren’t looking for a home with hidden potential. But rather a home where they can already picture themselves living there. And staging lets you give them that experience.
The most affordable way to do it is to DIY Stage your own furnishings if they are reasonable current, along with a few new trendy accents.
It’s what will give your home a styled, spacious, fresh look that will appeal to the most amount of buyers. Helping you get noticed online and giving the best impression in person.
The most affordable option is to DIY Stage your own furnishings with some simple, trendy accents… for a fresh, spacious, styled look that will appeal to the most amount of buyers.
8 Important DIY Staging Steps
These are areas you’ll want to pay special attention to in order to successfully stage your home:
1. Check Out the Competition
The first thing you will want to do is check your competitors’ listing photos to see how your home compares. Focus in on what most buyers will be focused on:
- Decluttered & Deep cleaned
- In good repair
- Spacious
- Ligth filled
- Pleasing furniture arrangments & styling
- Curb Appeal
Now you have an idea of your staging goals and the general changes needed to look as good as your competition. (Or look even better, if you want to stand out!)
2. De-Clutter & Deep Clean
Purging and cleaning are essential. The cleaner and the “less is more” a house looks, the fresher and bigger it feels.
Here’s where you get to sort everything from your furniture to your clothes. (You’ll have to do this anyway when moving but with staging, you get a head start!) Sort into these categories:
- Minimum you need to live there, (this seasons clothes, 1 set of dishes, etc.)
- Off-site storage, (no stuffing things into closets, garage making them look too small)
- Sell, (if quick & easy)
- Donate
- Recycle
- Toss
- Store everything off-site you can: extra towels, clothes, kitchen items, sports equipment, toys, books, tools, etc., (The goal: no closet, cupboard or shelf is full so storage looks ample)
- Clear A-L-L surfaces
- All grooming items out-of-sight
- Remove all personal items, (memorabilia, photos)
- Remove all religious & political items
- Remove or secure all valuables, (small electronics, jewelry, paperwork. mail, valuable decor, etc.)
- Quick, hidden storage for showings:
Hide dirty laundry in the washer or dryer, (buyer usually don’t look inside)
Hide items under beds, (if not visible)
Do The Deep Clean
Everything should look, feel and smell clean:
- Kitchens & Baths must be squeaky clean & spark-a-ling
- Clean everything a buyer will touch, (handles, doorknobs, switches)
- Carpets freshly cleaned
- Whole house aired out, (open all the windows)
- Wash everything a pet touches, (pet odors are a big turn-off)
- Hire a professional cleaner if your budget allows
3. Repairs
Walk through room by room and all around the exterior to check on everything to see if anything needs to be repaired or replaced including
- Light fixtures & switches
- Flooring
- Windows
- Doors & door knobs
- Cupboard doors & drawers
- Tile & grout
- Fireplaces
- Major Appliances
- Plumbing & faucets
- Doorbell
- Stairs & handrails
4. Let There Be Light
Buyers want light-filled rooms:
- Open all window treatments
- Have appealing light fixtures, (replace anything dated/dingy)
- Have lighting in soft white (2700K-3000K), or daylight (5000K-6000K)
- Paint any dark/colorful walls a light neutral, (that also complements the floor)
5. Stage Important Rooms First
The more rooms you stage the better but here’s the order of importance to your buyers so do the most in these:
- Living Room / Great Room
- Master Bedroom
- Kitchen
- Dining Room
Keep in mind your whole home still needs to be decluttered and cleaned, but secondary rooms don’t have to be arranged and styled.
(Although arranging those notoriously small secondary bedrooms so they look bigger will create a memorable impression on buyers!)
6. Remove Extra Furniture
Just keep the minimum amount of furniture needed for staging in your home. Because rooms always show bigger and better when they are “under decorated” (i.e. not too full or busy looking).
And the more floor space buyers see the more spacious your home will feel.
Plus buyers won’t be distracted by lots of decorating (that may or may not be their style), and overlook your home’s features.
Style Simply
Use very few simple but appealing accents to “set the stage” for a fresh look. White accents, branches from the yard in a clear vase will do wonders.
8. Curbside Appeal
This is so essential as most buyers don’t even want to look inside a home they don’t like the looks of from the street.
So the art of getting more buyers through your front door starts with these curbside appeal touches:
- Lawn mowed
- Overgrown greenery trimmed
- Colorful plants by the front door
- Driveway & walkways power washed
- Windows cleaned
- Front door freshly painted (if needed), & in a current color
- Newer door handle, doorbell, porch light, house numbers
- New doormat
- Move any recreational vehicles & extra cars off-site
If you would like specific, easy to follow professional staging advice for your home so you know you’re getting it right, ask about our staging consultation
I’ll go over what needs to be done to prep your property in detail, and how to DIY stage and style your home with your furnishings including:
- On-Site walk-through, (inside & outside)
- Detailed written checklist
- Room arrangement ideas
- Accessory styling ideas
- Accessory shopping, (optional)
- Paint color ideas, (If needed)
“I have never had a stager understand the real estate market like you do. I’m sending you two clients!” -Carol C., Prudential Realty
Need to sell your home? Request a DIY staging clarity session & get a super simple one page action plan
call 425-977-5599
or connect online
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