Whether or not you’re bringing in home staging experts or you are looking to present your home for sale yourself.
Here are our top 10 home staging tips to help maximise the value of your property.
1. First impressions
You want to spend some time and energy getting your front entrance looking right. It’s the first thing buyers will see when they walk up to your house. It goes without saying that it should be clean and uncluttered. Think about adding some potted plants if you have the space, or some front porch furniture to create the best first impression. Through your home staging choices, you’re aiming for simple but welcoming – starting buyers off on the right foot and suggesting good things to come once inside.
2. Declutter
The basic rule here is that you want to tuck away everything you can. If you don’t have space to neatly store your belongings inside cupboards and drawers, invest in some plastic storage boxes to keep things in the garage – or better yet, have a good old-fashioned cleanout and garage sale. An uncluttered home feels larger and helps prospective buys to see all of its positive points.
3. Depersonalise
One of the key outcomes of a home that’s staged well for sale is allowing prospective buyers to visualise the home as their own. Removing any personal photos, keep clothes stored away and out of sight, and clear bathroom counters of personal items, like toothbrushes. While it’s true that de-personalising your home can make it feel a little strange for you to live in, it’s incredibly helpful for buyers to connect with the property.
4. Clean
And we mean really, really clean! This home staging step alone can make an enormous difference. Everything from floors to tile grout, exterior cladding, gutters, insides of drawers and everything in between should be immaculately clean.
5. Maintenance
It sounds really simple, but fix anything minor that is broken that may divert buyers’ attention away from the parts of your home that you want them to see! We often encounter broken door handles, peeling paint on handrails, loose decking boards, kitchen cupboards that have come out of alignment and marks on walls. Go through your house, make a list of what’s broken and start ticking those things off.
6. Spruce up the outdoors
Paint fences dark, cut overgrown trees back and do some tidy, basic planting. Staging outdoor spaces is just as important when it comes to presenting your home. Treat the back and the front, you want to make a great impression from the street too.
7. Furniture placement
Good furniture placement can make a space seem much larger than it is. If a room feels a little cramped to you, take some items out and pull furniture away from the walls. Less is more here!
8. Art placement
Hang art where you want the eye to be drawn. If you have a gorgeous view – don’t hang art on an adjacent wall just to fill a space. Let the view do the talking. Art is also a good way to divert eyes away from things you don’t want to draw attention to (for example, the proximity of a neighbour’s house).
9. Play it safe but not too safe
While bright pink walls may be right up your alley, this bold colour choice could be polarising for buyers and hard for them to look past. Keep your base neutral, and accessories with prints and colours that will lift your home and give it some personality.
10. Bring in some experts
Consider bringing in some home staging expert help. Even if just for some advice! Staging a home for sale is really different to getting it ready to live in. Sometimes switching a few key pieces of furniture out can make a huge difference, or just some fresh eyes to help you rearrange what you already have. In other instances, the best approach is to take everything out and to start from scratch. Call in some expert advice to help you decide how to maximise the value of your home.
