Staging your home should be a fun, cheap experience that can significantly affect the quantity of leverage you have when negotiating the sale of your home. But first you need to understand where to start. Haphazardly staging your home without a plan or guide to what you are doing will result in missed opportunities and a staged home that lacks a cohesive flow. When your staging your home, heed the Prime 7 Must-Do’s of Home Staging.

1. Replace burned out bulbs. 

This is huge. Because you live in your home, you have likely become less alert to stuff you see every day, including the third bulb that burned out over the lavatory mirror 6 months ago. Take an admirer or family member who doesn’t live with you through your home and see if they notice any burned out bulbs that you have possibly missed. Burned out bulbs mean lack of maintenance to a home buyer and may cause them to think they will be doing a heap of fixing before moving in.

2. Remove excess huge furniture. 

Another epic mistake most do-it-yourself home owners make when staging a house is leaving their giant furniture sets in every room. Massive furniture can dominate any room, especially smaller rooms, thus consider taking away any of the non-essential pieces. This will surely accentuate the home’s square footage.

3. Avoid mixing dark furniture and poor lighting. 

Dark furniture can be equally harmful as large furniture. Dark furniture pulls the eye towards it rather than allow your gaze to wander smoothly. Unless your home has many expansive windows that allow in lots of sunlight, avoid dark furniture.

4. Detach yourself from your home. 

Detaching yourself from your home is terribly difficult, especially when the home was custom builty; however, it’s better to develop a thick skin about your home so you can stage it to appeal to as many buyers as possible. One key facet to detaching yourself from your home is to remove photos of family and personal items that may hold sentimental
value. When you show your home, the focus must be the home. Potential buyers want to see themselves in the home, not you.

5. Raise the bar on your windows, literally. 

Low sitting windows with drapes can make ceilings appear lower than expected. Raise the bar above your window and mount it nearer to your ceiling to give the impression that the ceiling is higher.

6. Clear away ‘catch-all’ stations round the home. 

Everything has a place and typically that place is all in one spot. Occasional shelves,
kitchen counters, and tables by the front door are highly visible locations that tend to end up covered in mail, keys, and random travel belongings. Clearing away these areas is vital for creating an inviting space.

7. Get a pressure washer and wash away the weather. 

Your home’s exterior bears the burden of making the first impression that can build or break a buyer’s interest in your home. Several times I have toured homes with purchasers who refused to go into a home as a result of a poor outward appearance. Buyers do not want to buy another person’s problem. Rent a pressure washer from a local home improvement or rental store, or higher a professional to do the job. Spray down the outside of the house. Pay special attention to the corners of the home which will harbor generations of spider webs, insects and grime.

Understanding the Prime 7 Must-Do’s of Home Staging can help you avoid costly staging mistakes and help sell your staged home faster than competing homes on the market. If you’re thinking of selling your Wilmington area home, keep in mind that we provide a complimentary home staging consultation with a professional stager to everyone who lists with us. If you’d like to learn more about our marketing plan and services, give us a call at (910)202-2546 or send us a message through our contact page.