Home Staging | How to Stage Your Home For Sale | Michael Coburn

Getting Started  

Now that you’ve made the decision to sell your home, you’ll want to look at it differently. It’s now a house for sale. Packaging - or staging - your house to appeal to more buyers can help you put the sold sign up more quickly and bring you a greater return on your investment. 

The Dress Your House for Success program is an easy to follow staging program that can be tailored to fit your house, your time frame and your budget. 

By the time buyers arrive at your front door, usually your house meets their basic criteria for location, price and style - the more rational side of home-buying. The purchasing decision is generally based on an emotional connection that begins when a buyer imagines living in your house. Each step of the staging process is designed to help more buyers imagine life in your house. 

Dressing or staging your house doesn’t need to be expensive or overly time-consuming. Purchase items that can be used in your new space or borrow or rent the “extras” - from accessories and furniture to artwork - to help build a series of positive first impressions. And, if you’re short on time, we can assist in getting the work done. 

As you make your Dress Your House for Success plan, take advantage of our professional experience and objectivity. We can help you prioritize your efforts and concentrate on the areas that will set you apart from other houses on the market. 

Staging your house begins with gaining objectivity. That’s not easy when it’s home. So, get “buyer’s eyes” by looking at other houses for sale that are similar to yours in both features and price. How do they make you feel? What negatives do you notice? Stop in model homes and experience “move in condition.”  

Now tour your house. Use this checklist to make a master list of everything that could be an obstacle to showcasing the full potential of your property. 

Start with curb appeal - the first glimpse of your house that forms the most critical first impression. Curb appeal has been known to sell a house before the buyers even get out of their car! What can you do to improve your all-important first impression? 

Next, go through your whole house as if you were a buyer seeing it for the first time. Be on the lookout for subtle signs that say, “There’s work to be done her.” Remember, if you think it’s too much work, potential buyers will probably think so, too! 

When your list is complete, assign tasks, develop a timetable and reward yourself along the way. 

Keep your goal in mind - to sell your house at the best possible price in the least amount of time. Investing a little time and money now will payoff when the curtain goes up and your house takes center stage!
 

“Buyer’s Eyes” 

To package your house in the best manner, you have to completely detach yourself from your possessions and look at your home like you're seeing it for the first time. Look at your house through a “buyer’s eyes”. Buyer’s eyes let you evaluate whether your house will make a strong impact and encourage a sale or be crossed off the buyer’s list. You should approach each room in the house as if the door frame was a camera lens. The photograph you take – a buyer’s first glimpse of the room – forms the first impression of that room or area. If you can’t see your home objectively, you can’t package effectively! 

Look at model homes that are professionally staged to appeal to buyers. The paint is fresh, appliances are shiny, there is artwork arranged around the house, and fresh flowers stand on the kitchen counter. Mirrors are sparkling, towels fresh, and there are no toys on the floor. The rooms look spacious and the furniture comfortable. The kitchens and bathrooms are polished, smelling fresh, and clutter is not to be seen. The closets are empty or organized. The garage floor is clean and neat and looks much larger than you'd need for two cars. The house was completely clean, no cluttered rooms or closets. There is a sense there is no work to be done. This “model home effect” is exactly the look & feel you want to create in a buyer’s mind. 

No matter how many great elements you have in your house, people’s eyes are drawn to negative features first. Buyers are inspecting - looking for clues to uncover hidden costs. Negatives cause buyers to stop looking for what’s right with the house and start wondering “what’s wrong?” Buyers also tend to exaggerate in their minds the amount of work required and the cost to make repairs. 

Create a Welcoming Entrance  

Creating first impressions begins when the buyer arrives at your house. This is what real estate professionals refer to as “Curb Appeal.” Remember the outside of your house when you're getting ready for buyers. After they see your home from the street, they'll notice the front door and porch. Within 15 seconds buyers develop an attitude toward your house that is reinforced by everything else they encounter. 

“Staging” Neutral, Relaxing Areas  

Think of each room as a "set" that you can decorate any way you please to increase your home's sense of peace, warmth, and order. Each room provides an opportunity to create many indelible first impressions that position your house as a home and Buyers start to connect emotionally to it and begin to imagine living in your house. Consider some of these ideas:  

Set up a tea service at a small table by a window overlooking a garden.
Place an open book and cozy throw on the upholstered chair in your bedroom.
Pile an attractive bowl with fresh fruit on the kitchen island.
Display a vase of fresh (very fresh) flowers in the entry hall.
Arrange some beautiful cookbooks on the countertop or desk in your kitchen.
 

Can You Do It Yourself? 

If you're a homeowner with an objective point of view, you may be able to clear out and rearrange by yourself. After all, you'll eventually be packing up all of your possessions to move, so boxing up unneeded items and clutter shouldn't be too much of a problem. However, if you find it hard to edit your own stuff, then either ask a friend to help or hire a professional home stager.  

Plan to do one room at a time. Remove anything and everything that is personal, shabby, soiled, or crowded. Clean all surfaces thoroughly, then replace only the pieces that look wonderful. In this case, less is more.  

Home staging is a professional service. You can hire professional home stagers or interior redesigners who charge by the scope of the work, anywhere from a few hundred dollars for one room to a few thousand dollars for an entire home. It will depend on the size and scale of the work involved. Most will empty one room at a time then begin to bring back your furnishings and accessories to make a more cohesive design statement. If you decide to do the work yourself, approach the job the same way. As your real estate professional, we can assist you in identifying the areas to focus our attention on to get your home prepared for a quick sale. We also keep lists of professionals who can do everything from cleaning a home to repair a leaking kitchen faucet. Many times we can make incredible changes just by redesigning with your existing furnishings and perhaps purchasing a few new items. Remember for a minimal investment in the staging process, you may gain tens of thousands of dollars on the sale of your home. 

Are You Ready to Commit? 

Get out the cleaning supplies, boxes, and get ready to sell your home fast! You'll love how easy it is to transform a languishing, slow-moving home into a quick sale with just a bit of elbow grease and an eye for beauty. You may be lucky and just need to do some long-neglected simple home repairs, get rid of clutter and add fresh flowers. Or, you might have to repaint or re-carpet your home to give it a fresh look. If you're handy, you'll be able to do most things yourself. Or, you can ask us for a referral of some of the professionals who’ve done a great job for us in the past. 

Spend some time and money making your house beautiful and welcoming. It could very well help sell your home in record time and for a higher price! Following is a summary of the five stages to prepare your home and checklists to assist you in the process. Don’t forget to use these checklists and you’ll be more organized and finished in no time! It will also be helpful to give to cleaning service or contractors if you require their assistance. And, you can even enlist the help of your children! After you’ve completed the cleaning, removed the clutter and made your repairs, call us to assist you in the staging process!
 

Setting the stage of your home not only makes for a great sale, it provides a great send-off for the next chapter of your life. You’ll be organized and ready to move to your next home!