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Staging Your Home to Sell

Your home
is not for sale,
but your
HOUSE is!

Congratulations!

You’ve made the decision to sell your house! Now is the time to prepare yourself to move into the marketing mode because you will soon be presenting your home to your market. . . the home Buyer.

Getting Mentally Prepared

• Now is the time to realize that your home has to become a product - a 'thing' to be sold. It can be difficult to think of your home as a mere 'thing,' but in order to get top dollar and sell it in a reasonable amount of time you must grasp this concept. The way you live in a home is NOT the way you sell it.
• You want to sell that 'product.'
• As with any 'product' for sale, your house will have to be marketed.
• Before you can market it, you must determine how you will package it.
• You want to package your house so that it is attractive to customers (in this case, the Home Buyer). You want them to choose your 'product' and not the competition's.

To gain an edge in your marketplace, your 'product' must be priced right and look better than the competition's! The best, proven way to package your house and gain that competitive edge is to. . .

STAGE IT!

93% of ASP^TM Staged homes
 sell in one month or less.
 

See Staging Statistics

QuickTIPS FOR STAGING YOUR HOME

INSIDE

• Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house. Keep decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items. In general, a sparsely decorated home helps the buyer mentally ‘move in’ with their own things.
• Rearrange or remove some of the furniture in your home, if necessary. Many times home owners have too much furniture in a room. When it comes to selling your home, thin out overcrowded rooms to make the rooms appear larger.
• Clear all unnecessary objects from the kitchen countertops. If it hasn’t been used for three months. . . put it away out of sight! Clear refrigerator of messages, magnets, pictures, etc.
• In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from the countertops, tub, shower stall and commode top. Keep only the most necessary cosmetics, brushes, perfumes, etc., in one small group on the counter. Coordinate towels in one or two colors only.
• Take down, reduce, or rearrange pictures and objects on walls. Patch and paint all walls, if necessary.
•  Review the house interior, room by room, and:
  1. Paint any room needing paint.
  2. Clean carpet and drapes that need it.
  3. Clean windows.
• If you need room to store extra possessions use the garage or rent a storage unit.
• During showings turn on ALL lights and lamps.
• Play light FM music softly in the house, for all viewings.

OUTSIDE

• Go around the perimeter of the house and move all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, extra building materials, etc., to the garage or, better yet, take them to the dump. Your moving. Get rid of everything you don't want to move.
• Check gutters and roof for dry rot and moss. Make sure they are swept & cleaned. Clean those unsightly algae stains from light colored roofs.
• Look at all plants. Plants are like children. . . they grow so fast. Prune back bushes and trees. Keep plants from blocking windows: “You can’t sell a house if you can’t see it!”
• Remove any dead plants, weed all planting areas and put down fresh mulching material.
• Keep your lawn freshly cut, edged and fertilized during the growing season.
• Clear patios or decks of all small items, such as little planters, flower pots, charcoal, barbeques, toys, etc.
• Check the condition of the paint on your home, especially the trim and the front door. The first impression, or ‘curb appeal,’ is very important.

IN GENERAL

Try to look at your house “through a buyer’s eyes,” as though you’ve never seen it before. This exercise will help you see what needs to be done. Any time and money invested on these items will usually bring you
the return of more money and a quicker sale.

See also:

• Staging and Conditioning Tips
• Staging your home for an Open House.
• Accredited Staging Professional