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First impressions make a significant impact on a buyer's decision-making process!
Once your home goes on the market, it becomes a product. Home Styling or Staging simply allows you to highlight the best of your home and de-emphasize its flaws. It's not about decorating, but actually turning your home into a model, to appeal to the broadest range of prospective buyers. The goal is to make people feel like they could live there, and the best way to do this is to "neutralize" the surroundings.
 
Try out these helpful styling tips taken from Setting the Stage - REALTOR® Magazine Online. They've compiled the best tips from stagers and real estate pros—things you can do for little or no expense—to put a home in prime showing shape.
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Clear out closets and clutter—sellers can give away or pack up toys, linens, and small kitchen appliances to store offsite. Buyers are also forgiving of storage boxes neatly tucked away in a garage or basement.
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Focus most on the most visible areas—the foyer, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, and family room.
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De-personalize the home by removing photos, mementos, and dated items.
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Use plants in colorful pots or inexpensive wicker baskets to fill in empty spaces.
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Look to home catalogs for little details on beautifying the home. For instance, group books, pictures, and objets d’art appealingly on bookcases.
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Try angling one or two pieces of furniture slightly and move furniture 4 inches to 6 inches from the wall to create more interesting room spaces.
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Put away large collections— porcelains, plates, and so on.
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Remove valuables, prescription medicine, collectibles, and breakables.
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Trim trees, prune shrubs, and make sure the lawn is mowed and watered regularly.
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In summer, turn on the sprinklers for five minutes, 30 minutes before the open house. It makes the lawn and driveway sparkle.
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Refrain from cooking anything that leaves a distinctive odor, such as fish, garlic, or cabbage.
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Hire a professional service to clean the home, including the carpets and the windows.
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Set the dining room table with attractive linens, dishes, and stemware.
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Arrange fresh or silk flowers throughout the home.
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Light a fire in the fireplace in fall and winter.
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A mirror in a pretty frame can make a small room feel more open.
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Use as much natural light as possible. Add extra lamps in dark rooms or corners.
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Make functional repairs—fix dripping faucets, sticking doors, and broken fences.
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Bring in another pair of eyes—even if it’s not a professional stylist. The person may see problems you and have missed.
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Staging Secrets: How to Dress Your House for Sale Success
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FrontDoor.com's Top 10 Ways to Beat the Sluggish Housing Market
By FrontDoor.com |
Don't let the slow market get you down. Whether you're a home seller looking for offers, or a homebuyer facing stricter loan requirements, rev up your real estate potential with these helpful pointers from FrontDoor.com.
FOR SELLERS:
- Give your house a makeover that adds value and keeps it up with the Joneses'. That doesn't mean you should run out and install Italian marble. But if hardwood floors are the norm in your neighborhood, replace the carpet.
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- Use the secrets of staging experts, or hire one. Staging can be as easy as a fresh coat of paint, new cabinet hardware and strategically-placed lighting. Think of it as a creative, inexpensive facelift for your home.
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- Find out what's wrong with the house and get it fixed. Don't wait until that serious buyer finds faulty wiring or a termite problem and then pulls the plug on the deal. Be proactive. Get an inspection before hitting the market.
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- Come up with a comprehensive home-selling strategy. Don't put an ad on Craigslist, stick a sign in the ground and call it a day. Whether you're going FSBO or using an agent, selling your home in a buyer's market requires a well thought-out plan with accurate pricing, targeted improvements and focused marketing and exposure.
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- Hire an aggressive, well-connected real estate agent. Find an experienced agent with a proven track record and knows how to pound the pavement. In this market, name recognition is important, so find the go-to person for buyers and their agents in your community.
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- Help a buyer buy it. Offer incentives that put money in the buyer's pocket, such as buying down the interest rate, absorbing more of the closing costs or offering seller financing.
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- Consider renting or offering a lease option. Minimize the impact of two mortgages by renting your house out until you find a buyer. Or offer a lease option to a motivated buyer who doesn't have enough cash to buy a home outright.
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- Make the house move-in ready. Throw in the furniture, flat-screen TV, washer/dryer, appliances, backyard jacuzzi AND the kitchen sink. The less money a buyer will have to shell out to furnish the house, the higher the perceived value.
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FOR BUYERS:
- Use calculators and tools to evaluate your potential purchase. Be careful not to get caught up in the hype of a buyer's market. Make calculated decisions with FrontDoor.com's "Return on Investment" tool, for instance, which helps you determine your potential IRR (internal rate of return) on a property.
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- Evaluate and boost your financial profile. If you're having trouble finding favorable terms or interest rates on a mortgage, make yourself more appealing to lenders by boosting your credit score.
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