Staging a home will help it sell faster and for a higher price. However, home staging is more than just cleaning, straightening, and rearranging the furniture. Home staging is a way to showcase your home’s best assets to make it appealing to the broadest range of potential buyers. Think of staging as dressing your home to sell.

Benefits of Staging a Home

Different from home decorating, proper home staging will make your home’s most impressive features stand out. It can also make your home appear bigger and brighter. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2019 Home Staging report, 83% of the buyer’s agents said that home staging makes it easier for buyers to visualize the property as their own.

Staging involves creating an environment that homebuyers can see themselves living in and can help facilitate a speedy sale for top dollar. On average, a staged home sells 73% faster than a non-staged home.

Staging Tips: Where to Start

Staging begins with a deep cleaning. A clean home signals to buyers you’ve put effort into maintaining the property. You will also want to make minor repairs while taking care of tiny nicks and scratches that potential buyers might interpret as neglect.

• Clean out closets. Don’t use closets as a place to “hide” things. No matter how big the closet may be, if it is jam-packed, it will look small.
• Thin out shelves. Packed shelves can be a turn-off. If you have books lining every shelf, pack some away. Try to keep shelves 50-75% empty.
• Clear off countertops. There should only be a few things on kitchen and bathroom countertops. Leave only minimal decorative items on the kitchen countertops, such as a flower arrangement, plant, or apothecary jar filled with accents like beans or noodles.
• Declutter your décor. It is best to do some visual decluttering of patterns, color, and furniture.

Keep in mind that home staging is different from home decorating. Staging should help buyers imagine living in the home with their furniture and decorating preferences.

DIY Staging Tips

Fortunately, many of the best staging tips don’t require spending much money. Here are five tips anyone can do to help their home sell.

1. Stage the important rooms. It’s not necessary to stage every room. Instead, focus on the rooms that have the most significant potential to influence buyers’ decisions. The most important rooms for buyers are the living room, master bedroom, and kitchen.
2. De-personalize the space. Help prospective buyers connect with the property and visualize the space as their own. For example, remove personal photos and anything that’s hanging on your fridge.
3. Open up rooms. Rearrange the furniture, so there is as much open, walkable space as possible. Put extraneous furniture in storage. Focus on removing oversized or damaged pieces and any that don’t match the rest of the room.
4. Neutral colors. The best colors to consider when staging a home are neutral colors like gray, white, and taupe. Although changing the color pallet of the home to neutral colors can be more expensive, it can make a significant difference in the sale price and time on the market.
5. Plenty of light. Brighten rooms up by allowing in as much light as possible. Light helps make rooms seem larger. Open the blinds on all the windows. If your yard needs some work, keep the blinds down but open the slats so you don’t accidentally showcase a problem area.

Professional Stagers

Professional stagers are skilled artists who can create an appealing and inviting atmosphere in a room. The secrets to their success are subtle details that create a cohesive and pleasant experience for potential buyers walking through a home.

A professional home stager can arrange the homeowner’s furniture and personal items and, if needed, bring in rented items to complete a room. Most listing agents agree that if a house is vacant, it shows better furnished by a professional stager because nothing seems lonelier than an empty house.

When it’s time to find a stager, ask your real estate agent to recommend someone. Realtors tend to develop long-term business relationships with the best stagers.

Closing Points

Home staging can pay off big time for the seller, resulting in your home selling faster and for a higher price.

You can stage the home on a large or small scale. The important thing is to stage your home strategically so that potential buyers see your property meeting all of their needs and desires while happily living in the home.

 

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