Let's face it. Potential buyers are picky - and rightfully so. After all, buying a home is a huge investment! That's why it's important when selling your Halifax home to use staging to help your home stand out above the competition.
You can use a professional stager or do most of it yourself. Look at your budget to decide which you prefer. Home staging involves making a house clean and clutter-free so people can connect with the home. Done right, it helps your place sell faster and for more money.
Home stagers perform their magic by playing up the best features of your house and minimizing the worst. They rearrange artwork on the walls, pack up your prized bowling trophies and clear out your son's high chair. Most stagers charge about $100 for an initial consultation; you then have the option of executing their suggestions on your own or hiring the stager to do it for you at $100 an hour.
If you decide to stage your Halifax home yourself, there are 10 great trade secrets for you to impress potential buyers with. Because all 10 are so important and detail-oriented, I have broken this article up into 2 parts. That way you can start and not be too overwhelmed to complete the rest!
Curb Appeal
Prospective buyers make up their minds about your house even before they get out of the car. To start off on the right foot, make sure to have those leaves raked, shovel any snow for a clear path to the door, and clean up dead or overgrown plants. Get out the rags and cleaner and spend a good 30 minutes scouring your front door, porch, railings and steps. You may even want to power wash the exterior of the house and eaves. Lastly, tuck away all your recycling cans and bins at the back of the house.
Be Clutter FREE
Clutter eats equity, say stagers. So purge your closets, empty cupboards, box up small appliances. Rent a storage locker to keep what you want, then toss the rest. Reducing books, cd's and dvd's from shelves will reduce some clutter and give the appearance of more room for buyers.
One seller even states that her stager had her keep a storage container under the bed to throw her pajamas and bedtime reading in each morning so buyers wouldn't see them!
Keep it Impersonal
You want buyers to imagine themselves living in your home, not to feel like a guest in it. So stash anything connected to your family or personal interests. Pack away trophies, store family photos, remove all traces of day-to-day life. If there are too many personal items, the buyer becomes very conscious of being in someone else's environment instead of imagining their own things in the home.
Keep it Fresh
Many homeowners do not notice odors that are in their home every day - especially smokers and pet owners. The easy solution is to keep your windows open for 10 minutes a day. This gesture will reduce odors more effectively than you think. You can use deodorizers but you always run the hazard of someone having an allergy to artificial room fresheners. You may laugh, but simply put a tray of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies out. The smell does wonders to help buyers bond with your home.
Defeat the Grime
Cleanliness helps put a buyer's mind at ease since it suggests that your home is well worth taking care of. So clean everything: walls, door handles, light fixtures and pantry cupboards. One home stager suggests hiring a professional cleaner to scour the inside of a home and a contractor to power wash windows, walkways, eave troughs and pathways.
Toronto home stager Gould recommends you pay special attention to the furnace room since every home buyer wonders what shape the furnace is in. "If the furnace looks clean, it looks newer," says Gould. That goes for the fuse box and electrical panel, too.
Home staging is not easy work, but the benefits you will see not only in the resale value but the interest in the home itself are priceless. Stay tuned for the second part of the home staging trade secrets. You are half way there to being ready for Roy Thomas to put your perfectly staged home on the market one day and getting it sold the next.
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