Cheap and Easy Home Staging Tips
Their are tons of ideas and means to staging a house. Today, I will cover ways that are so cheap and easy for homeowners on a budget.
1: Clean and decluter - Cost $0
- Seriously... yea, I heard it before. Every seller should know to do this... but most sellers do not. Lets put it this way for stubborn sellers.
- Do you want to sell your house? Yes?
- Do you want to get the most for your house? Yes?
- Wont you be removing everything at closing anyway? Yes?
Sellers need to realize that most buyers can not see past the dirt and clutter. This is what the typical seller thinks "my house is solid, It's just stuff that can be moved after I sell the house". Here is what a typical buyer will say to a Realtor after the showing, "That house needs alot of work" and BAM!!!... there goes another serious buyer.
2: Brightening- Cost $300-400
- You would be so surprised on how much simple and cheap Ikea floor lamps, ceiling lightings and bulbs are.
- Remove dark and heavy curtains and/or drapes and replace with curtains that allow natural lighting in.
- Painting, You can go to any home improvement store and get a five gallon bucket of paint. Be sure to use neutral colors or light colors just try to avoid the high gloss super white paint... we want the house to look inviting not like a hospital.
Here is the logic in this. The average buyer will come into a dark room and think its small, musky and wouldn't know how much furniture can fit into it. They wouldn't know how to use the room... so basically in the eyes of the buyers this room just became useless and of little or no use to them.
3: Be creative - Cost $100
- rearrange furniture, remove items that are over-sized
- use flowers, scented candles, and color to make the home feel warm.
- Use soft music to set the mood of relaxation
Here you want to encourage the useage of all 5 senses from the buyer. You want to make them feel that, after a long day; they can come back to a space truly worth entering.
4: Outside - Cost $100-1000
- Purn tress and surbs,
- mow the lawn
- remove and repair dead patches of soil, flowers, and vegetation
- handle all broken/worn out doors, screens, lighting, sidings, awnings.
Now, we all have only a few seconds to make the right first impression. Make it count, otherwise everything else the buyers see wont mean a thing.
5: Repairs/Maintenance - Cost $300
- repair leaky plumbing
- replace/repair all electrical appliances as needed
- repair/replace filters, cabinet doors, hinges, drawers, doors as needed
As a seller, your walking away with money at closing...for the buyer they are walking away with a huge mortgage commitment. The less buyers have to worry about added expenses with buying your house the more likely they will purchase your place.
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