Preparing Your Home for Sale

THE ART OF STAGING IS A PROCESS:

It's about presenting your home in the most optimum light and in the most appealing state to the biggest majority of homebuyers. Staging isn't terribly difficult or costly, but it takes a trained professional to help a seller view their home objectively, zeroing in on the areas that will excite a potential buyer. To see an example of an effective staged home, take a minute and go visit a model home in a new community or housing development. You will see that decorating a model home is expensive, but most homebuilders will stage their model homes properly because a staged home sells faster.

THE FOUR STEPS EVERY SELLER MUST CONSIDER:

   CLEAN Your home must shine! Do it yourself or hire a cleaning crew. While your house is for sale it's probably a pretty good investment to have a cleaner come in every week. Most cleaners do not do windows, so have them professionally cleaned inside and out and be prepared to redo the windows after major storms.

   REPAIR OR REPLACE Staging is not to hide defects or items in need of repair. Everything must be in inspection condition. If the buyer does not initially see the problem, a trained and thorough inspector will.

   DE-CLUTTER This can be the biggest challenge for a homeowner, Potential buyers must be able to see your home and be able to imagine themselves living in your home. De-Cluttering helps accomplish this.

   DE-PERSONALIZE Remove objects that your potential buyers won't be able to identify with and styles that are not neutral. For example, political and religious items may turn off whole groups of buyers. Special colors and themes need to be removed as well.

Buying a home is an emotional decision, and you want potential buyers to make an emotional connection with your home by being able to "see" themselves in it.

TaniaStetinin@TeamShoreline.com