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Decorating Tips for Home Sellers in 22307

By
Real Estate Agent with Nesbitt Realty at Condo Alexandria 0225-089134

These tips for home sellers in 22307 are effective across Northern Virginia. Whether you’re in Bucknell Manor, River Towers, Belle View or Belle Haven, when potential buyers step into your house, they want to see a clean, neat and attractively decorated house. What buyers do not want is a home that is so overly decorated they can’t imagine their own furniture and possessions in the house. Home buyers are not impressed with

  • Too many shelves  — This can say that the home doesn’t  have enough room.
  • Tables with knickknacks — Sellers want buyers to look at the home, not the knickknacks.
  • Family pictures at every turn — Pictures can tempt the buyer to figure out who the seller is instead of how the home might work for them.
  • Too many overstuffed sofas piled with pillows — Many of the older homes in 22307 are a smaller scale than buyers from other parts of the country might be accustomed to.
  • Toys — This includes grown men toys. (One home we showed had a motorcycle in the living room.)
  • Anything that hides the architectural and structural features of a home.

Here are a few tips on keeping a minimalist approach to your home decorating in 22307.

Minimize

Put away everything that isn’t absolutely essential. It’s important to remember that our area has people moving her from Kansas and Texas and Wisconsin, places where space is not at a premium.  More stuff in the home is just going to underscore the smaller homes that are found in New Alexandria or Bucknell.  A potential buyer might opt for that longer commute from Woodbridge to get more space. Get a temporary storage space. A few bucks of U-Store-It rent might make you thousands in your sale.

Organize

When you’re selling your home is a perfect time to tackle that sorting you’ve been putting off. It’s time to organizing your hobby materials or craft projects. Another reason to organize and boxed goods is because when it comes time to move, you’ll be glad you did. Everything that is sorted, boxed and put out of sight is going to be easier to move when the day comes.  Some items, like make-up, toothpaste, shaving cream, can just be boxed and put out of sight. But you can organize personal items into baskets to make it look more tidy.  The Target and Walmart on Rt. 1 both sell a number of storage solutions that you will find helpful.

 

Arrange

After you’ve minimized and organized, it’s time to arrange.  Keep an out for out for how to make your Belle View condo or Bucknell duplex more interesting. Even a Belle Haven show home can benefit from carefully arranging with an eye on design.  In the kitchen, for example, group canisters together. Spreading them out makes counter space look smaller. Stagers tell us that you should group no more than 3 things together, making sure they’re varying heights, and mix graduate sizes. For example, group 2 candles on one side of the mantel, and something smaller on the other side.

One thing to remember while decorating to sell is that potential buyers frequently spend more time looking at family photograph and items of a personal nature. That embroidered family tree your aunt made might well spark a long conversation that does nothing to sell your house. So temporarily put away those photos and other personal items.

The key is to make the house look attractive, minimally decorated, and devoid of personal artifacts which distract the potential buyer and possibly prevents her from envisioning her OWN family and stuff in the house.

See more Take a Look at Recent Sales in 22307

Comments(3)

Corey Martin
Martin Presence Group - Ruston, LA
Real Estate and Management Solutions

Wow these are great tips. Some I would have never thought about. Thanks for sharing this.

Feb 01, 2017 12:18 PM
Robert Bob Gilbert
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties - Katy, TX
Your Katy TX ( West of Houston) Real Estate Expert

Will, Excellent tips and advice in your post for home sellers. 

Feb 01, 2017 01:54 PM
Lawrence "Larry" & Sheila Agranoff. Cell: 631-805-4400
The Top Team @ Charles Rutenberg Realty 255 Executive Dr, Plainview NY 11803 - Plainview, NY
Long Island Condo and Home Specialists

I can relate to the family photos tip. Last week we were showing a condo where the owner had phototgraphs on every table and wall. The buyer was more interested in the photo op than the unit!

Feb 02, 2017 03:43 AM