By now, staging a home for sale has become a common practice by sellers and their real estate agents. And like many things in preparing a home to sell, you can either choose to do it yourself or hire one of the many professional stagers around. There are advantages to both.
The obvious benefit to staging your home yourself is the cost savings. If you are really on a budget, you might want to do a few Internet searches for staging tips and put your head together with your agent to come up with a house that presents itself well and that potential buyers can imagine living in themselves.
This brings us to our first tip. All that wonderful memorabilia, photos and items that truly express your personality - take them down. Try to use more generic furniture, art and only a few accent pieces. That leads us to the next tip.
Less is more. We live in a time where we have a lot of stuff, and most homeowners really like their own stuff. But, for a buyer to truly get a feel for the home and be able to, once again, imagine his or her own things in that house, you must create visual space.
While painting, cleaning carpets and assuring that your home has the scent of a warm and inviting place are no-brainers, they bear mentioning. These are the basics to making sure your home shows off in the best possible way. Antique white shades for the walls works marvelously. Lighting should be bright and well-balanced, and left illuminated when you know you have a showing. Clean out closets, garages and other storage areas to increase the sense of available space for the buyer.
A great thing to do is leave the scent of baking bread wafting through your home on the days when there's a showing. For the bread, don't think you have to make your grandmother's bread from scratch. Get a conveniently packaged, unbaked loaf or rolls at the grocery store. Just pop them in the oven and the smell will be intoxicating!
A professionally trained stager will come in and help you move beyond these basics. In that process, they take out everything from the room and start all over. Large pieces of furniture come in first, then smaller pieces, lighting and, finally, artwork. There is an art to it and, if your budget can handle it, this kind of service can end save you valuable time and help you get closer to your asking price.
IRIS (Interior Redesign Industry Specialist) is a nonprofit organization with high and comprehensive training standards in the industry. Look for a stager who has trained with an IRIS approved instructor to make sure you're getting the best possible service.
The Colorado House Finders' Real Estate Consulting team is experienced, professional real estate agents with certifications in Real Estate, Lending and Appraising, who specialize in Denver Colorado real estate. For access to Denver MLS listings , contact Colorado House Finders or www.ColoradoHouseFinders.com.
