Ideas on preparing and staging your home Courtesy of: Rick Mecham Broker Phone: 925-487-5299 Email: Rick@RickMecham.com Website You ve seen TV shows where homeowners spend thousands of dollars staging their homes for sale and claiming to have made thousands more for doing so, but there s an important detail to consider: You may not have thousands of dollars to spend and/or the time it would take. There s no rule of thumb about how much you should expect to spend getting your home ready to sell because every house is different. Your competition is continually changing. And I don t use rules of thumb anyway. But there is no question about it, investing some time and a few dollars wisely can potentially increase your closing price by much more than you spend, in addition to making your house sell more quickly and smoothly. I can t stress enough how important it is to have your house looking as neutral and appealing as possible before it is put on the market. Some Real Estate Agents may want you to do costly improvements when maybe it just needs to be marketed in a different way. I would be happy to discuss some ideas with you. The good news is there are many things you can do to spruce up the look of your home without shelling out a lot of money. This maybe a big job and some of it you will want to do yourself and some you may want to consider hiring some help. Here are some suggestions that may help you to take a different look at your house and find the balance between improvement cost, staging cost, time and your budget. Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is vital to attracting buyers. I ve seen houses that look really frumpy on the outside and great on the inside, but you couldn t get potential buyers in the front door. Speaking of the front door and first impressions, believe it or not a new front door offers one of the highest returns or at least it deserves a new finish. Maybe add a new doormat, new house numbers or new mailbox. The little stuff matters here. Refresh your landscape. Clean up flower beds, add fresh mulch, may be consider planting some colorful flowers in bloom in a flower box by the front door. Make sure the lawn is kept mowed, trim bushes and plants as needed. If the house looks dirty, wash the siding or stucco. Check your concreate walkways, patio, garage floor, maybe an acid stain treatment or coating would turn an eyesore into a desired feature of the home. Find Potential Problems Early As you are working on your curb appeal, do some inspecting. This reduces surprises and last-minute haggling by the buyer later in the transaction. See my website for Potential Problems Checklist. Start Packing Remove all clutter, personal photos, knickknacks and other odds and ends. Cleaning out the clutter creates a lot of space, and that s what people are looking for space. It just really makes your home look bigger and younger. Put your priority focus on key areas: countertops, kitchen pantry and bedroom closets. In the kitchen, that means just keep the coffeemaker. In the pantry and bedroom closets clear the floors entirely and make plenty of empty shelf space. Start using up things that you don t want to move, like frozen or perishable foods items in your pantry and cleaning supplies. You will be making a powerful statement to the buyer that this home has so much space we can't fill it all. Edit your furniture. If your rooms are crowded, consider putting bigger and less attractive pieces of furniture in storage before you put your house on the market. This will open up space and make your home look larger. Crowded rooms are a red flag to
buyers that your home lacks storage space. Clear the way for a sale by letting buyers see your visual square footage, not your personal belongings. Consider replacing heavy closed draperies with vertical blinds or shutters to let light in a sunny room feels larger and more open. Also, try adding a large mirror to a room or hall way to reflect more light and visually double the space. If you are taking items like dining room chandelier or wall sconces, take them out now so a buyer doesn t fall in love with them and cause a hassle later. Pack-up your spare keys, credit cards, jewelry, small family heirlooms, collectibles, firearms, knives, other weapons and remove from sight and locked away. Remove prescription medications from medicine cabinets and bedside tables. Find a secure place to put your laptop, ipad, medications during showings. Gather together all your records: bills, invoices, credit card statements, tax returns, check books, mail, anything with your social security number or other personal identifying information and make sure they are in a secure place, but keep them where you can get to them if needed for your loan transaction. Now s the time to clean out the garage and sell, give away, throw away or donate items you don t need any more. Have a garage sale. Sell stuff on e-bay or craigslist. Clean up any oil stains. Consider moving extra cars or recreational vehicles to another location while your home is on the market. Which Home Remodeling Projects Are Worth Your Money
Now that you have some room to move around maybe install mirrored closet doors to add a modern look, reflect some light and make the room appear larger.
These kitchen features rank high among shopper and buyers
Any Kitchen Update Equals Added Value Start by swapping out just a few items like, cabinet hardware, a new faucet, brighter lighting or such as a stained sink with a stainless steel double bowl, a new oven hood or maybe you can put a stainless steel face cover on the dish washer. In checking your compaction maybe you want to move on to a modern looking tile backsplash behind the counters or granite countertops, they are a huge selling feature, but they can be expensive. Here are a few ways to save on this investment. First, do the demolition yourself. Also, ask the vendor for remnants from previous projects or if they have a Realtor Special. Remember, any money you spend will definitely be returned in the value these beautiful counters add to your kitchen. Small Bathroom Updates Equal a big Return The same guidelines apply in the bathroom. Even if you can't afford a full remodel, some small changes can create a whole new modern decor such as replacing dated wallpaper with a faux or textured finish. Get creative with the replacing of cabinet hardware, towel rack, toilet seat, toilet paper holder, a new faucet. Maybe make it look larger with a bigger mirror, some contemporary lighting to brighten and update. I have seen some wonderful things done with some stylish shower curtains even when there are glass shower doors. Painting Now that you have your projects done it is time to look at the paint. In some cases, you d be wise to paint the entire house inside and out. In other cases, touching up and painting the trim or change of color scheme might do the trick. One of the simplest, most cost-effective improvements of all is paint! Freshly painted rooms look clean and updated, and that spells value. When selecting a paint color, keep in mind that neutrals appeal to the greatest number of people. It goes best with their furnishing. Not everyone shares your love of those chartreuse walls and orange shag carpet in the play room. Paint over your kids purple walls, therefore making your home more desirable.
Use warm and soothing colors to paint your home. Lighter shades are more attractive to the eyes and helps buyers to visualize their household items in the house. The colors potential buyers see when they enter your home should be neutral so that the buyers will not be distracted by someone else's style. They should see the walls of your home as a blank canvas on which to project their own preferences and style. But "neutral" doesn't necessarily mean white. Using subtle color can actually enhance the buyer's experience, so repaint walls that have strong colors with rich neutral hues. A low-sheen product will help reduce the imperfections on walls and ceilings. You can also use color to highlight the architectural details and features of your home. If your wallpaper has a distracting design or is outdated, remove it and add a fresh coat of paint for a more current, updated look.
One home staging idea that can help expand your space visually: paint the moldings the same color as the wall, which gives an illusion of higher walls. These colors were found to be appealing for front door, trim, accents and any fencing or mailbox posts. And because buyers love decks, porches, and patios, also make sure they're freshly painted or stained. If your kitchen cabinets look old and dated, paint those. This would be a good time to check all your door knobs, are they matching, do they look new? Clean or update light fixtures and make sure all light bulbs are working and bright. New and matching electrical outlets & light switch covers. Fresh caulking around sinks, showers and tubs. These are not a really expensive undertaking, but they really make the difference in how the home is presented. Cleaning No one wants to move in to someone else's dirt! Clean, clean, clean then clean some more. Really make your home sparkle. Wash the windows, clean the cobwebs out of the corner and scrub the grout in the tile floors. Even though you re not selling the furniture, clean that as well because it adds to the overall impression you re trying to give. Don t forget to clean the oven. Eliminate evidence of pets. Clean around the water heater, you will be surprised how this helps when a professional inspection is done.
People get used to the odor of their house and may not notice that something is not pleasant. Don't try to sell a smelly house. The best way to find out whether a house smells OK is to ask someone who doesn't live there to come inside and give an opinion. Make the interior of you home shine from the moment someone walks through the door. Consider hiring a cleaning service for a thorough top-to-bottom scrubbing. Even if you clean your home regularly, there are nooks and crannies that you may miss or overlook. Let a third party, cleaning service do the dirty work. But you should decide how far you want to go and make sure you end up with a neutral and appealing décor throughout your home. Staging Your Home Staging rooms to show off their true potential is essential when selling your home. Furnish the space to show off how functional it is. Find Inspiration Get Ideas
Make sure each room has a defined purpose. If you ve turned your dining room into an office, return it to dining room status. Make sure there is nothing obscuring buyers eyes from focal points, such as fireplaces, views and other features. Scattered throughout this article I have made suggestions on curb appeal, packing, improvements, painting, cleaning, time, budget and balance which are all a part of the staging process. I hope this has stimulated your imagination to start visualizing the potentials for your home. See my website for Moving Checklist Don't forget the small stuff. Pay attention to details, remove trash cans from view, bedding that accents the new décor, new matching towel sets in the bathroom, accent pillows on the couch, setting the dining room table or fresh flowers in the entryway. It
makes for a friendly introduction into your home and can create welcoming feelings to a homebuyer. You also want to make sure your home photographs well. With most buyers starting their home search online they may quickly reject a home if the listing photos aren t appealing. Remember, when buyers come through and imagine themselves living there, you can bet an offer isn't far behind. Did these Ideas on preparing and staging your home help? Got tips or advice to share? I would enjoy hearing from you! Add your comments in my facebook group: Household Tips #stagingmyhomeforsale