If you’re lucky enough to sell your house in a seller’s market, you may think all you have to do is list your home and a buyer will immediately snap it up. Keep in mind, however, that the ultimate goal of selling your home is not just simply to get rid of it, but to command the best price for it. Remember that while your home may be something much more on an emotional level, on a practical level it is an investment and the ultimate goal of any investment is to get the best ROI. One of the best things you can do to get a maximum return on your investment is to stage your home for sale. Here are 4 home staging tricks that will not only help you sell your home faster, but also get the best price for it.
1. Start with Decluttering
When you move into a home, the first thing you want to do is personalize it and make it yours. You want to imprint it with your own personal style and make it different than everyone else’s – which is exactly what the new buyers are going to want to do. When buyers come to look at your home, you want them to be able to see the house itself and imagine themselves living there. Having said that, you also don’t want your home to be stark or sterile either. While you may want to repaint the hot pink accent wall in your bedroom, that doesn’t mean you need to have your entire house painted white or beige either. While it may be asking a lot, aim for a warm, neutral inviting look rather than a cold and sterile one.
2. Try Rearranging the Furniture
When you first moved into your home, you probably placed furniture for maximum comfort and convenience. While the end table might stick out a bit too far, it was maybe more convenient to place it on the right side of the sofa where you always sit than on the left side where it actually fits better. When staging your home for sale, you want to arrange your furniture in a way that is most aesthetically pleasing and fits in best with the room, rather than a way that is most comfortable. Similarly, you may love your mismatched end tables because each has a significant sentimental value, but they may actually be too large for the space and would serve a better purpose sitting in storage until they have a new home
3. Take Care of The Exterior
Looking at houses is time consuming, so buyers find ways of shortcutting the process. Searching online is of course a logical first step, but there is generally still one more step between seeing a house and booking a viewing. 63% of buyers will drive by your house if they like what they see online. Here are some ways to create an exterior that will convert casual “lookie-lou’s” to serious potential buyers:
- Make sure the lawn, landscaping, driveway and walkways are all neatly manicured, well-groomed and “on fleek.”
- Make sure your entryway truly screams “welcome” and to “go away.” Consider planting fresh flowers, painting the front door a bright or bold color and purchasing a new welcome mat.
- Accessorize your porch. If you have room for seating, add it, but at the very least, hang a wreath or other festive decor.
- Not everyone will drive by during the day, so make sure walkways are well lit and your home looks inviting even at night.
4. Stage Your Home
One of the best ways to command the best price for your home is to take a tip from top advertisers. When advertisers want to sell a new game, they don’t create an advertisement showing off the features of the game or how to play it or talk about how fun it is, they show people playing the game, laughing and having fun. In other words, they subliminally communicate to you that if you buy their game, you too will have a barrel of laughs with your 3 closest BFF’s. While you may have never hosted a swanky cocktail party in your life, that doesn’t mean you can’t set the stage for buyers to envision themselves hosting a swanky cocktail party. While your three toddlers may prevent you from ever using the master bath as the actual soaking tub it is meant to be, that doesn’t mean you can’t set the stage with candles and rose petals to allow the couple looking at the home to imagine themselves soaking luxuriously in such a romantic setting.
As with any kind of sales, understanding human nature is the biggest key to commanding top dollar for your home. Your home is your product. The more you understand what people want and tailor your product to meet that need, the more demand you will create for it. The more demand you create for your home, the faster it will sell and the more money you will walk away with.
