“In one evening, we moved every piece of furniture in that house and cleared the clutter,” says Hupp of the staging intervention. “It sold the next day.”
While home staging won’t always sell a house overnight, the same inexpensive home-staging concepts that worked for Hupp and her clients will work for you, too.
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To get decluttering right, she suggests removing all items that are smaller than a breadbasket (and of course, personal photos, too). Be aware that clutter may also come from crowding larger items, too. Look for clutter on floors, walls and even in closets. You want to make homebuyers envious of your organized home — and you can’t do that if it’s filled with clutter.
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“You only need three pieces of furniture to stage a room and three decorative items (of varying size) to stage a surface, such as a mantel or dresser,” she says. Apply the rule of three with flexibility. For example, in the living room, the rule of three applies separately to soft and hard furniture.
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“Lighting is so important,” says Hupp, “just putting a table lamp in a room immediately makes it feel cozier.”
from AOL Real Estate
Spending just $400 to $500 on fresh landscaping, for example, can boost your home’s value by $1,600 to $1,800, according to a survey of real estate agents conducted by HomeGain, an Internet real estate service. Spend another $300 on cleaning and de-cluttering your home, the survey found, and you could add another $2,000 or more to the sale price.
from MoneyCentral at MSN
If you’re adding inexpensive carpeting, consider upgrading the carpet pad, Fisher says. It’s only about 50 cents more per square foot and it will make a budget carpet feel luxurious, she says.
from Realtor.org
Young families tend to revolve around children. Items that help this demographic envision themselves living in the space include age-appropriate bedding, linens and towels, a bright rug near play areas, and strategically placed toy chests with open tops. Since kids often play or watch TV on the floor, eliminate the coffee table to create a living room that appears larger and more inviting. Jones notes to remember about the garage when staging for families. “Organize children’s toys and sports equipment to showcase the garage’s storage capacity without compromising functionality,†she said.
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Fresh, Crisp Master Bed Treatments
“Home buyers want to see a neutral home that they can easily visualize moving into. Old family quilts, skimpy blankets, limp pillows, and wrinkly exposed sheets may be comfortable for everyday living but are turn-offs to buyers. Sometimes just covering a seller’s linens with a fresh, neutral comforter/coverlet/duvet and several fresh, plump pillows with coordinating shams and pillowcases can make a room feel like a four-star hotel, instead of a budget motel.†–Tracy Pulos, Prudential Fox & Roach REALTORS®, Wayne, Pa.Pops of Greenery
“Floor plants or trees, especially palms, [are great staging accessories]. Plants and trees add so much life, movement, and reality to every room in a house. They can also fill up a space where sometimes nothing else will do. Sometimes all you need is a tree to round out a vignette of sorts, instead of staging an entire room, especially if cost is a factor.†–Angela Rehm, Staging Works
from RISMedia
Get a home inspection. Most buyers will have one done anyway, says Zollinger. Do it now — and make any needed repairs before you put the home on the market. Depending on where you live, the service will probably run about $200 to $400, she says, and your real estate professional can recommend several good inspectors.
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Harness flower power. Lee and his wife used this technique and sold their own home in two weeks, he says. “We spent a fortune on flowers, but I really do think it helped,” he says. Their favorite — wild flowers. “It gave the home a nice, softer feel,” says Lee.Showing your home on a budget? Go for less expensive bouquets, green plants or seasonal flowers from the yard, says Love.
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Set your house apart. Phipps recalls one real estate study in which potential buyers were shown many different houses in similar neighborhoods, all with similar features and amenities. The one that stood out? A home that had yellow roses on the dining room table. People not only remembered the detail, but they rated the home higher as a result, says Phipps.“You need to give the home a hook,” he says. “Something that makes it different in a positive way from the other houses.”