When you are getting ready to sell your home, there is a laundry list of things you could and should do. If time and resources are limited, here are our top 3 tips on what you should spend your dollars on to get you the biggest return on investment.
1. Got a rainbow color home and/ or tired dirty walls? Please paint.
I know as a home stager you'd probably expect me to say the first and most important staging tip would be to hire us as your stagers, but you are wrong! If your home is currently not painted in a neutral color scheme or the walls and trim (!) are dirty, or even worse you have visibly damaged walls or water stains, please take the time to paint or hire a professional painter. Yes, even if it means that you need to push out the date you list your home for sale. Clean updated paint makes a huge impact and even if other fixtures and furnishings are outdated, light neutral paint colors will help the space feel more updated.
2. Don't forget about lighting
One of our favorite tips, which was also recently published in a Redfin article about Home Staging Mistakes to Avoid, focuses on lighting in your home. Apart from paint, we find that replacing light fixtures is one of the easiest and most affordable updates you can make in your home. Even if replacing outdated light fixtures is not in the budget, make sure to replace your old light bulbs with clean bright bulbs. We recommend LED bulbs with the color temperature 3000K as it is a bit less yellow and appears crisp and clean. Stay away from anything marked “daylight” or higher than 3500K as the light will appear too blue and remind buyers of sitting in a dentist chair. For more info on how to pick the right light bulbs, check out our other blog post where we explain the differences in light bulbs and all the terms so you can confidently choose next time.
3. Don't sell empty spaces as your home will appear smaller
The popular misbelief that empty homes appear larger causes a lot of trouble for sellers. Fact is, if you have properly scaled furniture in your home, your rooms will appear larger. We often hear from our clients that they had never expected the home to feel larger because of staging and that they are blown away by the amount of room. Not only do empty homes feel cold and stark, buyers also have a hard time envisioning where and how to place furniture and will question room sizes and if their furniture will fit. When a potential buyer enters the home, you want to wow them and give them that "I have to live here" feeling. So our advice here is simple: please don't sell empty homes, as you will leave a lot of money on the table. Tight budget? Even staging part of the home such as the living areas and master bedroom make a huge impact. Professional home staging doesn't cost, it pays and it will ALWAYS be cheaper than your first price reduction. Contact us for a free, no obligation estimate!
For more home staging mistakes to avoid, check out this Redfin article.