Sell Your Home Fast – Home Staging Tips and Strategies

Perhaps you are an FSBO selling your own home. Or maybe you have had your home on the real estate market for a number of months and need a jump start to help your house quickly sell. Home staging can help!

Homeowners and real estate agents alike are finding that home staging services can not only increase the chances of “a fast house sell.” It can mean spending the least amount of money possible for quick, home interior decorating efforts. And with the biggest return on the investment. This is especially true when it comes to selling a home by yourself.

What is Home Staging and Redesign?

Home staging and redesign is the process of preparing a home for sale using proven techniques; relatively quick and cost-effective modifications that best appeal to a generic audience in the house market. Home staging is a highly successful way to promote a quicker sale at a better price; many times, over and above the asking price.

Some aspects of home staging are universal – regardless of the area in which you live or the local real estate market. For instance, Florida home staging and home staging Los Angeles efforts can both create a clutter free home, improve lighting, and open windows to fully exploit pleasing outside views with equal success. While other techniques used by a home staging company may be more house design or locality specific.

Home Staging Prices

The costs for home staging can vary greatly from one service provider to another – depending upon home size and extent of home staging required. The good news, however, is even upper-end staging is relatively affordable. And certainly more cost-effective, with a higher success rate, than many other house for sale marketing options.

Expect to invest $200 to $400 for onsite home staging consultation and other basic services that include room reorganization and decor re-freshening; up to $5,000 for more extensive staging to dramatically alter the appearance of rooms, for optimum presentation.

This might include new paint and/or touch ups, new fixtures, new window treatments, cleaning and/or re-stretching existing carpet, select pieces of new or rented furniture, complimenting room accessories and artwork, landscaping, and pressure washing the house exterior.

Both levels of home staging yield remarkable results and can increase home sale considerably; on average, 3% minimum increase of final sale price of the home. Most homeowners who enlist the services of a home staging company realize a minimum return of two times their investment; often, considerably more.

FSBO Home Staging Tips

The best home staging tip for homeowners who want to increase their chances of making a quick sale at the highest price possible is this; make your home clutter free!

That means get rid of unnecessary “stuff” inside the house and out; children and pet toys, tools, magazines, newspapers, etc. Kitchen counters should be clear of clutter; rooms should be neat and orderly.

The second most important home selling tip is to showcase your home as “generic.” Rooms reflecting family, pet, hobby, or career interests will not be appealing to as diverse an audience of home buyers as décor with a more basic feel.

This might include political, hobby/career-related, and religious preferences in art, room accessories, reading literature on shelves, etc. You want persons of all tastes and interests to feel comfortable when they walk into the home, so they can envision themselves living there.

More Tips

Furniture in larger rooms can be arranged in small, cozy groups. While smaller rooms can be made to look more open using less furniture that is scaled down in size; or else strategically placed around the room with plenty of traffic space between.

Proper lighting removes gloomy shadows and makes a room more cheery; subdued or mood lighting and scented candles can make a room appear more relaxing and inviting. And, fresh flowers adds a nice touch any room décor!

Whether you are interested in learning how to start a home staging business of your own or would like to find a home staging expert in your area, HandyCanadian.com is a great place to start.

Persons with their own home staging and redesign business can become a HandyCanadian.com service provider member and connect with persons in the market for home staging services.

Persons requiring home selling advice and/or the expertise of a reliable home staging expert can post their project needs online – fast, easy, and free! With no obligation whatsoever.

Receive contact from service providers in days, even hours, after posting! Critique credentials, résumés, references, and portfolios online before making contact. And connect with only those service providers desired – or none at all.

Resource Courtesy of www.HandyCanadian.com

http://www.handycanadian.com/articles-home-staging-tips-and-strategies.asp

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Here, from interior decorator and home staging expert Gabriele Campbell, are 10 common mistakes sellers make when preparing their house for sale. Her new book on how to sell your home, written with Greg Tonn, will be published this month.

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Don't rush to put the house on the market before it's presentable. Selling a property requires strategic thinking. Identify the competition, then make your house look better than others on the market.

Get an extra edge

1: Just because you love it does not mean everyone else will. Ensure your property appeals to the broadest buying public, which means neutralize. If the colour palette or decorating style is too far out, people will be put off by the "personality" of the home, and it will be difficult for them to visualize themselves and their own belongings in the house.

2: Closets and pantries are crowded and cluttered. Edit each storage space of excess or seasonal items to make sure the viewers can see the space. Crammed spaces give viewers the perception that there is not enough storage space and that the house is bursting at the seams.

3: The furnishings are too big or there are too many for the space. Edit, edit, edit. The corners of the room need to be seen, so remove extra or oversized plants, fans, gym equipment, chairs and tables. During one staging job, the homeowner wanted to leave an excessively large coffee table in a living room, and demonstrated how cool this table was by folding it out into a dining table. So we asked him, "What's for sale? The house or the table?" He substituted the table for a smaller one.

4: "Clean" means different things to different people. It may be common sense to some, but the best way to maintain the value of your single largest investment is to follow a regular cleaning schedule. When your house is on the market, it has to be clean and ready for showing every minute of the day.

5: You love your pet so everyone else will, right? Wrong. Some potential buyers are really averse to animals of any kind, and that means that any evidence of pets will deter them from the property. If you have pets, vacuum daily to keep the hair under control and crate them or remove them from the property while it is being shown.

6: Don't hide damage to flooring, countertops, walls or other permanent fixtures. Reveal, never conceal, problem areas, and be sure to reflect any deficiencies and necessary repairs in the list price.

7: Don't forget about safety and security. Strangers are coming into your house. Gun collections and the kitchen knife block present a major safety hazard. Pack away these and precious items like jewelry while the house is on the market.

8: Don't designate a space above grade as a storage room. Potential buyers want to know exactly how many bedrooms are available, and using a room above grade for storage will affect their perception of
the house. Use the basement for storage.

9: Don't leave dated or worn fixtures for the next owner to replace. The best way to increase equity in your house is to implement periodic upgrades. The simplest and least costly upgrades include light fixtures, taps and faucets, door and cabinet hardware, and drapery and window treatments.

10: Don't rush to put the house on the market before it's presentable. Selling a property requires strategic thinking. First, identify the competition, then make your house look better than others on the market. Care and attention to the details will impress potential buyers and, if the house is "move-in ready," that means less work for them and possibly a better offer for you.