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Real Estate Tips- Staging Your House
*If you're planning to sell your home in the near future, the first thing you want to do is clear the decks. Potential buyers can have a hard time visualizing your house as theirs if it is completely filled with your style. This is where staging is so popular when selling a house. Though for many, these items may seem like common sense, selling is an emotional time for people and forgetting these simple items can be easy to do.
Step 1- Clear the decks
So first step of staging your house yourself should be to “clear the decks” meaning start taking your house room by room, look around, put aside all excess items that make the room appear smaller, darker and cluttered
Step 2- Organize your items into categories
Step 3- Give the room a THOROUGH cleaning
After the room has been cleared and is clutter free take a good look at your walls, moldings and trims for chips, discoloration or outdated color scheme
Step 4- Repair and/or repaint
Step 5- Move outside the house and onto your property
Step 6- Tips for Viewings
Four Apples, cored
Four Tabs of butter
4tsps. of cinnamon
4tsps. of pumpkin pie spice
Dark soda
Fill the four cored apples with one tab of butter, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1tsp of pumpkin spice and a dark soda. Place in the oven on 350 and five minutes before the viewing is scheduled, turn off the oven and let the fragrance fill the house.
Step 1- Clear the decks
So first step of staging your house yourself should be to “clear the decks” meaning start taking your house room by room, look around, put aside all excess items that make the room appear smaller, darker and cluttered
Step 2- Organize your items into categories
- This means get three boxes prepared in each room for excess items: Label 1- To Keep, Label 1- To Sell, Label 1- To Donate
- Carefully go through and select all things that you absolutely do not need for daily functioning Sorting your items per box, will help you after your home is sold to pack more efficiently as well as the staging process.
- Make sure the room looks LIGHTLY decorated before you take any further steps. This includes, ensuring that when you are organizing and rearranging the room you have removed any dead plants, broken furniture
Step 3- Give the room a THOROUGH cleaning
After the room has been cleared and is clutter free take a good look at your walls, moldings and trims for chips, discoloration or outdated color scheme
- Go from ceiling to floor if ceilings are discolored by dirt and dust wipe clean with a cloth
- For Hardwood floors that are LIGHTLY scuffed, dirty or scratched, see your local hardware store for wood cleaning and shining products there are many great new products to leave your floors dazzling and pristine looking
- Wash your windows- If it is difficult or impossible for you to do it yourself there are plenty of services that will do so
Step 4- Repair and/or repaint
- Remove any chipped tiles, replace and re-caulk
- If your paint is damaged, re-paint, if your color is not in the neutral color palette or has not been painted in recently plan on repainting, it will refresh the look of the house/room
- As far as the moldings go, you can buy pre-cut and pre painted molding at your local hardware store
Step 5- Move outside the house and onto your property
- Walk the perimeter of your property pull any weeds or unsightly shrubs or bushes so that the yard is clean and tidy
- Any old, unused and damaged vehicles, tools, boats, etc should be removed from the property
- There are many charitable places to donate such items be sure to do your homework, some will give you money for these items
- Look at your home's trim, decks, etc. - Repainting is an extremely cost effective way to update some of these items and make them look new
- Your front entrance should be welcoming; it is the first thing the potential buyer will see as is your foyer inside the home Keep something welcoming on your door all year round, i.e. a wreath
- They’re not just for Christmas they can be changed according to season with seasonally appropriate decorations. You can now also find wreaths that are made of seasonal materials other than pine, check craft stores, department stores, or home goods stores.
Step 6- Tips for Viewings
- Each day, while your home is on the market breeze through and check it is neat and everything is in its proper place so it can be viewed at any time by potential buyers.
- Keep a fabric freshener handy spritz furniture, curtains and the doorway to your home prior to your viewing appointment
- Laundry rooms, pantry’s and bathrooms tend to get disorganized and untidy with daily living be sure to keep up the cleanliness and tidiness of those areas
- Don't have time to bake an apple pie? Recipe for a mock apple pie potpourri:
Four Apples, cored
Four Tabs of butter
4tsps. of cinnamon
4tsps. of pumpkin pie spice
Dark soda
Fill the four cored apples with one tab of butter, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1tsp of pumpkin spice and a dark soda. Place in the oven on 350 and five minutes before the viewing is scheduled, turn off the oven and let the fragrance fill the house.
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