Tips for Selling Your Home: DIY Staging

When selling your home, staging — or arranging your home to make it more appealing — can make all the difference to potential buyers.

With proper staging, your house is likely to sell more quickly and for a higher price. Professional staging services can be quite pricey, however, and many homeowners are hesitant to incur such an expense right before moving. But you can save on the cost of hiring a professional stager by doing a bit of work yourself.

Declutter and Depersonalize

Buyers need to see your home without the distractions of your stuff.

Make your home appear neat and spacious by getting rid of all of the clutter. Go through every room, closet and cabinet, and remove as much as possible. Take out unnecessary furniture as well when staging for selling your home. This will make your house appear more roomy and will effectively show off the available space.

Depersonalizing is also important, as much as it may hurt to do.

Buyers must be able to visualize themselves living in your house, and that is difficult for most people when your family photos and collectibles are everywhere. Just remember that your buyers will likely have different decorating tastes than you do. Clearing away all of your personal items allows them to visualize their own family photos on the mantle.

Make Necessary Repairs and Updates

Repairs are another top priority in preparing for selling your home.

Before showing your house to prospective buyers, take care of any work that needs to be done. Fix leaky faucets and pipes, make sure every light switch is functional (and that the lights have working bulbs in them) and remove smudges and fingerprints from the walls and door trim. Replace missing door and window hardware and missing or broken floor tiles. Potential buyers do notice these problems, and it can make a statement about how well you have cared for the home.

If time and funds allow, take care of any other maintenance issues to minimize potential problems the home inspector may find.

If you can, make some quick and inexpensive design updates to your house to increase its attractiveness to buyers as well.

For example, you could stain dated kitchen cabinets or replace the fireplace screen or front door. Selling your home could also go faster if you paint the interior walls a neutral color and remove outdated wallpaper.

Clean Your Home

Buyers will be more impressed with your home if everything is spotless and sparkling clean. The better it smells, the more buyers will love it.

From floor to ceiling, wall to wall, make sure that every surface is gleaming. Scrub the appliances and cabinets inside and out, and be sure to dust the furniture and ceiling fans. Mirrors and windows should be spotless. Use a carpet cleaner to remove any stains. Finally, don't forget to clean the window coverings and place freshly laundered comforters or blankets on the beds.

Staging also involves making your house look as inviting as possible.

Open the blinds or curtains to let the sun shine in, and turn on plenty of lamps to keep the rooms looking bright and airy. It can also be a good idea to use a pleasant, seasonal scent throughout the home, as long as it isn't overwhelming.

Your Realtor® can be a great help in the staging and prep process, because he or she knows exactly what buyers like and dislike when shopping for a home. Consult with an agent before spending money on interior or exterior upgrades to be sure the investment is worthwhile.

If you would like more tips on staging your home to boost the chances of a quick closing, call on the Edie Israel Team of experienced Realtors®. Serving Yorba Linda and the surrounding communities of southern California, our team is committed to helping you successfully navigate the complex process of buying or selling your home.