Staging your home for a quick sale
Curb Appeal
Never under estimate the impact of a first impression. Try to take an objective look at your home from the street, taking a picture might help. You want the over all impression to be favorable, that the home is clean, and well maintained.
- Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.
- Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.
- Clean windows and gutters.
- Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.
- Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.
- Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.
- Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is wooded.
- Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's roof.
Landscape
As often as not, it may be more effective to remove plantings from around your home to enhance its appeal. You want the landscaping to enhance the good qualities of your home. Never allow the lawn or garden to look unkept. It suggests that it will be too much work.
Entry way
The front door is critical in the impression that your home will give. First and foremost it needs to function flawlessly. A sticky latch on the front door will have your buyers looking for problems from the moment they enter the house. Often the buyer will have to pause at the front door while the agent opens the house. It can be good to give the eye something interesting to rest on, such as a bright bed of flowers. It is very important that there is not a glaring maintenance problem visible from the front door.
- If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are appealing.
- Install a more attractive front door, maybe something with leaded glass inserts.
- If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.
- If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or stain the door and polish the hardware.
Entry Hall
Similarly, the impression immediately as you enter the house is important. This area in particular should be kept clean and free of clutter at all times. Bring in as much natural light as possible. Remove any furniture that constricts the space. Light fixtures are relatively inexpensive and can be a good way to update the look of a house. It can be valuable to put in all new fixtures, but if your budget does not allow that, the front hall is a good place to use limited funds.
Inside
In general, you want to de clutter and depersonalize your space as much as possible. It is important that buyers are able to see themselves living in the house. It can be helpful to give the house a "homey" feel, but it needs to be very general. You can not afford to offend a potential buyer. Space and light sell. The bigger a house "feels" the better. Be sure that nothing is blocking the windows, leave curtains and blinds open, turn lights on before showing.
Kitchen
Keep your kitchen clean at all times. Leave as much of the counter empty as possible. The buyer is likely to clutter the counter with their own appliances, but your appliances are likely to leave the impression that there is inadequate storage. Remove all those adorable pictures, and magnets from your refrigerator. Yes, all of them. Try to reduce the amount of food in your cabinets. You want to create the impression that you have ample storage, and buyers will open your cabinets.
Bedrooms
Try to create as much space as possible. Open the curtains. Remove personal items, and photographs or art work. Keep surfaces as clear as possible. Empty your closets of items you do not need immediately. Assuming that you are still living in your house as you are trying to sell it, keep in mind that you will be moving soon. Box up the clothing that is out of season, and store it, hopefully off-site.
Bathrooms
Again, de clutter and depersonalize. This is a good time to remove unnecessary items, old medications, unused products, etc. Put the items you do use on a daily basis and arrange them neatly in a basket (go to the Container Store) and store it out of sight. You need to keep your entire house as clean as possible, but this is particularly true of the bathrooms. Air-fresheners with a light scent will be helpful.
Garage
It is easy to overlook the garage, but it can be an important selling point for some people. Try not to use the garage as a storage area for all the things that you have removed from the house while de cluttering. A storage unit can be a good investment while you are trying to sell your house.
