Selling your home can require more than just finding an agent and listing it. You have to really sell it, which means impressing buyers the second they step foot in the door.
One of the best ways to do this? Home staging, where your home’s decor undergoes a makeover to entice home buyers to make an offer. But who has time for that? Hiring a pro is pricey.
Plus, a pro can’t do all of the work; you’ll still need to do some sprucing up if you have an unexpected showing. Here, realtor.com offers up home staging tips and tricks that you can pull off fast, depending on how much time you have—from an hour to just 5 minutes.
Home staging in 5 minutes
• Putting down the toilet seats makes a difference.You also should hide the plunger and toilet brush, along with any reading material you may have accumulated in your bathroom.
• Open the blindsto let in as much natural light as possible—unless you have a spectacularly bad view, in which case, keep those blinds closed.
• Take out the trash and recycling, because you may get that one potential buyer who will look everywhere.
Home staging in 15 minutes
• The less clutter, the better…so clear your countertops. A nice bowl of fruit can spruce up things, but if you have several small appliances and all of your spices out, take a few minutes to stash them in your cupboards or a storage bin.
• Adjust the temperature to ensure that buyers don’t rush through your house because it’s too hot or too cold. You also want to show that your heating and cooling are working. The ideal temperature depends on your home and the season, but keeping it at around 70 degrees should ensure everyone who sees your home is comfortable.
• Remove the clothes from the stairs, and make sure the four piles of mail get reduced to one or tucked away entirely. Also try keeping baskets handy in your living spaces for quick cleanup of toys and other clutter.
Home staging in 30 minutes
• Remove personal items to allow buyers to view your home as a blank canvas. That’s hard to do with pictures of someone else’s family dominating the space. Also keep your privacy in mind when you clear items. For example, you may want to stash items with your family member’s full names on display.
• Vacuum, sweep and mop as often as you can, and check mirrors for spatters. An added bonus? The smell of cleaning products will make your house feel clean, even if it isn’t.
• Add or adjust your lighting. Use torch lamps if a room doesn’t get a lot of natural light, and try replacing LED bulbs with bulbs that give it a warmer feel.
• Hanging a wall mirror strategically can add visual interest and make the space look larger.
Home staging in an hour
• Instead of arranging your living room furniture based on the best view of the TV, situate the furniture to face focal points in the room, like a large window with a view or a fireplace.
• Make small repairs. While a leaky faucet or moldy caulk might not seem like a big deal if you’ve lived there for the last 10 years, these things almost always will factor into a lower offer. If there’s a small project you’ve been putting off, like fixing a hinge on a cabinet door, now’s the time to take care of it.
• Spruce up walls, outdated countertops, dressers, and more withcontact paper. It’s not just for lining shelves anymore; you also can use it on everything from walls to countertops. It holds up well, looks great, and when you want a change, it removes with ease and no damage to the surface.