Beyond the usual advice like removing all personal photos, keeping the beds made and dishes out of the sink, there are a few small details that can really help with staging your home for a quick sale.
In addition to esthetics discussed in the article below, there are also some safety tips that I always convey to sellers.
- Place all prescriptions in a locked drawer or cabinet. Place all cleaners and medicine out of reach of children.
- File drawers containing personal documents should be locked.
- Never open your door to someone claiming to be an agent unless they have made an appointment with you first. If there is a lock box on your home insist that the agent use it even if you are at home. This gives your own Realtor an accurate record of who has been in your home.
- Stowe away all valuables or store them at the home of a family member.
- Leave lights on when you are out of the house.
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By Suzanne De Vita
It’s no secret staging can raise the value of a home—in fact, it can boost a sale price by as much as 10 percent. The best staged homes—the ones that garner the full 10—strike the balance between lived-in and never-owned. How can you apply that science when staging your home?
Look no further than model homes, which draw buyers by blending the form-follows-function principle with the preferences of today. To stage your home to that effect:
- Remove anything from the room that doesn’t fit the intended purpose of the space, and vice versa. Take televisions out of bedrooms and designate an eating area in the kitchen, for example.
- Delineate sections in a room with area rugs, and “float” furniture away from walls and on and around the space. Avoid closing off accessibility by allowing at least three feet of walk-through space around furniture arrangements.
- Group solid furnishings, like sectionals or bookcases, with visually lighter pieces, like a glass side table or raised bench, to convey spaciousness over sparseness.
- Have at least one light fixture for every 100 square feet of space, especially if your home lacks natural light. Use pure white lamp shades on all light fixtures, and replace any incandescent bulbs with CFLs.
- Mix general and task lighting in rooms that see the most traffic. Install lighting between open-air shelving or underneath overhead cabinetry in the kitchen, and place a small lamp on a desk or workspace in a child’s bedroom.
- Accessorize sparingly. Display only a handful of books with like-colored bindings in bookcases or shelving units, add one (thriving!) house plant to a side table, or hang one statement piece of artwork (scaled appropriately) over a bed or fireplace.
Stage to the model home aesthetic with these tips—and learn even more about readying your home for its close-up here.
This post was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Check the blog daily for top real estate tips and trends.Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2016. All rights reserved.
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