7 Things You Need to Know Before Staging Your Home for Sale

Story Highlights

• 1 - Marketing Your Home
• 2 - Declutter Your Home
• 3 - Rearrange Furniture
• 4 - Prioritize Rooms
• 5 - Neutrality and Depersonalization
• 6 - Curb Appeal
• 7 - The Smell of a Home

Whether you are a first time home seller, or have undergone the process before, staging your home for sale can be quite challenging and stressful.

How does one even start the process of staging one's home? What's all involved?

We look at some important facts about staging homes that many sellers may not know, and how they can stage their home for the best results.

1 - Marketing Your Home

The decision to sell your home isn't something you come up with on the spot-if you want to sell for a good price, you should be paying attention to properly marketing it.

Staging is an important part of marketing your home-most people leave their home as-is for potential buyers to see, but that doesn't make the most attractive impression.

Which is why staging is so important-by staging your house to look like the ideal home for prospective buyers, you give them the opportunity to imagine themselves in that space.

Get your estate agent to take high-quality images of your staged home by a professional photographer.

The purpose of staging your home is to increase the number of quality offers your home receives.

2 - Declutter Your Home

Now that you know how to market your home, how do you actually go about staging it? The first, and arguably the hardest step is to declutter your home.

No matter how long you have lived in a house, you are bound to have accumulated a large amount of furniture and other items. But while these are of use to you, they aren't attractive to a person entering your home with the intention of buying it.

You have to give prospective buyers room to imagine themselves in your home-and that means paring back on all the stuff you have in the house.

If it is at all possible for you to move your furniture out for the staging, do so. Halve the items in your closets, and keep the bare minimum accessories in your bathroom.

You want buyers to get a full sense of the potential of your home, so take out everything that could jeopardize that feeling for the staging process.

3 - Rearrange Furniture

The longer you live in a home, the more you choose and arrange furniture to suit your needs. But again, this may not be the best way to encourage your buyers' interest in the house.

When you are arranging your furniture, remember to keep it away from the walls-if you gather the furniture in the middle of a space, it looks more roomy and functional.

Another thing to remember is that your rooms should look like their intended purpose-if you turned the third bedroom into an office for your home business, stage it as a bedroom where possible.

While the changes you would have made to your home served practical purposes for your family, the same may not hold true for buyers. It is best to allow the rooms to revert to their original state to maximize the appeal of your home.

4 - Prioritize Rooms

It can be difficult to stage all the rooms in your home, particularly if you have a large house, or are short on time. In such a scenario, prioritize the staging of certain rooms over others.

Kitchens and bathrooms are extremely important rooms for potential buyers-these are the rooms that require maximum attention.

Keep these spaces as clear and clean as possible-if buyers are happy with these areas, they are more likely to be happy about the home.

Move small items away and keep away personal effects like brushes and medication-these will distract from the attractiveness of the rooms.

You can then move on to staging bedrooms and offices-these rooms don't need as much attention, and they can be spruced up by the new owners, unlike kitchens and bathrooms.

5 - Neutrality and Depersonalization

You may have a love for funky color schemes, but the same cannot be said of your buyers.

If you have painted your walls and ceilings in multiple hues, you should look at using neutral tones-light browns or white-to paint your home before staging it.

Neutral colors in a house make it look more appealing to new buyers-they can envision the home as a blank slate, something they can put their own stamp on.

The same goes for accessories and decorations that you may have had around the house-the exercise of staging your home is to make it look appealing to anyone and everyone.

6 - Curb Appeal

People tend to think of staging as an entirely internal matter-making the interior of your home look beautiful is definitely a priority, but the outside should look good too.

Remember, first impressions are massively important for buyers-and they are going to see the outside of your home before they see the inside.

If you have a patio, ensure the furniture is clean and looks bright and vibrant. Check that nothing is broken or wobbly. Wash your patio floor and the driveway. Clean the garage door and the outside of your front door. Glass windows should be polished inside and out.

If you can liven up the paint on the outside of your house, do so. A fresh coat of paint will make it look so much more appealing.

For houses with greenery around, make sure to trim your hedges, mow your lawn, and improve the sightliness to your home.

7 - The Smell of a Home

Smell is a very important sense and it cannot be taken for granted, particularly when you are staging your home for sale.

Any items that smell strong like leather couches, sports gear, and incense should be removed. Add fresh flowers in areas like the entryway, bathrooms, and the drawing-room.

For the kitchen, freshly baked goods make the house smell comfortable and cozy-if you can't bake, you can buy something that smells good.

Bottom line: a great-smelling home will make your house more appealing to buyers and help you sell for a better price.

Key Takeaways

We have outlined some of the best ways to stage your home, as well as the important aspects of staging that many first-time home sellers may not know about.

Staging a house needs careful planning to be executed well, and it would do you good to speak to professionals before undergoing the process.

But, if done right, you could end up selling your house at an even better price than you had anticipated, so you can move on to your new home in peace.

About the author: Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, an infographic and design platform. She enjoys writing about digital marketing, sharing productivity tips, examining pop culture, and championing the need for representation. She can be reached on Twitter.

Author: ImmoAfrica