Top 5 Tips for Staging A Home for Sale By One of North Lakes’ Top Real Estate Agents
In this article Janelle our Principal Real Estate Agent and interior design addict offers her best tips to help sell your home. She shares feedback from buyers that sellers never want to hear, but NEED to hear!
I am often asked, “What can we do to make our home more saleable?”
It’s an important question that you should definitely ask your agent. I never tire of hearing it and my reply is nearly always the same.
Top 5 Tips for Successfully Staging A Home For Sale in North Lakes, or anywhere!
- Walk to your curb and take a really good look at your home. Is it inviting? Are the gardens neat? Is the grass mowed and edged? Is the paintwork in good order / an appealing colour? Buyers can often be swayed by just driving past the property, even before coming to your open home or booking a private viewing with an agent.
- Do a good clean and declutter! I cannot tell you the number of times a buyer will say “gee, it’s a bit dirty”. You would think that a little dust wouldn’t worry any buyer, but it does. Have a thorough clean, tidy up your wardrobe, straighten your shoes, put some elbow grease into the bathroom / toilet, wipe the ceiling fans, polish the kitchen sink. And remember less is more. If a buyer can see lots of open space and little clutter, they are more likely to visualize their own personal items arranged in the home.
- Attend to maintenance and repairs. If a buyer sees one item that needs some attention, they will keep looking for more things that are wrong. And before too long, the buyer is adding up a big repair bill for works needing to be done before they even move in. I haven’t met a buyer yet, that won’t take this figure into consideration when making an offer. If you eliminate most repairs needed, buyers will overlook the small things without a fuss.
- Stage your home. ‘Staging’ may seem like a buzz word to a lot of sellers, with most thinking “that’s just what they do on TV.” Wrong! You need to make an impression. I always suggest that my sellers go down to their favourite shopping outlet and splurge on some rugs, throws, pillows and decorative items, being careful not to clutter it up. Embellish your home with a few items that will impress, that you can take with you to your next home. In saying that, you also need your home to appeal to the vast majority of buyers in the market. So try not to get too carried away with a certain look/theme. I suggest sticking to neutrals like white with accents of tasteful colour.
- And finally, choose your agent wisely! All of your hard work can be undone if you choose the wrong one. Beware of agents that promise you an unrealistic sale price – they will only be asking you to drop the price within a fortnight and trust me, buyers will notice this. Get a few appraisals to determine if the true market value sits close to your expectations. I always tell my clients “I would rather lose your listing telling you the truth about the value of your home, then promising you the world and letting you down.”
So remember, if its good enough for TV its good enough for you!
If you follow these tips when putting your home on the market, you’ll be feeling the excitement of selling your home in no time!
Comments