Free Home Staging
How To Improve The Exterior Of Your Home:
Good curb appeal is imperative. If people do not like your home from the outside, they will not want to come inside.
- Make sure your front lawn looks neat and tidy to make first impressions favorable.
- Cut the grass and trim the hedges and shrubs. Plant some extra flowers for colour or just put some pots beside the front door.
- Spruce up your landscaping with some fresh plants. Even a few items can improve the look of things.
- Remove all dead limbs and debris. Give the lawn a fresh raking and give the sidewalk and driveway a good sweeping. Patch any holes if need be.
- Look over your fence. Repair broken areas and paint or stain spots in poor condition.
- Put away lawn equipment. Arrange outdoor items, such as firewood or outdoor furniture neatly.
- Take a close look at your front door. Is it a focal point and one of the first things your prospects will examine? If it is faded or shows signs of needing repair, clean it, stain it or paint it. While you are at it do the same with the back door and garage door.
- Repainting the entire exterior of your home is a fairly expensive venture and unnecessary unless the walls have bad blistering or peeling. But you can do wonders by simply painting window sashes, trim and shutters.
- Replace faded house numbers with shiny new ones.
- If needed, repaint or replace the mailbox.
- Clean out debris in your rain gutters. Touch up with paint if necessary and re-align if crooked.
- Check the roof for shingles that needs replacing.
- Fix any broken windows or screens and wash them for a bright sparkling appearance.
- Test the entry light and the doorbell. The little things do matter.
- Haul out any "junk" in your backyard.
- Clean out the garage. The perfect garage contains only cars – remember to do your best.
Enhance Your Interior For Top Selling Results:
- After you have tackled the exterior of your home, head inside. The goal here is to make everything look more spacious, more organized, brighter and warmer.
- No matter what the season is, do your spring cleaning. Clean houses sell a lot easier than dirty ones.
- About the cheapest way to make rooms feel warmer and brighter is by buying high intensity light bulbs, putting them in every lamp in the house and then turning them on. Also always open your drapes and angle the blinds to brighten rooms. This gives the house a friendly glow. Buyers will react positively and feel good about your home.
- Brighten things with fresh paint. White, off white or beige walls make a room look bigger and brighter. You can also be certain these colors will go with the new buyer’s furnishings. Painting the inside of your home costs very little and gives the home a “new” smell and makes a big difference in buyers perception, so go ahead and do it.
- Too much furniture can make a home “feel wrong” so move out all your excess furniture, especially worn or out dated furniture to make rooms seem larger and uncluttered and take down pictures that hide walls.
- Clean out all your closets to make them look bigger, store out-of-season clothes in the attic or basement and get rid of excess items. Neatly arrange everything that is left.
- Have a huge garage sale with all your excess items. Not only will you be reducing clutter but you can use the money you earn to finance your touch-ups. You will also be reducing your moving costs.
- Clean all your windows and mirrors so they sparkle.
- Arrange all the furniture so each room appears as spacious as possible.
- If the carpeting looks dirty have it cleaned, if it looks warn or is a loud color consider replacing it. You will probably recover the cost and your home will sell faster. Ask Ron about the competition in your market to help you decide.
- Launder draperies and curtains, if needed dust blinds and furniture.
- Clear off the kitchen counters, that includes small appliances and side draining racks. Make the counters look as expansive as possible.
- Clean out the inside of kitchen cabinets. Leave them looking clean and spacious.
- Clean the oven and all appliances. Wash the grease splatters from around the stove. Don’t forget to polish the chrome on the sink. Clean out the refrigerator, use a clear wax and polish the floors.
- A grungy bathroom will kill sales. Make each bathroom look like a guest bathroom. Polish the tub, toilet and the bathroom sink. Clean all tile, grout and calking. Replace cracked tile and re-grout if necessary.
- Put out fresh towels and a new bar of matching colored soap when the house is to be shown.
- Clean the furnace/air-conditioner return filters and vents. Then crank up witch ever one is appropriate to make your home as comfortable as possible.
- Get out your tool kit and fix all those little things that you have lived with over the months and/or years.
- Tighten loose doorknobs, drawers, cabinet handles, towel racks, switch plates and outlet covers.
- Tack down any loose molding, glue down any lifted wall paper and replace any cracked switch plates.
- Fix sticking doors and windows, squeaking doors and wobbly banisters.
- Fix leaky faucets and remove water stains.
- If it is time to spray or bomb for bugs, do not wait until the last minute.
The Little Extras That Will Focus On Your Home's Best Features:
When it is time for Ron to show your home, all your preparations will be worth it. However, there are a few final tips that can add that little extra magic:
- Before prospective buyers walk in the door, try to give your home the welcoming aroma of fresh-baked bread or cinnamon rolls. A pot of cinnamon and water on the stove will give the same results. Try to refrain from smoking in the house.
- Clear out the kids, their toys, the cat and the dog
- Turn off the television, stereo and radio. Make sure to turn on all your lights, open all the drapes and blinds even during daylight.
- Put out fresh flowers, your best towels and a nice table cloth.
- Make yourself scarce. Many prospects feel like intruders when the owners are present.
They tend to hurray away or fail to ask the questions they would like to ask. Your absence will put buyers at ease and give them a chance to spend more time looking at your house, absorbing its advantages and visualizing them-selves living there. - Be polite, but avoid conversations with prospects. Their agent needs their complete attention to increase their interest in your home.
- Do not apologize for the appearance or condition of your home. You will only call attention to things the buyers might have overlooked. Do not try to complicate the sale of the home by discussing drapes, furniture, appliances etc. If the buyer wants any of these items, the agent can ask about them later.
- Keep your home on the market. Let your home be shown even when you are not there. If you do not you are limiting the showings possible.
- Always keep your home ready to be shown. Ron and other agents will try to give you as much advance warning as possible, but try to be prepared in advance.
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