5 Quick Staging Tips to Sell Your Home

Successful staging is key to selling your home quickly and at the best price. From cleaning to styling, these tips can help.

1)  Declutter – Decluttering is the best way to make your home look bigger, cleaner and more attractive to a buyer. Take down family pictures and clean off kitchen counters and hide any personal touches so a buyer can visualize their personal touched and not your in the home.   Be sure to take out furniture that makes it hard to walk around a room or that looms over you.
2) Color – Too much can be unappealing but little pops of color can draw the eye and highlight features you want to show off.  Dark colors make a room seem smaller.
3) Smell – If it smells like you walked into a nursing home, a locker room, a litter box or a diner’s kitchen, you need to fix it. Don’t cover the smell – that makes it worse! Be sure to clean the carpets, keep the litter box clean, deep clean the kitchen, change the sheets and/or bedding in rooms and open some windows to let in some air.  Lighting some candles can add a nice touch – but don’t burn down the house!
4) Lights – Open the blinds and turn on the lights!  If you have to squint to see the room, it is probably too dark.  Add some lamps.  Remember – a mirror can be your friend to brighten a dark area.
5) Fix it! – Nothing puts a buyer off faster than seeing things that have to be fixed.  Covers for electrical outlets, a wall that needs painting, a hole in drywall and peeling wallpaper are all turn offs.  These are just a few things that catch people’s attention and have them wrinkle their nose at something that has to be done. Ask a friend, a neighbor, your agent or anyone else who doesn’t live in the house daily to walk around with you and point things out that need to be fixed.

What to do to ready your house to Sell

1 ) Home Inspection –  Save yourself time and annoyance by getting a home inspection done before you list your home for sale. Most buyers will have a home inspection done and there will be things found that need to be fixed.  This can hold up closing or even kill a sale if the buyers put in a request for repairs and you don’t want to do it or it will cost too much.  By having the inspection done before they ask for it, you can disclose what is wrong and make it known from the beginning that you are not going to be fixing it or have taken care of the problems so they have nothing to ask from you.
2) Curb Appeal – It sounds like an expensive project but sometimes a new coat of paint on a house can help make a sale.  If the house looks a little boring, consider painting a door or an accent wall with a bright color or add some bright colored flowers to the yard, balcony or patio to make it look brighter.
3) Declutter – If a room is difficult to walk through or it looks very small and cramped, take some furniture out. Rent a storage space if you need to. Remember, people are buying square footage and they want to see it.  Counter space in a kitchen is always important so take as much as possible off the counters.
4) Clean it – If your carpets are dirty, have them professionally cleaned or rent a steam cleaner to get the job done. Odors can get trapped in fabrics so it’s important to give the curtains, the bedding and carpets all a sniff test. Again, you may need to ask a friend to do this because if you live in it every day, you might not recognize the smell anymore.
5) Update it – Consider purchasing new appliances,  installing modern handles on cabinets, new ceiling fans, updating the paint, recaulking a bathroom, and/or changing the front door.  Remember,  a simple change can make a sale!

Sandra Quinn is an expert in Palm Springs real estate and serves the entire Coachella Valley. For more information on purchasing a home or if you have any questions about Desert real estate, contact Sandra Quinn & Company at [email protected] or call (760) 861-5150.