Staging Tips When Selling Your Home
When selling your Portland, Oregon, home, there’s one easy thing you can do to make your house more marketable and appealing. This is known as staging, and while it can be intimidating for those unfamiliar with the process, it’s one of the most effective ways to ensure your house doesn’t stay on the market too long.
Portland has one of the most competitive housing markets in the country right now, and it’s hard to make sure your house stands out from the crowd. So let’s take a look at what staging is and how it can help you sell your house quickly at a great price.
What is staging?
When a person is selling their home, it’s important that it looks the best that it can. This doesn’t just mean touching up the paint and performing necessary repairs. It also means furnishing the home in such a way as to increase its desirability. This is why staging is so important.
Home staging is when you use decorating to highlight the home’s best assets while encouraging buyers to imagine what it would be like to live there. While there are some best practices that every seller should follow, there’s also an art to it that is helped by years of selling homes.
Send what you’re not using to storage
When you’re moving house, it’s easy for clutter and boxes to pile up quickly. But when you’re inviting potential buyers to visit your home, you want it to look ready to move in immediately, almost like a hotel. That means taking away anything that isn’t necessary for presenting your house in the best light. If necessary, rent some temporary storage space to keep excess furniture and belongings. It will be well worth the price.
Don’t leave out valuables
You’re going to have dozens of people touring your house in the next few weeks, so don’t leave out anything you don’t want them to see. That includes valuables like jewelry and art objects, but also firearms, medications, and other personal items that my leave the wrong impression.
Give the house a deep clean
Speaking of hotels, you want your home to be as clean as a high-class hotel room when prospective buyers visit. Give the entire house a serious deep clean, and make sure there’s no trash bags or moving items like tape rolls or empty boxes left in corners or closets.
Check your lighting
This is where a professional stagger really comes in handy. Make sure that not only are all your light bulbs installed and working, but that you settle on a lighting scheme that makes your home as attractive as possible. You also want the color temperature of all the bulbs to match.
Don’t forget the bathroom and kitchen
When cleaning, you’d be amazed how often people forget to finish the job when it comes to the kitchen and bathroom. Not only do you want them to be immaculate, but you want to provide toilet paper and soap in the bathroom as well.
Avoid common mistakes
These are some of the most important do’s when it comes to staging your home, but there are also some common mistakes you want to avoid. For example, while decluttering is good, you want to leave enough furniture in the home to make it comfortable. Another mistake is the use of a flat color palette, or insisting on too modern of a décor that may not feel warm and inviting to your potential buyers.
The best rule of thumb is to listen to the advice of your real estate agent or even hire a professional stager to make sure your home is at its absolute best. They do this for a living, so they know all the best practices.
Your Trusted Portland, Oregon Realtor
Selling your home can be complicated. That includes staging it in a way that it will sell as soon as possible at your desired price. That’s why working with a professional who cares about your success more than her own is so important.
Kirstan Rogers has the experience and dedication that makes her one of the best retailers in the Portland area. Contact us today to learn more about how to stage your home properly.