DIY Home Staging Tips
An American trend in property marketing has found its way to the UK and everyone’s getting in on the act – home staging for vendors.
Basically, home staging is when you make your property a much better version of its real self, as if it’s going on a first date to find that buyer. Here’s seven things you can do to get and maintain that “first date” glow.
Fix your attitude
You need an attitude adjustment. Your house is no longer your home, it’s a sellable property and you need to start removing your emotions from it. It’s an investment, and you’re now looking to get a good return.
You need space
Your buyers are buying space, not your clutter. They may be visiting four or five properties that day and may not have the imagination left to mentally Photoshop your belongings away. De-cluttering is vital. Start with the things you’d be packing first when you move and you’ll be doing yourself a two-fold favor. You can also put your tattered old furniture into storage and hire some better pieces from a house staging company.
A quick wash and brush-up
Surely this is obvious, but it’s amazing how people lose sight of the peeling paint on the back door and the damp patch on the bathroom ceiling. Uneven floorboards, wonky doors – these things all add up to extra pain for buyers. If you see small flaws, put them on a to-do list and then DO them! It might help to make two lists – one for cleaning and one for fixing and tick them off as you go.
A lick of paint
A cheap and easy way to brighten up a room is to paint it. You can combine the clearing out of the room for painting with packing non-essentials away for storage. Concentrate on the main rooms and use neutral but bright colours.
Freshen up
You don’t need to spend a fortune on this, but if you can, buy some new bedding, cushions, maybe a new sink for the kitchen, or some new lightshades, and replace tired-looking door handles. It all helps to modernize and revamp your home.
Get some curb appeal
Curb appeal is a key factor in selling. If people walk past – and keep on walking – you’ve got a problem. If someone’s looking to buy a house and they are turned off before they even get up the garden path, you need to do something fast. Examine the front of your house and your garden. Is your garden path a mess? Does the lawn look bare? It’s easy to sort this out with some trellises and fast-growing flowers.
It’s nothing personal
You need to make your place attractive to buyers, not to people exactly like you. They need to see the house, not your home and so you should make it as blank a canvas as possible so they can project themselves onto (and into) it. Take down family portraits, any large collections of ornaments and your judo certificates. This process also helps you to detach from your home.
