Home Staging

In the midst of traveling to the builders’ show, and constantly tweaking our new home’s design, we have been continually preparing our current home for the market.  In October, we brought in a home staging expert to advise us on making our home more marketable.  This gave us plenty of time to schedule painters, carpet cleaners, etc., as well as to figure out what needed to go and where we’d put it.  We were able to do a little at a time – until January.  That’s when we hit it hard, spending several hours a week checking off tasks and enlisting our daughter, taking advantage of a college student’s bottomless need for money.  

I have to say that, with the help of Tah-Da! Staging, I kind of like the cleaner, leaner look.  The idea of staging is to depersonalize and declutter your home so that potential buyers can more easily picture themselves living there, envisioning their things in your home and on your walls.  So you take down all of your personal photos and get rid of all extraneous stuff.  Some of it is hard, but it’s only temporary.  The family pics will be the first things to go back up in the next home.  Otherwise, it is actually rather enjoyable to take truckloads of stuff to the Salvation Army or the dump.  I feel as if I’ve lost weight!

Cleaning and decluttering is the number one most important step you can take to make your home more marketable.  This can include rearranging furniture, adding new props to enhance rooms, even adding fresh flowers and playing soft music.  (Unfortunately, our speakers were part of the decluttering process!)  

I once helped an 88-year-old friend clean out her house so she could downsize.  It took months to go through closets one item at a time.  My 18-year-old had similar issues.  She had no idea where to begin as she stood amongst mountains of cherished belongings.  Once I made some sorting suggestions she was off and running.  Whether you’re 18 or 88 it can be hard to part with your stuff.

Perhaps it goes without saying that you should make any obvious repairs.  All of those issues you’ve put up with or ignored over the years must finally be addressed.   In our case, my honey-do items are only addressed after our homeowners are taken care of.  What’s that they say about the cobbler’s family having no shoes?

And of course, make the house sparkle.  Deep clean every nook and cranny.  Hang up fresh towels.  Clean and air out any musty smelling areas. Replace worn rugs.  Train the dog to wipe her feet and put away her toys.

These are just some of the things I've gleaned from the experts.  I'm hoping they'll help our home sell quickly.  In this market you've got to try every angle.  I'll keep you posted on how we fare.