Home staging is a marketing technique used by experienced home sellers to turn their homes into something that will appeal to potential buyers in order to sell the home quickly.
The most important thing to keep in mind if you want to stage your home is to keep the neutrality of the home.
Vanessa McGrady of Forbes has reported that, according to the National Association of Realtors, there will be a potential of a $400 return in every $100 invested in staging a home.
"Staging can save you from a costly price reduction," Betsy Wilbur, who professionally "stages" homes for sale, told McGrady. "A staged home will sell for 17 percent more on average than a non-staged home, and 95 percent of staged homes sell in 11 days or less. That is statistically 87 percent faster than non-staged homes."
Here are some tips given by Wilbur and reported by McGrady:
- Remove clutter: Excessive clutter can make potential buyers uncomfortable with the home you are trying to sell. "Think of it as getting a head start on your packing," said Wilbur.
- Remove personal items: "I also suggest packing up anything smaller than a cantaloupe. We want the buyer to envision themselves living there right away, and a house full of someone else's pictures doesn't do that," suggested Wilbur.
- Never put an empty home on the market: Wilbur says that, "One of the challenges of trying to sell a vacant home is that buyers can often have a hard time visualizing themselves living there."
- Don't re-model before you sell: It is better to invest in cosmetic fixtures than to re-model the home you are planning to sell to your own taste. Potential buyers might not share the same taste as you do.
- Avoid divisive décor: Maintain the neutrality of your home by removing items that may have religious or political meaning and which may offend your potential buyers.
