How to stage the inside of your home to maximize what you can sell it for.

Home staging is a vital part of selling your house.  When prospective buyers walk into your home, they need to see themselves in the space, as a Realtor I actually don’t even park in the driveway so the potential buyers can get the full experience of parking and walking into the property. Depersonalizing your space will enable a buyer to see the home as their own, they’ll be able to imagine how their belongings will look into the space.  Staging your home can potentially increase the interest in your property, the amount of offers and the dollar value they are for. The idea is to create excitement about your home. Excitement often breeds multiple offers driving the price up. You might have great “Bones” but take it from me, the sizzle gets them in the door. The bones sell the home.

 The first step we like to call in the Real Estate world is “Pre Packing”  This would be a good time to prioritize,  anything you haven’t used in a while or have duplicates of, donate or sell.  Not only will this make your home less cluttered, it will make your move easier.  You will have less “things” to bring with you, which makes for less boxes to pack, and less moving expense.  Look through your clothing, your shoes, the boxes you have stored and see if there is anything you won’t use again. I use Facebook marketplace, Varage Sale or Kijiji to sell items I will no longer use. You can spread the word about the sale on social platforms with the help of agencies like The Marketing Heaven. Many people will do a porch pick up, so you don’t even need to meet people.

 Step 2, remove anything from the house that you are not going to need while the house is on the market.  If you’re selling out of the Winter season, you won’t be needing your shovels, winter clothes or your Christmas Tree. It is definitely worthwhile to rent a storage space to hold anything you don’t need right now. It is also acceptable to rent a storage container. Park it in your driveway. People are pretty understanding when it comes to having your house up for sale. They know you had to place your items somewhere.  It will be worth it to clear out the storage areas in your home.  If your storage areas are not overwhelmed with “stuff”, your home will appear to have more storage, which will help a potential buyer see that the space is big enough.  “Too little storage? No! This house has tons of space, just look at their crawl space under the stairs, we could store all kinds of things in there!”  For a home with very little storage, having nothing at all in the storage places you do have will help buyers see that your home offers all of the space they need.

In addition, the least amount of  items in the closets in your bedrooms will show that there is plenty of space for the buyer’s things. Cupboards and cabinets should also be very tidy and decluttered.  Having your whole home looking like no one lives there, Stack the toilet paper neatly, organize your cleaning products, clean out your pantry.  It will feel great to have it accomplished and look great to people going through your home.

Remove any personal items from the walls and shelves.  If you remove your family photos and “ Pre Packing, buyers will not see your family in the space but theirs. After you remove all the family photos, you’ll have hardware in your walls where all of those things were.  A fresh coat of paint is an inexpensive upgrade that will freshen up your home and get rid of any blemishes.  Be sure to choose neutral colours, and if you are going to paint the whole house, use the same colour throughout, it will give your home a sense of flow.  A little elbow grease now, will give you more profit later.

The biggest thing would be cleaning. If you’re not a cleaner, you can hire a company to come in and do a specialized pre-listing clean.  Clean inside your fridge (yes, they look there) and in your oven.  Clean your windows inside and out.  Wipe down blinds, wash curtains, clean inside your light fixtures, move furniture and clean under it.  Wash your floors, steam clean rugs and carpets. Once you have it clean, keep it that way.  Make it a part of your daily routine, so if someone wants a last minute showing you can do it. Another great timbit….pack a shower caddy, while your house is for sale take this to and from the shower wipe the shower down and remove your caddy when the family is done for the day.

Finally, I would recommend asking your realtor to come over for an honest opinion.  They may see things that you do not. Don’t take it personally.  I know for my clients I want their home to show spectacular to maximize their profit, and even little things can make a big difference.