Most home sellers and real estate agents are aware of home staging, which is a specific effort to prepare a home for sale. That preparation can mean anything from cleaning and decluttering to rearranging to a total refresh, involving rental furniture, art and accessories.
Most efforts fall somewhere in between, but regardless, experts say that making your home more attractive to potential sellers reduces time on the market and increases your sales price. Spending a little time and money in advance to make your home show beautifully pays off in a big way. (https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/052815/professional-home-staging-worth-cost.asp)
There is a belief that only your real estate agent can or should recommend home staging. In truth, for most of us, we could benefit from getting ready to sell before you even have an agent and certainly in advance of listing.
Why? Well, if you’ve lived in your home for longer than a year or so, you’ve probably accumulated stuff that lives in your closets, on counters, on tables and around the house generally. That stuff, while perhaps useful or comforting, can deter potential buyers from imagining themselves in your home – thereby impacting potential offers.
At a minimum, before you even select an agent, consider how a buyer might perceive your home. How would they move through the space? Is it clean, well-lit and in good repair? Are things organized and put away? Could a buyer imagine themselves there?
This exercise is not easy, and you might hit a dead-end, whether due to time, frustration or simply not knowing what can be changed. Let us save you time, help you make more money, and take the complexity out of getting ready to sell. Book a consultation here (link) where you will get specific action items. If more assistance is desired, we can help there too. And if you have listed your home and it could benefit from some advice, let us know!