Twenty years ago, nobody worried about staging their home
before putting it on the market. Giving it a good scrubbing and hiding the
kitty litter box was considered sufficient preparation for putting out the
"For Sale" sign.
But all that has changed, as more and more home sellers in
many parts of the United States enlist the services of home stagers. As with
many trends, once the standards have been raised, it's hard to go back.
The Castetter Group recommends staging your home to help
people fall in love with your place so they will want to buy it. A few things a
stager might do to get your house ready for sale:
- Identify specific ways to highlight your home's best features and compensate for its shortcomings. For example, the stager might recommend removing curtains from a window that has a great view; or, in a small bedroom, replacing the double bed with a twin or even a baby's crib, in order to make the space look larger.
- Recommend which items of your furniture and household possessions should stay in the house and which should be removed before an open house or showing. Be prepared to have to either move or place into storage the majority of your possessions, so as to de-clutter and depersonalize your house. This will, of course, be much easier if you've already moved into your next abode.
- Bring in furniture, artwork, curtains, carpets, pillows, and even artful-yet-homey objects like a bowl of oranges (either real or high-quality fakes!), potted orchids, and a welcoming doormat. Many stagers keep warehouses of this stuff, all carefully matched and chosen to make your house feel like a place where people can live their dream life.
- Add finishing touches before an open house or major showing. For example, the stager might add fresh flowers, or put a pie in the oven on low heat in order to waft delicious aromas through the house.
Once you’re ready to put your house on the market, give us a
call and we can help connect you with a quality home stager and get your house
sold!
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