What is the best way to have people fall in love with your home when showing for sale? Ideas for staging?
Answers:
Lots of good advice here, but allow me to summarize:
1. Remove 50% of your belongings. Throw it away, store it, donate it, have a garage sale. Realize that your treasure is just clutter to someone else. This will make your home seem larger.
2. If you have any "adventurous" decor, tone it down. Their green sofa just won't go with your lavender walls.
3. Walk outside and make sure every loose item is picked up and put away neatly. No refrigerators on the front porch, no rusty cars in the back yard!
4. Plant some colorful flowers in front. Paint the front door. Make the home look inviting from the street.
5. Bake bread or an apple pie. Turn on lights. Have fresh towels in the bathrooms.
6. Take care of simple repairs. Touch up paint. Caulk in the bathroom. Fix nail holes. Trim bushes. Remove wasp nests.
7. Go military in the closets. Fold those sheets and towels. Stack up t-shirts like little soldiers. People imagine their own stuff looking as orderly as yours.
And remember, selling a home takes time. Experienced realtors often match buyers and homes right away, but some buyers are difficult and need more time to shop. Ask your realtor for an honest evaluation of what you can do to make things attractive.
Good luck!
Other answers:
Make it really clean and uncluttered (get rid of the personal nick-nacks). Also, simmer some air freshener in a simmer pot to make it smell good.
Make it really clean and uncluttered (get rid of the personal nick-nacks). Also, simmer some air freshener in a simmer pot to make it smell good.
found this article...maybe it will give you some ideas:
http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/feat3oct05?OpenDocument
Rent a storage space and remove everything you can live without while you show your house. If you have a dining room table with a leaf, take out the leaf and put only 4 chairs around the table. Minimize the amount of stuff and clothes in your closets and make it all looki very neat and organized. If you have kids, store most of their toys in your car while showing the house. Remove all knick knacks--take the clutter off your refrigerator door. Remove extraneous furniture (keep the sofa/coffee table). Plant some flowers out front.
Unless you are willing to build additional room there is not really any way to make the house bigger than it currently is.
However, if the house is crowed with furniture and possesions, then by cleaning it out, getting rid of 60% of the furniture, clearing out cupboards, the garage, and the yard, will allow the house to "appear" larger.
Sometimes by painting the walls and ceiling while will also aid in a more spacious area. I also suggest cleaning the carpets, getting rid of any weeds and debris in the yard, etc.
Staging can sometimes backfire on the seller. While it is helpfull to keep things very clean and tidy, a buyer will not like feeling somebody is pulling the wool over their eyes. If there are areas which just can not be repaired right away, or the carpets need changing or other features need replacing it can be handled during negotiations. Do not try to hide anything which may be damaged for any reason. Doing so could get you sued later on.
I think basically you just need to understand there are things you can not change about a house that is in good repair and well kept. There will be buyers for a house which is smaller. I doubt you will get a buyer who is young and starting a family. There folks are looking for space for a growing family. However, there are many couples who do not want children and also do not want to have to care for a home which is too large. If both are employed which would probably be the case, they may be looking for exactly what you have. Older couples also may be looking to down size after children have left the nest and single folks may be very interested in a smaller house with a smaller price.
Be sure to evaluate the proper price to list your home. You want to get the best possibe deal, but if you ask for more than it is really worth, then most will not even come and look at it. Sometimes when we are emotionally invested in our home, it is difficult to set a price which seems less than the value. However it is important to not place your emotional value onto the real monetary value of your home. I did this the first time I sold my home and it took some doing for the realtors to convince me I was placing my own emotional attachment onto the price and was inflating the value to a level the actual real value could not support. Finally I lowered my expectations and took out my emotions and the house sold for a fair price. It was a valuable lessen I learned. I have sense sold several homes successfully without all this other stuff getting in the way.
In conclusion I suggest just clearing out as much furniture and posessions as possible, put them in storage if need be and then reshow the home. One last item: The best time to sell your house is right when school is getting out. People do not want to move their kids from a school district in the middle of a term. They start looking the end of may begging of june.
I wish you all the best in selling your home and happiness always.
Fresh coffee and homemade bread have a psychological effect.
Right before a showing, set out some fresh baked cookies on a nice plate on the kitchen counter or table (near the realtors papers), have some soft music playing in the background and light a few candles. Also, make sure all lights are on throughout the house.
It's worked for me and a few co-workers who have tried it...something about making your house look warm, comfy, and inviting does wonders.
Good luck!
When i bought my last house, the lady had put a roast in the oven and the smell of it just seemed to make the house feel like a home. Was in a house where they left the toilet seat up and had some floating flower in it, now that was just funny.lol