Staging your Seattle home before selling is always a great idea to get top-dollar when you sell your home.
When you’re dealing with such a significant financial transaction, you want to make sure you don’t leave any money on the table. You wouldn’t sell your car without cleaning it out first and making it look its best… you should do the same with your house before putting it on the market.
Relative to the amount of time and money involved, staging may be one of the most lucrative projects you ever undertake. Potential buyers aren’t just looking for a structure to inhabit – they’re looking to fulfill their dreams and improve their lifestyles. Staging helps sell those dreams and creates a more emotional purchase that can generate more money for the seller.
Home staging is also beneficial because potential buyers don’t want to see work that needs to be done upon moving into the home. For every problem they see, they’ll deduct its cost from their offering price. If they see too many problems, they’ll pass altogether. (Thinking of renovating? Read, Fix It And Flip It: The Value of Remodeling.)
Start by boosting curb appeal. This is something you always hear, and with very good reason. Many people thinking of touring your home will do a quick drive-by first, often deciding on the spot if it is even worth a look inside. Make sure your home is ready to lure in onlookers with these tips:
Welcome visitors with an inviting porch. Even if you have only a tiny stoop, make it say “welcome home” with a clean doormat, potted plants in bloom and — if you have room — one or two pieces of neat porch furniture. Keep your porch lights on in the evenings, in case potential buyers drive by. Illuminating the front walk with solar lights is a nice extra touch, especially if you will be showing the house during the evening.
Get your house sparkling clean. From shining floors and gleaming windows to clean counters and scrubbed grout, every surface should sparkle. This is the easiest (well, maybe not easiest, but certainly the cheapest) way to help your home put its best foot forward. You may want to hire pros to do some of the really tough stuff, especially if you have a large house. Don’t skimp — this step is key!
Want more tips? Please give me a call and I’ll work with you to help you stage your home inexpensively or even for free! We often include the cost of staging in the listing of your home.
Below, this isn’t a video, it’s just a series of slides of some cute ideas to decorate your home, but I like it… many of them are very inexpensive. That’s one of the reasons I love my job.. when I’m out previewing homes, I get a lot of ideas for decorating and spiffing up my own house.
I like to change things around and redecorate and I find one of the easiest times to do that is when I’m in the process of cleaning and dusting. That way, I can move things around and then dust underneath.