The Benefits of Professional Home Staging When Selling Your Home
When selling your home, you want to present it as a beautiful living space that potential buyers can picture themselves living in. All of your personal, sentimental items may be very beautiful but can potentially deter a buyer. A professional home stager will give you an honest assessment of things that will make your home more universally appealing to prospective buyers.
Stagers will provide their expertise and experience, so be ready to take their advice and create a pleasing neutral palate that will attract more buyers and hopefully, competing offers.
Most stagers will begin by walking through your entire home and taking notes. After they have gone through the entire home, they’ll not only share their observations but also prioritize them in order of importance.
This method is often referred to as the 5C method. The five C’s are:
- Cleaning
- Clutter
- Colour
- Corrections
- Connections
We will walk you through each of the five C’s to give you an insight into what to expect when hiring a professional stager.
Cleaning. Buyers want to buy a home that looks as gently lived in as possible. This is especially true for families with pets and small children, homes can start looking a bit rough pretty quickly. Your stager will note certain areas that may require a little additional elbow grease, professional cleaning or potential replacement. The most common areas that may require professional maintenance are carpets, windows, bathrooms, and kitchens. These are generally the highest traffic areas of your home.
Clutter. You’ve lived in your home and made it your own (as people do when they lay down roots) but you need to remember when you list, that you are selling the house, not your possessions. Having too much clutter can make any house feel small, and may make buyers feel concerned that the house may be too small for their needs when in reality there is an abundance of space. This is where a stager will advise you to get packing, thin out overstuffed closets and start throwing out or donating items that are sitting unused in storage areas of the home. Countertops in bathrooms and kitchens should be as clear as possible.
Colour. This one is more important than you think, as the colour of a room affects how big or small it will feel as well as how dark or light it will feel. A room that hasn’t been painted in 15 years will look outdated simply based on the colours no longer being crisp. Faded colours and dirt-tinged walls will never look as good as those that are fresh and crisp from a recent coat of paint. You should also keep in mind that color trends change through time so you may want to consider some updates or neutral colours before putting your house on the market.
Corrections. Some basic home maintenance should be done before you list. That wobbly cabinet door in the kitchen that doesn’t quite close fully may be a red flag for a buyer. Little things like repairing wood rot, fixing leaks and eliminating traces that it ever existed are game changers in making buyers feel this home was lovingly cared for. Seeing a repair to completion will also go a long way, for example, if you replaced the leaking roof but didn’t repair or repaint the drywall damage from the leak, will draw unnecessary concern for an issue you’ve already resolved.
A stager will provide a fresh set of eyes that will help find items of potential concern that may not be apparent to those living in a home on a daily basis. Stagers will often notice maintenance items that have crept up unnoticed on the homeowners over time. Chances are if your staging professional noticed it, so will a potential buyer.
Connection. When choosing a home to purchase, buyers want to feel an emotional connection and gain a sense that they and their family will be happy in their new surroundings. Potential buyers should be able to picture themselves having holiday meals in the dining room or enjoying a cup of morning coffee on the back porch.
For this reason, stagers are going to highly recommend removing personal items like pictures of you and your family, as well as items specific to your beliefs or value system. It is hard to picture yourself living in a home with your family when you are surrounded by photos of the current occupants.
The Katronis team believes a staged home makes the sale. From simple de-cluttering to furniture staging to comprehensive renovation planning, our full-time real estate stager understands what makes a home sell. She will work with you prior to listing, so your home is presented as functional, clean, and nicely decorated with updated furniture. View our staging services.
Give us a call today to set up a personal consultation of your home, and get you started on the right road to selling your home quickly.
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