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Home Staging Tips

Written by Posted On Friday, 26 January 2018 12:11
Staging your bathroom Staging your bathroom

bedroom1Staging is one of the most important things you can do when getting ready to list and show your home.  Staging encompasses so much and will help you sell your home quicker and for more money.  This is a metro Detroit home selling tips on how to stage a home.  Wherever you are in the US or whatever type of real estate market you are in it pays to prepare your home for sale.   Staging your home to sell is an important step after you do the repairs, painting, and updating that you plan to do.  If you are not a reality show person or have not watched real estate shows on HGTV you may not realize how important it is to have a move in ready home to sell.  Even home sellers that do watch real estate shows sometimes do not want to invest the time in staging their Michigan home.  Staging does pay off. 

There are several factors in staging a home.  Some of the desired effects of staging a home are:

1.)  Making the rooms and area appear spacious and open so the rooms look bigger.

2.)  Having the house and rooms seem homey and inviting

3.)  Clean and organized.  Making it shine

2 20151020 120500

This is not a high end house with expensive furniture.

It is just a small room with simple low cost items,

but it appears spacious and clean

Did you know that buyers are more likely to over pay for a home that is updated and move in ready than any other type of home.  One of the biggest mistakes I believe home sellers make is not spending money and time to get their Michigan home ready for sale.   Whether you are selling a lake home in Oakland County Michigan or any home in the country it pays to stage a home.  It does not matter whether what city the home is in you want to sell quick and for top dollar.  The longer your home sits on the market the more likely it is to get a lower price. 

So how does staging and preparing your home help you sell it?  Simple things like putting a fresh coat of paint on the home will make it appear like you have taken care of the home.  You have covered up all the nicks and dings you have put into the home over the years.  If the moldings are white then repaint them to cover up all the scuff marks.  Fresh paint is very important.

        Let's start with #3 first.  Clean and organized  

DSCN6453De-cluttering is another step to staging your Michigan home.  If a buyer is thinking about buying your home you have one shot to make an impression on them.  You would be surprised at how many people live in cluttered pigsty and then show it that way.  You can automatically just about drop off $10,000 -$30,000 for a home that looks cluttered, dirty, and closed in.  It makes your home unkept.  Unkept to a buyer means the house has not been maintained.  We all acquire stuff over the years, but when you go to list now is the time to pack it away.    All the buyers can see is the junk.  They are always amazed that people live that way and spend more time talking about the junk than looking at the house.  There are simple steps to combat all the extra stuff.

1.)  Box up all the stuff you are not using and put it in the garage or basement.  If you are not going to use it in the next month put it in a box.  Think of it as early packing.  If you can start this step a few months before you list you will be less over whelmed.

2.)  Every foot of the wall should not be covered with furniture.  If your home has so much furniture and stuff that the walls are covered from opening to opening then you should remove some of it.  A spacious looking home always looks better.

3.)  Counter tops, desk tops, table tops and shelves should not be crammed full of stuff.  I believe one to three items is the maximum you should have on any flat surface.  Again it will look uncluttered, clean, and inviting.

Having the room seem homey and inviting. Is easy to do.  After removing all the excess clutter off the countertops, tables, dressers, and shelves it may seem to be too sterile.  Leave items that have a little pizazz, a little fancy, or that has decorating charm.  Remember no grandma stuff. 

  • Adding  a flower arrangement to a room warms it up and adds color. 
  • Putting a throw or folded blanket over a couch or chair adds warmth. 
  • Need to jazz up a couch buy a couple of accent pillows to add color. 
  • Add a accent rug over a bare wood floor or linoleum floor. 
  • Add a baseball bat in the corner of a boys room, or a nice stuffed animal on the bed. 
  • Add a book and turn on the lamp on a desk

Little touches like this warm the house up and make it seem homey.

I wanted to save this for last because it is sooooo important.  Making the room appear spacious.  A cluttered over stuffed room makes the room appear small.  I am too guilty of this.  Over the years you keep adding items to a room.  Another picture, another piece of furniture, another lamp.  Soon every wall space has something on it or against it.  For example you may have a living room with 3 chairs (one is a favorite), a couch, a love seat, 2 end tables, and the TV.  It's great when the family comes over but bad for selling your home.   I would try to get it down to 2 chairs, the couch, one end table, and the TV.  Open the room up.

Apply the same principle in bedrooms.  Many people have too many dressers in the bedroom.  Can you pack up some of your extra clothes, and get down to one dresser in the bedroom.  Same thing with the night stands.  Most people have two that have become storage and junk drawers.  Can you get it down to one night stand on the far side of the bed?  Less is more when it comes to staging.

One of my stories is that my seller was resisting staging their home.  The home sat on the market for two months.  The seller finally relented and took my tips to heart.  We pulled the home off the market for 2 weeks while they de-cluttered, removed furniture, and added homey touches.  We put the home back on the market and sold it in 7 days!  I hope this inspires you to stage your home.

http://www.oaklandcountylakefronthomesmi.com/CASS-LAKE-WEST-BLOOMFIELD-TOWNSHIP-MICH

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Russ Ravary

www.MichiganLakeRealEstateHomes.com/

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