Ok so I don’t mean LOSE your house, although if you did, I’d be quite impressed. With the market and economy the way they currently are, selling and buying homes can be quite discouraging. However, there are tons of, often forgotten, tools readily available that can aid in making this process easier and much more pleasant. While this blog will cater to the seller, there are some great takeaways for the buyer as well.

As a designer, I have had the pleasure in working with multiple real estate companies, agents and independent sellers to help with the selling process and I have learned a lot about the journey a home should go through to best showcase its space. I have also learned a lot about both seller and buyer personalities and what I can do to expedite the selling process. In short, here is my umbrella advice:

If you’re thinking, how the heck would I even do that with a house? Well let me tell you! Homes mean nothing without what makes you you; that is by nature the definition of a home. But if you’re a seller, your house is in the process of no longer being yours and thus you have to think objectively about the space and what it needs to appeal to others as THEIRS instead. That is the biggest issue I see on the market; most sellers have a harder time letting go of “their way, their decor, their stuff, their colors, their curtains” to appeal to the greater audience and quite frankly, understandably so, which is why you need to hire a professional to help you get your house ready and put on its Sunday Best.

The best 4 ways you can do so:

1. HIRE A STAGER

Staging is a great way to showcase your home’s space. While it works best with empty homes, there are some stagers out there that will work with your furniture as best as they could if you can’t completely empty your home. Depending on your home’s needs, staging can be an expensive venture but it’s definitely worth every penny with its return on investment. I found that the best homes to stage for the value are actually the ones with odd layouts or smaller sizes. They need the most creativity in showing the buyers the best ways to utilize the space. You have to be careful with staging though, you need to hire a designer/stager who truly cares about the aesthetics and doesn’t just do it for the paycheck. One of the reasons why we have become popular in this service is exactly that; we do not oversell, if a room is better off empty, we will let you know because ultimately the most important aspect to us is ensuring that whoever walks into those doors, can visualize themselves in this space.

Staging Pros:

• Advertises the space for its true potential and not from a subjective perspective

• Caters to the buyer by benefiting the seller

• Fast way to push home sales

• Can be as little as 1 room or as expansive as every room

• Creates beautiful photos

Staging Cons:

• Can be expensive

• Cannot live in staged spaces

• You have to ensure the care of the staged items or it’s an added cost if damaged

2. HIRE A STAGING CONSULTANT

You might be lucky enough where one company can do both but this is a bit of a rarer service. It’s a steal if you can find it and it’s one that we offer. A staging consult caters more to the audience that can’t afford full staging or can’t move out until post sale. A consult gets you 1:1 time with a designer where you do a thorough walk-through of every square inch in that house and they can share their expertise on what you can do with your existing furnishings and decor to appeal to buyers. They should cover things such as what can stay and what needs to go, which rooms are better off empty to open up the space, how to stage the kitchen, the couches, the beds, the bathrooms, what should your color scheme be, what artwork can stay up and what’s too subjective, etc.. Essentially giving you the power to get your home ready with their guidance.

3. HIRE A HANDYMAN

Most buyers out there want homes that are ready to move into. They don’t want to spend unnecessary time fixing things that you’ve done to the home, they want to start making it their own instead. So taking care of the silly things can be the difference between your house and someone else’s being their top choice. What I mean by silly things are items that don’t stop the sale in an inspection; they’re mostly cosmetic in nature but go a long way. And while they can be done POST the sale, doing it before eliminates any doubt in the buyers’ minds that it will either be done or they will have to do it themselves.. you want to take away the “it was nice but..” factor of their post-visit conversations.

SILLY THINGS LIST:

• Replacing old fans, vanity lighting, outdated bathroom hardware

• Painting the walls neutral, especially the extremely bright or dark colored rooms [give them a blank slate]

• Removing any nails, screws, mounting hardware from the walls and patching all holes

• Repairing any damaged baseboards or window trims

• Pressure washing the outside of the home

• Cleaning the gutters

• Deep cleaning the toilets and all appliances

• Deep cleaning all carpets

• Repairing any dripping faucets

4. PRESENT YOUR HOME AS A FIXER UPPER

Now if you don’t want to do anything at all, that’s also totally fine! If you’re doing so, chances are you just want to get rid of the home and don’t quite care about the profit. So unless your home is in tip-top shape, make sure to be humble about what you’re presenting. Consider advertising the home as a fixer upper, or “needing a little TLC” and lowering the price slightly below the market ask to appeal to those who are interested in projects. There’s no shame in that and with the rising popularity of HGTV shows, a lot of people are interested in taking on that challenge.

Selling a home is a seesaw game of give and take. There are multiple variations of finding the perfect balance. From a selling perspective, you have to consider how much you’re willing to spend from your time, money and sometimes both to get the maximum profit out of your home. And believe me, there is such a thing as over-spending so hiring the right, honest kind of help can go a long way in ensuring you don’t do that and get your home sold as quickly as possible. Lucky for you, we’re into that sort of thing.