Staging your House for Sale

So, I'm wrapping up the work on my flip property (hence, the scarcity of posts lately). I'm planning on staging the property because it's hitting the market at a really bad time - right smack in the dead holiday season. Hey, "It is what it is." (That's my absolute favorite saying for real estate)

I'll be posting some before and after pictures in the next two weeks to show you the difference and what an impact staging can have.

Here are some of my quick staging tips:

1. Stick a red plant next to something you want to call out to the Buyer. I don't know why, but it draws the eye right to it. I read a study where red flowers brought more Buyers into a home than any other color (no source, sorry).

2. Walk through the house and take one piece of furniture out of each room. It'll make the house seem bigger, and you really won't miss it for the one day the house is on the market (Aim high, Grasshopper. Aim high.)

3. Stage the room how it's being marketed. If you're using the living room as a dining room, or a dining room as an office - you need to switch it back. Re-working rooms is fine for living (I do it in my own home) but when you're marketing the home, it leaves the Buyer thinking you don't have enough room. ("This dining room is SO SMALL! You can't even fit dining room furniture in here!")

4. Glade plug-ins or candles.

5. De-clutter. You're going to have to get rid of it or pack it up before you move anyway. Just do it now, because I can guarantee that some Buyer is going to walk through the house and pompously declare, "Wow! Look at all this stuff they've got crammed in here!" Others in the group will nod derisively. Then they'll all go back to their own junk riddled houses not even noticing how great your home is!

Want more suggestions? Shoot me an email and I'll send you a "Pre-list checklist"...

**And check for those pictures coming soon...