Staging your home is extremely important. Selling your home can already be quite a stressful experience. You not only have to get the money you want from it but it needs to sell quickly. To achieve those you need to get more eyeballs on your property and more offers submitted. Majority of people nowadays see the property first from the photos of your listing online then at maybe a showing or open house. A great first impression and presenting your home in the best light possible could be worth thousands of dollars but is it worth paying to have your home staged?

The cost for someone to stage your home is somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 give or take. Based on the value you expect to get back maybe it is a good idea to hire a professional but if your margins are thin there is still no reason you can’t stage the home yourself. Here are some things to consider when staging your home for sale. 

The Entry

We’ve all heard the term “curb appeal” and for good reason. A great new or painted front door makes the home look more inviting. Replace the old welcome mat or put up nice new house numbers. On the inside put away any shoes, coats and any evidence of pets in the home. If you wear shoes in the house and have carpet then that area is going to need some serious attention. Perhaps try steam cleaning the area or any high traffic areas in the home.

Living Room

Go through your house and get rid of any clutter and unnecessary furniture to provide better site lines. Replace any old curtains, dated fixtures and move furniture from the wall if you can. Clean or dust all ceiling fans and fixtures in the home.  It’s also a good idea to depersonalize your home. We know you love your family and want to show them off however people get perceptions both good and bad and could unfortunately affect someone making an offer. It’s great to 

Kitchen

In your kitchen it's a good idea to put away any items that you normally store on your countertops. Clutter, again, is your worst enemy. Adding a bowl of fruit can also be a good way of adding some color to the room. Consider bringing in an extra lamp or light to help brighten up a space and go ahead and set the dining table as if it were a special occasion. The idea of staging a home is to give the prospective buyer to envision their family living there. You want to feed their imagination.

Bedroom

When staging the bedrooms you’ll want to make sure you organize and declutter the closets, new buyers almost ALWAYS analyze the closets when looking to purchase a new home. Invest in some new bedding, throw pillows and make the room look more inviting by clearing out any book shelves or built-ins. Also, ditch any princess, sports team or overly themed rooms. We want to appeal to the masses so we want to go with something clean and classy. In smaller bedrooms it’s natural to want to scoot the bed into a corner in order to maximize the space. However by pulling the bed out you can actually balance out the room.

Bathroom

You’ll want to make sure the counters are cleaned off. Put away the toothpaste, shampoo bottles and hide any wastebaskets. Place some nice decorative pieces on the counter, you can get a lot of great ideas with a simple Pinterest search. Clean any baseboards and hang or clean new shower curtains or doors to make them look nice and new. Most importantly please, for the love of all humanity, put the toilet seat down. 

So is it worth it?

When it comes to staging your house to sell it is 100% worth it if you want to maximize your offers and potential earnings. You can always hire a pro if you have the means or if you’re pressed for time. Or you can easily do it yourself and save those extra precious dollars. Either way staging your house is a must. It’s something you need to do prior to taking listing photos or a showing. It can make a huge difference in the amount of engagement you get and ultimately affect your bottom line.