Home Staging on a Budget

H me Staging on a Budget Staging is a very important, and cost effective, part of the home selling process. Staging your home to show off its qualities can only add to your final selling price. On average, people receive $2 in increased sale price for every $1 they put into staging a home. When staging your home for sale there are 59 GOLDEN RULES to take into consideration as you work your way through each room of your home. CLOSETS GOLDEN RULE: 1 DE-PERSONALIZE Buyers need to picture Clear closets of unnecessary clutter, and organize to maximize the amount of open themselves in the house – not storage space you are showing off to potential buyers. Use boxes stacked you. That wedding photo may mean the world to you, but to the buyer it's a distraction that prevents them from seeing a home for their family. together to hold and hide the clutter. Use matching hangers for clothes – hangers are inexpensive, so splurging on higher quality hangers to replace free wire hangers from the dry cleaners will modernize your closets with visual impact and a more luxurious feel. BEDROOMS A quick and inexpensive way to improve the appeal of your bedroom is to use gender neutral colors when touching up paint jobs and re-accessorizing in order to have the GOLDEN RULE: 2 widest possible appeal. Color coordinate MAXIMIZE where possible, walls, bedspread, curtains, Declutter and maximize the etc. should have a clear theme to their colors space in your home. Closets packed tight with all your clothes make a place look like it lacks closet space. Consider temporarily storing if possible. Adding a headboard to the bed provides a visual focal point and add sophistication, the overflow offsite. without necessarily breaking the bank. Adding a few decorative items creates focal points to the room, especially at eye level on top of dressers. Bedrooms should appear to be a place of relaxation and comfort, with a clear purpose. Remove televisions and anything else (office furniture, power strips, etc.) that might take away from the central purpose of the bedroom. BATHROOMS If walls are grimy, spray them using a common spray bottle filled with a mixture of one part bleach and one part water, follow up with a fresh coat of paint Clear countertops of everything but the essentials (soap dish, hand towel, etc.) to GOLDEN RULE: 3 make the space look more open and larger. SANITIZE This golden rule is the easiest and cheapest way to stage your home – just clean it. A sink full of dirty dishes is as unappealing to you as it would be to a buyer. It is well worth the elbow grease in cleaning floors, walls, baseboards, ceiling fans and windows. Putting white bath and hand towels on display can give the bathroom an open, spa-like feel at very little cost. Don't replace grimy shower doors – scour them with a solution of one part muriatic acid ( available at hardware stores) and 10 parts water to make them look like new and save some money. Bathrooms and kitchens are essential spaces in the home and, therefore, are often the places where potential buyers are won ----- ----- over - or lost. Sellers spend an average of $1957 on renovating their kitchens and bathrooms with an ultimate benefit of $3254, a return of 66% on the investment. KITCHEN Modernize your dated cabinets, they can be touched up for less than $200 with a coat of new wood stain and or even a good sanding a coat of paint. Replacing brass or wooden cabinet hardware with brushed silver or stainless steel is an effective way of GOLDEN RULE: 4 updating dated cabinets as well. MODERNIZE Unless your home has exceptional period built-ins, all home could benefit from some Clean your refrigerator, sink, inside of your oven and declutter the kitchen cabinets and drawers, buyers are looking. updating. If someone feels the home is dated, they will reflect that feeling in a lower offer. And yes, they will open your cupboards and drawers and inspect the space. Consider simple simple changes like swapping out gold fixtures for nickel or chrome. Rugs, such as those people like to put in front of their sink, tend to stop the eye and break up a space: when staging a kitchen, you will make the floor space appear larger by removing rugs. Flat appliances such as dishwashers and refrigerators can be updated quickly, and often for little more than about $20, using stainless steel stick-on coverings or speciality appliance paints. DINING ROOM GOLDEN RULE: 5 NEUTRALIZE Color can make or break a Set the table! This creates points of visual interest in a room that can easily be boring after the usual depersonalizing and de- buyers interest in your home. You may love that shocking red wall, but all the potential buyer sees is a great deal of painting in their future because red clashes cluttering. Be careful of over staging: you don't need to set out every piece of china. with their style. Painting is one of the most inexpensive ways to change a look of a home. Create a focal point by adding a vase with fresh flowers to the center of the table and remove any extra leaves from the table to maximize available space. Window treatments can be used to make a room feel bigger. On low ceiling rooms, hang drapes all the way up to the ceiling on either side of a window frame which will make windows seem larger and visually make ceilings appear taller. Use neutral color curtains and thin rods to hold them. LIVING ROOM Lightness is a major source of living room appeal for buyers: make sure the shades are open before potential buyers come through and, where possible, stage the room with light colored furniture to enhance the effect and make the space look larger. In especially large and/or empty living rooms, a strategically placed plant can create a focal point that draws the eye. HOME ISALE If your living room has hardwood flooring in need of updating, consider replacing only the damaged boards, and updating the rest with a sander and a coat of hardwood stain, rather than pulling up the entire floor. SOURCES: www.hgtv.com/real-estate/30-cant-miss-staging-tips• stagingandredesign.com/2012/kitchen-updates-on-a-budget • virtuallystagingproper- ties.com/top-5-affordable-kitchen-staging-ideas • realtormag.realtor.org/home-and-design/feature/article/2009/03/staging-budget • parade. condenast.com/275765/leahingram/11-frugal-ideas-for-staging-a-home-for-sale • homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/qt/Staging- a-bathroom • freshome.com/2011/03/10/how-to-stage-your-home-on-a-tight-budget • www.frontdoor.com/photos/room-by-room-staging- strategies • virtuallystagingproperties.com/6-quick-easy-dining-room-staging-tips • www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-mcholm/get-your-house- sold-five-_b_3861099 • tagingandredesign.com/2013/5-things-your-homes-closets-might-be-telling-buyers • home. howstuffworks.com/real-estate/selling-home/10-staging-home Moshells.com Design Your Life, For Less. П