Langley BC Real Estate - Home Staging – How the Little Things, and the Big Things, Can Really Help to Sell Your Home.

Home staging is a concept that has been around for some years, but only in the past few years has it attracted a mass market. Formerly home staging was something that only the wealthy would consider, employing a specialist home stager to get their home looking great, and sold in no time at all.

All sellers can benefit from home staging though. You don’t need to be wealthy to do so, and you don’t need to hire the services of a professional home stager either, because a large percentage of home staging is simple common sense.

What is Home Staging?
Put simply, home staging is the process of making your home look as great as it possibly can while trying to achieve three things:
1. To make your home stand out from the rest on the street, resulting in…
2. Selling your home fast, and…
3. Selling your home for the best possible price.

So what are the little things that all homeowners can do to ‘stage’ their homes?

Home Staging – the little things
First and foremost, make sure your home is really clean. Thoroughly clean the kitchen and bathroom as these are the two places that really show up the dirt. If your faucets and/or kitchen hardware is looking tired and worn out, consider replacing them. You may be surprised at how cheap new faucets can be these days, and replacing the hardware (i.e. the handles) on your kitchen cupboards can really help to modernise them.

When cleaning your home remember the flooring. If carpets need cleaning you can rent carpet cleaning machinery for a reasonable cost, or if the carpet is looking really tired and worn you could consider replacing it altogether.

Another major factor is to de-clutter your home. This may mean boxing up many of the items that you don’t use on a day to day basis. If you’re using a bedroom for storage or as an office, a buyer cannot see that it’s a bedroom. Reinstate it as such so that it’s clear in the buyer’s mind that they will be buying a four bedroom home as opposed to a three bedroom home.

While you’re working on the bedrooms consider buying new bedding so that your bedrooms looks as fresh as possible. The master bedroom is the most important but the others are important too, and remember that whatever you buy you can take with you to your new home.

Consider the outside of your home too. First impressions really do count when it comes to selling your home and if the outside looks untidy or looks as though it needs work this can put buyers off before they’ve even entered your home.

Home Staging – the big things
Replacing a faucet may be enough to smarten up your bathroom, but for the ultimate in home staging you could consider renovating the whole thing. This may seem like a false economy, but a new bathroom will really help to sell your home and will likely get you a higher sale price too. The same can be said for the kitchen. Other big things you could consider include building a new deck, or finishing your basement.

Sometimes the little things can be more important than the big things, and with the Home Renovation Tax Credit you can apply for a tax credit on a lot of work you do, making these expenses more affordable. Remember that people move house for many reasons; by making your home stand out, you will sell your home quicker.

For further advice on home staging please give me a call or send me an email. I’m more than happy to offer help and advice where I can.

Warmest Regards,

Andrew Szalontai - It's all about service
Langley BC Real Estate   -   778.862.5542
andrew@YourPerfectHome.ca
Remax Treeland Realty