10 Home Staging Tips for a Quicker Sale

by Joe Eitel

When it comes to selling your home fast, staging it correctly is probably the most effective strategy. In fact, studies conducted by the staging experts at StagedHomes.com showed that 94-percent of staged homes sold in 29 days or less compared to 145 days for homes that weren't staged.

So, what exactly is staging? In short, staging is preparing your home to be sold by cleaning, arranging and optimizing the space. According to published national surveys, real estate professionals rank cleaning/decluttering, lighting and electrical/plumbing as the top three most important areas to address when staging a home. There are several other important staging tips to consider as well. Here are 10 of the most important tips to keep in mind:

Declutter
Potential buyers will not get a great first impression of your home if there's clutter everywhere. Remove as much "stuff" as possible from your home prior to an open house or showing. You can donate, rent a dumpster, rent a temporary storage unit, or recycle. The key is to get rid of as much clutter as possible.

Furniture Arrangement
Arrange the furniture in a way that makes the space more user-friendly and promotes an open feeling. According to HGTV, an effective strategy is to pull furniture away from walls. This will help make the room feel larger.

Room with a Purpose
Make sure each room of your home resembles what it was originally intended for. In other words, the dining room should resemble a dining room and not a storage area or home office.

Fresh Paint
The least expensive way to freshen up a home and make it more attractive to a potential buyer is with a little paint. Choose neutral colors to appeal to more buyers. Also, consider painting adjacent rooms the same color to promote a greater feeling of open space.

Accessorize Correctly
Accessories can really improve the look of a room, but over-accessorizing can do just the opposite. To avoid a cluttered appearance, accessorize in threes. This means sticking to three accessories per shelf, tabletop and on the walls. Try to vary shapes and sizes as well.

Don't Ignore the Floors
Fix flooring that's damaged, cracked or stained. A potential buyer will instantly be turned off by damaged floors. StagedHomes.com estimates that sellers can achieve a 250 percent return on investment by fixing up floors.

Clean like Never Before
Your home should sparkle during open houses and showings. A little elbow grease goes a long way when selling a home. Be sure not to ignore discreet areas, such as moldings, window trim, walls, ceilings, tile grout and inside cabinets.

Appeal to all the Senses
Your home shouldn't just look good, but it should also smell good. Remove any signs of pets from the home, including litter boxes and pet stains. It's a good idea to have your carpeting professionally cleaned and deodorized. Remove anything that may give off a foul odor, such as moldy material or old furniture. Nobody wants to buy a stinky home!

Landscaping
The first thing a potential buyer sees is the outside of your home, so make a good first impression by addressing the landscaping around the home. Make sure the lawn is manicured, trees/bushes are trimmed, and flowerbeds are clean of debris. Landscaped areas should be decluttered (twigs/leaves/trash) and made to look fresh and new.

Lighting
Turn all the lights on during a showing, and open all curtains/blinds to let as much natural light into the home as possible. A dim, dull interior isn't appealing to most buyers.


Joe Eitel is a web content writer for Hometown Dumpster rental, the nation's leading provider of roll off dumpster rental and junk removal services.