If you are thinking of selling your home, from time to time you may catch yourself making mental notes of areas that need repair, carpets that need cleaning and clutter that needs to be sorted and donated/thrown out. Many home owners may not realize the extent of work that needs to be done on their home before it is ready to be put on the market and shown to potential buyers. If you are wondering where to start in the home staging process, and want to do it without breaking the bank, then today’s blog post is for you. There are a few golden rules for you to keep in mind as you prepare and stage your home for potential buyers, and we have listed them below for you to check out. Let’s jump right in!

The first rule we are going to talk about is de-personalizing your home. What do we mean by that? Well, remember the large, framed family photo from three summers ago at Lake Tahoe that you have hanging in the living room? While it may bring you great joy as beautiful memories flood back to you when you look at it, it may not be as appealing to potential buyers who are looking at your home. You want your home to essentially be a blank canvas for buyers to picture themselves settling into. You want them to look at your kitchen and picture their Sunday dinners, your master bedroom as a cozy oasis for them to escape to and your family room as a central hub for gatherings. It will be hard for them to do that if all they see are reminders of how you have made the house yours and all the wonderful time you have spent there. So, with that being said, it is important to remove personal items that you have around your home when staging to sell. 

The next tip we have for you is to de-clutter the space. There is no better way for potential home buyers to picture a blank canvas than for them to see clean and neat spaces. You may even want to think about renting a storage unit if there are items that you think do not add to the space, but that you aren’t quite ready to part with yet. This can include items such as bulky furniture, artwork, kids toys, holiday decorations and clothing that makes your closet look too packed, thus making it appear smaller. De-cluttering will maximize the space in your home, ensuring that potential buyers see the real and full potential of the house. Our next tip is arguably the simplest, and that is to clean/sanitize your home. No one likes a dirty home and you only have one chance to make a first impression on buyers. Whether you hire on a company or choose to grab the rubber gloves and tackle the cleaning yourself, it will be the best time/money you could spend when it comes to staging your home to sell. 

Our last tip for you is to neutralize your home. It is no secret that color can make or break how people view a particular space. And while you may think that bright pink accent wall does wonders for the aesthetic of the home, potential buyers may think otherwise. All they will see is money, time and potential frustration on a home improvement project. One of the most inexpensive ways to change the look and feel of a home is to paint, and we can assure you that updating the space with calming and neutral colors will make a world of difference for buyers. We hope these tips and tricks will help you when it comes to staging your home to sell, and take off some of the stress and guess work on where to start!