12 Simple Steps for Staging Your Home

Earlier in this blog, we tackled the question of whether staging your home will help it sell faster and the answer from our brokers and agents was a resounding YES! Now, we’re pleased to provide you with 12 simple home staging steps to help you get started.

1. Assess the room. What is the room’s current function and can it work as anything else? What would you notice as a potential buyer?
2. Pick a focal point for each room. Select one asset that highlights the room’s attributes and draw attention to it.
3. Remove clutter. To sell a house, it’s better to remove knickknacks and mementos so buyers feel like they are shopping rather than intruding.
4. Depersonalize. Remove personal collections and purchases.
5. Renew, repair or replace. Now is the time to repair and replace all those little items you could live with but that may make a potential buyer wonder “what else is wrong.” Before undergoing major renovations or repairs, check with your real estate sales associate.
6. Rearrange furniture. Showcase spaciousness by minimizing furniture in dining rooms, bedrooms and living rooms. The pieces you remove could go into storage or be re purposed in other rooms.
7. Re-accessorize. Highlight the focal point of each room. To do this you may want to go back to boxes of items you removed from other rooms. Is there anything that you can use that will coordinate well with your plan for this room?
8. Fine-tune your work. Make sure all details are exactly as you want them. Walk through each room and make sure your attention goes to the desired focal point. Do this exercise with a friend or neighbor and ask them to identify the room’s focal point. If it is not clear, than revisit steps one through seven.
9. Clean, clean, clean. Cleanliness leads to sales. Straighten up closets, clean inside the kitchen and medicine cabinets. Dust and polish dishes in the china cabinet. Generally assume potential buyers will examine every nook and cranny of your house.
10. Add life. Use potted plants, a bowl of fruit, natural lighting, or anything else that brings the outside in to create a warm environment.
11. Prepare to show. Get in the routine of showing your home. A checklist of showing instructions is available for you on page 14 of ERA Real Estate’s Ready. Set. Sell. Home Staging Guide.
12. Ask for help. Your real estate sales professional has many resources to help you sell your home fromstorage facility ideas to discounts on repair supplies. As you prepare your home for sale, ask before you act.

For additional tips and checklists from curb appeal to Room by Room interior staging, refer to ERA Real Estate’s Ready. Set. Sell. Home Staging Guide by clicking here. And remember, when selling your home, as an ERA real estate professional, I am always ready and willing to help.