Transform Your Home And Get It Sold
You might already be prepared to spruce your home up a bit in advance of placing it on the market, but there could be ways to freshen your interiors without having to spend a lot of those renovation dollars. Staging is all about emphasizing your home's best features and giving your buyer an idea of how nice it would be to live in those beautifully-done spaces, so read on to find out more.
Professional or do-it-yourself?
You can hire specialists at every level of expense, or you can go it alone. Here are a few options, beginning at the most expensive:
1. You can hire a designer to totally re-do the look of your living spaces by taking over and changing out your things for new things. Usually, your belongings are either already in your new home or in storage, and the new items are rented for the duration of the sale. These changes can include new furniture, accessories, rugs and even window treatments. Naturally, you cannot live in your home when you use this staging option.
2. You can hire a designer to provide guidance. Sometimes it helps to have a professional's opinion going forward, and this can be quite a bit less expensive than the total redo. Not everyone can vacate their home for staging, so this option might work best for you. The design specialist will take look at what you currently have and provide you with a detailed report and suggestions for making the most of your rooms. This method emphasizes de-cluttering rooms, moving furniture around and freshening up by replacing accessories, fixtures and more.
3. Do it yourself. If you have a good sense of style and what buyers are looking for, you can save some money and still turn your home into a lovelier space. Follow these tips:
- Too much stuff makes a room look smaller, so try to distribute bulky pieces to other rooms. Be particularly wary of second and third bedrooms that might already be small and sometimes stuffed with over-sized, hand-me-down furniture.
- Take down all of the family photographs and store them away. You must start thinking of the home as the buyer's and not your own. While you are at it, store away mementos and kink-knacks as well.
- Consider a few new throw pillows and a throw for your couch.
- Remove heavy draperies and hang sheers instead. Lighter spaces look more positive and cheerful.
You may have a design expert already on hand. Real estate agents knows what buyers want to see and can be a goldmine of ideas for making your home ready for its big stage debut, so work with a local agent when you want to sell a house.
