15 Amazing Staging Tips From the Pros

If you’re like most people, you know that staging your home is an important step that you can’t afford to miss – in fact, staged homes sell 87 percent faster than non-staged homes do. Even better, staged homes sell for, on average, 17 percent more than a non-staged home would. Those figures are incredible, and that means staging your home is definitely a worthwhile investment.

But where do you start?

Check out these 15 staging tips from the pros to get your home styled to sell.

15 Amazing Staging Tips From the Pros

 

There are 15 things you can do right now to get your home ready to impress prospective buyers:

1. Boost your curb appeal
2. Make your porch warm and welcoming
3. Declutter everything
4. Keep your house ultra-clean
5. Stage your dining room table
6. Have your floors professionally cleaned
7. Ease up on the furnishings
8. Switch to neutral decor
9. Keep kids’ rooms super-neat
10. Tuck away toiletries
11. Give every room a purpose
12. Clean up after your pets
13. Use seasonal accents
14. Make the most of awkward areas
15. Sell a lifestyle

Here’s a closer look at each.

#1. Boost your curb appeal.

Buyers start forming an impression of your home before they even walk through the front door, and it’s your job to make them excited to come in. Clean up your yard, edge around the sidewalks (after you power-wash them), cut the grass and put up new house numbers. Give your mailbox a facelift, clean your windows so that they’re gleaming, and lay down fresh mulch around trees and landscaping features.

#2. Make your porch warm and welcoming.

Prospective buyers will stand on your porch looking around at the neighborhood (and peeking through your windows) while they’re waiting for their own REALTOR® to let them in. Make your porch warm and welcoming by adding a fresh, new mat in front of the door, a few potted plants featuring bright flowers, and a charming seating area (if there’s space).

#3. Declutter everything.

The staging rule of thumb is to get rid of at least a third of your belongings before you attempt to sell your home. (You don’t really have to get rid of them – you just have to get them out of the house.) Go through your home and take out everything you haven’t used in the past 6 months; choose to donate, sell or throw away each of these items. Get rid of everything that doesn’t work, too. This is particularly important in your kitchen and in your clothes closets, where buyers want to see plenty of room for all their belongings.

Pro tip: Put seasonal clothes in storage while your house is on the market. You should take out at least one-third of your clothes – but try to get it closer to half.

#4. Keep your house ultra-clean.

For most people, hiring a professional cleaning service is the way to go. The pros know all the hot spots, and they can clean your home faster and more efficiently than you can (which frees up your time to do other things). But if hiring pros isn’t in the cards for you, that’s okay. Make sure you get all the spots buyers will look, including inside your cupboards and in the oven. Once you’ve done a major, full-house cleaning, all you have to do is maintain it while your house is still on the market.

Remember: If you clean everything, buyers may not notice – but if you miss something, that’s exactly what they’ll zero in on.

#5. Stage your dining room table.

Buyers don’t want to see a completely empty dining table. They want to see signs of life, because they’re going to envision themselves living in your space. That doesn’t mean you need to pull out the fine china and set the table as if you were hosting Thanksgiving dinner, but it does mean you need to put out beautiful placemats, maybe a vase of fresh flowers, and push in all the chairs to showcase how much gathering room there is.

Pro tip: Try to keep only four chairs at your dining table – unless your table is enormous. You want to highlight how much space is in the room, and having more than four chairs at a standard dining table can make the space look cluttered.

#6. Have your floors professionally cleaned.

Whether you have carpets, hardwoods or tile – or all three – consider having your floors professionally cleaned before you put your home up for sale. Professional cleaning can get rid of stains and odors that you don’t notice (because you live with them every day), which will help improve your house’s overall ambiance, too.

#7. Ease up on the furniture.

If you have a sofa, loveseat and recliners in your living room, think about paring down to the essentials. Again, you want to show off how much space you have – and if there’s too much furniture, the space is going to look cluttered. If you have a recliner that’s seen better days, it’s time to put it in storage, as well. You want buyers to see that you have a well-maintained, well-cared-for home that’s easy (and fun) to entertain in.

#8. Switch to neutral decor.

Take down family photos and decor that some people might not agree with. That includes religious decor, sports memorabilia and other collections, too. You want your home to look neutral – and that means decorating in a way that appeals to the widest range of buyers possible (like a hotel).

#9. Keep kids’ rooms super-neat.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of all is keeping children’s rooms looking neat and clean. That means having storage space for all the toys, books and other items your kids use every day. The reason? If your prospective buyers have kids, they want to see that kids’ rooms are spacious enough to keep neat – even if their own kids’ rooms are currently disaster zones.

#10. Tuck away toiletries.

Put away your personal toiletries when buyers come to call. Don’t even leave shampoo and soap in your shower – tuck it all away in a bin beneath the sink. Keep your counters clear, leaving behind only grouped items on a tray. You can stage your countertops (if there’s enough room) with an unlit candle, rolled washcloths and a vase of fresh flowers, all contained on a tray, in addition to soap pumps at each sink.

Pro tip: Don’t leave the towels your family actually uses in your bathrooms. Invest in a set of fresh, fluffy and preferably white towels that you can put out only for showings or when your home is being professionally photographed. You can use them in your new house – just don’t use them while your house is on the market.

#11. Give every room a purpose.

Don’t use the extra bedroom as a catch-all! Give it purpose while your home is up for sale. Whether you temporarily turn that room into a home office, a guest bedroom, a workout room or a kids’ playroom, you have to give the space a purpose – that’s what buyers want to see. Leaving a room empty can cause big problems (almost as big as using it for storage or a catch-all can), because buyers might think there’s wasted space they don’t need in the home.

#12. Clean up after your pets.

Not everyone loves pets, and that’s fine – but it does mean that you have to erase as much evidence of your furry family members as you can. When prospective buyers come to see your home, make sure that your pets leave the house with you. Also, bring toys, pet beds, litter boxes and other pet items (or put them in a box in the garage). You don’t want to accidentally alienate prospective buyers for any reason.

#13. Use seasonal accents.

Using seasonal accents is a nice touch. Fresh flowers, a jar of cinnamon sticks or rolled beach towels by the pool – no matter what you choose, seasonal accents are a great way to make buyers fall in love with your home.

#14. Make the most of awkward areas.

If you have an awkward space in your home, such as an opening beneath the stairs that hasn’t been turned into a closet or storage space, make the most of it. Talk to your REALTOR about turning it into something that appears more functional – she’ll have plenty of fabulous ideas to help you wow prospective buyers.

#15. Sell a lifestyle.

When you’re selling your home, you’re not just selling four walls and a roof. You’re selling buyers on the idea that your home is the place they want to spend most of their time. You need to show that it’s clean and easy to keep that way, and that buyers will enjoy their lives more than they already do after moving in. Your REALTOR will be happy to point out ways you can do that, but remember, things like placing rolled spa towels in your master bathroom, adding seasonal decor and sprucing up curb appeal are big ones.