Is your house ready for the competition?
Selling your home may not qualify as an Olympic sport, but you can bet there will still be plenty of competition. If this is the year you decide to sell and move on, you need to get your house in shape, and it's going to take more than a stroll around the block.
For most people, it really doesn't take a lot to get your house ready for sale. Of course, there are homeowners who have put off not only updating projects, but also maintenance projects, and they will be paying the price. But for the majority of us, it's a lot easier. This week let's talk about staging your home, and next week we'll tackle the not so much fun stuff like maintenance and renovations.
We'll start with the item that is always at the top of every "getting your house ready for sale" list – getting rid of the clutter. Getting rid of clutter doesn't only mean picking up the shoes, toys and stack of mail lying around. It also means getting rid of actual pieces of furniture and reducing the clutter in the closets. Storage space is always a selling factor. Professional home stagers frequently eliminate half of the owner's furnishings, making the house look much bigger and eliminating the distraction of furniture. In addition, too many personal items will also distract buyers who may be more interested in your daughter's wedding pictures than the fresh coat of paint on the walls.
Too many of us have rooms that either have no purpose or a purpose that is not customary to the average buyer. For example, bedrooms converted to music rooms and family rooms converted to formal dining rooms that may only be used on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time to repurpose these spaces so they appeal to traditional buyers. Put the formal dining room set in storage and furnish this space with a few comfortable sofas and a large screen TV, and replace your son's guitars with a desk and some soft lighting.
Give yourself permission to move the furniture. Just because the armchair has been in the same spot for 10 years doesn't mean it's anchored to the floor. It may actually work better in another room, perhaps the former music room. Another staging trick is to float furniture away from the walls, creating conversational groups with a user friendly flow. Also add green plant elements to cozy things up along with a very few decorative items like books, baskets and neutral pillow accents. If you're an art collector, remember that every square inch of a wall does not need to be covered better to let the walls breathe a little.
Making a small investment in new bedding, bathroom towels and throw rugs to perk up older tile floors will end up being a great return on your money. It's also something you can take with you when you move.
Finally, staging is all about lighting, something that is frequently overlooked. The rule of thumb is a total of 100 watts of light for each 50 square feet. That should be spread out among ambient overhead, task lighting using pendant, under cabinet or reading and accent lighting using table lamps and wall accents. Sounds complicated, but the objective is to create a warm and welcoming space with great lighting.
Next week, we'll talk about some of the more practical things you need to do before selling, so break out the rubber gloves. You may not be able to buy your house running shoes to get it in shape, but you will be able to buy it a can of paint and a bottle of bleach. Good luck. The competition is fierce, and the games are just starting.