An article by Mon Mac from heritagemedia.com.au (updated on 28 April 2021)
The number of people who opt to stage a home for sale has increased in popularity now more than ever! People are jumping on board to showcase their property through great styling and beautiful imagery. The goal of staging your home is to get the best possible sale price. One person on the NSW Central Coast that understands how to stage your home for sale more than anyone is Michelle Murphy, owner and operator of Stage My Home To Sell. Michelle is helping to peel back the layers on what is necessary when styling your home and where you should spend your hard-earned money when it comes to staging it.
Should I stage a house to sell?
More and more people are really starting to see the benefits of how professional styling helps them achieve their best possible sale price. Not only does it help with the price, but it also helps by selling your house in a much shorter time frame. Let's be honest, no one wants to have their home sitting on the market and going through those open homes every weekend. Staging your home for sale is recognized as a necessity these days, when bringing home to the market.
Not too long ago, you would have had to go through every single open home. Nowadays withthe likes of realestate.com and websites, you don't even have to leave your lounge before you choose which home you're going to see in person.
Many people are looking online before they go out to open homes. So having your property photos stand out is super important. If you think back to the concept of visiting the builders' display homes, it's quite similar. Much thought goes into them and you leave there thinking, oh I really want my own home to look like this.
The best way to stage a house for sale
The majority of us don't have homes that look straight out of the pages of a magazine. It's just not practical. And the reason for that is most families can't live day-to-day with pure white linen so far and a $6,000 rug on the floor and perfectly coordinated cushions and things everywhere.
Here are some tips on the best way to stage a house for sale, without breaking the bank;
Stage Where It Counts
Focus your efforts where it matters! It’s been said many times by professional home stylists and real estate agents… Kitchens & bathrooms DO sell homes! In most cases, the kitchen truly is the heart of the home, and if you don’t make it shine, people will struggle to fall in love with your home. Having an appealing master bedroom also influencers the buyers decisions. So stage your home to sell by focusing on the rooms that matter!
Depersonalise Your Space
When buyers walk through your home, you’re giving them a glimpse of how the home could be lived in, not necessarily how the home is currently lived in. You want to appeal to a broad range of buyers rather than a specific market which is why depersonalising your space could be beneficial when staging your home for sale.
Get Rid Of Clutter
Less is more when it comes to staging your home for sale. The more you can declutter the more spacious your home will look and feel to buyers. Organise your pantry and cupboards if you’d like to highlight the storage aspect of your property. Remove any non-essential furniture to create as much space as possible.
Sparkle From The Curb
Curb appeal is crucial as the first impression that lasts with most buyers. Your home may be visually stunning inside, however, if buyers don’t get a great impression from the get-go, they may jump back in their car and head to the next property on their list. This is something to consider when staging your home for sale.
Keep it Neutral
When staging your home for sale, i’d suggest like always keep it neutral. If you think about how you go to visit a nice hotel, everything’s always just perfect, the bed linens pure white, the artwork is quite subtle. So we want to be careful that when doing your home up for selling purposes, but knowing that you’re going to be keeping this stuff and you want to like it as well, we just have to remember that for these purposes it’s about the buyer. So we’re not going to try and inflict our own taste onto them too much. I’m just thinking of a couple of horror stories where we say clowns all over walls. So keep it subtle, but some places to go, definitely, I think we were mentioning Coastal Road earlier, that’s a lovely little store. It’s always good to support local businesses.