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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

6 Easy Steps to Staging Your Home for Top Dollar


Staging your home to sell for top dollar this upcoming spring involves following six easy steps that I want to share with you today. 

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How can you stage your home to sell for top dollar this spring? There are six easy steps that will have you well on your way.

The first step is to make a good first impression. The first impression a home makes comes from the outside, so make sure you pressure-wash the exterior, see that the lawn is well-manicured, and do anything else you need to do to the outside so that buyers aren’t turned off when they step out of their car.

The second step is to keep the home in “show ready” condition. Before you leave the house to go to work, for example, make sure the beds are all made, all dirty clothes are in the hamper, and any dirty dishes are stowed away in the dishwasher. You might not always have time to run home and get things situated before a showing, so this due diligence can save you a lot of time and energy.


Buyers need to be able to see themselves in your home.

The third step is to update your kitchen and bathrooms. This can be done rather inexpensively—you don’t need a total renovation from either room. For example, in the kitchen you can replace the hardware on your cabinets and add a fresh coat of paint on the walls.

The fourth step is to remove any and all personal photos and trinkets. Since you’re moving anyway, you might as well pack these items up. Buyers need to be able to walk into the house and picture themselves living inside it, and this can be difficult if there are mementos of your family festooned everywhere. I also recommend removing about one-third of the furniture in your house to make the interior look larger.

The fifth step is to hide all pet items. Not everybody likes pets, so remove any water/food bowls, litter boxes, or pet beds scattered about. It’s especially important that none of these items show up in any of your listing photos.

The sixth and final step is to hire an experienced agent. This means an agent that knows your market, knows how to price a house correctly, and knows how to market it for top dollar.

If you're interested, we can offer you a free staging consultation and offer you some tips on how to prepare your home for the market. If you are interested or have any other questions, please feel free to give us a call or send me an email. We look forward to talking with you!