Put Your Best House Forward
I know. It has years of memories, and you believe the house has your name carved into its soul. But once you decide to sell it, if you want to sell it fast and for a price that makes you pat yourself on the back later, you have to get to work and let go.
Homeowners can decide whether to stage their own home, or invite an expert to do it for them. Either way, if you have really released your house to the idea of it belonging to someone else, you then need to step into the exciting process of making it happen. Your assignment:
Fix structural issues like leaks, broken utilities, and physical damages so everything is operational, down to the doorknobs.
"Slim-and-trim" by packing up everything and moving it offsite to storage, except the few items you'll use for creating clean and organized spaces for main rooms, eliminating all signs of your personal history (declutter and depersonalize).
Update outdated kitchens, baths, flooring if you can afford to, which could mean full re-do, or just painting cabinets, changing light fixtures and knobs, and removing carpet to reveal the beautiful (possibly refinished) wood beneath.
Deep clean every inch and crevice to the sparkle of a new home, including baseboards and floors, ceilings and corners, walls and grout.
Reserve select furniture to stage at least your living and dining rooms, master bedroom, den or office; and pull out a few of your best lamps and accent pieces, plants and generic artwork, using your favorite photos from staged homes for sale you find online for inspiration.
This is all good. But in reality, picking out your own nice things is not really what real estate staging is about. You hire a Certified Staging Professional to bring in furniture and decor selected specifically for the opportunities your home presents, to create the wow factor for you, quickly and efficiently, based on what they know sells in today's market, in your region, for the most likely buyers for your property. Whew! Now that is all good.
Your stager will also have professional photographs taken to avoid unknowingly sending out those DIY negative-vibe photos that send prospective buyers running and screaming away from your home and into the arms of the home with great staging and stunning photos. A successful sale comes from a partnership between you, your real estate agent, and your professional stager.
Letting go as soon as you decide to sell, preparing your house for sale, and staging your home interior and exterior to send the right signals to the broadest buyer base -- even though the property no longer reflects you and your family's personality -- gets you to closing faster and ready to move on to the next chapter of your life.
Now that's putting your best house forward!