Dressing your House
The CENTURY 21
® System objective is to sell your home at the best
price possible in the shortest amount of time. Highlighting the features of
your home is very important if you want to sell close to your asking price
and as quickly as possible.
Home staging is the process of preparing your home for sale. This
guide will help you highlight your home’s best features in ways that appeal
to your prospective home buyers’ senses and emotions. It includes great
interior-design ideas and home-improvement tips. Staged homes are
perceived as comfortable, attractive and well cared for, and have been
proven to sell faster and for more money.
The indoors
MAKE AN ENTRANCE
You can start out by setting your home’s fragrance, since it is the first
sense they will encounter upon entering your home. This is your opportunity
to make a big statement in small area. Make your foyer welcoming by featuring
a natural flower arrangement and continue with smaller arrangements
throughout the house. What you need to avoid is strong pet, cooking and
tobacco odors. Having pleasant music playing in the background will also
help set your stage.
LIVING ROOM AND DINING ROOM
Clean and spruce up all rooms, furnishings, floors, walls and ceilings.
Remove knickknacks from tables, countertops and bookshelves. Remove all
unnecessary furniture to make your rooms seem more spacious. Brighten
rooms with a fresh coat of paint. Choose neutral shades of white, off-white,
beige or light pastels that will coordinate with most decors. Give your
home an open, airy feel by opening the curtains and pulling up
the blinds. Turn on as many lights as possible.
KITCHEN AND BATHROOMS
Kitchens should be absolutely spotless. Remove excess kitchen
appliances. Make sure all major appliances are working. Clean the oven and
refrigerator inside and out. Remove magnets from the refrigerator door.
Bathrooms are just as important. Remove stains from bathroom fixtures,
repair dripping faucets and polish mirrors. Add sanitizers to toilet bowls and
keep lids down. Wash and fluff bathroom rugs, hang fresh towels. Potpourri
and scented soaps add a nice fragrance to the air.
BEDROOMS AND CLOSETS
Same principle applies to the bedrooms. Remove all unnecessary
furniture and give it a fresh coat of paint. Keep all closets organized and
uncluttered. Pack away out of season clothing and holiday stuff to make
your closets seem more spacious.
BASEMENT AND GARAGE
These spaces are important because it shows potential additional storage
space in the house. To keep the entire house uncluttered, most of
the packed boxes will end up in one of these two spaces (basement or garage).
With this in mind, it is important to keep these spaces clean and organized.
Make sure that all stored items are neatly organized and out of the
potential buyer’s way giving them ample space to move around the room.
If it’s possible, try to keep the car space in the garage free of items to give
the potential buyers the opportunity to picture their own car in the space.
Ask your sales associate for additional tips on getting your home ready
to sell. Also, let your sales associate show the house. He or she knows the
business and will present your property to its best advantage. Plus, potential
buyers usually feel more comfortable when the seller is not present.
Each CENTURY 21
Registered trade-mark of Century 21 Real Estate LLC, used under license.
TM, Trade-mark of Century 21 Real Estate LLC, used under license.
® office is Independently Owned and Operated. ®,
Posted by Madeleine Rodriguez
on November 1, 2010