Selling your house is a big decision, and preparing it for sale is a bigger proposition (and more important!) than many people realize. We want to help set you up so it’s as easy as possible for you to find the home of your dreams in Cedar Ridge.
It’s tough letting go of the place you called home for years or even decades, and it can come with an emotional cost. There’s one thing to remember, though, right out of the gate: it’s not your house anymore. You are just living there until the next owner comes along, and that can mean some tough calls on your part. Here are some things to bear in mind when staging your home for the market.
- Neutral colors. You may have loved your red bedroom walls or the blue kitchen, but professional stagers will tell you those colors are too bold. Eggshell white, on the other hand, is too blah. Light grays or khakis are the way to go.
- Cut the clutter. That means more than just tidying up – you need to take almost everything out of a room. Bookshelves, cabinets, extraneous furniture, lamps, extra clothes…they’ve all got to go. Expect to have a filled-up garage, or plan on renting a storage unit. Rooms that are near empty look a lot more open, spacious and enticing to a buyer.
- No art or pictures. This is a pretty tough one. You’re going to have to take down posters, paintings, family photos and everything that made your house a home, and replace them with a strategically-placed mirror or two and maybe some generic, scenic photos. The psychology behind this is for the buyer to not see the house as yours, and to be able to start envisioning his own stuff in those spaces.
Preparing and staging a house for sale is practically a science, with proven tricks and methods that can get results. There’s a whole lot more to cover on this topic, so keep checking back on this blog!
