RICHARD Team can provide you with expert advice on how to effectively stage your home for a successful sale.

What exactly is home ‘staging’? Staging is where you prepare your home so that potential buyers can see themselves living there, and where the best features of your home are front and centre. It ensures that your home is inviting, spotless and uncluttered. Nobody will buy a home unless they can see themselves living there.

Staging helps you sell your home more quickly, and at the best price. Mortgage companies will more likely lend money to a home that is easily appraised and appears to have value. When a staged home sells everyone benefits.

Richard Real Estate Team is pleased to offer home staging advice at no cost to all clients listing their homes for sale with Richard. There are also many home staging companies whose services you can hire. Or you can do it yourself by following these simple steps.

Step 1: Declutter

It is vital that your home looks as open and spacious as possible, even if you have a tiny studio apartment. Clutter is too much of:
• books: be sure you keep only a small number of books, and that they are shelved standing up, spines facing out.
• knick-knacks: remove all artefacts, collections of any kind, crafts, keepsakes, etc; all surfaces should be clear.
• furniture: store or sell any excess furniture; keep only the most important pieces relative to the space; the room should be as empty as possible while still looking furnished.
• accessories: remove throw pillows, area carpets, plants (keep one or two).
• family photos: depersonalize the space totally; you may be proud of your family, but buyers want to see themselves in your home, not you!
• kitchen appliances etc.: remove all cooking accessories to completely clear off the kitchen counters, top of fridge, top of cabinets e.g. rice cookers, electric can openers, spice racks, knife holders, and so on.
• pets and pet accessories: keep all pets out of the house whenever a buyer visits; put away dog / cat beds, litter boxes, toys, and so on.
• anything else that fills your home!

Closets and cupboards count too! Buyers will want to check the storage space in your home. Be sure all closets throughout your home, and all kitchen cupboards are well organized and are not overly full.

Step 2: Decorate

Once you have cleaned out your home completely, it is time to return some items and add some new ones.

Do you have a single piece of art that can be a focal point? Are your floors completely bare? Add an area rug to consolidate your seating area, even if you have wall to wall broadloom. Would a vase with cut flowers add that special touch?

What about your walls? Do you have highly patterned or floral wallpapers or wallpaper boarders? It is best to remove them or paint them over. Are your wall colours bold? It is best to tone down your wall colours to neutral colours or at least colours that are comfortable and inviting – check with your local paint store for colours that will do the job.

Step 3: Assess the result

Now that you have done all the work, stand back and look at your home with a critical eye. Try to see your home as a buyer would see it for the first time. Is it bright and spacious looking? Can you walk through the home, from room to room, without any obstacles? Tweak anything outstanding to make your home perfect for viewing.

Step 4: Curb Appeal

If your home is a house rather than a condo, remember that the outside gives potential buyers their first impression, and may even influence if they will come in or not!

Just stand across the street from your house and look at it with a critical eye. Consider the following details that may need attention:
• Peeling or faded paint
• Leaning or broken fences, gates, railings
• Overgrown grass, trees, shrubs
• Weeds
• Toys, bicycles, or any other household items lying around
• Oil stains in the driveway
• Anything else lying or stored on the property.

Be sure that buyers are impressed with a well-cared-for home when they drive up to your house.