When a potential buyer first steps into your home, you only have a short few seconds to make a good first impression. When they take a look around the rooms of your home, they will make a judgement very quickly about whether or not they want to purchase the property. One of the ways that you can ensure that your home makes the best impression possible is to do some staging.
Staging is the art of making improvements to the decor and atmosphere of your home in order to make it look more attractive to potential buyers. This could mean giving the rooms a fresh coat of paint or it could mean rearranging or removing furniture to make a space seem larger. Professional staging companies are skilled in the art of making a home look its best and will know just what details to change.
Staging your home is not just about what you should do, such as making sure that everything is clean and that there is a lot of natural flowing light entering the property; it is also about what you should not do. There are certain things that you can do that will make your home less appealing to potential buyers.
Here are a few of the staging “don’ts” that you should avoid when preparing your home for a viewing:
Leaving Your Family Photos on Display
Some people think that their cute family photos will help to sell a house, because it will give the impression that it is a nice place to raise a family. However, the opposite of this is true. When people are looking at a house, they want to be able to imagine themselves living in it and your family photos and other personal items can get in the way of this. They can’t imagine themselves in the space because it is so obviously yours.
When you are staging your home, try to remove all family photos, personal trophies or plaques or other items such as these. Instead, replace them with neutral artwork that suits the decor.
Going too Vibrant with Your Paint Colour
A fresh coat of paint can be one of the best ways to spruce up a room and make it look so much more fresh and inviting. However, it is important to be careful about the paint colour you choose. You might think it looks good, but if the buyer is worrying about how they will paint over your blood red or lime green walls, they will not be as likely to want to buy the house.
Instead, choose neutral tones and colours that will be appeal to everyone and will be easy for the new buyer to change if they want to.
Forgetting About Curb Appeal
Remember that potential buyers will see your home from the outside before they even venture in and they will make a judgment based on its exterior appearance. If you have broken toys in the front yard, an un-swept walkway and peeling paint on the garage, this can decrease the value of the home in their mind right from the beginning. When you are staging, you should always consider the exterior of the home, which is known as “curb appeal”.
Give the front of the house a coat of paint if necessary, plant some flowers to add colour, sweep the drive and rake the leaves to make the house look inviting and attractive to create that instant likability factor.
These are just a few of the common mistakes that many homeowners make when staging their home, so make sure you avoid them so that your potential buyers will fall in love at first sight when they see your property.
Emily Starr is a writer who believes that the appeal and look of a property has a massive impact upon whether you will be able to successfully sell your property. She suggests that if you are looking for experts in home staging, London based companies can help you to find one.