Staging Your Home to Sell

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As spring nears, sellers should put their best house forward

Whether you have thoughts of selling your home in the spring or you just want to preserve your home's value there are specific remodeling projects that will give you the best return on your home improvement dollars.

When you give the real estate market a close look, the conservative "Midwest mentality" has served us well during the national housing crisis.

Fortunately, our market didn't party with the mortgage lenders in places like Florida or California that created the housing bubble that eventually burst, sending foreclosure and short sales rates into record-breaking numbers.

History shows that the Peoria area has been borderline boring with regards to the increases or decreases in the number of homes that sell here each year and the price for which they sell. That's not a slam. In fact, it's what saved our behinds as we continue to watch other parts of the country try to recover from the bursting bubble of 2007-2008.

Was the Peoria area totally immune from the housing bust? No, but we joined the party late and our rebound has been a lot shorter than most.

So that's an up side to our conservative background. But there is a possible down side, too, and it deals with home improvements and selling your home.

Most of us grew up with the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" philosophy. Better yet, we believe that if we purchased a kitchen faucet 20 years ago it should still be fashionable and in working order today. That's fine if you plan on staying in your home forever and you don't care what the neighbors think, but if you have thoughts of moving to a larger home or even downsizing, you probably have some work to do on the past in order to move on to the future.

If you are a potential seller, get it in your head now that you must "stage" your home before you put it on the market. Staging is presenting your home in a way that will appeal to the majority of homebuyers. That means not everyone will love your collection of owls or the multitude of framed photos of your 30-something kids as babies.

Real estate experts — local, state or national — all have general rules and suggestions about staging. Most are simply common sense, but that doesn't mean everybody thinks of them when preparing to sell their home.

The first rule of thumb is to grab them from the curb. If your home's exterior doesn't make a good first impression, don't count on potential buyers walking through the door. Curb appeal can be as simple as putting out a few potted plants, power-washing the walkways, adding dark brown mulch to the landscaping and mowing the lawn. Get rid of those cheap, rusted coach lights on the front of the house and install new, larger exterior lighting that better reflects the scale of the home. The new lights may cost a little more than anticipated, but it's a small price to pay for getting attention.

One real estate expert said another good idea is to take a photo of your home's exterior at night and include it with your online photographs. "Doing the unexpected to showcase your home can help sell it," she said.

Once you have made the grade on the outside, the inside has to sing clean. Common sense will tell you to dust, vacuum, wash windows and baseboards, but did you think to organize the cabinets, the drawers and all the closets? Serious buyers will always give them a sneak peek. And don't forget to have a neutral nose give your home the smell test. You might be able to ignore the kitty litter in the laundry room or the dirty gym clothes in the bedroom closet, but don't expect buyers to forgive and forget.

One of the hardest things to do when staging a home is to depersonalize. Sure, you love the framed photos of family and friends on the mantel and all the memories attached to the golf trophies, but don't expect buyers to imagine living in your home with your personal stuff. Also, nothing turns off a buyer more than a home cluttered with wall-to-wall furniture. Find a place, even if it's temporary, for furniture that might cause the space to look smaller than it actually is and remove any furnishings that are worn or out-dated.

Can't do it, you say? Consider consulting a professional stager for furniture placement and advice on creating an inviting home that will appeal to a wide range of buyers.

Nothing says "buy me" more than a home that is light and airy. Achieve that look by simply eliminating any window treatments that block natural light. You can also allow for additional light in a room by putting 3-way light blubs in table and floor lamps. If you have dark or brightly painted walls, apply a fresh coat of neutral paint. Paint is an easy and affordable way to refresh a dull, dated room.

Another easy fix is to replace old light fixtures, door hardware and light switches. If you remember them as a kid, then they gotta go.

Selling a home can be a daunting task, but knowing what to do to set your home apart from the competition can make the difference between selling now or later. If selling your home faster and for more money is priority one, then consider staging your home to be priority two.

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