Hey, sellers: just putting your home up for sale and waiting for the potential buyer is *not* enough! (Yes, even in today’s market.) As a homeowner, you need to take steps to prepare your home before putting it up for sale.

Enter home staging, a smart way to increase your home’s worth and reduce its time to sale. Investments like adding art, improving furniture, repairing plants, and other thoughtful accessories can attract potential buyers who are willing to shell out more for your home.

The National Association of Realtors states that home staging affects 40% of the buyers’ decisions. Plus, that makes it easy for buyers to decide on a property.

Let’s find out how to make your home staging better to attract buyers and avoid any problems to sell your house quickly. You do not require spending a lot of money and time on the best staging tips.

Depersonalize the Space

Depersonalizing your home is the most crucial step in the home staging process. Make sure to neutralize your home décor and remove all things that indicate a personal taste. Show your home to buyers in the way that they can experience it as their own.

One of the best tips to attract prospective buyers? Present your space so the buyers can visualize themselves living there. Focus on adding the best piece of art for charm and style. Remove personal photos and anything hanging on the walls.

Do a Thorough Cleaning

According to Ellie Mayes, a home staging professional and owner of Upstaging Designs, one important piece of advice before putting your home for sale is to clean deeply, as it has a positive impact on the buyer. That doesn’t only mean vacuuming, washing, and scrubbing. Thorough cleaning includes wiping the countertops, washing curtains, cleaning all corners properly, and even washing doors inside and out. Additionally, polish all appliances to remove all smudges or signs of wear. (If you’re pressed for time, hiring a cleaning service is never a bad idea!)

Focus on Repairs

Would you buy a home with obvious defects? My guess is no. So make sure to fix all electrical problems, along with any poor grading or drainage system issues. The list doesn’t end there, however; check for roof problems, such as leakage, scratches, holes, and other repairs. Focus on all foundation problems and faulty plumbing. Additionally, buyers will be concerned about HVAC systems. Inspect areas that can really hurt the overall appeal, like a flat or obviously dated color palette, old and stained carpeting, broken tiles or floorboards. Your goal is to create the image of a home people would be proud to own—and these efforts will increase the value of your property.

Rearrange your Furniture

If you’ve ever shifted a sofa from one side of the room to the other and been ‘wowed’ by the results, you know that simply rearranging furniture has an impact on mood. And it adds a level of creativity to your space, showing off different ‘zones’ for all types of uses: movie watching, dining, art or homework, working from home, reading, etc.

Be sure to keep enough space open to walk through, so buyers to quickly visualize their furniture. Putting extra furniture away will help to balance a room. Focus on using right-sized rugs and remove any distracting or overly personal decorative pieces. 

Add Ample Lighting

There is no charm without lighting! You intuitively know that a well-lit exterior and interior can attract potential buyers. How do you put that into practice? 

• Replace the light bulbs that have gone dim. 
• Add more floor and table lamps and lighting so that every corner is visible. 
• In addition, hang a tasteful mirror or two to reflect the light. 

Make sure to add lighting strategically; over-lighting and bulbs that are too bright can detract you’re your home. (Nobody wants to feel like they’ve entered an interrogation room instead of a cozy den!) Focus on illuminating the dark corners and you’ll be on the right track.

Your home’s newly elegant, clean look can entice potential buyers. Following the above tips is worth the effort; give them a try and let us know how they work for you!