How to Stage Your Home for a Quick Sale
Home staging is the act of preparing a house in a way that will make it most appealing to home buyers. If you want to sell your home quickly, you'll need to put a clean, well prepared house on the market. Gaudy wall paper, dark paint colors, thick window hangings and a cluttered mismatch of furniture just won't do the job. However, if you put the necessary time, effort and money into staging your home in the best possible light, the sale price you receive will reflect your efforts.
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Instructions
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Add curb appeal. The exterior of your home is the first things home buyers will see, so you need to make a good impression. Give your front door, trim and shutters a fresh coat of paint. Power wash the exterior of your home if it's looking grungy. Neatly trim grass, trees and shrubbery and add a fresh layer of mulch to flower beds. Plant brightly colored flowers or place flower pots and hanging plants around the porch. Keep the porch, driveway and sidewalk neatly swept and clear of toys.
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Clean the home from top to bottom. Have the carpet replaced or professionally steam cleaned. Launder window hangings, dust fans and wash the windows until they're pristine.
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Touch up details around the home to make everything look like new. Recaulk the bathroom and kitchen. Polish woodwork. Add new features such as faucets, light fixtures and fans if yours are dated.
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Paint everything that you can including walls, woodwork, doors and cabinets. Stick to neutral colors such as beige, peach, pale blue and light sage green. Even areas that already sport these shades will look fresher with new paint to cover smudges and stains.
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Brighten up the space with the brightest lighting possible. Take down all light fixtures inside and outside of the home and wash them in hot soapy water to get rid of dust, dirt and dead bugs. Replace your light bulbs with the highest wattage allowed by the manufacturer. Replace heavy window hanging with ones that let in plenty of light. Position mirrors opposite windows to further brighten the room.
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Decorate your home in an appealing manor. Scout around at other open houses or visit furniture showrooms for ideas. For example, matching throw pillows and window treatments will quickly pull any space together.
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Remove clutter and personal items. If you have so much furniture that it's difficult to move around, put some of it in storage while you're selling your house. Likewise, stash boxes, out of season clothes and anything else you can part with in a storage unit. Tasteful decorations are fine, but remove personal photos that give the home the obvious stamp of your family. You want buyers to be able to easily picture themselves living there.
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Plug in an air freshener. Over time homes can acquire a variety of smells. After a deep cleaning, hopefully the only smell in your house will be bleach and cleaning products, but plug an air freshener into every room to make sure things stay fresh and welcoming.
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References
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