How to Stage Your Own Home

Trying to sell your home can be a time consuming and aggravating process. Sometimes people will hire a home stager to come in and re-organize things in the home to make it more appealing to buyers. Usually a fresh pair of eyes can see things that homeowners who live in the house daily do not see. A home stager does charge money and can be rather expensive. If you don't have the money to pay someone else, here is how to stage your own home.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Clean out the clutter! Rent a storage unit, have a yard sale, do something to rid your house of clutter. Potential home buyers do not want to see how much junk you have. It is a major turn off, and it will make your home seem smaller than it is. So pack away all those knick knacks, sell all those stuffed animals in the yard sale, and hide that collection of baskets somewhere out of your home.

2. Now that you have taken the clutter out of the house. Look at the kitchen. Make sure that your counter tops are cleaned off. It is ok to leave a coffee pot on there, but try to store everything else out of site. Home buyers want to see all the room the counter tops have, they want to be able to imagine their own items on top, and if yours are sitting there, it may be hard. Plus all the stuff on top of the counter top will make it appear that there is not much space there.

3. Go through your entire house, and make sure that every light bulb works. If they don't replace the ones that need replaced. But do not leave burnt light bulbs in the socket so when someone tries to turn them on, they don't work. Home buyers get very annoyed at this little itty bitty thing alone. It could also make a home buyer think that maybe something is wrong with the electrical system in the house, and could make them search for a home elsewhere!

4. Rid your home of all pet odors. No one wants to walk in to a house that smells like a zoo! Also some people may have pet allergies, and they don't want to have to think about what they need to do to rid the house of the dander from pets, or the smell. So they may just move right past your house to the next one that is for sale.

5. Last, first impressions start when they potential home buyers pull into the driveway. Make sure that your lawn is mowed and flower beds are weeded. An un-manuicured lawn could make the potential home buyer think badly about your home when they first pull up, putting them in a bad mood. This is not what you want. Keep them in a good mood, and give them a good first impression.

[GreenMomma]

on 7/2/2009 Great tips for anyone selling or not!!!

[magnadea]

on 6/18/2009 Good advice on how to stage your home for sale. It is amazing what difference this can make. 5*

[designyourlife]

on 6/18/2009 Great tips for staging your own home! Also, don't forget to de-personalize your home. Remove family photos and items that might make potential buyers feel as if they are invading your private space.