Staging Must-Do's

Selling an empty home is more difficult than you might think. Many of my clients think that living in the house while it is being listed makes the home less likely to sell. They believe that because there is a chance that the house is not spotless they will have a more difficult time selling it. In my experience, this isn’t the case. Having the home furnished while potential buyers walk through gives them an look into what their life might look like if they were to purchase the property. 

When a seller has already moved out of the home, I encourage my clients to stage the home. Certain staging companies vary in what they offer. There are certain aspects that in my opinion are absolute musts. Here is a brief list of some of my most highly recommended home staging components. Some might surprise you.

Living Room Furniture 

Okay, no shocker here. When people consider buying a home their entertaining space is a big part of what they envision. How will my life be here, how will my friends, family and other visitors feel as they are in my home?

Kitchen / Dining Area Furniture

This is particularly true for women. Call me sexist, if you so desire but I’ve been selling homes long enough to know what is most important to particular people.

Men will walk into the kitchen and be like, “Sweet, it has a kitchen.” 

Women walk into a kitchen and say, “Oh I love how the kitchen window looks over the backyard.”, “Oh good, there is enough counterspace, cabinets, etc.”

Pictures on the Walls

Once again, more important to women than men. However, in my experience it’s honestly more important to appeal to women than men in the home buying process. Men wouldn’t even notice if the room had pictures up or not but women will. Having beautiful pictures hung on the wall make a living space feel more homey.

Curtains

This is more in almost every case. It can sometimes be a bit of a hassel hanging drapes and curtains and not many staging companies do it. The reason I put so much emphasis on it is because if the windows are small certain curtains can make them feel bigger. If the windows are already large there are different curtains that can draw even more attention to them! Great windows are very valuable. Potential home buyers will always comment on the presence or abesence of natural lights. 

These are my top recommendations. Do what you will with this advice but I feel confident staged homes that follow these steps will sell more easily.