Selling A Home: Some Practical Advice – Part 1
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
In a recent article on about.com, “Home Staging & Staging a House – What is Home Staging?,” Elizabeth Weintraub presents a novel idea that might just help sellers obtain top dollar for their homes. The article’s subtitle, “Dressing a House for Success,” reminds readers that home staging is “more than decorating.” What the author means is that this is a process that helps sellers engage the imaginations of potential buyers by presenting a house in a manner calculated to emphasize its strong points and minimize its weaknesses. The whole point of home staging is to excite and involve buyers and make them want to live in the home. This is likely to have a positive impact on real estate sales in Raleigh North Carolina.
So how does it work? One of the most fundamental processes in home staging is called “depersonalization,” meaning the removal or reduction of religious items, certificates, cultural items, awards, trophies and similar objects that refer to the current occupants. Along with decluttering, depersonalization makes potential buyers feel comfortable in the property and, more importantly, helps them imagine how their furniture and possessions will look in various rooms and locations in the house. This, in effect, transforms them into buyers long before they make an offer for the home. Depersonalization also makes the home appealing to the widest possible universe of potential buyers while downplaying its flaws.
If you want to try some staging tricks on your own, here are a few key tips:
Apply a conditioner like orange or tung oil to wooden surfaces in the home like cabinet doors and to give them a glow.
Place a large bowl of appetizing fruit on a kitchen counter. Also scatter some cookbooks and cooking accessories around the kitchen like baskets or crocks containing wooden and metal tools.
In bathrooms, have scented soaps and lotion dispensers on hand in decorative baskets. Fill another basket with towels tied with ribbon.
Remove wallpaper and give the walls a fresh coat of paint in a neutral color. This is especially important in the living room and kitchen.
Accent patios and decks with potted plants and flowers.
Draw attention to the entry and foyer by painting the door in a vibrant color and using a complimenting color in the foyer. A small table and mirror on the wall add functionality and give a “lived-in” feel.
Give living rooms and family rooms an open and airy look. Use slip covers on worn furniture and arrange furniture in a “conversational” way that invites people to sit down and enjoy the room.
Properly done, home staging presents your home in the best possible light. It’s not hard to learn and will maximize the property’s appeal to the largest number of potential buyers, which will in turn stimulate sales of real estate in Raleigh North Carolina.
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