Are you ready to sell your house with Castle Brokerage? Before listing it, you should take some simple, affordable steps to show your home in the best light possible. Decluttering, depersonalizing, and staging your home can help attract more buyers, boost its value, and reduce its time on the market.
Remove at least a quarter of your belongings
To make your house look more spacious, remove at least 25% of your belongings, preferably closer to 50%. You should do this before taking any listing photos or videos. If you are like most people in America, you have far too much stuff. You can use moving as a time to declutter and become more of a minimalist.
Organized closets add value to your home, but even the biggest closet won’t help sell your home if it’s packed to the gills with clothing and other items. Begin by sorting your clothes into piles of things you want to keep, donate, sell, or toss with an aim to keep only the things that you’ve worn regularly in the last year.
Decluttering doesn’t end with clothing. Buyers will open your kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers, too. They want to see if the home has enough storage space, and if it’s cluttered, they’ll be left with a bad impression. Whatever stuff you want to get rid of, do it now and then start putting things you are keeping into storage or somewhere else out of sight.
Depersonalize your home to appeal to the masses
You want your home to attract the largest number of potential buyers possible. In order to do that, you need to depersonalize and make it more neutral. For example, if you have any unusual or bold paint colors on the interior or exterior of your home, you should consider repainting in more neutral hues. However, according to CBS News, having stark white bathroom walls can actually reduce the value of your home. You’ll also want to remove family pictures, heirlooms, and knick-knacks so that buyers don’t become distracted when viewing the home.
Deep clean before taking photos
You don’t want to incur the costs of replacing all your carpeting, so instead you’ll need to steam clean them. You can rent a steam cleaner and do it yourself for very little cost, or look for coupons and specials on professional cleaning.
Clean your house from top to bottom, paying extra attention to bathrooms and the kitchen where buyers will take the closest looks. Don’t forget about your walls, doors, tile, and baseboards. If your household is like most, they are probably scuffed up a bit. Grab a Magic Eraser and get to work. Also be sure to wipe down door handles and light switch covers, and clean your windows.
Don’t skip staging
According to The Mortgage Reports, you can sell your house more quickly and for more money if it is staged. If you have room in your budget, you can get assistance from a virtual staging expert. You can find a professional by browsing lists of house interior-related services on freelance job websites.
If you’d prefer to stage the home yourself, you can take simple steps to make your home look bigger, brighter, and better.
- Remove extra or bulky pieces of furniture that make your rooms look smaller than they are.
- Replace heavy window treatments with more airy varieties to let in more natural light.
- Add white bedding, towels, and accessories to make your home look crisp and clean.
- Use throws and pillows in different textures to hide old sofas or chairs.
- Take all small appliances and other clutter off your kitchen counters and tuck them away out of sight.
- Hide toys in storage pieces and place pet items under your kitchen sink.
- Remove everything from your bathroom counters and inside your shower.
By following these decluttering, depersonalizing, and staging tips, you can present your home to buyers in the best way. Soon, you’ll be fielding multiple offers and be on your way to start the next stage of your life in your new home.
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