Enhancing Your Home for Sale

By Val Sharp

You've decided to sell. Like most people, you probably just want to get it over with and move into your new place. The quickest way to do that is to spend a bit of time and money making your home the best it can possibly be. If you were selling your car, you would probably pay to have it 'detailed' so it would sell better. Think of home staging as 'detailing' your home.

People are busy. They want a home that's in "move-in" condition. It's a proven fact that potential buyers have no imagination, and tend to overestimate the cost of re-carpeting, painting, and repairs. If a buyer is spending $300,000 on a home, an extra $10,000 isn't very much - but a seller has to work a long time at a job to earn that much after tax.

So what does it take to enhance your home for sale? Start with the outside. It takes less than 60 seconds for someone to decide whether they like a home, so first impressions are critical. Plus, if a person's first impression is negative, they will look for things to reinforce that first impression. Alternatively, if their first impression is positive, they will look for ways to reinforce that.

So tidy up the yard. Make any obvious repairs. Repaint the trim. Buy a couple of flower-pots to flank the doorway. Make sure that first impression is a good one.

Think about creating multiple first impressions throughout the home. The foyer and the first room they walk into must be special.

The other critical rooms to stage are those rooms that people spend a lot of time in - living room, family room, kitchen, master bedroom and ensuite.

Most of us know the basics of real estate staging:

Clean everything - obsessively.
Get rid of clutter - You want the prospective buyer to be imagining the home as theirs. Clutter not only detracts from the house, but is a distraction that turns their mind away from imagining living there.
Eliminate personal items - Pretend you're a spy. Would you be able to tell anything about the people who live in your home? If so, remove it or change it. The buyer needs to see the house as their potential home. That's hard to do if it feels too much like your home.

Now for a few other tips.

You want to neutralize the home to maximize its appeal to the greatest number of buyers. This is what will help it sell faster and for more money. Look at the decorating in your home. Is it specifically your taste or would most people like it? Warm, neutral colors will appeal to the most number of buyers.
Bathrooms and Master Bedrooms should look like hotel rooms. You want people to linger and if these rooms are too personal, people won't stay in them. In the bathroom, put away all personal items. Even the medicine cabinet should be cleaned out. People will open cabinets and closets.
People are looking for storage and space. In all closets remove approximately half of the clothing; organize the remainder by color; put all clothes on consistent hangers; fold clothes neatly as if displaying them in a store.
Create a sense of space and beauty by editing the furnishings. Everyone wants more space. Remove any furniture that tightens spaces. If a couch or chair makes you turn your body as you walk by, or just makes a passage look small, get rid of it.
You want to create an environment that is inviting, and helps the buyer imagine using the home. Set up a small games table, or leave a book on a reading chair with a warm throw. Make your deck look ready for a BBQ.
Remember that the focus is on the architectural features and selling points of the home, and not the contents. Use furniture, artwork and accessories to direct the eye away from something negative, or toward those features you want to highlight - a great view, stunning fireplace, beautiful built-in cabinets.

Quick little warning: Don't go overboard and make the house look too "staged" or perfect. That can just be a distraction. Or, people will think it looks very nice but it doesn't feel 'homey' and they can't imagine living there. The trick is to balance staging a house with keeping some of its lived-in warmth.

When someone comes to look at your home, you know it already meets their basic criteria - right neighborhood, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage.

However what makes someone want to buy your home is the emotional connection they make to it when they feel "at home" there. So your job is to help them imagine themselves living in the home the whole time they are in it. Applying these simple tips can do just that.

Val Sharp is the founder and past president of the Canadian Re-designers Association and the author of “The Art of Redesign – 5 Simple Steps to No-Cost Redecorating”. She instructs people in starting their own interior redesign and home staging business. If you want to become a redesigner or home stager or you want more information about Val and her book, stop by www.sharpredesigns.com