Highlight your home’s strengths, downplay its weaknesses, and appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers with these home-staging tips.
1. Start With Curb Appeal
First impressions matter, so make your home stand out the instant buyers pull up to the curb. Some upgrades can be done in a weekend and will cost more in sweat equity than actual dollars. A few suggestions: rent a pressure washer to remove dirt and grime from your siding, roof, fascia and gutters. Paint the front door and/or shutters a bright color, but make sure it coordinates well with the rest of the home’s colors. Replace old house numbers, lighting, the mailbox and welcome mat. Clean up the edging around flowerbeds and lay down fresh mulch. Fill in empty beds with small shrubs, seasonal flowers and greenery. Even if it’s the dead of winter, get a pair of urns or large planters and fill them with small evergreen shrubs and cold-hardy annuals. If you have window boxes, fill them with fresh greenery too. If your porch or stoop has room for furniture, add a couple of chairs to expand your outdoor living space.
2. Give the Kitchen a Facelift
Kitchens sell houses, so any updates you make have the potential to go a long way. And they don’t have to be expensive; some upgrades can be accomplished with mostly elbow grease. Pack up the seldom-used small appliances and holiday dishware for your next house and use up all the dry goods in the back of the pantry. Clear clutter off the countertops. Consider giving your cabinets a facelift with paint; go for classic white or try a dark neutral like gray or slate blue. At the very least, change the outdated hardware for an easy DIY. A corroded faucet or one caked with hard-water stains can be a big turn-off; swap it out for one with style and added function. Instead of replacing the dishwasher, check with the manufacturer to see if they sell replacement panels for your model. If not, peel-and-stick contact paper can be used to make your dishwasher and your other appliances look like stainless steel. To update a backsplash on the cheap, try peel-and-stick faux tile, tin tile, beadboard paneling or try painting the existing tile.
3. Rethink Furniture Placement
There’s a common belief that rooms will feel larger if all the furniture is pushed against the walls, but that isn’t the case. Instead, furnish your space by floating furniture away from walls. Reposition sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups, and place pieces so that the traffic flow in a room is obvious. Not only will this make the space more user-friendly, but it will open up the room and make it seem larger.
4. Depersonalize
Potential buyers want to be able to picture themselves in your home, and that’s hard to do if all they see are your personal items. Remove family photos, your kids’ artwork, framed diplomas and personal collections. Pack these items up to take to your new home and replace them with generic artwork.
5. Show Off Your Storage
Storage always ranks high on buyers’ priority list. Show off yours by decluttering your closets and cabinets. Keep closets neat by stashing items in matching baskets and cloth bins. Implement shoe racks and under-shelf baskets to demonstrate the versatility of your storage. Straighten out the linen closet and add a couple of satchels of potpourri so when buyers peek inside, they’ll be greeted by fresh-smelling sheets and towels.
6. Make Bathrooms Shine
Scrub the bathrooms, then scrub them all again. Nothing is going to turn off a potential buyer more than a scuzzy bathroom. Remove hard-water stains from faucets, make sure there is no sign of mold and remove clutter by whittling down your cosmetics and products in the vanity and medicine cabinet. Invest in new shower curtains, rugs and bathmats (you can always take them with you when you move). If the tile is looking old, consider having it repainted. If discolored grout is an issue, you can fix that with a $15 bottle of grout stain. If there’s moldy caulk around the tub or shower, remove it using a razor blade then recaulk the entire area. Then when all that cleaning is done, create a spa look with fluffy white towels, candles, a few fancy soaps and a couple of apothecary-style accessories.
7. Fill Your Home With Pleasant Aromas
A nice smell can have an immediate effect on the way we feel and think. Put your potential buyers in the right mood by making sure your home is filled with pleasant aromas. Let’s face it, we often don’t notice the subtle odors in our home that can come from things like our pets, mustiness that seeps in from the basement or even lingering odors from last night’s dinner. Place a diffuser in the entryway to help make a positive first impression. In the kitchen, place a scented candle on the stove — think yummy smells like vanilla, sugar cookie or strawberry. In living spaces, place a vase full of fragrant flowers like jasmine, lilac or roses. Use plug-in air-fresheners in the bathrooms and bedrooms.
8. Amp Up the Lighting
One of the things that make staged homes look so warm and welcoming is great lighting. Increase the wattage in your lamps and fixtures. Aim for a total of 100 watts for every 50 square feet. Don’t depend on just one or two light fixtures per room, either. Make sure you have three types of lighting: ambient (general or overhead), task (pendant, under-cabinet or reading) and accent (table and wall).
The Importance of Home-Staging
A well-staged home will sell for more than one that’s not been gussied up. Home shoppers, when they enter a nicely staged home, can imagine themselves living there. A home that’s not staged will force a buyer to look past all of the seller’s possessions to imagine the home as theirs. Photos of a properly staged home look better in online listings, which help sell the property.
Relative to the amount of time and money involved, staging may be one of the most lucrative projects you ever undertake. Potential buyers aren’t just looking for a structure to inhabit—they’re also looking for a way to fulfill their dreams and improve their lifestyle. Staging can create a more emotional purchase for the buyer, which ultimately can generate more money for the seller.
The median amount spent on home staging, when using a specialized staging service was $1,500, and $300 when the selling agent handled the task, according to NAR’s 2021 Profile of Home Staging Report. Still, a seller can spend more if needed, or if they feel the added expense will yield a better price.
The Bottom Line
Even if you have plenty of cash, don’t put too much money into the staging process. You want to emphasize the home’s best features, but keep in mind that what sells the home and what makes the home usable for the buyer are not necessarily the same thing. Overall, to get the most bang for your buck, your home staging efforts should be designed to appeal to the widest possible range of buyers. The more people willing to submit purchase offers for your home, the higher the selling price will be.
