After a fantastic meeting at our estate agency offices in Bishop’s Stortford with our recommend home staging queen Amanda Green (www.propertybydesign.net) last week, she reminded me about how powerful home staging can be. In Bishop’s Stortford estate agents often talk about how buoyant the property market is here and how homes are so in demand. But what if you could sell your home, AND achieve an extra £10,000, £20,000 or maybe even £50,000? Home staging is all about presenting your home in the best way to achieve the highest possible selling price, in the shortest possible time frame. You may well have the most beautiful home, that you’ve lovingly decorated and furnished, but it’s likely that there are still improvements you can make that will help you to achieve the best result when you sell your home with home staging. What I want to get across to you in today’s article is that home staging doesn’t have to be costly – so I will be sharing 5 top tips for home staging for under £100, whilst adding 10% to your home’s value.
Home staging by decluttering
Yes I do talk about this one a lot, but that’s because it’s dead important! Clear away as much clutter as possible and create as much space as possible in your home. Store non-everyday items away in boxes (well you’re going to be packing soon anyway!) and put them in the loft or store them at a friend or family member’s home. Other things to watch out for include; coats hanging on the backs of doors, toiletries in the bathroom, children’s toys, piles of paperwork or shoes and clothes – keep these items out of sight too.
Define your rooms
Did you know that 80% of property buyers cannot imagine a room looking any different to how it currently looks? Therefore, if they can’t imagine themselves living there – they’re pretty unlikely to buy it. That’s why home staging works so well! Rooms of mixed use really don’t work e.g. dining rooms used as an office, gym and laundry room as well as a dining room! Make sure that each room is clearly defined as the room it’s meant to be so buyers don’t have to try and work it out. That might mean borrowing some furniture from a friend or you can even rent items like beds or dining room tables – if it’s a bedroom make sure it looks like one!
Add some colour
Although homes generally need to be neutral in style they do need to have life and colour too. There’s nothing worse than an all neutral room with not a single hint of colour to be seen. Interior designers recommend that you pick a neutral background i.e. 70% of the room with 30% remaining for colour. Choose a bright colour and add a few items like some scatter cushions, a coloured throw and maybe a vase of the same colour. These don’t need to be expensive, go to somewhere like The Range in Harlow and you can get plenty of things for well under £100.
Here’s a perfect example of a house in Bishop’s Stortford where they have added just the right amount of colour:
Display fresh flowers
One of the easiest home staging tricks – a couple of vases of fresh flowers in your home give an instantly warm and homely impression to potential buyers. Everyone loves fresh flowers and it’s now been scientifically proven that flowers can improve your mood – and we certainly want our buyers in the best frame of mind possible when viewing our homes. Here’s the link to the article I found all about flowers and how they affect your mood – http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/04/17/flowers-really-do-make-you-hap/
One of our properties in Bishop’s Stortford, where flowers became a focus in the photography:
Look at show homes
I don’t know about you but I LOVE being nosy and looking at houses (well it IS my job!). One weekend, pop down to a local development of new homes (there are plenty to be found in Bishop’s Stortford) and take a look at the show home. Take a pad of paper and a pen with you and make lots of notes, look at how they stage their properties, what ideas can you take? New home developers spend thousands on professional home staging to create the right impression, so don’t reinvent the wheel, just take their ideas and apply them to your home before you sell!
So there you have it – home staging for under £100! We’re currently the only estate agents in Bishop’s Stortford offering a totally FREE home staging consultation when you sell your home with The Personal Property Shop. Why? Because we want to help you sell your home for the BEST price possible and in the shortest time frame too.
Thinking of moving? Then get in touch today to book your free valuation and find out more. Give us a call on 01279 719193 or email us at info@thepersonalpropertyshop.co.uk.
What to read next? ‘Why isn’t my home selling?’