Home staging is one of the surest ways to increase the perceived value of a property that has just been listed on the local real estate market. In the past two decades, home sellers and real estate professional across the country have all recognized the treasure box that is home staging (also known as home doctoring).

Many home sellers have been able to sell their properties at much higher prices after staging their homes. Home staging also helps to close deals within a short period of time (one to two weeks). That’s the golden time frame needed by home sellers so they can cash in on a higher price for their properties. If a property is on the market for too long, potential buyers and real estate professionals will think of the house as a “cold property” and it will be harder to sell.

Home staging design tips

If you feel like sprucing up your own property before selling it on the market, here are some home staging tips that will help immensely in the process of doctoring your home to make it look like an ideal living space for potential buyers:

1. Focus on changes in your home that will provide immediate impact to potential buyers. Let their imagination roam free in your home – without distractions.

2. Most of your personal mementos should be removed before you show your house to any buyer. The reason for this is that people won’t be able to fully imagine themselves living in the various spaces of your home if your identity as the home owner is still there.

3. The process of staging a home and slowly moving out of a former home can be emotionally taxing at times. If this is the case with you, stop and then reorganize.

If you have to slow down with the removal of your personal mementos, do so — but don’t let that stop you completely. Keep things moving so that everything will be finished as scheduled.

4. The easiest way to raise the perceived value of a home is give it a fresh coat of paint both inside and out. However, care should be taken when choosing the colors that are going to be used on the interior and exterior of the home. Use only neutral colors when repainting your home. Neutral colors have broad appeal, which is why it’s best to use these colors when a house is going to be sold in the near future.
» Read more: Home Staging and Design

In today’s hard economic times and with the housing crisis in full effect, right now is the hardest time ever to sell your home. The market is completely flooded with numerous comparable houses to each other, and to put you ahead of the competition, most people tend to sacrifice their price in order to sell. Another way to maximize the chances of selling your home is to hire a professional home staging company to really make your house shine. This method will also save you a lot of money, because it lessens the chance of you having to continue to lower your home price until it sells.

What a home staging company will do for your home is completely furnish it and make it look the best it possibly can look. A house that is beautifully furnished is going to be a lot more appealing to a consumer than a house that has no furniture. People like to imagine what the house would look like with their furniture in it, and this can be hard for people to picture with a bunch of empty rooms. By letting home stagers strategically furnish your home you have for sale, it will give the consumer a general idea on how well the house can work for them

Right now is the best time to set you above the rest in real estate. You must expect to have many competitors that are trying to sell a similar house as yours at an equal price. Don’t let them seem even with your home, and make your home appear to be the better buy by furnishing it and making it feel like a home, not an empty square with rooms.

By Paul A Buchanan