Three Home Staging Tips for Louisville Home Sellers

Selling a home is so much more than listing it with a good agent and hoping for the best. One of the best things that a Louisville home seller can do to make sure that his house sells fast and for the best price is to “stage” it properly. Once thought of as an unnecessary “extra,” something only interior designers and real estate experts knew much about, home staging is now a must for anyone who wants to make top dollar. Even making a few simple changes—some that cost absolutely nothing—will make a world of difference when it comes time for the open house.

Don’t forget about the outside
Too often, people focus all of their attention inside a home and do nothing to the outside of the house. But when you are selling Louisville real estate a home’s exterior is the first impression that any would-be home buyer will notice. Perhaps the cheapest way to make that first impression a good one is to tackle the weeds. Get rid of all weeds as well as anything that is dead or simply unattractive, and remember that “simple” is often better than overgrown and complicated. Also, keep in mind that the outdoors is the new indoors. People today often see their deck or porch outside as another living room. Make sure the outdoor areas of your house not only make people feel welcome but also tempt them to put up their feet and relax a while.

Put aside the personal
We love to decorate our homes with pictures of our families and friends and display other knick-knacks and personal items that mean so much to us. But when a house is on the market, it’s best to box up those items and decorate instead with a small number of more impersonal accents. Prospective buyers have a hard time picturing themselves in a home that clearly belongs to someone else. The other important step in depersonalizing a home is evaluating the color scheme. You might love having bright pink or deep purple on the walls, but such loud colors appeal only to a limited number of personal tastes. For $20 bucks, you can pick up a gallon of paint in a clean, neutral shade which will appeal to a whole lot more prospective buyers.

Furniture: less is more
Evaluate the furnishings in your home to see if how many you have and the way they are positioned actually help or hurt your chances at a successful sale. Many people try to stuff too many pieces of furniture in a room. Maybe you like to have two couches, a love seat, two chairs and a recliner in your family room because you need lots of seating for all the entertaining you frequently do. That’s fine when your house is not on the market, but when it’s for sale, all of these pieces can make even a large room look small. Consider leaving just the couch and loveseat while the house is listed and arrange them to allow for an easy, smooth traffic pattern through the room. This will help buyers be able to appreciate the real size of the room and picture their own furniture in it.

It doesn’t take loads of money to stage a house for the best possible sale. Some simple fixes—that cost little or no money—can help increase the likelihood of a sale, reduce your home’s time on the market or even help justify the sale price. You can even consider it getting a jump-start on the moving process!

Louisville Real Estate - The best site to search all available homes for sale on the Louisville MLS.

Post a Comment