A stager preps her house for sale
As I sit here wondering what to write about, I think of change and how so many fear change. The one thing that is constant is change. I’ve worked with a few clients over the years that have a hard time with change. One client, during a staging consultation, had an issue with moving a chair away from the fireplace. “It has always been there”, they said. I explained how it was blocking the view to the fireplace and how we are selling the house and its beautiful architectural feature is hidden behind a chair upon entry into the space and in photos. The chair stayed put and the house lingered on the market for a very long period of time. The energy was blocked.
Change, whether rearranging furniture, editing items by de-cluttering will change the energy of the space. That change will bring on more change. If you are trying to sell your house, the way you live in a home is not the way to stage and sell a house. We need to make changes. We are not decorating to live but staging to sell.
Yes, I am about to put my house on the market. More importantly, I’m not quite ready but I have a few days to get each room ready for listing photos. I know how important is to prepare for photos but it difficult to be objective in your own home.
In my next column or two, I will cover the Country Living Fair. It is my favorite fair in the Hudson Valley. Next up will be of updates I’ve done in my own house last year. Those updates gave me a better product to sell, I only wish I did them sooner. Which leads me to the following public service announcement…
Love your house
Life can be hectic and months turn into years. My best advice is this: Love your house while you are living in it. Make those changes, whether it is refreshing with paint, replacing a worn out chair or carpeting or just letting go of all the items that are weighing you down. If you refresh, update and keep resale in mind, you’ll have a better product to sell. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this from my clients over the years, “We should have been living this all along”.
Staging To Do List
- Edit and forget. Think about this: do I want to move this item with me? If not, donate, sell or pass it along to friends or family.
- Paint. If you have not painted in years, select a neutral color and paint each room that needs it. Neutral does not mean stark white. There are many soft white colors to choose from. Choose wisely.
- Deep clean everything!
- Get each room picture perfect for the day your house will be photographed, hopefully by a professional photographer. Yes it matters.
If you love your house, it will feel good, not only to you but to potential buyers. Once a potential buyer emotionally connects to your home, consider it sold.