Home Staging: Best Practices and Tips to Stage a House for Sale

Home Staging: Best Practices and Tips to Stage a House for Sale

When it comes to home staging, according to the National Association of Realtors, 83 percent of real estate agents say it has a positive effect on how potential buyers view the home. What's more, according to the Real Estate Staging Association, homes that have been staged sell 73 percent faster than those that haven't been staged.

Ready to start staging and selling your house? Get the most out of it with the following tips:

1. Declutter

There's no doubt about it, decluttering your home is the first step you need to take in home staging. You want to highlight the beauty and space of the home, and a bunch of odds and ends will do nothing but distract from these features. Additionally, clutter could make the home hard to clean and will get in the way when it comes to adding the finishing touches.

To declutter for home staging, keep only the essential items in the house, and find a storage facility for items that aren't essential. Essential items could include furniture, attractive decorations, and appliances. Don't go overboard with the furniture, though. Keep only the best stuff in the house.

2. Perform a Deep Clean

Now that you've decluttered your home, it's time to make it sparkle. A simple spring cleaning session is a good start, but cleaning for staging goes beyond a quick wipe-down. Here are some to-dos to add to your cleaning checklist:

Pressure wash the exterior and walkways;
Scrub baseboards, walls, fixtures, and all visible surfaces;
Clean out the refrigerator;
Shampoo carpets and remove stains;
Make sure bathrooms are pristine;
Wipe down windows;
Use an upholstery cleaner for furniture;
Remove all dust and polish wooden surfaces.

Everybody wants a clean house, so this is a significant step. Consider hiring a cleaning service, if possible, to make the house look as new as possible. The average price of a professional house cleaning service is $167, which is an expense you may want to consider if you don't have enough time to get down and dirty.

3. Stage the Most Important Rooms First

According to the National Association of Realtors, the most common rooms that people stage are the living room (93 percent), kitchen (84 percent), master bedroom (78 percent), and the dining room (72 percent). No doubt, these are the rooms that most people want to show off, but if you have other rooms, you'd like to highlight — such as an office — feel free to concentrate on them as well.

It makes sense to stage your most appealing rooms first. That said, the most common rooms that people stage are also the rooms where people spend the majority of their time. Add the special touches to the main rooms while making sure the remaining rooms are immaculately clean and well-lit.

4. Create Curb Appeal

Buyers will see the exterior of the home first, which is why curb appeal makes a big difference, particularly for buyers who are driving around looking at houses. Landscaping can improve a home's value by as much as 5.5 to 12.7 percent. The exact appreciation amount depends on what type of landscaping you do, as well as the home's original value. All told, a $300,000 home could see anywhere from $16,500 to $38,100 in value appreciation from landscaping alone.

In addition to making sure it's well manicured, you can add flowers, shrubs, and any other plants that make the yard pop. Some other curb appeal ideas include:

Paint the front door an attractive color that stands while complimenting the scenery;
Refresh the trim on your house or paint it a new color;
Consider repainting the entire house;
Fix cracks in the driveway and walkway, or install new materials, such as brick;
Lay down fresh bark, stones, or other xeriscape materials where appropriate.

From planting new trees to putting in a fountain, curb appeal can go as far as you want it to go. The key is to make sure your property looks as great from the outside as it does on the inside.

5. Float the Furniture

Staging furniture correctly takes finesse. To that end, floating furniture is one method that can really bring out a room's essence. To "float furniture" means to place it strategically away from the walls. Benefits of floating furniture include:

It improves the flow of traffic through the room;
It divides a room, which is particularly useful if you have a large room that has several purposes, e.g., a living room and dining room with no partition between them;
It makes a room more intimate for times when you're sitting down and chatting with guests;
It creates a focal point — floating furniture can be arranged around a fireplace or ornate coffee table;
It creates an illusion of space by giving the walls room to breathe.

Use your instinct as you arrange the furniture in your main rooms. How can the shape of the furniture compliment the room? Can you create a focal point in the room — such as a piece of art or a window with a view — and arrange furniture in such a way as to benefit the flow of traffic? Even small rooms can benefit from staging and floating furniture. Use your designer's eye as you make your way through each room.

6. Make the Lighting Inviting

Each room needs ample lighting. Sweep curtains aside and open blinds to let natural light in. Place lamps in areas without overhead lighting and make sure lamp shades are clean or new. Replace old bulbs and aim for the highest possible wattage in each socket. Use warm, inviting incandescent or energy-friendly compact fluorescent bulbs in most rooms. Use bright fluorescent bulbs for large dark rooms, such as attics or basements, LED bulbs for directional lighting, and halogen bulbs beneath cabinets and in other compact, dark spaces.

7. Place Plants and Other Visual Flourishes

Almost any room can benefit from some greenery. Plants help cleanse the air and keep the place smelling fresh. A wooden bowl full of fresh fruit is a nice touch for the kitchen, and a vase full of colorful flowers is a nice touch on the coffee table in the living room.

Other visual bonuses can include things like a hammock in the backyard or books stacked neatly on a night table. Place items based on your lifestyle and taste.

Take special care when you're staging your house, and set yourself up for the best (and ideally the fastest) sale possible.