10 Home Staging Tips For Beginners

The moment a client walks through your door is the same moment that determines your chance of selling your property. In order to attract every potential buyer’s attention, your home needs to have that “WOW” factor that will pull them deeper into your territory.

Consider the question: Is my home at its absolute best?

To answer that question, you have to understand a complex albeit simple process called HOME STAGING.

Home staging is the art of making your home look more attractive with the goal of highlighting your home’s most stunning assets.

So with the promise of a hopeful outcome, sellers tend to put time and effort into staging their homes so that buyers can visualize themselves moving in and living there.

According to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, home staging increases the value of a home and it greatly decreases its time on the market (Sellers’ Agent Perspective). It also affects how a buyer views the home by making it easier for them to visualize the property as their own (Buyers’ Agent Perspective).

Whether you’re selling your house or just looking to improve your home’s appeal and increase its worth, you’ll find our top home staging tips easy and light on the budget.

#1 Get rid of clutter

This is probably the number one rule to keep in mind.

Visual clutter can be distracting to potential buyers and may draw them away from seeing the important “stuff”.

Begin with clearing out items that seem “off” to your overall interior. Remember, you are about to court a new owner so it is crucial to take their perspective into consideration.

Buyers will not just look at the superficial part of the property but will tend to open closets and drawers, so maybe include them in your clean up if possible. Organized living space will align your vision to your prospective client‘s while making things simple. In this way, you are helping them envision the quality of living they are opting for.

#2 Remove personal items

Depersonalizing your home may suggest plain and ordinary but this blank canvas serves as your buyer’s starting point in visualizing the space as their own, which is the main objective of the home staging process.

Remove any traces of the previous owner as it can be a major turn off.

Go ahead and take down personal belongings such as photos, clothes, toiletries and other displays that speak ‘you’. This vacancy will expel all personality that used to linger in the home while catering to the buyer’s connection with the property. Allowing them to see more of themselves and less of you.

#3 Address necessary repairs

Start your repairs from the biggest holes to the smallest marks on your walls. Buyers are very watchful when visiting homes and can spot even the tiniest impurities that you might have overlooked.

Don’t let this bit of detail be the reason for them to turn away from that supposedly done deal. Focus on showing a well-maintained property rather than just making the place look nice.

#4 Stage where it counts

Living room, master bedroom, and kitchen — — these areas hold the most value when it comes to home staging as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Home staging doesn’t require you to stage your entire house since not all rooms are influential.

Consider directing efforts to areas where you can significantly influence your buyer’s decision into purchasing the property. And probably limit your time on rooms that are less likely to make a difference such as guest rooms, children’s bedrooms, and bathrooms.

#5 Go neutral with paints

Colors are indeed alluring and your personality is reflected in your choice of paint. Opting for neutral shades like gray, white, or taupe permits more natural light to bounce from wall to wall which gives that bright and airy space that buyers seek. In addition, these hues play well with sunlight and will produce great photography for a showcase.

Neutral paints give prospective buyers a piece to figure out how and what they want for a future home. While allowing them to depersonalize the property.

Painting may be time-consuming and requires manual labor but will definitely upgrade your home’s appearance.

#6 Do more than just the visuals

It’s time to step up your game and go further beyond sight! Home staging is not just about how the home looks but with everything considered from texture to scent and its overall appeal.

Make prospective buyers feel more at ease in a new space by giving them the comfort they desire.

You’ll want to establish a ground where they could fall in love and can commit to.

Take your home up a notch with comfortable furniture, pleasant textures, and authentic freshness. Add some throw pillows, soft blankets, or scented candles and maybe play smooth jazz in the background (just enough to create that inviting atmosphere).

#7 Create Open Space

Having a large conversational space gives the most benefit to homeowners as well as visitors.

This openness permits a positive flow throughout the entire area and offers visualization at a maximum. Photographs will be catchy to all potential buyers as they can imagine themselves living in the area. Going for a minimalist lifestyle will help create this quality of accessibility.

#8 Draw eyes to highlights

Suppose you have a big window with a nice overlooking view? Then let this be the highlight and immediately draw your buyer’s gaze into it.

Angling a few furniture in that area and allowing the natural light to stream in will bring your home’s greatest feature into sight.

Creating an outstanding visual will gain you considerable outcomes.

#9 Rearrange your furniture

This is one simple but smart way of staging your home to look its absolute best while requiring less from you. By moving your furniture to a more appealing position, you can design a walkable open space that most buyers love. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

You’ve added value to your home and entice buyers with as inexpensive means.

#10 Let there be light

When it comes to showing off a property in its best light, you need to bring in as much shine as possible. There’s a huge difference between a brightly lit living space and a room with low light.

Rooms beaming with natural and radiant lights look larger and feel more welcoming. In contrast, rooms with poor lighting tend to look smaller and feel gloomy.

Bonus home staging tip: Seek a top agent’s perspective

Selling your home can be overwhelming but working with your local agent will make it easier for you to determine what works best for your target client. They can provide objective feedback to guide you in the right direction and prevent you from doing unnecessary upgrades.

The key objective of staging is to give your home the chance to spark a reason for homebuyers to fall in love with your property in its simplest form.

About Zipp3D

Zipp3D is a premier real estate marketing firm based in Nevada, California, and Colorado. It was founded to bring together 3 elements to Real Estate: Creativity, Technology, and Marketing. The result is an ultra boutique media company that goes far beyond the day to day marketing needs for Top Producers.