Staging Your House to Sell--The Interior

Moving On Mondays

Once a potential buyer gets past your front door, you must trust the house to sell itself. In order to do that, you need to take away anything that is you, and replace it with decorating and items that are neutral. You want your home to look like a store display, so the buyer can envision themselves living in that space with their items, not yours.

Here are some basic tips for interior staging.

• Lighting--The house should be bright and cheerful. If there aren't overhead lights, then add floor or table lamps so every corner is lit. Use maximum wattage for your bulbs. Open blinds and draperies. Leave the lights on when you go out, just in case someone comes by to look at it while you're working.
• Painting--Cover any dark or bright colors. That doesn't mean everything has to be white or beige. Go with natural tones like green, taupe, blue or gray.
• Repairs--Thoroughly explore your house, looking for any little thing that needs repair. This might be holes in screens, carpet stains, broken tiles or leaky pipes. While none of these alone would prevent a buyer from making an offer, added up, they may make the house next door look better.
• Furniture Placement--Start with a focal point in every room. Then arrange the furniture around that focal point. Add in art work and accessories for a splash of color. Group displays in odd numbers--three to five of each.
• Clean, clean, clean--This can't be stressed enough. You may think a house can be easily cleaned, so the buyer should look past the dirt. But if the competition is showing at its best, your house may be passed on, even if priced lower. Potential buyers will be wondering how well the rest of the house is taken care of if you can't even clean it.