Angie's LIST Guide to
Home staging

With home sellers competing at unprecedented levels, boosting the chances of getting a home sold quickly can be crucial. Many home sellers turn to home staging to gain an edge on the competition.

If you’d like to try your hand at home staging, here’s a guide to help you stage your home like the pros and save yourself a bit of money in the process.

Home staging is more than just preparing a home for sale; it’s about marketing your home to the masses. According to the National Association of Realtors, staged homes sell for about six percent more, on average, than those not staged. When a home stays on the market, the price goes down. Staged homes sell faster, which means they’re less likely to be subjected to a reduction in price.

The concept of home staging will be a hard pill to swallow for many homeowners who have put heart and soul into their home. But the key to staging properly is to remove the personal association with your house. You need to see your home as a commodity and let the emotional attachment go. For proper staging, the picture in the mind of potential buyers must be that it could be their home.

Part of the staging process is removing the clutter that makes your home “cozy,” but might turn a prospective buyer off. Personal items like pictures, family heirlooms and other trinkets reflect your own personal style. Potential buyers may have the same taste—or they may not. Your home must appeal to as many people as possible.

To get an idea of how you can stage your home, go to a model home or apartment. Look hard at what items are there, but most importantly, what items are not there: photographs, collectibles, items that reflect one’s political or religious views—all are missing. If you can fill in the blanks and imagine yourself in the model home, then the staging has done its job.

The importance of a property's first impressions, called curb appeal, cannot be overstated. The outside will set the perception for the whole house and could swing the decision to buy. Curb appeal scrutiny starts immediately when the house is listed online. Real estate agents judge the look and quality of the exterior photos before deciding to show the house to clients. Driving by, prospective buyers must be compelled by curb appeal to make an inquiry call.

Sellers that take a serious approach to managing outside appeal often sell their property quicker and closer to the price they are looking for.

Mow the lawn, weed the flowerbeds, trim and prune bushes and trees, replace old, worn or broken address numbers and mailbox. Paint the front door and put a new a doormat of neutral color down. If your car is more than a few years old or has some damage, park it down the street. If you have a patio or gazebo, bright and clean lawn furniture is okay, but stow away any toys or cute outdoor decor.