3 Ways to Make Your Home More Appealing to Potential Buyers
Staging your home is one of the most important steps you can take toward getting your home sold. This is particularly true in this economy, as you have to do everything you can to make your home stand out if you hope to get it sold. But, what exactly is staging and how can you go about prepping your home to be put on the market? Here are a few simple things you can do to stage your home and make it more appealing to potential buyers.
Take Away the Personal Touches
One of the things that makes a house a home is the addition of personal items. While photos of your family and drawings made by your children are among the things that help give your home a warm feeling, these are also the types of things that will turn off a buyer. This isn’t because buyers are insensitive people who don’t want to see your personal possessions. Rather, it is quite the contrary – when your house is filled with personal possessions, it makes it difficult for potential buyers to anyone but you living in the home. Therefore, the first step in staging your home involves removing all of your personal photographs and other family heirlooms. Remember, you don’t want the buyer to wonder about the people who already live in the home. Instead, you want them to be able to clearly picture themselves living in it.
Remove the Clutter
Your little keepsakes may be attractive or special to you, but potential buyers won’t feel the same. Just as with personal items, keeping knickknacks in plain view will also make it difficult for the buyer to see him or herself living your home. Furthermore, knickknacks have a tendency to make a home look cluttered. In order to de-clutter your home, take the following steps:
* Remove books from your bookcases
* Pack away, give away or throw away your knickknacks
* Clear everything off of your kitchen counters
* Place the essential items that you use every day into a small box that can be tucked way in the closet when not in use
Think of the de-cluttering process as part of the packing process. By staging your home for potential buyers, you are getting a jumpstart on your packing!
Rearrange Storage Areas
The simple reality is that potential buyers love to explore every nook and cranny of the home, which means they will be opening your closets and cabinet doors. Therefore, it is important to make certain these storage areas are well organized. The neater these areas seem to be, the more likely the potential buyer will believe that there is plenty of storage space in the home. If items fall out, on the other hand, the buyer will feel as if the storage space is far too limited. You can create a neat and organized look in your closets and cabinets by doing the following:
* Make sure your dishes are stacked neatly
* Turn your coffee cup handles so they are all facing in the same direction
* Hand all of your shirts together with the buttons all facing in the same direction
* Line your shoes up neatly
If you have any extra clutter that you normally store in your closet, consider renting out a storage unit for those items or move them to your new home. This way, your home will have the nice, neat and organized look that will be sure to appeal to potential buyers.
Ryan Lynch is part of the marketing team for an Austin Real Estate Company: http://www.jimolenbush.com/
They specialize in West Austin: http://www.jimolenbush.com/west-austin.htm and Lake Travis: http://www.jimolenbush.com/laketravis.htmDistributed by http://www.ContentCrooner.com
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