Home Selling Tips – Winter Home Staging and Selling Tips

Home Selling Tips 1 - Keeping walkways and driveways free of the frozen stuff. If you are away frequently or live in an area that is subject to bad weather, it can pay to hire a service to regularly salts or shovels the driveway and sidewalks. 

Home Selling Tips 2 - Have the curtains and blinds cleaned and open them as wide as possible during daytime showings. Clean all the lamps and built in fixtures, and replace the bulbs with the highest wattage that they will safely accommodate. Before you show the house, turn on all the lights. 

Home Selling Tips 3 - Have a large rug or mat at the front door. This will not only protect your floors, but allow potential buyers an opportunity to wipe their feet before entering your home. 

Home Selling Tips 4 - Make sure the house is well lit. Open drapes and light every lamp. People want a home that is bright and cheery. Winter presents lighting problems, so add as much light as possible. 

Home Selling Tips 5 - Keep your house warm.  In the winter people tend to turn the thermostat down to save money; however a warmer house is more welcoming to a potential buyer. 

Home Selling Tips 6 - Background music played softly can completely change the atmosphere making the home seem cozy and keep potential buyers around longer.  Stick with classical music which can appeal to anyone. 

Home Selling Tips 7 - Keep your home scrupulously clear of ice and snow. Remove ice and snow from the roof and ensure the gutters are clean. 

Home Selling Tips 8 - Homes can get dirtier and appear a lot dingier in winter, so be extra diligent about the cleaning. A clean, warm house is the important step to a perfect winter home staging.   

Home Selling Tips 9 - If at all possible, arrange showings in the daytime, to allow the natural light to brighten your home. Also make sure that you have ample outdoor lighting in case there is a showing just before or after dark. 

Home Selling Tips 10 - A fireplace can add some extra warmth and also provide a cozy ambiance, if it is safely contained, supervised and extinguished.

Home Staging Tips – Tips for Staging Your Home to Sell

Home Staging Tips 1 - Professionally clean the house. Kitchens and bathrooms including inside cupboards and drawers, bathroom fixtures appliances and floors should be hospital clean. 

Home Staging Tips 2 - Neutralize the decor in the house by painting rooms a cream or beige colour.  The house needs to appeal to the broadest range of potential buyers. 

Home Staging Tips 3 - Make the house as light and bright as possible by opening the blinds, turning on all the lights & cleaning all windows inside and out. 

Home Staging Tips 4 - Clear off and put away everything from the kitchen counter, top and front of the fridge & stove.  Make sure there are no dishes in the dink and that the skink and taps shine. 

Home Staging Tips 5 - Use size appropriate furniture.  If you have a small bedroom, don't put a king-sized bed in there. Conversely, if you have a huge master suite, putting a single bed in there would look unbalanced. 

Home Staging Tips 6 - Trim overgrown trees, weed gardens, keep the grass cut and put mulch in the garden beds.  In the winter, make sure the snow is cleared from driveways and walkways. 

Home Staging Tips 7 - Depending on the season you may want to have pots of colorful and attractive flowers to greet buyers; a clean and inviting door mat; new and shiny door handles and/or knockers; a freshly painted door. 

Home Staging Tips 8 - Vacant homes should have the heat or air conditioning on for showing purposes. It reduces the stale odors that accumulate inside of a vacant house and gives a more inviting impression to potential homebuyers. 

Home Staging Tips 9 - Open up the windows to let fresh air inside your home before you show it. If you are going to use a scented candle or incense, try and use mild varieties as strong smells can irritate sensitive noses. 

Home Staging Tips 10 - Fix any small repairs, including leaky faucets, squeaky doors, and loose door handles. They may seem insignificant but minor repairs add up in the mind of a potential buyer.

House Selling Tips – How to Stage an Occupied Home For Sale

House Selling Tips 1 - You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property. The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to depersonalize it. 

House Selling Tips 2 - When a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about living in the house themselves. Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick knacks, and souvenirs. 

House Selling Tips 3 – Clutter collects on shelves, counter tops, drawers, closets, garages, attics, and basements and remove it. You want as much open clear space as possible, so every extra little thing needs to be cleared away. 

House Selling Tips 4 – The kitchen is a good place to start removing clutter, because it is an easy place to start. First, get everything off the counters everything, even the toaster. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers. 

House Selling Tips 5 - Designate the room adjoining the kitchen as the Family Room. Emphasize the Kitchen and Family Room, with open flow, bright energetic colors and warm, relaxed textures. Make sure the space can accommodate food prep, eating, playing, relaxing, homework (kids AND adults). 

House Selling Tips 6 – Many people have too much furniture in certain rooms – not too much for your own personal living needs – but too much to give the illusion of space that a homebuyer would like to see. Observe how other builders place furniture in their models so you get some ideas on what to remove and what to leave in your house. 

House Selling Tips 7 – Your lawn should be evenly cut, freshly edged, well watered, and free of brown spots. If there are problems with your lawn, you should probably take care of them before working on the inside of your home. 

House Selling Tips 8 – The back yard should be tidy. If you have a pool or spa, keep it freshly maintained and constantly cleaned. For those that have dogs, be sure to constantly keep the area clear of debris. Your back yard has to appear as spacious as possible, especially in newer homes where the yards are not as large. 

House Selling Tips 9 – When choosing a color, it should not be something garish and unusual, but a color that fits well in your neighborhood. Of course, the color also depends on the style of your house, too. 

House Selling Tips 10 – Deep clean the whole house, every nook and cranny. Paint anything that does not come up clean. Polish every item, especially wood floors, and metallic surfaces, that could gleam, glow and reflect light.