Staging: How to Make a Home Irresistible

By Jill Griffin

Over the past few years, staging a home for sale has become standard practice, rather than an option.

Sellers are incredibly receptive to the idea and often ask me what they need to do to get top dollar for their home long before I can even bring staging up.

Buyers now get confused if they walk into a home that hasn’t been staged or prepped for the market. Often, they ask, “Is this house in pre-foreclosure?” Or, “Is this a rental property?”

Lack of staging can raise a huge red flag.

Family Room Before

Family Room After

Luckily, staging a home doesn’t have to be an expensive ordeal and oftentimes, the cost can be fully recouped, and then some.

So the big question is:
How can we help our sellers’ properties outshine the competition?

Staging involves much more than de-cluttering or cleaning, (most other homes potential buyers see will be clutter free and clean). Staging is all about making a home irresistible.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

However, staging does not have be an elaborate home makeover, it can be as simple as a fresh coat of paint, a new carpet, professional window cleaning, new throw pillows and curtains, shiny appliances and evenly hung picture frames.

Small changes can make a dramatic difference to the overall feel and appearance of a home.

Always think details!

Each room should be shining, complete with vacuum lines, 90-degree angle pillows, windows so clean you can barely see that they’re there, all lamps and lights turned on, and even a faint smell of Windex or bleach can be appealing, (trust me, it equals clean).

Remember, these rooms were perfectly cleaned and de-cluttered, but each needed just a little bit MORE!

So don’t hesitate to stage. The results will pay off.

Living Room Before

Living Room After

The photos in this post are a few before-and-after photos of rooms I have helped stage.

JILL GRIFFIN is an agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Real Estate of the Rockies in Denver, CO, who says she knew she wanted to be a real estate agent since the age of six. Visit Jill on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jillgriffinhomes.