Top 5 Staging Tips to Sell Your Home
Uncluttered spaces are essential; pare down your furnishings | Vista Waikoloa B-304 offered at $1,350,000.
When it comes to selling your home, staging it well creates visual cues that guide potential buyers on a mental journey, allowing them to envision how they will live in your home environment.
Florals and on-trend, simple accessories bring color and interest to rooms | Penthouse unit within Waikoloa Resort, Big Island of Hawaii.
Staging is vital to the selling process. In this technological era, buyers are now more interested in seeing digital photos of your home before deciding to actually physically view it. Staging and hiring a professional photographer sets your home apart and ensures your home attracts as many buyers as possible.
Clean and tidy at all times is your new mantra!
This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Valerie Delahaye-Ippolito from Mahalo Hale Staging in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island professional advice on how to stage a home for success.
Keep it simple, allowing potential buyers to envision their personal touches. The view may be awesome, but make sure those windows are clean!
Valerie shared her top 5 tips and I’m happy to share them here!
1. Depersonalize
As soon as you decide to sell your home, you need to emotionally detach from it. It is no longer your home, it’s a product you are selling. So start the moving process and pack personal belonging such as family heirlooms, personal objects, and family photos.
2. De-decorate
Tone down the decor, not everyone shares your passions, your hobbies, your taste for clown velvet paintings! This is an emotional process that both realtors and stagers have to navigate. You want to play it safe with elements that are sophisticated, elegant, in trend and accessible. Your home should be the equivalent of the “little black dress” every savvy woman has in her closet.
3. Repair
Walk around your home and make a list of any flaws and small repairs you have learned to live with, but would look like neglect to anyone else. Fix them yourself or call a professional for assistance.
4. Clean
The home should be spotless, including windows and the inside of cupboards and drawers. Use essential oils to clean the home and get rid of unwanted smells, especially if you own animals, as you might have gotten used to their smell but potential buyers have not!
5. Refresh-Update
Take a critical look at your home and make a per-room list of items that would enhance each one. If you are on a budget, small things such as decorative pillows, linens, candles, and flowers help to update your space. If you have the funds, hire a professional. Stagers offer an array of services and for a minimal consultation fee, they can assist by providing a to-do list. The good news is everything you bought can be used in your next home or sold separately to your buyer!
Neutral colors: flooring, upholstery, paint are best – add a splash of color with affordable accessories.
Photography by Jonathan Davis