Home Staging Checklist

Selling a home can be stressful, and home staging may seem like an added inconvenience. However, staging can significantly increase your home's value and reduce the time it spends on the market. It's also an excellent way to honor your personal belongings and memories while creating an inviting space for potential buyers.

With the rise of real estate and home design shows, buyers have higher expectations than ever before. Social media also plays a significant role in the homebuyer journey, providing them with more inspiration and information than ever before.

By staging your home, you can make it stand out aesthetically and psychologically, attracting buyers and potentially increasing the selling price. Even small changes like swapping out fixtures and touching up paint can make a big difference.

Check out our home staging guide to help you prepare your home for the market, with our Engel & Völkers team by your side.

First Impressions

Keeping up appearances with your exterior spaces can elevate the entire experience for your viewers before they ever step foot through the front door. Try to keep any green areas freshly manicured and give walkways and stoops a good powerwash.

A few simple, healthy potted plants and a fresh doormat can be the perfect welcome to any prospective buyer. Remember that this is not only important for visitors, but for those viewing listing photos as well. Remove decór that could make photos appear dated.

Run a Tight Ship

Whether it’s the countertops, the corner of the bath, or the spot you deemed out of sight, out of mind, cleaning from floor to ceiling is a must. Make the effort to have appliances and rooms appear as new as possible, as this indicates a well-cared-for property.

Further, depersonalize the spaces by removing photographs and keeping clothes and excess items as hidden as possible. Use staging as an excuse to declutter—this way, a buyer’s focus will be on the space itself, and you can prepare for an easier, lighter move.

Brighten Things Up

Colors and lighting are essential to creating welcoming environments. Paint colors and wallpaper, in particular, can be deeply personal. Replacing unique wallpapers and giving fresh coats of neutral-toned paint can help a staged home have the perfect backdrop. When choosing a palette, consider opting for warm neutrals rather than a stark white, which may feel too sterile to buyers.

Identify Selling Points

When it comes to staging rooms, they do not all have to be staged to the same degree. Prioritize your budget to the rooms that have the most pull with buyers: the living room, the primary bedroom and the kitchen. According to the NAR report, these are the rooms that buyers (46%, 43%, and 35% respectively) are most eager to see updated and most frequently referenced as pivotal rooms when making final purchasing decisions.

Establish Purpose

More than ever before, maximizing square footage is of the utmost importance. Even if buyers won’t use the same rooms for the same purposes as you may have, it demonstrates that all the spaces in a home can be used, giving buyers the most value for their money. Give each room in your home a specific purposeand stage it with that in mind. Any finished space inyour home should be capitalized on—basements and attics included.

Leave Them Floored

A home’s flooring should not be overlooked and can beone of the highest yielding and transformative changes. For kitchens and bathrooms, ceramic tiles and stone will always be enticing to buyers, as will hardwood floors throughout the rest of the home. Although these materials can be pricey, they are beautiful, low maintenance and provide lasting elegance and value to a home’s atmosphere. To quickly return to the importance of cleaning, stained flooring and carpets can be unsightly and discomforting to prospective buyers.

Maximize, Maximise, and Maximize Some More

Once your home is on the market, you will need to be prepared for showings. This means keeping your home clean and tidy at all times, and being flexible with your schedule to accommodate potential buyers. Your real estate agent will handle scheduling and logistics for showings.

Shed Light

Nothing is more enticing than a sun-drenched dwelling. While natural sunlight is a frequent favorite of prospective buyers (open those shades!), a good lighting design scheme can help bring brilliance into any space. Try using LED halogen bulbs for overhead lights—known for their warm, white cast, halogen bulbs arethe closest to natural light a lightbulb can get. Areas that may be in need of extra assistance could benefit from a sconce, floor, or table lamp. As they say, it’s the little things that count, and this couldn’t be more true than with lighting.

Showtime

While staging can take a lot of forethought and big-picture thinking, when it comes down to showing time, the small details can be the final push in the right direction that buyers need. There are a plethora of resources when it comes to final touches before a walkthrough. Common tricks include baking apples and cinnamon, opening windows, lighting candles, fluffing pillows, putting out fresh flowers, a final sweep and vacuum, etc. These final touches are a great way to add that je ne sais quoi that makes prospective buyers eager to take next steps, especially in a fast-paced market.

Now, Onto the Next Chapter

With buyers having higher expectations than ever before, it's crucial to deliver a home that stands out and captures their attention. As you begin the selling process, home staging can help seal the closing chapter of your time in the house, giving you the best start for the next chapter of your life.

If you are looking to sell your home, contact us today to learn more.