Home staging is often common sense, like repairing broken fittings, but also experience has shown that there are certain common ideas that can be applied to any house, and certain things that make a big difference in return for only a limited effort and expenditure.
These are some of the tips that feature regularly in newspaper and TV advice, and which either add to the perceived value of your property, or improve its saleability by appealing to more people.
Clear the Clutter Go and look at a showhome 'staged' by a major house building company, who are well used to 'home staging' to sell property.
You will notice that the bookshelves contain only a few books, and shelves, mantelpieces, and windowsills only contain one or two carefully placed ornaments, or perhaps a vase of flowers.
Now look at your own rooms!! If your house is typical, then it is arranged for comfort and convenience in living there.
It is not arranged for others to get an impression of how they can place their own furniture and belongings, yet it is essential to have the buyer imagine themselves living there, or they will just walk away.
The answer for you, if you really want to sell, and for a reasonable price, is to clear away lots of clutter and create space.
So, go through each room in turn, and choose a small number of objects to retain, then pack the rest in boxes ready for your move.
If you don't have storage space for the boxes, then use a rented lockup storage facility.
Incidentally, if you get a book on Feng Shui, it is not a bad way to get ideas on presenting your house well.
Interestingly, pretty well the number one rule in Feng Shui, is to remove clutter! Depersonalise When people come and look at your house or flat, they are thinking about how they would feel about living in it.
You make it impossible for them to do this if you leave items around that are personal to you, which are basically there for reminding you of family, places visited, and so on.
So, if they aren't already consigned to the storage boxes, remove all photographs of you and your family from view.
Also remove anything connected with a personal hobby or interest (and that includes any trophies or awards).
Don't let your pride or enthusiasm for your hobby get in the way of selling your house.
Create a good first impression It has been said that many home sales are lost because the potential buyers just drive by when they see the front of the house.
In the estate agent's blurb, if the front is poor, they will advise clients 'this property must be 'seen inside to appreciate it' or something similar.
The next place you can lose the sale is in entering the property.
It is said that many sales are won or lost within the first few minutes, ie.
first impressions are vital.
So, what is the answer? Firstly, for a house, clean up the area out front.
Remove any dead or sickly plants, and any weeds; clean up the driveway; mow the lawn; and if it all looks bare, especially in the winter, put a couple of new plants in, or use plant containers with some attractive plants from the garden centre.
Secondly, make sure the front of the house or flat is as good as you can make it.
If necessary, paint the door white or some welcoming colour, and repair anything crumbling near the front door.
Fix the doorbell if it doesn't work, or replace with a bright brass door-knocker! Finally, walk in through the front door, and consider the first impression it makes.
Hopefully you have removed the pile of coats and shoes from view, but do consider improving the appearance with a large mirror, and with an attractive ornament (perhaps one you cleared from another room), or with a potted plant.
If the paintwork is shabby, this is one area worth the trouble of repainting, so long as you use a neutral colour that will offend no-one.
If you live on your own, experience has shown that men are generally not the best at choosing colours or placing ornaments, so ask a woman friend to give you some honest advice on this.
(It is said that most decisions on buying a house are made by a woman, so be warned!) Clean everything You may have got used to the dirty mark on the wall, the smell of the dog (I know...
your dog doesn't smell!), the cobwebs in the porch, and the dust gathering on the old shampoo bottles in the bathroom.
However, for your prospective buyer, these will be noticed, and will be unwelcome.
You may say with this, as with all the advice above 'surely they can see through this, and assess the true value of the house'.
Unfortunately, such common sense doesn't apply, and experience has shown that buyers are put off, reacting with 'I couldn't live here', rather than being logical.
So, go through every room, and make everything as clean as possible, and then visit the bathroom and kitchen a second time, or get someone else to do a checklist for you.
The latter is actually the best idea as it is a scientific fact that dirt and dust actually becomes invisible if you live with it long enough! Copyright Michael S Mitchell