A Few Examples of What to Expect From Home Staging
A Few Examples of What to Expect From Home Staging
Stagers prepare homes with a buyer’s perspective. What changes does a home stager make when preparing your property for a showing?
Home staging involves changes to your house or condo with a buyer’s perspective in mind. What changes will a home stager make when preparing your property for a showing? Here are several examples of what you can expect:
Furniture will be arranged to showcase the availability of space. Unwanted furniture and furnishings may be taken off-site, or re-purposed to another room altogether in such a way that creates smooth traffic flow. To make areas look much bigger, furniture won’t be pushed against the wall. Furniture positioning makes an impact on the buyer, as they are looking for vacancies to place their own things. With that in mind, empty spaces are key, but not so much that the place looks lonely.
The buyer’s senses are on full alert when entering an unfamiliar place. You don’t want to scare away potential buyers with an odour of any kind, including pets, cigarettes, or even recently cooked food. The house should smell fresh and inviting during a showing. Replacement aromas may include anything from air fresheners to baked cookies right out of the oven.
All lingering repairs will be made before the showing. The buyer will be looking for anything to reduce the asking price, and if any maintenance issues are apparent, no matter how small they may be, they would be foolish to not jump on it. Everything from the creaky door hinges to loose handrails will be addressed before the showing. Cracks in the floors, dents in the windowsills, even missing screws on the door knocker are all particulars the stager will ensure are corrected beforehand.
Anything personal, such as photographs or decorations, can not be left behind, as the buyer wants to see an immaculate property, not “someone else’s house”. Make the front door inviting. Clutter will be cleared, either taken to storage, or moved to the seller’s new property. Showcasing the square footage of the unit is essential in a buyer’s deciding factor. Messy homes suggest a lack of storage space within the home.
The house will be spotless before the showing. The bathroom will sparkle, the windows will gleam, the appliances will shine and the dog hair will be missing! No one is looking to be a house in “used condition”.
Neutral colors are key in everything from pillows to your walls. The house must look inviting, while appealing to both men and women. Bold colours can scare a potential buyer away. Your furnishings may be replaced if they do not coordinate with the look the home stager is trying to give the house. The walls in several, if not all, rooms may be repainted.
Those are just a few of the changes you can expect the home stager to make before your home is shown to buyers. For more information on how Design to Impress stagers homes in Toronto and the GTA, call (416) 357-7744, or email them here.