5 Cheap Home Staging Ideas When Selling Your Home

Date: 24/11/2010

If you're gearing up to sell your home, give your property the best opportunity to achieve a great sale price and generate lots of interest to home buyers or property investors by following these expert home staging tips!

Tip #1: Make an entrance

First impressions are very important. Place extra attention on making the entrance look appealing, as this is the first thing that potential home buyers will notice. It's known as "curb appeal": if your property doesn't have it, there's every chance that a prospective buyer will drive straight past your home without even stepping foot inside. "Add simple things like potted plants and a welcome mat at the door," suggests property expert and educator Jennie Brown. "If you have no distinguishable entrance leading to the front door, you may also want to consider placing a few large pavers in the grass."

Tip #2: De-personalise your home

Remove personal photos and knick-knacks wherever possible, advises Liz Hayde from Insighted Home and Garden Styling on the Gold Coast. "You want to allow the purchaser to fall in love your home and see themselves and their family living in the space - not you and your family," she says. Stow these items away in cupboards or draws during inspections and arrange stylish lamps and vases on bench tops and shelves instead. De-cluttering your home will also make it appear larger, more open and inviting to the potential home buyer or property investor.

Tip #3: Refresh or replace old, worn furniture

"Prospective buyers can't always visualise what a room could potentially look like, so you have to make every room look as good as possible," Hayde explains. If you want to keep your costs low, consider hiring a few key pieces of furniture and/or accessories throughout your sale campaign. "Attractive furnishings will help present your property to a standard like that found in a display home," Hayde says. "If the property is vacant, it's wise to invest in furnishing at least one room, so the property appears more warm and inviting."

Tip #4: Get cleaning

It sounds like a no-brainer, but many property sellers fail to place enough importance in the value of thoroughly cleaning and de-cluttering prior to an open inspection. "Even an older-style home will pick up value if it's clean, neat and tidy," Brown says. "You may also want to replace old, worn-out handles on doors and kitchen cupboards with new handles." Airing out your home will help to give it a fresh feel and can get rid of odours that you may not even be aware of.

Tip #5: Get a second opinion

If you've been living in your home for a long time, you may be blind to its shortcomings. "Many vendors have an exaggerated rosy view of their home's appeal, and they've become so used to the flaws and imperfection of their home that they no longer notice them," explains buyers agent Frank Valentic, managing director of Melbourne-based Advantage Property Consulting. "You need objectivity when selling a property, so ask someone else to inspect it as a prospective buyer would. That's the honest sort of input you need."