Stage Your Home For Sale This Spring in 4 Simple Steps
If you’re planning to sell your home this year, now is the time to do it. Spring is prime real estate season in markets across the country, including in the Park City and Salt Lake City areas. Before you take those listing photos and schedule an open house, though, make sure your home is in top (and top-dollar) condition.
We’ve put together our four key steps that’ll help your stage your home to sell before spring is up.
Step 1: Clear the clutter.
Get out those donation bins, rent that storage unit, and tap into your inner Marie Kondo, because it’s time to part ways with your clutter (at least temporarily). Not only will an abundance of stuff make your home’s floor plan and closet space feel smaller, too many personal artifacts also make it harder for potential buyers to picture themselves living in the space.
If your home doesn’t look a little empty when you’re done … then you’re not quite done yet. Think: countertops that are completely clear of appliances and kitchen tools, closets emptied of all but a few items, and rooms with only enough furniture to offer potential buyers an idea of how the space is used.
Step 2: Make modern updates
Unless your home was built in the last five years, it’s a good idea to update any elements that are obviously dated. For most sellers, a full-scale renovation isn’t in the cards, but there are plenty of small tweaks that can modernize your space quickly.
If your home is on the older side, one of the fastest and least-expensive ways to give it a fresh look is to paint the walls in the living spaces. Swap the tan-tones of the early 2000s for a cool gray (we love Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray) or eggshell white (you can’t go wrong with Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White), for example.
Other small changes that go a long way: Updating kitchen fixtures and cabinet hardware, replacing light fixtures, doorknobs, and bathroom mirrors, and painting bathroom vanities.
Step 3: Swap dated furnishings.
Revamping your decor can make all the difference in getting your home sold -- for a multitude of reasons. For one, a beautifully decorated home will photograph better, attracting more agents and their buyers. New furnishings will also make the rest of your home feel more modern and expensive, and help buyers picture how they might want to decorate each room.
One bonus of working with a professional stager? Through our home staging service, we work with sellers not only to identify the right style and decor strategy for the home and the market, but also to determine the optimal furniture plan, which can make a home feel larger and flow better.
Step 4: Don’t forget curb appeal.
A major advantage to selling your home in the spring is that it’s the time of year when your home has the potential to pack the most curb appeal. It’s something spring buyers are looking for, and an area you don’t want to ignore. A few suggestions we always make to our clients:
Clean out your flower beds
Add fresh mulch to gardens and plantings
Paint the front door
Get a new welcome mat
Plant annuals (or set out hanging flower baskets during the day if it’s still too cool to plant in your area).
Hang a wreath on the door
Good luck! And if you need help staging your home for a quick sale, inquire with our team.