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| Jenell Fontes |
Using the tips from these professional stagers, in a short time you can
re-style and bring your home up to model home standards and walking into your
“NEW” home you just might fall in love with it all over again.
Step
number one to falling in love with your home again is to take a walk through
your home as if you had never been there before. Make a list of all the little annoying things
that need to be fixed - the broken drawer, the squeaky door, and the annoying
way the closet never quite shuts right. Next, add to your visual list the
places in your home that pile up with junk, paperwork or clothes. Lastly,
make a mental note about what you love and think of ways
to accent those features.
One of the quickest ways to make a
difference in your home is to get rid of the clutter. Go through
every room with a box and put 10 things in it that you don’t love or need in
that room. Box them up, date the box, and put them in the garage. If you
don’t miss them in 6 months donate the box to charity.
Go through
your closet next. If you have not worn
it in two years it’s time to say good bye.
Make a pile for your favorite resale shop (mine is Carol Deans ResaleTherapy). You just might get enough credit to get a new outfit. Or donate to your favorite charity like
Desert Best Friends Closet.
Your
next task is to fix all of the easy repairs or hire a handyman that can come in
for an afternoon and get those things fixed and off the list. Life gets busy and it’s easy to come home and
just dump your stuff from the day. The
problem is these items many times stay longer than they should. Invest in
some organizing systems and get a plan to reduce the junk. Having a place for everything and everything
in its place is an initial commitment, but will save you time and money in the
long run.
Lastly, walk out to the street and look at your house
then grab your favorite beverage and take a seat in your back yard or
patio. Sometimes, just simple clean up and an addition of some fresh
flowers can make a huge difference - or see my blog about redesigning your
Outdoor Space. Your home
needs to be your sanctuary and like any good relationship you have to put in
some effort to keep it fresh and new. So I hope you take the time to fall
in love with your home again and if you don’t love it, call me - We’ll just go
get you a new one!
Interested in Staging your Home For Sale:
If you want potential buyers to choose your property over that of the
competition, home staging -- the act of making a home look visually appealing
to buyers -- can make your house stand out from the crowd.
"Buyers often have a difficult time envisioning how a property can
be used," says Dan Keating, owner of Coast Home Staging, based in Long
Beach, Calif. "When they see a house that's beautifully staged, it's warm
and inviting, and they perceive a much stronger value to that property.
"That stronger perceived value often translates into a higher selling
price. In a survey, real estate Web site HomeGain found that home staging
resulted, on average, in a $1,780 price increase or a 586% return on
investment. "We've seen that the value home staging brings to the table is
dramatic," says Keating. But sellers should understand four staging
basics. "Most of us have too much stuff in our homes," says
Shell Brodnax, president of the Real Estate Staging Association, or RESA, a
trade group in Valley Springs, Calif.
One of the biggest tasks in staging an occupied home is reducing the clutter and depersonalizing the place. You'll want to reduce the number of books on bookshelves, paint rooms in neutral colors and remove artwork that may evoke strong emotions, such as religious imagery or pictures of animals, Brodnax suggests. A few plants and freshly painted walls can also help buyers envision themselves living in the property, which can lead to a sale.
One of the biggest tasks in staging an occupied home is reducing the clutter and depersonalizing the place. You'll want to reduce the number of books on bookshelves, paint rooms in neutral colors and remove artwork that may evoke strong emotions, such as religious imagery or pictures of animals, Brodnax suggests. A few plants and freshly painted walls can also help buyers envision themselves living in the property, which can lead to a sale.
Not only can staging help seal the deal when a buyer is inspecting a
home, but it can also get that buyer to visit the home in the first place.
"Twenty years ago, people would drive by properties and read the paper and
read ads and have to go look at them," says Brodnax. "Now 90 percent
are looking on the Internet before they even get a Realtor to show them homes.
So if you don't have amazing pictures of that property, people move that
property to the 'I'm not even going to bother going to visit the home'
list." With social media sites such
as Twitter and Facebook being used to post pictures of properties, staging
takes on a new urgency as a home's presentation has a lot more at stake and its
ability to sell can often hinge on a photograph.
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