Community Corner

Home Staging: Sell Your Home Faster and For More Money

In Golden Valley, your home is one of many lovely and well-kept properties. A little home staging will take your home to the next level and help it sell faster.

Every week, we invite local real estate agents to give insight on the housing market in Golden Valley, ways to increase the value of your home or ideas for easy home improvements that have a nice return on investment.  If you're a local realtor and would like to contribute to Golden Valley Patch, just email our editor.

This week's column comes from Golden Valley realtor Carla Anderson.  You can find her contact information at the bottom of the article.

In Golden Valley, people take pride in their homes and their yards.  It's hard to find a yard that's not neat and tidy or a home in need of major work outside or in. Before you put the "for sale" sign out front, remember that it's important for your home to live up the high standards created by a community around you that takes great care to look nice. 

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That said, you might be wondering how you can make your home stand out among the many nice homes in Golden Valley... and stand out for the right reasons.  That's where home staging comes in.

Home staging–the artful presentation of a home–has been a common real estate practice for long enough to know that staged homes sell better:  more quickly and at higher prices.  While there are wonderful professionals who can come to your home and do the staging for you, there are also some easy ways to handle the task yourself.  

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  • Create Curb Appeal

    Stand back and take a buyer’s eye view of the outside of your home.  If overgrown plantings obscure the curbside picture, prune or remove and replace.  Mow and trim lawn and shrubs.  Weed and water flower beds and lawn.  Rake leaves. Keep steps and walks free of ice and snow.  In winter build a snowman complete with carrot nose, scarf and hat to greet visitors.  Repair/replace deteriorating paving.

    Keep cars in the garage with garage doors closed, not in the driveway or in the street out in front.  Remove debris from the roof, toys and home maintenance equipment from driveway, walks and yard.  Fences are an eyesore if they have missing stakes or slats or peeling paint.  Fix cracked windows and torn screens.

    Your front entry is critical – it’s the first thing a buyer sees close up.  Woodwork should be freshly and neatly painted.  Polish door brass.  Place a wreath on the door or a pot of flowers on the doorstep.  If a complete exterior paint job is called for, getting color advice from a designer, artist or architect can put dollars in your pocket.
  • Don't Show the Interior, Showcase the Interior

    When showcasing your home, pay special attention to the main rooms – the spaces a buyer sees first.  Light and cool colors contribute to an airy, spacious feeling.  Too much furniture and too many accessories make spaces feel “tight”.  De-cluttering makes your home more attractive to buyers while it makes the move to your new home easier.  Wallpaper patterns that were current five or ten years ago look dated now.  Replacing wallpaper with paint is a good, cheap solution.  If walls look bare consider renting or borrowing art.  Create a layered process of discovery which draws buyers through your home.
  •  Think Green

    Be generous with greenery.  Healthy looking plants add eye appeal.  (If your plants are past their prime, be strong and retire them (they’re not your children, after all).  Clean windows and carpets.  Be sure all doors open and close easily.  Add luster to wood trim, doors and cabinets with a cleaning-polishing product designed for this purpose.
  • Get Rid of Water 
    Unless it’s in the swimming pool, water makes buyers very nervous.  It’s essential that water problems be fixed and that cosmetic repairs to damaged surfaces also be done.
  • Kitchens SELL! 

    Think clean, light and bright.  That’s what sells.  Clean out and tidy pantry and cabinet shelves.  Kitchen appliances and gadgets take up lots of counter space.  Putting most of them away makes a kitchen look neater and larger. (If you have an upscale espresso machine, leave that out.)  Fix loose hardware and dripping faucets.  Keep range and range hood, refrigerator and dishwasher, grease and fingerprint free.  Give the refrigerator art to friends and relatives whose homes are not on the market. 

    A beautiful display of fruits or vegetables invites buyers to imagine good times with family and friends.
  • Don't Forget the Bathroom

    Golden Valley is one of the Twin Cities communities known for its pink bathrooms - pink tiling and sometimes pink toilets and tubs.  Before thinking about getting rid of it to appeal to the masses, consider that pink bathrooms are making a comeback.  There's even a website devoted to "saving the pink bathrooms."

    What you can do is make your bathroom feel like luxurious spas.  Regrout ceramic tile.  Check for soap film in and around sinks and bathtubs.  Buy a new shower curtain.  While you’re at it, buy some “display” towels for showings.  Also for showings, remove bath mats – to make the space feel less cluttered.  Minimize the clutter of personal care items on vanity tops and in medicine cabinets.  Keep toilet seat covers down.
  • Declutter and De-Personalize

    As good parents, we let the kids do their own thing in bedroom décor.  Son John likes red and cars while David is into royal blue and football.  And they share a room.  Moving means taking down the posters and photos taped to walls and doors and the models and mementos hanging from the ceiling. 

    Take a walk around the house and try to remove as many personal items as possible.  You haven't done a poor job decorating, but you've made the home yours.  You need to create a home for a buyer to see themselves living in it, not you.  

    Do it now and you earn money.  Do it later and it costs money. 

  • Clean, Clean, Clean!

    We’re talking spring cleaning here. Even buyers who are not meticulous housekeepers themselves are impressed by a clean, tidy, serene home.  How a house feels to visitors is critical.

As a home seller you have a lot of control over your success in the marketplace.  Preparing your home to make it stand out in the marketplace – to look better than the competition – is the key to success.

Home staging is more important than ever before when preparing your home to sell. Beyond simply rearranging furniture, home staging works to highlight the home’s strengths and increase its overall appeal. Given that we are currently in a “buyer’s market”, staging is a cost-effective way to make your home stand out among the fierce competition. In fact, according to Barb Schwarz, The Creator of Home Staging®, even in today's housing market, 95 percent of staged homes sell within 35 days or less, on average -- while homes that are not staged take closer to 172 days or more to sell.

“Because you’re often competing with similar homes for potential buyers, you have to deliver the perfect presentation the moment the buyer steps out of the car,” said Robin Peterson, president of Coldwell Banker Burnet. “Making a conscious effort to stage the home for buyers enhances the desirability factor.”

To contact Carla Anderson:

CarlaAnderson@cbburnet.com

Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty
3033 Excelsior Blvd. #100
Mpls MN 55416

612-925-8401   office
612-581-7746   cell
612-920-4706   fax


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