10 Tips to Home Staging in Key West

Opening your home to a prospective buyer is like going on a blind date.  You wouldn’t dare head out without brushing your teeth, combing your hair, dressing in your finest duds, and spraying on a healthy dose of eau de toilette, so wouldn’t it make sense that your home deserves the same TLC prior to its rendezvous with strangers?  Home staging gives your house the best first impression which is key to getting a quick sale.

Here are 10 awesome tips for effective home staging:

1. You’ve got to get them to stop the car – boost curb appeal.

First impressions truly are everything, and if a buyer thinks “meh” before they’ve even stepped on to the front porch, there’s a good chance that they’ll just keep on driving. Keep the grass mowed, and your garden trimmed, wash the windows, and repaint the porch if necessary. Plant flowers! Thirty dollars’ worth of flowers from Home Depot or Marc House can make your garden very inviting!

2. When we say clean, we mean sparkling clean.

Your house needs to be immaculate, and stay that way. It may be alright for it to look “lived in,” but only to a very limited extent. There needs to be no skimping on cleanliness. Dirt and dust is not OK, and dishes need to be washed and put away prior to a showing.

The real beauty here is that cleaning is easy. Well, at least it’s free.

This Meadows gem on Petronia Street is sparkling and uncluttered.

3. Along the same lines: clutter go bye-bye.

Take a photo of your kitchen counters just as they are, right at this moment. Then, remove every single item from the surface and take a second photo. When you compare the two images you’ll notice that the empty counter tops look about twice the size of the cluttered ones. Removing clutter magically makes your house look bigger.

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4. Set up the dining room table.

In 2014, the formal dining room gets used as often as a rotary phone, but don’t let your dining room table look like a storage zone for laptop computers. Get out your best china, wipe off the dust, and set up the table as though the Queen of England is coming for brunch.

5. Make it look sophisticated, even if that’s not your style.

Perhaps your family routinely eats dinner in the TV room while watching WWE Raw. Well, that’s your prerogative. But you’ll want to give your home a more sophisticated look when it hits the market.

Don’t know what a sophisticated home looks like? Google it, and then do your best to emulate with the furniture that you’ve got.

Believe it or not, some agents believe so strongly in the power of a well-staged home that they recommend their clients put their furniture in storage and rent new, modern, classier furniture to properly showcase the home.

6. Paint.

Here’s a rule of thumb. If you think that a room could use a coat of paint, it does. Small investment, big returns.

7. The master bedroom needs to be gender neutral.

The master bedroom should be free of personal items. The bed should always be made with clean, crisp sheets, and for added appeal fold a colorful throw blanket at the foot of the mattress. The décor needs to be neither overly feminine nor overly masculine.

The master bedroom of 1305 Petronia Street is perfectly neutral.

8. They WILL look in the closets.

You won’t find a single buyer who won’t look inside the closets. So instead of cramming them full of junk in a quest to keep the living room tidy and clutter-free, organize your closets to look like Martha Stewart was on the case. Notice I said “organize” and not empty, there’s a difference. Here’s another great opportunity to get ahead on the packing for the move. Throw out what you don’t want to take with you now, and pack up things you don’t use often enough to miss.

One client told me she rearranged her closet by deciding what she would take on a 3 week vacation. She packed everything else away. Ironically. her house was under contract in less than a month!

9. Your dog is part of the family. Your family.

Not everyone shares the same opinion with regards to furry friends in the house. If you’ve got indoor pets, presume that every single visitor to your home hates animals.

Rent a steam cleaner. Purchase deodorizer. Remove animal hair from furniture. Put away food bowls. If possible, do take your pets with you when you vacate for a showing; it’s tough for your agent to show a home when they have to worry about whether your pets are secure – or when they are a distraction – pleasant or not – to prospective buyers.

10. Every neighborhood’s got a vibe, roll with it.

You know what your neighborhood is known for. Urban chic, country bumpkin, the pinnacle of suburbia? Or in the case of Key West, it’s luxury real estate, historic architecture and the tropical charm of the indoor/outdoor lifestyle. Embrace your neighborhood’s culture and try to copycat this lifestyle when staging your home. If you live in a family-oriented area, make the place look kid accessible, even if you don’t have children of your own. Conversely, if quiet and sophisticated is the norm around your house, remove the XBOX360 from the living room and move it to the kids’ room.

When it comes to staging your home, it’s pretty much impossible to go overboard. Remember, showing your home is like a blind date, and if you want to get lucky you’d best pull out all the stops from the get go.

Are you ready to sell your Key West luxury property? Let me help you stage your home to its best advantage and get your home sold.  You can view other luxury homes for sale here.