The real estate market in 2022 remains hot, with demand higher than available homes. With this in mind, you may feel it’s okay to skip staging, but I urge you to rethink that. Staged homes continue to generate more offers and sell faster. The good news is that proper staging can take the place of a more extensive renovation and can uplevel rooms with minor tweaks to attract potential buyers.
Read on for my six tips to stage a home to sell in 2022
Clean First
Before staging the home, be sure the house is deep cleaned. You won’t be able to hide a mess with throw pillows and fresh paint. Start with a deep clean and declutter. Once you’ve done that, you have a clean slate to layer on the styling and furniture pieces that will show off the home concisely while highlighting all of the benefits of the home.
Pro Tip – Don’t forget to clean out closets, spare rooms, and garages! Storage space is a big plus for buyers so having areas you can show off will add to the plus column of your property. And if you don’t have excess space showing what you do have as organized and accessible will also score your home points from a buyer viewpoint.
Online Impression
Not only do you want to think of how walking through the home matters to staging, but remember to consider how things will photograph. The very first time a potential buyer experiences a home will be through the online marketing making the photos extremely important. Don’t forget to also include a curated description that highlights the features of the home and the location. This is a piece of the marketing that can be overlooked but as a complement to the photos creates energy and excitement around seeing the home in-person.
Here are a few tips to make the best online impression with your listing:
- Get rid of distractions (declutter)
- Focus on clean lines, colors, and open spaces (low profile accessories and not showing the back of furniture)
- Clean windows, floors, and light fixtures
- Use a professional photographer
- Shoot photos from the corner of the room
- Shoot photos in natural lighting
- Edit to brighten up photos if needed
Establish a Focal Point
Staging your house often includes establishing specific focal points where they have the most impact. Either create a focal point (accent wall, for example) in a living room or master bedroom or highlight the natural focal point in a space like a fireplace. These anchors create opportunities for seating or traffic patterns to move through the home and can express visual as to how the home will function.
As mentioned, a focal point can be part of the home or created. Some examples of focal points are:
- Accent wall (board and batten, shiplap, wall covering or a contrasting paint hue)
- Mirror
- Wall art
- View outdoors or access to an outdoor space
- Fireplace
Your focal point can also be improved with some added touches. For example, a fireplace is a built-in feature but layering it with a mirror enhances the impact. Use appropriately sized art and mirrors to create your focal points!
Wired Up
We’re in 2022, and with that comes expectations. Buyers appreciate the simplicity of an updated home, ready for all technology existing and coming around the corner. Offering a home that is wired for low voltage access creates ease to those working or enjoying a movie is a unique trait that many homes lack.
Along with the technology piece, consider upgrading light fixtures. Lighting upgrades are a quick and easy way to elevate a space on a budget. Even in a home that may be ready for updates soon modern lighting can add a fresh vibe that makes a great transition until those larger projects may be ready to take on.
Curb Appeal
While you are probably considering renovations to the exterior, you might forget to include it in your staging plans. Curb appeal is still important in 2022, and you can make or break it with staging.
Small changes can make a big difference. Take care of peeling paint, dating overhangs or shutters, and old address numbers. Simply swap these out or make some trendy additions to the outside to impress buyers.
Here are some additional ideas to improve curb appeal through staging:
- Bring cleaning outdoors as well with a pressure washer
- Paint the front door
- Add plants (if live plants aren’t in season consider small shrubs like evergreens)
- Install lighting
- Landscape
- Add a sitting area
- Replace old fixtures (mailbox and address numbers)
Freshen up with Paint
And finally, freshen up the paint! Your home deserves a paint job and makes a difference for buyers. Fresh paint looks clean, modern, fresh and generally more appealing, but it also doesn’t distract from the focal points of the room.
I like to use light, airy neutrals with some accent walls for paint. You can also change the front door color or add pops of color where you see fit (the kitchen island and fireplace are a couple of my favorite places is a good place).
Ready to take that next step when it comes to flipping?
That’s why I’ve got additional resources to help you get the information you need to move forward on creating your flipping life.
Make sure you have the Fixer Upper Checklist to know which areas are essential to added value in a home.
Several videos are available on finding houses, renovations, and funding on the Threshold Homes YouTube Channel. Check out your favorite flipping topics and new videos weekly.
You can’t close a successful and profitable flip unless you start. What is your biggest challenge with getting started house flipping? Let me know. It may be an area I’ve also had questions about myself. I’m here to help so drop me a DM.
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