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Home Staging
Easytorecall article on how to ready your house for sale, plus some experts you can turn to!
If you are unfamiliar with TV programs such as House Doctor and Selling Houses, home staging is used by people selling their 
homes in order to show them off to their best advantage and thus achieve the best selling price possible. Most of us have homes that are a little untidy sometimes, and sometimes a little bit shabby, with small jobs that have been left undone. We get used to it! However, somebody else's mess is always infinitely more objectionable than our own, and when we take the big step of moving house, we want our new home to be as near perfect as possible. The idea of having to do a lot of work to get our new home into the kind of spic and span shape we want is not very appealing.
The idea of home staging is to make your house, and your lifestyle, more attractive than that of the buyers!
Unless of course you don't mind selling your house below its potential market value. There are lots of people who will take on a house that needs work doing on it - but they are going to want a bargain. If you want to get the best price for your house there are a few simple tips to follow which do not have to cost a huge amount of money, but which could save you thousands:
1. Make sure your house is spotless and tidy, especially the kitchen and bathroom. This is essential. You can get some excellent cleaning tips from Channel 4 How Clean is Your House. Another website that has some top cleaning tips in Hints and Things.
2. Finish off any little DIY jobs. Dripping taps, peeling wallpaper, damp patches, chipped paintwork, sagging kitchen unit doors plus a host of other little niggles which will get you a low offer. For advice on DIY jobs have a look at our DIY Advice and Information page which lists several very good whebsites where you can find DIY help online.
3. Don't have too many ornaments and personal effects around. Your collection of ceramic Scottie dogs may be very dear to your heart but they are not to everyone's taste. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but buyers are simply not interested in you, your hobbies or in what sort of personality you have. Don't take it personally and try and "remove" yourself from the house. They want to see themselves living there, not you.
4. Its a good idea to tone down any bright or vivid wall coverings. Paint the house in subdued colours. Its not that creams and pale colours are necessarily more tasteful or more stylish than more extrovert colour schemes, its just that they offend fewer people. I might like red and dislike dark blue. You might like dark blue and dislike red. We would probably hate each others houses but neither of us would be particularly upset by the cream house down the road. One of the most effective changes you can make is to swap your flowery or dark carpets for a paler, more neutral colour.
5. Try moving the furniture around in your house, even if it looks fine to you. Sometimes just a small change can make a huge difference to how big or comfortable a room looks and feels.
6. If you have a pet, try and minimise odours. The trouble is, we get used to smells and sometimes are not aware of pet odour. Ask some friends to give you an honest opinion and then act on it.
7. Make sure the garden is tidy! Definite no nos include unsafe garden structures, unmown lawns, uncut hedges and lots of weeds. If you really want to go to town, think about painting (or, indeed, installing) fences, laying a new patio or putting in some seating. It is especially important to make sure that the front of the house is inviting, otherwise you won't even get the buyers over the threshold.
8. Once you have cleaned, scrubbed, decluttered, neutralised and depersonalised, you might like to think about adding a few finishing touches to impress prospective buyers. New bedlinen, fresh flowers, fruit, the odd luxury cushion here and there, for example. You should also think about the kind of buyer you are likely to attract. If its a family home, make sure there is plenty of storage space and have details of local schools, doctors and bus routes ready to hand. You might even arrange to have some bread baking in the oven ........ (Is that going too far?!?)
On the other hand, if its a city apartment you are likely to be attracting couples or singles, so clean lines, labour saving devices, a large TV even, are likely to impress buyers - maybe the odd restaurant guide or theatre program left lying around! You want prospective buyers to be able to imagine themselves living in your home.
9. Lastly, if you don't feel up to the task, you can always call in the experts!
Home Stagers
• www.homestagers.co.uk
Headers: Services, Shop, Case Studies, Hot Property, Free Stuff
Home Stagers is a professional home staging company, but if you prefer to do it yourself, there is plenty of advice and tips to help you on your way.
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