Remember: The photographs are your calling card. So if the photos aren’t representative of your home’s appeal than the buyer will never get to your front door

Make sure you ask your agent (or me) how your pictures will be taken and proof those pictures before they are used.  You want to draw as many people to the home as possible to find the one person that will buy your home.

Additional Reading: Staged to Sell

Related posts:

1. How to Increase your Client’s Chance of Selling with Pictures
2. How long do we have to wait for a good photo?
3. What’s important when selling your Home

Bland and Boring

This doesn’t inspire the buyer, it just looks like a plain old bathroom.  There is a saying that Kitchens and Bathrooms help sell a house and the pictures of those rooms should help that not hinder it.  So, once again, we bring in a Staging Professional before the photos and this is the result:

Warmer Bathroom

Now this looks much better.. Clean, warm.  Inspires the buyer to think positive thoughts about the home and want to see more of it and possibly make that offer.

I would like to thank Enriching Homes for providing the before/after images for this post.

Related posts:

1. A difference in Pictures that Staging can make
2. Vender Review: X-Stream Pool
3. Halloween this year

For the strongest odors, especially those that have been in the house for long periods of time such as smoke, an industrial air purifier can make an amazing difference in a short period of time.  Having the carpets cleaned or repainting the home can also significantly reduce odors.  Try to keep animals either outdoors or limited to a room in the house that is cleaned regularly.

Even mild odors can dampen a house tour.  The best “house scent” is no odor at all, which can often be achieved through opening all the windows and doors or running the air circulator on your home air system for an hour or so before a showing.  While your house is on the market, it is a good idea to minimize cooking with strong smelling foods and spices.  When you do introduce any pleasant smelling items to your home (such as in bathrooms), try to stick to basic scents such as vanilla, apple, cinnamon, lemon.  In small doses, these appeal to the most buyers.  A small reed diffuser in a bathroom can keep a clean smell while not overwhelming the space.  The scent of cleaning products so long as they are mild also appeal to buyers.  Stay away from floral scents or strong scents as these are perceived as unpleasant odors to some buyers.

So when preparing your Listing for sale, keep in mind that the best scent is none at all.  Fresh air will appeal to the most buyers!

Related posts:

1. Tips for Better Home Showings when Selling
2. 11 Tips for a Successful Open House
3. How much does a smell cost?

When I take a listing I work hard to sell the property and I even pay for a staging consultation and the seller’s that follow up on that consultation see the difference in time on market and price.  Let’s take a listing of my as an example, the office was the hub of this home for the seller, as you can see in this picture:

Before

Now first impressions are that this is a dark room with dark furniture and stuff everywhere.  Kind of hectic, probably invokes some stress about too much work to get done from the viewer. Guys will probably look at the TV and start thinking about keeping it.

Well, the first rule of staging is obvious here, de-clutter the room, try to brighten it up.  Which is true, that was the first set of words out of the staggers mouth during the consultation.

After the consultation and some work, the room was reworked into this:

After

Brighter, not stressful, clean and easy going.  Now the buyer is left with more pleasant thoughts on the office and the potential of calling this home.  Given the two pictures, potential buyers (not investors) would be more interested in seeing the second.

Special thanks to Enriching Homes for the work and pictures.

Related posts:

1. Give Away: Staging Books
2. How to make a Bathroom look better
3. How to Increase your Client’s Chance of Selling with Pictures

Room Ready Handbook

Related posts:

1. A difference in Pictures that Staging can make
2. Importance of Photos
3. A Gem of a Listing

Professionally staged homes are statistically proven to sell 50% faster than unstaged homes and at better prices.  Because staging takes advantage of a home’s existing beauty, it is a cost-effective solution to the ever-present issue of making the best first
impression.

Virtual Enriching Homes’ staging service offers personalized consultations filled with recommendations that enhance the property’s existing features while minimizing distractions that can potentially decrease the sale price.  Based on digital photos of rooms in the home to be sold, these recommendations include specific furniture and accessory arrangements that create balanced spaces to draw the buyer in.  The online home staging consultation takes advantage of internet and digital technologies to accommodate home sellers from all walks of life, but is particularly ideal for those who wish to conduct the home staging process at their own pace.

By offering its services over the internet, the firm can affordably price its plans, which begin at $69 to stage up to four rooms, although clients may stage up to 10 rooms using the premier plan. Additional rooms can be added to either package at a per room fee. Consultation reports are sent via email and phone consultations are also offered.

Virtual Enriching Homes is a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Enriching Homes LLC, a home staging firm founded by Kellie Frooninckx.  Ms. Frooninckx has a Masters in Business Administration, and is a Certified Staging Professional.  The company has great success in the Phoenix area maximizing sale proceeds for its clients through its staging service, and plans to duplicate its success online.

Media Contact

Kellie Frooninckx
Virtual Enriching Homes
(888) 543-4970
kellie@virtualenrichinghomes.com

http://www.virtualenrichinghomes.com

Related posts:

1. Give Away: Staging Books
2. A difference in Pictures that Staging can make
3. 4 Factors in Selling Your Home

• Small tables
• Extra toys
• Knick Knacks
• Excess furniture
• Family pictures
• Valuables

Open the space doesn’t just apply to the living areas.The next thing you should do is clean and straighten out cabinets and closets. Leave the necessities, and pack up everything else. If it’s spring, pack up all the winter clothes. Organize the shelves and shoes. Small spaces also look crowded when they have too many items in them.

Same thing for cabinets in the kitchen, laundry room and linen closets. Straighten up, clean up, throw away what you don’t want and pack what you don’t need for the next few months; extra towels, Tupperware, silverware, anything which will add space.

As you go through your home, check the condition of everyday things which seem to get the most wear and tear in our homes. These would include things like:

• Baseboards – paint or stain those nicks and scratches
• Faucets – if they leak, fix them
• Stove and Refrigerator – Clean them thoroughly
• Ceiling Fans – No wobbles and dust them.
• Outlet covers
• Air Filters (one of my pet peeves)

If you need to paint, paint using a neutral color. If you take down pictures, patch the holes and touch up the paint.

Clean, Clean, Clean – nothing speaks louder about the condition of a home than cleanliness! Especially the windows!

Take some time outside:

• Sweep the walkways
• Plant some flowers
• Keep the grass mowed
• Paint the front door or trim, if needed
• Trim the bushes

And pay special attention to the lock on the front door. If it’s broke or hard to open, replace it.  Nothing sets the tone more than an agent struggling to get into the house to show it.

These are really just the basic items which can make a difference in the buyers thinking you have a nice home and falling in love with it.

Related posts:

1. 5 Things to do before you sell your Home
2. 11 Tips for a Successful Open House
3. Curb Appeal, or Exterior Home Staging