Are you selling your home? Here are our 6 top practical home staging tips for a quick sale you need to know.

Do you need to stage your home when selling a property? — this has been a constant dilemma for agents and homeowners, especially if there’s not enough room in the budget. However, if you want to sell your property faster, the short answer is YES! Aside from the fact that first impression matters, home staging improves the buyer’s viewing experience, increases the property’s appeal, attracts higher offers, and reduces the listing market time.

If you’re now ready to stage your home for prospective buyers and renters, here are some helpful staging tips:

1. Identify your target market’s lifestyle

When selling a home, you want the property to look its absolute best for your potential buyers. Before you start home staging, you need to consider your property’s target market. Is it for young families, retired couples, or young singles? You also need to consider the neighborhood, your buyer demographics, and the target buyer’s stage in life. This will make the home staging design more appropriate for your prospective clients.

Pro tip: Here are some home staging ideas: (a) If you’re targeting newly married couples, you can choose a modern and functional interior design that is bright, flexible, and stylish. (b) If you’re aiming for retired couples, stage the home with health, ease, and happiness in mind, sprinkling in home appliances that are easy to operate. (c) If you want to attract young professionals, you can opt for a cool, modern interior with versatility and freedom in mind.

2. Consider your budget

Some agents and homeowners forgo home staging because of the additional costs to design the property’s interior. Depending on the time, the home’s value, and desired sale price, both the homeowner and agent should decide on a staging budget. If the owner doesn’t have enough budget for professional staging, the agent should prepare affordable alternatives. 

Pro tip: If you’re tight on budget, there are several things you can do to reduce expenses. First, remove clutter to make the property look fresher and brighter. You can start decluttering overstuffed bookshelves, countertops, and drawers. You can also rearrange furniture, do DIY (do-it-yourself) home design, reuse unique decors that can add value to the home, and sprinkle some new (but inexpensive) accents. 

3. Clean up the house

No buyer wants to view a messy and dusty home. Cleaning the house is a budget-friendly way to prepare your home for a client tour. A clean property can also have a direct impact on a buyer’s readiness to make you an offer. Ideally, you should hire a professional cleaning service to thoroughly clean and sanitize all the critical areas in your house.

Pro tip: Homeowners can also do the cleaning themselves to save on budget. You can make your own cleaning solutions and use old and tattered clothing as rags for cleaning. When you decide to clean the house yourself, you should focus on the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedrooms. You should also clean and examine the windows, blinds, doors and every surface to present a completely tidy home.

4. Make your home smell nice

The smell of your home can trigger vivid memories for your buyers and leave them with a lasting impression. This is the reason why you should also pay attention to the lingering scents in the house. Sometimes, you can be immune to the smell of pets or cooking scents. You can invite a friend to do a smell check so you could eliminate odors that can discourage your buyers. 

Pro tip: To make sure your house smells clean, you can add scented oil diffusers or freshly baked cookies during a house viewing. And don’t forget to throw away your trash and wash your garbage cans.

5. Don’t make it personal 

Aside from decluttering and cleaning, it’s also important to depersonalize your home. Though selling a home is an emotional experience for the homeowner, it is necessary to remove personal photos, furniture, and other belongings that hold sentimental value. Simply put, your property should be a clean slate for the next owner to imagine themselves and their loved ones building a future in the house.

Pro tip: Homeowners can put their personal items in a portable storage container to make the process less stressful. If an item doesn’t hold any precious memories, you can simply sell them on listing platforms, such as Ziba Property, for a higher return on investment.

6. Consult a pro

If you have more budget to spare, especially for those aiming to attract buyers in the higher echelons, it’s always a great idea to hire a professional home stager. This will save both the agent and homeowner precious time that they could use in finding qualified leads instead, while avoiding amateur-looking home staging designs.

Pro tip: While interior design and home staging use overlapping principles, a professional home stager is different from an interior designer. A professional home stager will help you “put on a show”, keep your designs neutral to appeal to the largest pool of buyers possible, and help you get higher offers for your home. 

Bottom Line

Sure, home staging may cost you money, but it can help you yield higher returns and reduce the market listing time of your property. While you can always hire a professional home stager and cleaner, there are other ways to aesthetically prepare your home for viewing while keeping your budget to a minimum.

To recap, here are our six home staging tips to help you sell your home faster:

  1. Identify your target market’s lifestyle
  2. Consider your budget
  3. Clean up the house
  4. Make your home smell nice
  5. Don’t make it personal
  6. Consult a pro

Do you have a condo or apartment for rent or sale? List them now on Ziba Property for free during our promotional period!

About Ziba Property

Ziba Property is a global real estate property management software that enables real estate agents to list apartments, condos, and properties for sale or rent. Because of its cloud-based real estate agent management system, agents can connect with a fast-growing community of property buyers anytime, anywhere. 
Are you ready to find your homebuyers? Download the Ziba Property app now for free from Play Store and App Store.