4 Challenges staging your home
Kala Callahan of Addressed to Sell in Wilmette, Ill., and Lori Matzke of Center Stage Home in Minneapolis share their biggest staging headaches and tell you how to make them go away.
How to Overcome 4 Common Staging Challenges
Challenge 1: Owners don’t want to change their decor. “You can’t force them to do it. You have to show them the value,” Matzke says. To make sellers more open to staging, present it as a service you do for every client. That is, you’re not singling them out. “I use myself as an example,” Matzke says. “I tell them I’d also have to remove art from my house to sell it so that the listing would appeal to the masses.” Adds Callahan: “Let sellers know you need to protect grandma’s antique bureau by putting it in storage so that nothing happens to it.”
Challenge 2: The listing has languished on the market for months before the owner or salesperson calls a stager. “Stage the house right before it’s listed,” Matzke says. Otherwise, it may lose its selling momentum.
Ten tips to sell on your own
If you ask anyone who has ever tried to sell their home themselves, they’ll tell you that from the moment the “For Sale by Owner” sign goes up, the phone begins to ring. Unfortunately, many of those calls will not be from prospective buyers, but rather from real estate agents looking to obtain your listing. Obviously the idea of not having to pay a commission to a real estate agent is attractive to any home seller. But because of all the issues involved in the process, selling a home on one’s own can be challenging.
The key is to be properly prepared. If you are not, your home could remain on the market longer than you expect because you are not attracting and getting offers from qualified buyers. This can be a point where many homeowners become frustrated and consider giving up their dream of selling their home themselves. However, there are sellers who accomplish selling their own homes, very well. You can be one of them.
Staging Your Home to Sell
One of the first things to do before putting your house on the market is prepare your house for sale. You’ll want to show your house off in its best light to maximize your earning potential. Tour your house with the eye of a buyer – what works, what doesn’t work.
Curb Appeal
Does your house have curb appeal? Can you give it a little more pizazz to draw the buyer in? Would a bit of touch-up paint add dollars to the sale? What about the garden? Is the lawn in order and neatly edged? Are trees and bushes neatly pruned? Are flowers in bloom? If not, it may be time for a garden upgrade. Adding colorful annuals to the front garden will make a big difference. Remember, creating curb appeal will add dollars to your house’s final selling price.