10 Easy Ways to Stage Your Home & Sell Fast

10 quick home staging tips to maximize the value of your home and sell it fast! #realestatetips #realestate #homestaging

Today I am sharing my 10 simple home staging tips to sell your house fast! As a licensed real estate agent and investor, I absolutely LOVE this part of selling a home! With these tips, I know you will maximize the value of your home and stand out from the competition.

Forty percent of buyers’ agents cited that home staging had an effect on most buyers’ view of the home.
National Association of Realtors

10 Ways to Stage Your Home to Sell
1 | Know Your Home Buyer
2 | Focus on Curb Appeal
3 | Proper Lighting
4 | Create a List of Upgrades
5 | Declutter
6 | Make Your Bed Beautiful
7 | Deep Clean Your House
8 | Add Fresh Flowers or Colorful Fruit in the Kitchen
9 | Consider Walkways in Each Room
10 | Create Ambiance
Related Content You Will Love

10 Ways to Stage Your Home to Sell

1 | Know Your Home Buyer

When staging your home, know the buyers that are most likely to purchase your home. Our first two homes were in trendier neighborhoods that appealed to young professionals and couples that were beginning to start their families.

We made sure to highlight entertainment spaces as well as kid-friendly areas to appeal to our most likely buyers. With our third home, we knew that many buyers were growing families looking for more space. I made sure to highlight all of the features that were perfect for families with multiple kids. This included three bedrooms on one floor and a guest suite in the basement for guests or an au pair.

10 easy ways to stage your home and sell fast! | Building Bluebird #homestaging #realestate

2 | Focus on Curb Appeal

I would argue that curb appeal is the most important area to stage because it is the buyers’ first impression of your home. You don’t want a buyer to lose interest when they pull up and see a bunch of problems. Think about the first time you laid eyes on your home, what caught your eye? What did you like, and what did you dislike?

With each of our homes, we have done some exterior renovations, however, we always complete these simple tasks to add to the curb appeal when preparing it for the open house.

Manicured yard: Mow the lawn, water the grass to make it as green as possible, mulch where it is needed and clean out the flower beds.
Play up the porch: Add seating and pillows to welcome buyers. Add a welcome mat and a door wreath for some added character. Sweep the porch and dust off any cobwebs in the corners.
Fresh flowers: We always add fresh flowers to planters to bring some life to the front of the house.

Adding curb appeal for potential buyers will help to sell your home fast | Building Bluebird

3 | Proper Lighting

Bring in all the light! Open every blind and curtain and turn on every light in each room. Buyers want a home to feel bright and airy, not dark and confined. Don’t forget to wash your windows before the open house either (this is a MUST if you have toddlers and pups with wet noses)! Make sure to replace any burnt-out light bulbs as well and keep the lightbulb temperature consistent. By this I mean, don’t have one sconce with a daylight lightbulb and the other sconce with a warm light lightbulb.

This bathroom is staged with crisp white towels, a bright plant and decluttered counters | Building Bluebird

4 | Create a List of Upgrades

Don’t assume that the buyer will notice your updates. Provide a list of upgrades for the buyer to see at the open house and also for your realtor to reference when he is talking up your house. In our third home, we made sure potential buyers knew that the swamp cooler was brand new with added vents, the roof was new, all new floors (including carpet is new), etc.

When we sold our last home, I created a full “Homeowners Manual” that included everything a buyer would want to know about the home and neighborhood. This book included all upgrades, names of paint colors for each room (in case touchups were needed), schools, and amenities.

I made sure to address anything that could cause concern for a buyer. For example, one of our homes had a large nursing home across the street. I highlighted that the nursing home tenants are quiet, friendly neighbors and my toddler son loved to go and visit his buddies at the “Neighborhood House”.

5 | Declutter

Pack up as much as you can in your house and put it into storage (or the garage).

When staging your home, declutter every room, including the laundry room | Building Bluebird

Here are a few areas to focus on:

Closet: If you have a small closet and your clothes are jammed into it, take out half of them so it looks like there is room to add more. You don’t want your buyers first thought to be that they won’t be able to fit their belongings in the bedroom closet.
Toiletries: Hide all toothbrushes, hairbrushes and all shower toiletries when showing your home.
Counters: Clear off all counters. I tend to keep soap and a few staging materials like flowers, fruit and a cookbook, but all appliances and piles of junk must go.
Kids Items: It is ok to know that kids are present in the home, but store all of the big items like the high chair, bulky seats, walkers, etc.
Personal Items: I am in favor of peppering in some personal photos, but if there are tables of picture frames displaying your memories, I would pare that down. I also recommend limiting fan memorabilia, and religious and political objects.

The bathroom was decluttered of personal toiletries and organized to appeal to buyers | Building Bluebird

This bathroom is clear of all toiletries and looks really clean with a crisp, white towel and plant in the shower niche.

6 | Make Your Bed Beautiful

We have all seen it before, you are scrolling through a beautiful home on Zillow and then you see the bedroom! The bed is uninviting and two flat and dingy pillows are at the top of the bed. This is a turnoff! Make your bed and put some effort into making it look beautiful. Prop your pillows up with clean shams, add a few throw pillows, and maybe even add a blanket to the foot of the bed.

7 | Deep Clean Your House

I recommend hiring a cleaner before an open house. A good deep clean includes the floors, baseboards, bathrooms, and refrigerator. With kids and dogs, this small fee is totally worth it.

An hour before the open house, open your windows and bring some fresh air into your house! Buy “expensive” candles and light them in a few rooms. Avoid air fresheners and plug-ins. You may be ok with the smell but buyers can be sensitive to the strong scent. I personally dislike the smell of both.

8 | Add Fresh Flowers or Colorful Fruit in the Kitchen

Creating small vignettes in each room in your home will help potential buyers to envision themselves in the space. Adding a little life into a room with flowers will make it feel more inviting.

Check out the complete kitchen transformation of the image below!

9 | Consider Walkways in Each Room

The way we set up our homes for daily convenience is not always the most appealing layout for potential buyers. When it comes to home staging, I always remove furniture items and rugs to improve the flow of each room.

We have removed dressers, chairs and even swapped out big kitchen tables for smaller ones to improve the walking paths in each room.

10 | Create Ambiance

The goal is for buyers to love your house so much that they don’t want to leave.

When preparing for the open house, turn on music, light gas fireplaces, sprinkle the rooms with fresh flowers, and maybe even add some music.

Thanks for checking these tips to stage your home and sell fast! With effective home staging, you will increase your property value and maximize your profits. Now go ahead and bring in that money, honey!!

Table of Contents