Home Staging on a Budget

 Staging is a necessary and cost-effective part of the home selling process. Staging your home to showcase its qualities can only increase your final sale price. On average, people get $2 in increased sales price for every $1 they put into setting up a home.

When preparing your home for sale, there are five golden rules to consider as you work your way through each room of your home.

Five golden rules:

DepersonalizedThat wedding photo may mean the world to you, but the buyer is a distraction that prevents them from seeing a home for their family.

Maximize

Clean up and maximize the space in your home. Closets crammed with all your clothes create a space that doesn't have a closet space. Consider temporarily storing the overflow off-site.

Disinfect

This golden rule is the easiest and cheapest way to stage your home - clean it up. A sink full of dirty dishes is just as unattractive to you as it is to the buyer. Elbow grease pays off when cleaning floors, wallsbaseboards, ceiling fans and windows.

Modernize

If your home doesn't have exceptional period built-ins, the entire household could benefit from some updating. If someone feels that the house is outdated, they will show that feeling in a lower offer. Consider making a few simple changes, such as swapping expensive fixtures for nickel or chrome.

Neutralize

Color can make or break buyers' interest in your home. You may love that shocking red wall, but all potential buyers see is a large painting in their future because red clashes with their style. Painting is one of the cheapest ways to change the look of your home.

Bonus tips

Wardrobes

Clear closets of unnecessary clutter and organize them to maximize the amount of open storage space you're showing off to potential buyers.Use matching clothes hangers - hooks are cheap, so splurging on higher quality is cheap, so celebrating better quality hangers to replace dry cleaner's free wire hangers will update your wardrobes with visual impact and a more luxurious feel.

Bedroom

A quick and inexpensive way to improve your bedroom's curb appeal is to use gender-neutral colors when fine-tuning your paintwork and accessorizing to give you the widest possible appeal. Color-coordinated bedspreads, walls, curtains, etc. should have a clear color theme if possible.
Bathrooms

If the walls are dirty, spray them with a standard spray bottle filled with a mixture of one part bleach and one part water, then apply a new coat of paint.

Clear worktops for everything but the essentials to make the space look more open and spacious.
Kitchen

Modernize your outdated wardrobes; they can be fixed for less than $200 with a coat of new wood stain and or even a good sanding of the paint. Replacing brass or wood cabinet hardware with brushed silver or stainless steel is an effective way to update old cabinets as well.