Modern living: Staging your home for sale can make a difference

Share this Story : Modern living: Staging your home for sale can make a difference Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Breadcrumb Trail Links Life Homes Modern living: Staging your home for sale can make a difference Author of the article: Laura Byrne Paquet Published Aug 21, 2024 • 4 minute read Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account. Pops of blue, artfully placed plants, a gleaming coffee maker and baskets of fresh produce keep this white kitchen from looking sterile.

Photo by Photo by Nicolai Hadchity, Inside Ottawa Media, for Ottawa Property Gals Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content According to the Real Estate Staging Association, professional staging can help you sell your home more quickly and can add up to 20 per cent to the sale price.



However, it could also cost between $275 and $10,000, for an average owner-occupied house. Many homeowners stage their home themselves, with advice from their agent. If you choose that route, the first step is to declutter and depersonalize.

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Activate your Online Access Now Article content “It makes such a difference,” says Sonya Crites, a sales representative with the Ottawa branch of Right at Home Realty. She recommends that sellers remove up to half of the items from their home by storing, selling, donating or disposing of them. Sandy Fredette, a sales representative with Royal LePage Team Realty in Carleton Place, agrees.

She advises clients to take down all personal photos, for instance. Outdoor spaces can be staged, too, and twilight photos are especially appealing. Photo by Photo by Nicolai Hadchity, Inside Ottawa Media, for Ottawa Property Gals Like most agents, Fredette and Crites work with their sellers to develop a staging to-do list.

Then, it’s up to the client to decide how many upgrades they have the time and budget to take on, focusing on the areas with the biggest potential payoff. “Pay extra attention to the kitchens and bathrooms. That’s the first thing that people are looking at,” says Fredette.

Clear the small appliances off your kitchen counters and the cosmetics off your bathroom vanity. Once your house is as streamlined as possible, it’s time to think about colour, for everything from walls to towels. “White really shows up well in photos,” says Crites, adding that white walls and textiles give living spaces a hotel-like vibe and make bathrooms feel like spas.

She and her real estate partner Lori Williams—AKA the Ottawa Property Gals—will often pick an accent colour to repeat throughout the house to keep the décor from looking sterile. Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Gleaming surfaces, uncluttered shelves and a bath tray with candles give this bathroom a soothing spa feel.

Photo by Photo by Nicolai Hadchity, Inside Ottawa Media, for Ottawa Property Gals Staging also involves easy fixes, such as replacing burnt-out lightbulbs or damaged trim. These are the sorts of things you might not notice, but a potential buyer will. The next step is to clean the house thoroughly.

Every window, light fixture and tap should sparkle. All grout should be pristine. Banish the cobwebs from your ceiling fans.

And don’t forget about curb appeal. “Make sure your front door is spotless,” says Fredette, who even advises clients to get into the small grooves of the door with a toothbrush, if necessary. Also, ensure walkway and driveway edges are clear of weeds.

Remember, too, that cleanliness isn’t just visual. “Take care of the senses,” says Fredette. If you smoke or have pets, you’ll probably need to repaint the whole house, change air filters, and clean soft furnishings, rugs and drapes to erase lingering odours.

And if you have a cat? Make sure the litter box is spotless and out of sight. With a textured throw, heaps of pillows and soft lighting, this bedroom conjures up dreams of restful sleep for potential buyers. Photo by Photo by Nicolai Hadchity, Inside Ottawa Media, for Ottawa Property Gals With all these steps taken care of, it’s time for one of the most enjoyable aspects of staging: bringing in carefully chosen elements that will make the house look like a show home.

Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Crites and Williams clearly revel in this step, spending a full day on it for each house they stage. They’ve accumulated two storage lockers packed with throws, dishes, towels, pillows, bedding, artificial plants and other décor items they can lend sellers.

And when they stage a home, they keep the potential buyer in mind. First-time buyers, says Crites, are often drawn to properties with a homey-yet-trendy feel—a look that might pop up on Pinterest or Instagram. A charcuterie board and some wine glasses on a kitchen island, or a tray stacked with books on a living room coffee table, can set just the right mood in photographs.

Luxury-oriented buyers, on the other hand, may be more interested in high-end finishes and fixtures. The key, says Crites, is to make it easy for buyers to picture themselves in a home, and to reassure them that the place is turnkey. Faded paint or outdated drawer pulls can be enough to discourage a buyer.

“Those are the homes that tend to be passed over,” she says. Pillows, a fluffy throw and an area rug, along with eye catching but impersonal art, invite potential buyers to imagine themselves relaxing in this living room. Photo by Photo by Nicolai Hadchity, Inside Ottawa Media, for Ottawa Property Gals So how long does it take to stage a home yourself, and how much does it cost? As with so much in the real estate game, it varies, depending on the size of the home and the work required.

Agents say that two weeks to a month is a reasonable timeline for an average house. Cost is more difficult to determine. It’s important to ask your agent how much help he or she can provide, and if that will affect their fee.

And if your house is empty or your furniture is old, you might also want to rent furniture, which can cost $1,500 to $2,000 a month for a couple of rooms. Finally, you could choose virtual staging, where a company creates idealized digital images of what your rooms could look like. However, agents say clients often enjoy the real-world staging process.

Crites says that many ask themselves, once they’ve seen the changes, “Why didn’t I do this before?” Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Modern living: Staging your home for sale can make a difference Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Comments You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments. Create an Account Sign in Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful.

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