You have probably been told to consider staging your house if you are selling it. What does this mean? House staging is all about decorating or fixing your home to highlight its assets and make the property more attractive to buyers. The aim of this method is to increase the chances of finding a buyer more effectively.

Does home staging work? If done properly, it should help you sell your property easier. It can make your property stand out against competitors, especially since not all owners stage their houses. Furthermore, staging allows you to avoid price reduction. Also, when home buyers see problems in the house that would require fixing, they subtract the repair cost from the selling price of the property.

One of the major reasons why homeowners do not engage in staging is because some of them think it is a costly undertaking. Staging a home to sell doesn’t require spending a lot of money – just making smart decisions. In fact, you can set a budget and prioritise which parts of the house to work on. If you work with us, we can help you plan the staging of your house according to your budget.

1. Stage where it counts

Not all rooms are considered equal when it comes to home staging. You want to focus your efforts on the rooms that have the biggest potential to influence buyers’ decisions and spend less time on the rooms that won’t make much of a difference.

The rooms that hold the most importance for buyers are the living room, master bedroom and kitchen. These are the rooms that you want to focus the most on when you’re staging a home. Don’t worry as much about the rooms that have less influence, such as guest bedrooms, children’s bedrooms and bathrooms.

2. Get rid of clutter

Clutter takes up space and space is what sells. Make your home look bigger and more desirable by editing down to just the basics. You don’t have to get rid of things forever, but you should certainly be packing them up and getting them out of the house. This includes any un-seasonal clothes (no need to crowd your front hall closet with winter coats in the summer), most of your decor (you can keep a few select pieces if they’re subtle or minimalistic), papers, games, and pretty much anything else that you don’t need on a day to day basis. Buyers will be opening your closets to look at their storage potential, so take your time there removing as many miscellaneous and non-crucial items as you can. The less clutter you’ve got in the space, the bigger it will look and the more appealing it will be to buyers.

3. Clear Out / Spring Clean

Now is the best time to start organising your home. Donate anything you won’t be taking with you to a local charity shop and try to keep it to the bare minimum. Anything you can live without, put it into storage or store it in your garage if you have one. You want buyers to come to your home and visualise it as being their home. They want to envisage a new beginning so don’t let your clutter distract them from that.

4. Patch and repair

Home staging is a good time to tackle the tiny nicks, scratches, holes, and other impurities that signal neglect to buyers. Keep an eye out for any areas that could use a little TLC and fix them accordingly. You may need to do some paint touch ups too if you notice areas where previously applied paint has chipped. Just like with cleaning, the purpose is about showing potential buyers that you’ve put effort into maintaining the property and making the place look nice.

5. Go neutral

This staging tip is a bit more time and cost intensive, but it can make a major difference when it comes to the sale price and amount of time the property remains on the market. Bright colours express people’s personality in their homes, but they can be a major turn-off for buyers. When you’re staging your home to sell, one of the very best things you can do is paint over any bold colours with neutrals, like grey, white, or cream.

Buyers might want bright colours themselves, but a neutral home gives them the option to do that.

6. Lighting

Take advantage of your home's natural light. Open all curtains and blinds when showing your home. Add artificial lighting where necessary. Outdated or broken light fixtures can be cheaply and easily replaced. If you think your existing fixtures are fine, just make sure to dust and clean them.

7. Nice scents

Use candles, fragrance diffusers, flowers and soaps to make the property smell clean and fresh. Be sure to keep the smell light and neutral so that it doesn’t overwhelm potential buyers.

8. Furniture

Try to avoid your furniture cluttering your rooms too much. Large pieces of furniture will make the room feel small.

You should also try to arrange the furniture in a way that makes each room feel spacious and homey.

9. Exterior

This point is especially important is you are selling a country house or villa. Your home's exterior will be the potential buyer's first impression. It may even determine their interest in viewing the inside. Make sure your lawn, hedges, trees, and other plants are well-maintained and neatly pruned… and get rid of any weeds! If you can, pressure wash your home's exterior–it can make it look very fresh with little effort and expense.

If you have a pool, make sure it's nice and clean.

10. The Bottom Line

Even if you have plenty of cash, don't put too much money into the staging process. You want to emphasise the home's best features.

Your home staging efforts should be designed to appeal to the widest possible range of buyers.

If you are eager to sell your property in the ‘Valle del Guadalhorce’, Málaga, Costa del Sol and you are looking for a reputable estate agent with plenty of experience please contact us . You also need to bear in mind that your property needs to be priced correctly based on the current market status. We are happy to discuss this with you in more detail. We offer a free valuation to all our clients and we will explain the whole sales process to you from start to finish. Our contact details are:

Email: [email protected]

Tlf: +34 95 124 21 57