Selling your home is a hard process. Showings, keeping your home clean and (most importantly) making it presentable and marketable is paramount when it comes to making a good presentation to potential buyers. Why? As the old adage goes, you never get a second change to make a good first impression.

Homes that are staged well & present cleanly to buyers during a showing sell more quickly on average than homes that don’t, and buyers most often offer a 1 to 5 percent increase on the value of a staged home as compared to a home that is unstaged, according to Realtor.com. And let’s face facts: a clean, organized and uncluttered home is overall a better looking & feeling experience when walking into a home, so it would stand to reason this would also make a good impression on buyers too.

But what if you’re not really in the market for a fully staged home? Lucky for you, there are some very practical options that fall into the wheelhouse of home organization which can make a big impression with buyers. Here are a few tips to help get your home more presentable without shelling out for a full home staging:

  • Declutter and depersonalize. One of the best ways to stage your home for someone else to imagine living there is to get rid of your personal stuff. Declutter books, pictures, knickknacks, and anything else that is exclusively you.
  • Set the table. A blank dining room table is boring. Instead, set it for a dinner party so there is a wow factor when buyers walk in and see your beautifully arranged table.
  • Keep furniture proportional to the room. Strategically placing a minimal amount of furniture in a small space works better than over crowding it with too much furniture, says interior designer Kaylan Kane of Olive Juice in Chicago. “A small desk, chair, and an area rug with one big piece of art in a small room,” she adds, “can give a small room a purpose without overfilling the room.”
  • Clean out and organize closets. The experts at national real estate brokerage Redfin.com suggest making sure hangers are evenly spaced apart, and matching your shoes, purses, and accessories to give a color-coordinated, organized appearance inside your closet.
  • Clear off countertops. Get rid of all clutter in bathrooms and kitchens except for the bare necessities that “read” bathroom (soap dish and a hand towel) or kitchen (coffee machine). Shannon Vallentyne of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle likes to put a cookbook on a stand on a kitchen counter, and have it open to a fun recipe. Kitchens are often the number one priority on a buyer’s list, so make yours look as clean, open, and spacious as possible.

If you’re struggling with the process of staging your home & just don’t have the time to whip your home into presentable shape, remember SOS is here to help rescue your home for the sale! Call us today for a staging & home organization consultation to bring out the best in your home, or submit the form below to get in touch:

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