Setting the Stage Is Vital Step in Selling House
It was a bantam-sized house, facing a noisy thoroughfare, with a clear view of the unsightly back side of a big discount store.
But its owners--a real estate agent and her husband, a health care administrator for the U.S. Army--weren’t about to give away their ranch-style home.
So before they put the property up for sale, they painted, polished and cleaned. Before every showing, they burned vanilla-scented candles to create a fresh aroma, ran the vacuum and illuminated every light fixture in the place.
Their efforts paid off. Not only did their starter home sell within a week, but the couple pocketed a hefty profit on the place.
Like it or not, buyers will often make quick and superficial judgments about the home you have for sale. Prospects on a house-hunting expedition won’t forgive you the odor of cigarette smoke, dirty dishes in the sink or your kids’ hand-prints on the bedroom doors.
“I’ve seen people just walk in a dirty house, roll their eyes and walk right out,” recalled Beth Potter, the Coldwell Banker agent who sold the little ranch-style house.
Realty agents like Potter use the word “staging” to describe the art of preparing a home for sale. Why? Because, like a theater crew, the homeowners must assemble all the elements to create the right impression before the curtain rises.
Staging a property for sale means “putting your best foot forward and keeping it that way for all your showings,” said Jeannie Williams, an associate broker for the Prudential realty chain.
Real estate sales people like Williams, who has 29 years in the business, have accumulated a body of wisdom about simple steps you can take to make your home more fetching. Here are five of their suggestions:
No. 1: Indulge in bouquets of fresh flowers.
Maybe you’ll buy bunches of inexpensive carnations from the supermarket, rather than exotic orchids flown in from South America, but keeping vases of colorful fresh flowers in rooms throughout your house can make a very favorable impression on visitors. Fresh flowers work better than dried flowers or silk arrangements, Williams said.
No. 2: Illuminate your house as if for a TV commercial for your electric utility.
Perhaps it dates back to our relatives’ recollections of the Great Depression, when frugality was the order of the day, or maybe it’s related to contemporary views on energy consumption.
Either way, many Americans find it morally repugnant to leave on their lights, even during the relatively brief time when their homes are shown for sale.
Yet the reality is that light fixtures (compared to such home appliances as water heaters and refrigerators) consume relatively little electricity. And the proper use of lighting can make a vital difference in the presentation of your property.
“The single most important thing you can do is turn on every light, so your customers won’t have to grope around for the light switches or go away thinking your house is dark and dingy,” said Barbara S. Duncan, an associate broker for the Re/Max realty company.
When Duncan says “every light,” she means it. That includes closet lights as well as fixtures over stoves, kitchen counters, paintings and mantels. If you’ve done all this and your place still isn’t blazing with light, perhaps you’ll want to buy a few floor lamps with halogen bulbs, which are both inexpensive and energy efficient.
Why is lighting so vital? Because a well-lighted house seems brighter and more spacious, both factors important to the current generation of home purchasers, Duncan explained.
Of course, you don’t have to make your home a neighborhood beacon every moment it’s on the market. To be sure your lights are turned off after each showing, have your listing agent leave instructions for the buyer’s agent to do so.
No. 3: Keep the home fires burning.
During the cooler seasons of the year, few rituals are more delightful than logs burning in the fireplace of a family room or living room, if you can arrange it.
“Except during the summer, a fire in the fireplace is almost always wonderful. It makes the home warm and comfortable,” said Williams.
No. 4: Remove those refrigerator magnets and other clutter.
Why many homeowners put everything from their kids’ school art to salsa recipes on the front surface of a refrigerator is unclear. Perhaps people do it because it’s convenient and creates a family feeling, as if they’re living on the set of “The Brady Bunch.”
Still, real estate sales people consider the items magnetized to peoples’ refrigerators “class-A clutter,” right up there with the small appliances people keep on kitchen counters, such as Crock-Pots, blenders and electric can openers.
If you’re accustomed to kitchen clutter, you may be unaware of the bad impression it leaves on strangers. Nor will you worry about all the toiletries crowding your bathroom counters or the extra end tables and chairs that make your living room seem small.
To see the true visual impact of clutter (or its absence), it could be worth your while to spend an afternoon playing “buyer” by visiting homes for sale in your area. Your listing agent should be able to arrange such a tour for you.
No. 5: Look for sensory ways to make your home say “welcome.”
Because humans are highly influenced by their senses, you can easily torpedo a potential sale by letting foul odors loose in your house, whether they be from pets, cigarettes or other sources.
Besides removing offensive odors, there are steps you can take to make your house smell alluring, perhaps through the use of a potpourri with a citrus aroma or by placing a small dish filled with vanilla extract in your oven on “warm.” Still better, you could leave behind a pot of freshly brewed coffee and a basket of warm cookies with a note encouraging your visitors to partake.
But there’s nothing like a totally clean house in terms of sensory appeal. That’s why Williams strongly encourages sellers to clean their ovens repeatedly, keep their sinks free of dirty dishes and remove the soap scum from the floors of their showers, for instance.
“Nobody wants to move in on another person’s dirt,” she said.
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Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.
