7 Realtor Tips For Staging Your Home in Austin

When selling your home in Austin, you want to curate the experience of the potential buyer from start to finish. 

The art of staging a home will go unnoticed in many ways by the buyer, and this is a good thing. 

When they’re walking through your house, it should feel neutral and welcoming. 

It’s easier for people to imagine living in your home when it is clean, updated, and spacious. Below, we’ve listed home staging tips for homeowners and real estate agents in Austin. 

Tips for staging your home in Austin

• Remove personal items to create a neutral space
• Get rid of excess clutter 
• Eliminate evidence of pets
• Clean everything thoroughly
• Touch up the paint
• Invest in repairs and upgraded appliances 
• Make a great impression from outside

Remove personal items to create a neutral space

Finding the balance between a house that feels welcoming and appealing to a variety of people can be tricky. One way to broaden the audience of potential buyers is by removing personal items. 

Photographs are one of the most obvious things that should be relocated. When you remove family photos, folks attending the walk-through can imagine themselves in the home more easily. 

Other items, such as personalized throw pillows and mailboxes with surnames painted on the side, might be worth removing as well. As people walk through the house, they can seamlessly imagine their own name on the door, and their own photos in the living room. 

Hiring a professional home stager could make the process simpler. Due to their unbiased perspective of your home, professional stagers can use their interior design expertise to prepare your home for prospective buyers. 

Get rid of excess clutter 

Removing excess clutter makes any house seem bigger and more enticing to potential buyers. 

Shoe shelves and plush recliners may have served you well over the years, but you want people to imagine their own furniture and personal items in the house. 

Oversized furniture, closets containing winter coats, and garages filled with tools, are just some examples of things to remove. 

If you’re in the process of moving, you may also have boxes around the house. While this is understandable, it’s probably better to keep them out of sight. 

Renting a storage unit may be the easiest way to relocate unsightly clutter. Chances are, you need a storage unit anyway if you’re moving. 

Eliminate evidence of pets

You may be the cleanest pet owner in all of Texas, but some folks are allergic to animal fur, or simply prefer a house without pets.

To attract the greatest number of potential buyers, remove pet beds, leashes, toys, or anything else your pet used. This may also require a deep cleaning of certain areas, new paint, and even specific yard work. 

For potential buyers with their own animals, they can easily envision their pets in a neutral space. But for people who don’t plan to live with animals, it’s better if your home appears like no pets were there. 

Clean everything thoroughly

This may seem obvious, but it’s impossible to overemphasize the importance of a clean house. Cleanliness gives potential buyers the feeling that the home has been handled with care. 

Some places, like the front door and light switches, will show more wear and tear than others. Over time, homeowners get used to discoloration and dirt in certain spots. This is normal, but in the bustle of moving, you may not have time to thoroughly clean. 

If you hire a cleaning service, they will recognize these areas and truly make them shine. It also helps to have a new, professional, perspective in the home. 

Most people will not consciously notice how clean a house is, but if it’s dirty, they will definitely take note. 

Your home should feel fresh and clean. This subconsciously affects potential buyers in a positive way, causing them to perceive your house as more valuable and desirable. 

Touch up the paint

A simple coat of paint accomplishes three things. 

First, bright colors are more neutral, and therefore appeal to a larger audience of buyers. If a potential buyer wants to paint a room with an accent wall, they can. However, it’s better to allow them to imagine repainting than to interpret the space for them by leaving an uncommon color like dark red or blue. 

Second, a fresh coat of paint will ensure that the walls and ceiling look bright and reverse years of dirt and discoloration. Again, this makes the home feel like it’s been treated well.

Third, brightly colored paint reflects more light and make any room feel more spacious. Fresh paint can instantly transform the ambiance of your home. 

Invest in repairs and upgraded appliances 

While you may not want to buy a new stove or replace the kitchen floor just so you can sell your house, it might be worth it in the long run. 

When folks walk through a home and see a new refrigerator, fresh vent covers, and new floors, they will take a mental note because they wont need to buy those things for years to come. 

Additionally, new appliances have the same effect as a clean home and new paint because they make your house feel up to date and cared for. 

Of course, this costs money up front, but new appliances and repairs might allow you to sell your home more quickly and negotiate a higher sale price. You want to avoid the buyer feeling like your home is a fixer-upper. Instead, you want them to feel like they can move in with as little work as possible. 

Make a great impression from outside

The same principles are true for your home’s curb appeal as the inside. From landscaping and exterior paint, to doors and windows, your house should be beautiful, clean and welcoming.

When potential buyers first see your home, they will immediately formulate an opinion. For this reason, it’s important to positively influence their experience from the beginning. 

A new layer of mulch, a fresh set of shrubs, and a new mailbox will go a long way. It may even be worth it to hire a landscaper to revamp the lawn, which gives you more time to organize your personal items and find the best furniture for staging. 

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