Tips on Staging your home

I can not emphasize enough on the fact that home staging helps sell homes faster and attracts more potential buyers. It is very difficult to sell a vacant home or an overly crowded home, both of these could immensely benefit from having a home staging consultation.
A vacant home needs to be show cased to the public, fully furnished, as the general public is not able to visualize for example, how a bed and a desk would fit in a small bedroom.
On the other hand, a crowded home needs to be decluttered to show the potential and the space that home has to offer to the interested buyers.
I am connected to several professional home stagers in the city and as part of my services, I provide free Professional Home Staging consultation to clients that list their home with me.
Here are some tips on home staging:

1. Consider hiring a professional. Do a little math and make a few calls to see what it would cost to hire someone to handle the staging for you. Professional stagers have an arsenal of furnishings at the ready and can hammer out a neutral, professional design much quicker than you can. If you're determined to do the work yourself, see about getting a consultation from a professional stager.
2. You don't need to stage the whole house. Whether you hire a pro or decide to go the DIY route, you don't need to stage every single room. Stage the main living areas — living room, dining room, kitchen — and at least one bedroom, preferably the master. You should also stage any room that has a confusing purpose to show how it can be used. So if there's an awkwardly sized bedroom, stage it to show that it will fit a bed and dresser comfortably, for instance.
   
   Homeowners can do many things to stage their home at little or no cost. The most important thing to keep in mind is that buyers must be able to envision themselves living in your home.
   
   "No one will buy your home until they can mentally move into it."
3. Clean, get rid of clutter and depersonalize. Staging is about making your home look nice, but remember that buyers have other senses and that a bad smell can be a deal-breaker. Nothing smells better than clean.
   
   Check that all rooms are spotlessly clean, have washed windows, smell good and have been aired before showings.
4. Be resourceful when hunting for furnishings. If you have friends and family with updated or neutral furniture, see if you can borrow a few pieces to stage your home. If you need to stage a room as a bedroom but you don't have a bed, get an inflatable air mattress that rises off the floor to regular bed height. Once you get the linens on, it will look just like a regular bed, and you can use it for guests in your new home.
5. Show off hardwood floors. If you have hardwood floors in good shape that are covered by wall-to-wall carpeting, remove the carpet and clean the floor.
6. Remove heavy window treatments. Buyers are looking for homes with lots of natural light and that lighter, less formal window panels give any room a lighter, airier feel.
7. Freshen the walls. Paint is always the least expensive way to make a major change to a home.
8. Remember the rule of three. The golden rule is three items per surface, whether it's a wall, tabletop or mantel.
   
   The rule of three applies to small rooms, as well, while larger rooms may get six pieces — four chairs, a table and a lamp in a dining room, for example.
9. Do your research. If you're not sure what a staged home should look like, spend a half-day going to open houses to see what works and what doesn't. Take notes.