The real estate stylist you select to stage your home at sale time is critical to achieving your goal of getting top dollar. You already know that the sale of your home is just one part of your life-long plan for acquiring wealth, but in the confusion and chaos around actually preparing a house for sale, it’s easy to forget that you are about to liquidate your biggest asset. Home sellers often become intimidated by the costs of doing this particular business – there is so much to be done. When it comes time to trim the budget, though, the last place you want to cut corners is in your choice of home stylists.
First of all, breathe.
As you prepare to sell your house, remember that you are following an investment plan that is meant to ensure your comfort in retirement. To do this, every penny of your investment has to be set to work earning more value. So, yes. You may need to take steps to add value to your house in order to make it as attractive as other offerings in your area.
If you’ve determined that building an outside living area like a deck or patio is the way to enhance your house’s value, your goal is to complete the project very well but without wasting a dollar in the process. You’ll need to have a solid plan and a budget. Your home stylist and your selling agent will be able to tell you about how much such an addition will be worth at sale. They should also be able to offer suggestions as to the contractor who can do the job within your budget. (Get help wherever you can – use your sales team members and their expertise whenever you have questions.)
If there are other deficiencies in your home, your home stylist will help you overcome them, or at least call attention away from the small liabilities. The real estate stylist does this kind of thing every day. It’s what they do. Their training tells them what the buyer is looking for and their artistic talent tells them how to make your house work toward the end of supplying those needs. If you’ve chosen an experienced home stylist, there’s probably nothing your house can throw in terms of curve balls that your stylist hasn’t seen and conquered before. It’s pretty hard to surprise or discourage a good stylist.
If you look at the overall budget you’ve prepared for the liquidation project and you see a need to cut corners, perhaps your list of things to do is over long. There are, indeed, ways to pare the list down through creative problem solving.
Do you really need to refinish the hardwood floors in the foyer? You may find that a coat or two of one of the many scratch-removing products for this purpose may save you hundreds of dollars. Do you actually need to tear out that abominable pink tiling in the main bathroom? Nope. You can, with a bit of know-how, paint the tiles in a more neutral colour at a fraction of the price. The end result is the same. A fresh new bathroom is just an afternoon away. (By skipping the retiling you also save time – a big money saver.)
Here’s the best news. A well-staged home will sell much faster and usually for more money than the asking price. Not only will you enjoy the money that didn’t dwindle away while your house lingered on the market, but you may also gain enough money from the sale price to pay for your staging entirely. These two factors alone should convince you that scrimping on the step of staging is not part of a good investment plan.
As you choose the real estate stylist who will work with you, remember that experience is just part of the winning mix. You’ll want to find somebody whose track record is a winning one, of course, but you also want a styling team that has everything to complete the job. A styling firm that also offers in-house furniture hire is a big bonus. Call Urban Chic Property Styling first – we have it all. Our name represents experience, skill, and a proud history of making Sydney homes irresistible. We look forward to serving you.
Image courtesy of Inuk Home.
