Getting your property ready for marketing is more than just a valuation and putting up the For Sale board. Your property may tick all the boxes for a potential buyer in terms of location or number of bedrooms but that doesn’t mean an offer is guaranteed. Staging or styling your property for your photographs and viewings can make all the difference to achieving that all important sale.
You don’t need to pay a professional to style your property, nor do you need to be an interior designer. Following a few simple tips will ensure your home is marketed to sell and you have the best chance of securing a sale. We asked our estate agency teams across our five branches for their tips for the perfect staged home for photographs and viewings.
Top tips for photographs
Avoid clutter
We all collect ‘stuff’ whether that’s ornaments and family photographs or a pile of papers waiting to be sorted. Tidying away this clutter can seem an obvious suggestion but ensuring your rooms are stripped back to a blank canvas will allow your viewers to visualise themselves living in your space - plus you’ll have less to dust and clean if you get a last minute viewing!
Natural light
Opening curtains and blinds to fill your rooms with natural light will make your rooms feel bigger and more welcoming. Mirrors are a great way to bounce light around your space if an area needs a lift, place these opposite windows for best effect.
Define your spaces, sell the lifestyle
Rooms in busy households often have dual purposes but this can be confusing for prospective buyers if they can’t see the specific rooms you’ve advertised. Dressing the dining room table, staging the kitchen island with a bottle of bubbly or the playroom with strategic placed toys shows each room has a defined purpose and allows you to sell the lifestyle.
Don’t forget the garden
Many buyers who are looking to move up the property ladder are often looking for a bigger property both in terms of living rooms and outside space. Putting up your parasol in summer, or dressing your firepit ready to be lit in winter can showcase how you use the space all year round.
Look at other properties for ideas
If you’ve made the decision to sell no doubt you’ve looked at potential properties you would like to move to. Determine what you liked about how they were presented and replicate some of those ‘first impressions’ into your own property staging.
Top tips for viewings
Remove cars from your driveways
Make a great first impression by making it easy for your viewer to park by removing any cars from your driveway, plus it highlights how much space you have.
Avoid strong smells
Flooding your home on viewings day with overpowering smells may lead buyers to think they are there to disguise something. Be more subtle with fresh flowers to add a more natural fragrance.
Light and bright
An abundance of natural light can be key to selling your home. So even on hot summer or wintery days ensure your blinds are open and curtains pulled back to let the light into your space.
Remove personal items
Tidying away any personal correspondence, especially if you have a home office and removing any family photographs is always a good rule so there are no barriers to your buyers viewing your property as potentially their own.
We’re here to help
Our property experts help hundreds of people sell their homes every year so they can easily offer that critical eye if you need a second opinion on how to present your home for sale. We can also provide feedback from prospective buyers who have viewed your property and not offered to help you to appeal to as many buyers as you can.
New year, new home?
Rightmove say Boxing Day sees the biggest spike in traffic to their website. If 2024 is the year to make your move, now is the time to get your property valued (you can get an idea online) photographed and ready for market. Get in touch with our expert agency teams in your local office.