HOME SELLING. HOME STAGING.

Four Tips to Transition Your Outdated Listing to Sold

Are you selling an outdated home? don’t despair. Home Staging works for all types of homes. It’s not just for model homes, new builds, or luxury homes. With a few simple adjustments to your current situation, you can take a home from outdated to looking fresh, updated, and enticing for potential buyers. 

Following are four home staging tips to help transition your outdated listing:

PICK FRESH PAINT COLORS WISELY

A neutral and light color palette is an easy and cost-effective way to make a home feel current. Light colors can add brightness to a room, creating the illusion of it being much larger than it is. Aside from the impression of spaciousness, neutral colors such as light blues, soft whites, delicate grays, warm creams, and neutral beiges can give off an inviting atmosphere that potential buyers will gravitate to. It is important to note that neutral colors provide an excellent base for adding accent pieces like furnishings and decor that further work to make the home appear more up-to-date, making buyers more likely to remain in the space for a longer viewing. All in all—making sure you or your clients opt for neutral and light hues when staging their homes will certainly pay dividends! And if your budget only affords one update, start here.

SELECT YOUR FURNITURE INTENTIONALLY

Assisting someone in making the most of an outdated home can sometimes be a challenge, as most prospective buyers want a living space that is modern and relevant. To ensure one gets the best return on their investment, sellers should live by the mantra that “Less is More.” Secondly, appropriate size is crucial. Oversized furniture will fill up a room, and it can overwhelm and make it feel cramped instead of inviting. When possible, remove, sell, or store away bulky furniture and replace it with pieces that take less visual space and float it off the wall. If that is not an option, try scaling down the furniture by removing a couple of pieces from a sectional, for example. Adding accessories like a few colorful pillows and a throw can add just enough flair without cluttering.

ADD WINDOW TREATMENTS THOUGHTFULLY

When looking to transition an outdated home into a more pleasing presentation, one great place to start is by replacing outdated or style-specific window treatments like heavy drapes with more neutral, timeless treatments – simple shades or neutral drapes are a big win. Light fabric or sheer window treatments work best when staging, as they bring in the most natural light while still providing needed privacy. In addition to bringing in more light and creating an atmosphere of openness and spaciousness (which all buyers love!), they are far less likely to be ‘off-putting’ or distracting, helping the buyers to see the home and not the decor.

LIGHTING FOR THE DIFFERENCE

Let’s look at a home built in the 90s as an example. Home builders placed an abundance of light fixtures encased in polished brass and frosted glass as it was the “it” thing during that time. While brass has made quite the resurgence, it is brushed, antiqued, and un-lacquered brass that has buyers swooning, not that shiny builder grade stuff. Simple light fixture swaps with fresh neutral designs that are fitting with the architecture of your home can be a huge plus to buyers and easily double or triple your return on investment. Do not break the bank with lighting updates, but look at listings for sale in your neighborhood. If you’re living in a master-planned community, most likely your home’s lighting will also look like all the other homes for sale in the neighborhood. A buyer will notice “differences” with your listing over the competition and appreciate its non-standard looks compared to the others.

IN CONCLUSION

When in doubt about making the right choices for a dated listing, don’t be afraid to bring in a professional stager who can bring their expertise to the table. When considering listing any home for sale, starting with a staging consultation will get you on the right path. Paint colors, furniture, window treatments, and lighting all play a big role in a potential buyer’s perception of your home, and they can make or break getting an offer. While planning your staging strategy can seem overwhelming at first, these four home staging tips for transitioning an outdated listing will help get you to the closing table. At POSH Home Staging & Redesign, we understand the importance of a well-staged property and the necessity for attractive online photos. We’re happy to provide any assistance or advice needed to ensure success! You get three to four online photos to pull in a potential buyer or have them swipe to the next listing. So if you’re looking to determine how best to stage an outdated property – or even update your own home for future enjoyment – give us a call today and let us show you how our expertise can help get your home sold quickly for top dollar.