Are you putting your house up for sale with hopes of selling it fast?

If you are selling in the red-hot Nanaimo real estate market, you probably won’t have any trouble selling your home quickly.

Regardless of where your home is located, staging a home is an essential part of the selling process. It may seem like just another task to add to a long to-do list, but staging is a valuable way to showcase the best aspects of your home.

Good home staging helps buyers imagine what life would be like in your home, while poor staging can result in a lower than expected sale price.

Here are some important things to think about when staging your home for a quick sale. 

De-Personalize Your Space

When buyers visit your home, they don’t want to have to replace your vision of a comfortable, homey space with their own.

Removing personal photos is a common first step for stagers. In addition to photos of yourself and your family, you should store away trinkets and decor of personal significance.

Even though you might have some great memories associated with those souvenirs from your last vacation in Europe, it is unlikely the buyer will resonate with them.

Clothing, personal toiletries, and anything else you use as a part of your daily routine can be removed too. Think about the anonymity of a showroom in an IKEA store, and try to accomplish the same thing in your home.

Take Care Of Clutter

Clutter can take many forms. First, take care to clean up any junk left on counters, tables, or poking out of desk drawers.

Clutter can also take the form of too much furniture. Many professional stagers will remove as much as half of an owner’s furnishings before any buyer sees it.

Not only does this make rooms appear larger and allow for guests to move easily through the space, but it also allows the guest to fill empty space with whatever kind of furniture or decor they imagine–a much better alternative to forcing them to “delete” furniture in their mind.

Finally, clear up storage areas and closets so buyers can see the full extent of storage offered. Out of season clothes can be taken out of front hall closets, and you should be taking storage bins and other large objects to a different location.

Deep Cleaning 

There’s no such thing as too clean when strangers are examining every nook and cranny of your home. 

Consider hiring a residential cleaning company to deep clean the entire space, focusing on often-missed areas like baseboards, ceilings, inside cabinets and closets, and anything else you can think of.

A home cleaning checklist is a great resource to use if you are taking on this task yourself.

Curb Appeal: A Great First Impression

Curb appeal may seem like a real estate cliche, so it is important to know what it really means when you are staging your home.

Not every home will be blessed with a stunning exterior. But keeping the area well lit without any obvious flaws is a good start.

Fresh flowers on your front porch and minor outdoor furniture pieces like a bistro table set show the viewer that this is a space meant to be lived in, not ignored.

Create A Work From Home Oasis

More people are working from home than ever before, and this means a home office is top-of-mind for many buyers.

Even if you don’t have an office to furnish as a cozy, productive space, designate a sunny nook in your home as a functional workspace and dress it up like the WFH spot of your dreams.

Are you putting your house up for sale in Nanaimo? Focus on creating a dream work from home area. Vancouver Island is becoming a destination for many remote workers. 

Do I Need To Pay For A Professional?

Staging can seem like an awful lot of work. For many sellers, hiring a professional will be the logical choice.

But homeowners who don’t mind putting in the work can save on stager fees. Many stagers will offer a consultation and provide a detailed checklist. This is an opportunity for sellers to tackle these tasks one by one, depending on whether there will be furniture in the home at the time of selling.

Staging a home well shouldn’t break the bank. It’s more about being smart with what you have and avoiding common staging pitfalls.

Want to learn more about what to expect during the process of selling your home? Check out the selling section of our blog, and don’t hesitate to get in touch with us,

Nanaimo realtor Jeff King has over a decade of experience in the Nanaimo real estate market, and brings a detailed understanding of how to sell homes on Vancouver Island.