Saturday, 7 May 2011

Exterior Design - 3 Tips To Stage The Outside Of Your Home

By Allan Marsh


You may be considering putting your house up for sale but unfortunately, you don't know where to start. Perhaps you're afraid that it will take too long to sell or you won't be getting the price that you want. Then what you need to do is set the scene for immediate buyer interest in your property or stage your home.

To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Follow these 3 tips to get started on the outside of your home:

Go stand on the street to see what clients see when driving up to the house. Be aware that any negative impressions they get outside the house (landscaping not maintained or non-existent, peeling paint, etc.) is just going to make them think that the house itself has not been well taken care of. If clients get a bad first impression when they drive up to the house, then all the time and money spent on fixing the interior will go to waste.

Next, step outside your front door and close the door; then stand on the stoop and look around for 5 minutes. The clients stand behind and look around while the Realtor fumbles for keys and tries to figure out how to open the door. Any ideas what they are seeing? Dead plants, old Halloween decorations in the middle of January, cobwebs? If so, then this is a bad impression as well.

Having it cleaned up will definitely be worth it. You can even go a step further. Try a new coat of paint or some new furniture or accessories.

You also need to consider the backyard. You need to make sure it's in the best condition possible even though it's not part of the potential buyer's first impression. Things you can do to improve it include buying new furniture and accessories like plant pots and bird houses, do some sweeping, water plants, and pull up weeds.

Then there's the biggest tip of all. What you can do is imagine yourself as the potential buyer who is looking at your house for the first time. Think about the impressions you are getting? Would you buy your house if you were the potential buyer? Perhaps there's something you like to see changed before putting an offer on your house.

To get your house ready to sell, you may have to spend several thousand dollars but you'll it back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.




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