After you’ve made your home clutter free, the next step is to stage it. Not only does it set your home apart from the other Nanaimo BC real estate listings, but the fact is that staging your house for sale does make a big difference:

• 81% of buyers and buyers’ agents – the realtor who brings prospective buyers to see your home – say that staging makes it easier to visualize your house as their future home, making it easier to make the sale

• 39% of sellers’ agents – the realtor representing you as the home seller – say staging a home reduces the days on market

• 21% of agents representing the seller say staging increase a home’s value by between 6% and 10%

So, if buyers love staging and you can sell your home faster and for more money, why not stage your home?

Here are 10 top staging tips that buyers love:

#1 Update the front entrance

An attractive front door makes a memorable first impression. Create an exterior that says, “Welcome home!” by power washing the front entrance, buying a new doormat, and making your house numbers look brand new.

#2 Make your living room look spacious

Remember that less is more when making a room look big. Decorating with light colors, and removing large, dark pieces of furniture will help your living room look spacious.

#3 The lighter the better

Another staging tip to make buyers fall in love with your home is to turn on all of the lights (even in the garage and basement) and open the curtains and blinds. Natural light goes a long way to making your house feel like a buyer’s home.

#4 Keep the rooms gender neutral

Although you may have two little girls who love pink, your perfect buyer might have two boys who love blue. And what little boy wants to sleep in a bedroom decorated for a girl? To make it easier for the entire family to imaging your home as theirs, keep rooms free of anything that implies a specific boy or girl use.

#5 Too much technology is bad

If you want to make your home stand out from the other Nanaimo BC real estate listings it’s best to keep technology in its place. Keep video game systems and computers out of sight. Create one public room for the entertainment systems, and have the TV playing a virtual tour of your house while the buyers are viewing your home.

#6 Reimagine extra bedrooms into something new

If you’ve got extra rooms in your house, revamp them into new spaces. Home offices, game rooms, craft rooms, and exercise rooms are a few ways to turn empty rooms into something new.

#7 Clean out the kitchen

Box up and store all of your dishes, glassware, silverware, and cookware. Except for a few matching sets. Those you’ll use to decorate your dining room table with, along with pretty placemats and cloth napkins.

#8 Make appliances sparkle

Remove magnets and message boards from the refrigerator and dish towels from the oven door. You can also make the space look sparkling new by staging your kitchen with stainless steel appliances if you don’t already have them.

#9 Emphasize how much storage your home really has

By emptying out your closets, sheds and garages, basements and attics. Showing off your storage space also makes your home look bigger and better for your prospective buyers.

#10 Celebrate the special time of year

Another staging tip that buyers love is seasonal touches in your home. Cinnamon sticks simmering in water when fall has arrived, freshly cut flowers in the spring, and candles or warm accent lighting in the summer and winter add an extra special touch to staging your home for sale in Nanaimo.