You can get MORE money out of your house with some very simple changes to your stuff! Staging a home for listing photos is a complicated process that involves lots of personalized suggestions, but there are a few universal tips that work for almost ANY space. Check out a few of my top staging tips that will help you make MORE money from the sale of your house!

Within 8 SECONDS of looking at photos of a house online, buyers have made their decision about whether they’re interested or not. 8 SECONDS!

Attention spans are shot nowadays, and home buyers are no exception. The first impression your home makes is of the utmost importance. This is why stylish staging is critical to getting top dollar for your home. And it doesn’t have to be hard or expensive! Just a few easy tips go a long way to attracting buyers’ attention and getting them to stick around and view more.

Tip 1: Lighting is everything. Great lighting is the difference between your home feeling like a warm and cozy retreat, or the interior of a cold and musty warehouse. Use light temperatures that match the decor and ambiance of your home, and make sure the bulbs are not only all the same color, but all the same wattage as well. My advice is to stay away from the 5000 kelvin color temperature bulbs. They’re very harsh and blue. Something in around 3,000-3,500 or “soft white” are my personal favorite when showing a home, and having photography done.

Tip 2: The living room and the kitchen are the most important, as these are generally the first interior photos of the home your prospective buyers are going to see. When thinking about furniture positioning, break the room into quarters. And above all else, make sure the furniture is not ALL pushed to one side or up against the walls!

Tip 3: Make all of the bedding in the house look like a hotel. Even though your buyers aren’t buying the bed, they’re going to subconsciously see your bed as their own, and are going to imagine how relaxed they’re going to feel when in that room. So make sure the bed is clean and tidy, with a matching bedskirt and decorative pillows to round out the feel.

And finally, Tip 4: Put away all clutter. It’s hard as an agent to tell seller’s that their stuff is “CLUTTER” but I’m going to do it now, not to be offensive, but to help boost your sales price in the end! Every photo should feel neat and composed as if thought went into each space. Your clutter gives a sense of claustrophobia to the space, so put everything away to create wide open spaces. This includes nearly everything on your kitchen counters! Unless it’s something you need to use every day, get rid of the stack of mail, the basket containing old keys and vitamins that everyone has for some reason, and the quesadilla maker.

These easy tips go a LONG way to making your listing photos pop and showcasing your house in the best light. Want some personalized recommendations for your own home? Shoot me a message on Facebook and let’s set up a time to meet and chat about getting top dollar for your house!