In my business, as I travel around Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Parkland County and the Edmonton area, I see a lot of homes.  Very few of those homes, if they are currently being lived in, resemble “show homes”.  That’s because, let’s face it, living is messy.  Evidence of everyday life is everywhere, from wet towels flung over the shower in the master ensuite to children’s artwork clipped to the fridge with magnets given away by local businesses to untidy piles of unread mail atop the dining room table to empty bottles waiting to be taken to the recycle centre, along with the smells of this morning’s breakfast bacon and a cat litter box overdue for cleaning….  You get the picture!

***Given the competitiveness of today’s real estate market, it’s not enough to hang the towels neatly on a towel rack and spray the air with room deodorizer.  The fact that professional home stagers even exist suggests that having your home sell quickly and for a good price requires much more these days.***

Homebuying.about.com has this to say about Home Staging:

“Home staging is about illusions. It’s how David Copperfield would sell a house. It’s beyond decorating and cleaning. It’s about perfecting the art of creating moods. Staging makes your house look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving and, best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it.

 “Contrary to what you might think, it’s about more than preparing the house for sale. Staging is what you do after you’ve cleaned, de-cluttered, painted, made minor repairs; it’s all about dressing the house for sale.

 “It’s about adding the small details: the lipstick, mascara and, for simplicity, a stunning, single strand of Tahitian pearls.”

So, how do we get from the lived-in look I described in my first paragraph to the artistry of a staged home? 

Let’s start with de-cluttering.  If the very word makes you shudder, you are not alone!  But we all know it’s a worthy activity for many reasons, even more so if the home we’re living in is about to be put on the market.

In a perfect world, de-cluttering is something we do as part of our regular routine, along with sanitizing the bathrooms and vacuuming the carpets.  For example, mail gets opened over the shredder and the trash can, with just the essentials kept for future needs (stored somewhere handy and inconspicuous).  Daily newspaper goes into the recycle bin after being read.  And so on.  But clutter has an insidious way of building up to overwhelming proportions.  Yesterday’s perfectly acceptable possessions – take VHS videotapes, for example – are, all of a sudden, today’s clutter, no longer needed, wanted or useful.  How did that happen?!

And, more to the point, what do we do about it?  Where to start?   It may help to read books and magazine articles on de-cluttering and getting organized, or to visit some of the thousands of websites that tell you why and how to do it (see a few below), or even to hire a professional organizer, but at its simplest and yet most difficult, de-cluttering is about making hard decisions.  It’s about focusing on the life lived in the space, rather than the stuff in the space.  

We are the only ones who can decide what items are trash (throw them away!), what things we no longer need or want but still have value (sell them or give them away!), and which few items we really love and need and use on a regular basis (keep them!).

Ideally, we end up with just the things that contribute to the life we want to live in small enough numbers that our home appears tidy and spacious, yet still reflects the life of the occupants.  Then, maybe, our home is ready to be staged for selling.

De-cluttering Websites:

15 Great Decluttering Tips

100 Reasons to Get Rid Of It (from Martha Stewart)

Declutter, declutter, declutter!

Declutter Forever: Home Organize It!

Decluttering for Home and Head

Fly.lady.net:  How to Declutter [this is an excellent website for all kinds of home management tasks]

Green Interior Decluttering Process

Living Gently Quarterly: Spring Decluttering

Pitch, pile or file?

The Super Easy Approach to Decluttering Your Home

Tips for Decluttering Your Home When Downsizing

Why Declutter? 

Ready to put your newly de-cluttered home on the market?  Contact me here, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or phone me at 780-910-9669.

The phrase “Dress for Success” has a different meaning in real estate than it does in other businesses.  You know that before you put your Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Parkland County or Edmonton area home on the market, it’s important to clean it thoroughly, get rid of clutter, and make minor repairs.  But these days, in order to sell your home in the shortest amount of time and for the best price, that’s not going far enough.  The next step is home staging.

What is home staging?

Home staging is literally setting a scene and creating a mood – transforming an ordinary house into an attractive, welcoming home that any potential buyer might envision himself living in.   The key is universal appeal.

Secrets of home staging

Home staging doesn’t mean erasing all evidence of the people living in the house, but it’s important to remember that how you live in your home and how you sell your home are two very different things. 

Differences show up in the number and type of things on display, the size of furniture and how it’s arranged, and in the general state of cleanliness and tidiness.  This is one situation where “good enough” probably isn’t!  A perfectly staged home is going to resemble more a suite in a 4-star hotel – before a guest unpacks! – than the homes most of us grew up in or currently live in.  With that in mind, here are a few things to know about home staging.

Update.  The simplest and least costly upgrades, besides paint, include light fixtures, taps and faucets, door and cabinet hardware, switches and switch plates, and drapery and window treatments.

Neutralize.  Neutral colors for walls and floor coverings are best.  People must be able to visualize themselves and their own possessions in the home so the decorating must serve only as a backdrop.  Neutralize also means keeping things generic:  “middle-of-the-road” décor, furnishings and accessories.

Clean.  Really, really clean; mother-in-law clean; brand-new-home clean….!

Edit.  People must be able to see the space, not the stuff in the space.  Corners must be visible, rooms must appear to be open and airy, closets need to look spacious and unfilled, and so on.  This may mean that typical home sellers have to dispose of or pack up for off-site storage 30% to 80% of their possessions.  For example, your kitchen counter should be as close to cleared off as you can make it, with maybe just a coffee maker and toaster to suggest its functionality.  In the bathroom, remove all personal care items, cosmetics and the like from the counter, leaving perhaps just a fresh container of liquid soap next to the sink.  And so on.  Tip:  Take a photo of a room in your house.  Chances are the “too much” factor will be more evident in a picture.

Depersonalize:  Small numbers of family photos, personal memorabilia and items connected to hobbies are fine.  What isn’t fine is anything that detracts from a potential buyer seeing himself in the space.  People don’t want to look at your toothbrush or razor in the bathroom, dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, or piles of clothing on the laundry room floor, for example.  In other words, the place must not look used.

Tidy:  Whatever items are left after possessions have been edited need to be arranged as neatly as possible.  This means not only things readily visible but also everything in closets, drawers, cabinets and other storage spaces in every area of the house, including the garage and outdoors.   As always, the point is to make spaces appear as roomy and functional as possible.

 Sense it.  I’ve heard that 75% of the buyer’s decision is affected by the first 5 seconds through the front door.  Sight and smell are going to be the most important senses in that first impression, and their impact is instantaneous.  Never underestimate the effect of the sight and smell of fresh flowers!

 Light it.  Remember that home staging is about creating a mood.  Warm and bright will sell your home.

Suggest.  Of all the “secrets” of home staging, this is the most important.  Suggest a feeling of hominess and coziness by arranging a few pieces of furniture, such as a pair of modest loveseats and a couple of smallish tables and lamps, in an appealing vignette which will make the buyer want to be a part of it.  Add some accessories such as colorful cushions, a throw in a soft fabric, a couple of classic books or a tea service or a potted plant on a side table with a lamp turned on.  Keep the number and size of items small to trick the eye into maximizing the proportions of the room.  The phrase “less is more” is the very essence of home staging, employing subtlety, simplicity, refinement and classic design.  Everything in a space is there to highlight the best features of the space.  Tip:  Visit a store like Ikea and study the room vignettes.  These are perfect examples of home staging.

Accessorize.  Besides basic furniture appropriate to a given room, professional home stagers add a variety of accessories to hint at feelings or activities associated with that space.  For example:

• in the kitchen: a large bowl of fresh, colorful fruit; an open cookbook; a new matched set of tea towels and oven mitts
• in the bathroom: new clean towels tied with ribbons on the side of the tub; a spa basket of scented soaps and lotions on the counter; a small tray of scented candles
• in the bedroom: new bedcovering and extra pillows; a simple swag of fabric draped above the windows; a small ottoman with an afghan throw; small bedside tables with lamps turned on
• in the living room: mirrors; potted plants or silk flowers; area and throw rugs; a display of unusual knickknacks in a grouping of 1, 3 or 5 items
• on the patio or deck: a small patio table and a pair of chairs, with perhaps a potted plant on the table, to suggest a conversational grouping

While all of this may seem like a lot of work, most sellers who take the trouble to stage their homes really do see a better price within a shorter time frame.

 Ready to sell your Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Parkland County or Edmonton-area home?  Contact me here, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or phone me at 780-910-9669.

So it’s time to sell your Spruce Grove home or Stony Plain real estate in Parkland County.

You should do well considering the unprecedented property appreciation in the Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County area over the last few years.

When getting ready to sell, there are things you need to think about. When in a buyer’s market, you need to be the best priced and best home for the money on the market. Your home needs to show well which means clutter free and well kept.

Most home buyers are already over committed and may not be looking for a home that needs major repairs or improvements upon moving (not counting having the money available to do repairs, especially first time home buyers). Take a look at your home as if you were in the market to buy. The following are a few ideas and hints to help you maximize the amount of money you can get for your home.

How does your home look from the street?

That is where prospective buyers will be when they first look at your home and form that all important first impression. Try some of the following:

• remove clutter from your yard;
• consider buying some potted plants to make your yard more eye appealing. Mow your lawn regularly. Pick up after your pets;
• clean your windows and siding;
• ensure your eaves are clear and in good repair;
• do any necessary painting, staining and sealing;
• do your outside lights work, replace any burnt out bulbs;
• do you have wood trim around your house, paint or stain if required;

Now let’s go indoors.

You want a buyer to see a neat, clean, well lit interior. Get clutter out of sight (you never want a house to feel smaller than it is). Ensure carpets are clean and floors are scrubbed and polished and that walls and baseboards show clean and bright. Make sure lights work and are free of cobwebs. You want your home to look spacious, bright and fresh.

• check stairs for loose boards, ripped carpeting, missing or loose handrails;
• ensure doors open and shut properly;
• make sure closets look spacious and organized;
• keep furniture to a minimum so that rooms do not appear smaller than they are.

Take a sniff. Are there any unpleasant odors in your home? If so track them down and eliminate them.

If you have a lot of family memorabilia, consider thinning it out or start packing it.  Remember, you are moving. You want prospective buyers to see themselves living in your home. That mental picture becomes more difficult for them if your house resembles a shrine to you and your family.

Kitchens and Bathrooms

Two of the most important rooms in the home are kitchens and bathrooms.

• clean all appliances, including your oven. Clean or replace your greasy stove hood filters.
• clean your cabinets inside and out, as well as your backsplash. Repair leaking faucets.
• remove items stored on countertops. Remove excess items stored under your sink.
• remove anything stored on top of your refrigerator;
• remove artwork and magnets from your refrigerator;
• in bathrooms, scrub sinks, tubs and toilets;
• clean mirrors, light switch plates;

Basement

Your basement should be clean and not cluttered. If your basement is damp or musty consider a dehumidifier. Check the grading around your house. If the grade slopes toward the house you may want to look at adding a clay based fill to encourage water to drain away from the house. Check your downspouts and ensure they are moving water well away from your home. Most water problems in a basement are due to poor drainage. Change the filter to your furnace. If you have cats ensure the litter box is clean before all showings.

Garage

Make sure you attend to the garage as well. It should also be clutter free. Get rid of old car parts, discarded bicycles, empty paint cans and the hundreds of useless items that accumulate in garages.

Show Time

Now it is time to show your home. You will need a plan of action that assigns duties to each family member so that your house can be quickly ready for showing.

1. open all drapes, blinds and turn on lights to make the house bright;
2. air out the house to get rid of any odors from cooking, pets, etc;
3. pick up clutter and empty garbage;
4. make everything as clean as possible;
5. set your thermostat at a comfortable level;
6. try to remove pets from the house;
7. leave when your house is being shown;
8. display photos of house in summer if your house is being shown in winter months;
9. leave out heating and electric bills;

We all have busy lives and don’t normally live as the above would suggest. But when selling, the above suggestions have proven successful in helping sell homes quicker and for more money. You may not be able to accomplish all of the above suggestions, but if you do, you will realize thousands of dollars more for your effort.

Property to sell?  I’d love to help.  Call me at 780-910-9669, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or contact me here.