Tips for staging house

Noneforit999

TripleH said:

When tidying away for photos and viewings, tidy away things, don't cram items in cupboards.

You want doors to shut properly (as people will assume the doors are broken if they don't).

People will look in cupboards and if mess will assume you are hiding something.

Actually have a proper declutter before you list the property.

I don't have a problem with family photos on the walls (as it helps portray it as a home) but take excessive ones down and clean off the dust marks from the frames.

Fix any small jobs you have put off (ie if you have a broken window fix it).

A few plants in locations throughout the house is useful but make sure they suit the light available where you put them.

Thats the benefit of having a garage/shed, you can just stick everything in there. Our EA said the viewers would not need to see in the garage and none of them asked to. 

ironlady2022

Noneforit999 said:

TripleH said:

When tidying away for photos and viewings, tidy away things, don't cram items in cupboards.

You want doors to shut properly (as people will assume the doors are broken if they don't).

People will look in cupboards and if mess will assume you are hiding something.

Actually have a proper declutter before you list the property.

I don't have a problem with family photos on the walls (as it helps portray it as a home) but take excessive ones down and clean off the dust marks from the frames.

Fix any small jobs you have put off (ie if you have a broken window fix it).

A few plants in locations throughout the house is useful but make sure they suit the light available where you put them.

Thats the benefit of having a garage/shed, you can just stick everything in there. Our EA said the viewers would not need to see in the garage and none of them asked to. 

Good to know, should i keep garage tidy too

youth_leader

Good point about the floor plan, my vendor didn't have one done, I paid someone to do one for me when I moved in. 

She also had the EPC done after the property was advertised and I'd offerered.    I received it a few months into the conveyancing and wish I'd paid more attention, I'd not had spotlights before and hadn't realised halogen was on it's way out. 

Skiddaw1

Woolsery said:

Skiddaw1 said:

 I know it's a buyer's market currently (it was the other way around when we last sold) but whilst you're on the market you need to be permanently staged

I thought it was the other way around at present; too many buyers for too few properties, at least where I am.

I don't think it will last, mind!

Sorry... slip of the keyboard... that's what I meant to say .

anaspiringhobbit

Know your lighting, and arrange for the photographer to visit when the most important rooms are well lit with natural light, and/or the garden is in sun. Nothing worse than seeing dark, dim rooms, with the overhead lights turned on photos.

Ramouth

anaspiringhobbit said:

Know your lighting, and arrange for the photographer to visit when the most important rooms are well lit with natural light, and/or the garden is in sun. Nothing worse than seeing dark, dim rooms, with the overhead lights turned on photos.

Good call.  Get the photographer to come on a sunny day.  We waited a week for this when we listed ours but it was so worth it.  Looked so nice in the pictures I almost changed my mind about moving!

TBagpuss

As others have said, decluttering and cleaning are the most important things. 

Take photos and look at them critically - you'll notice things you didn't spot when looking at the actual rooms! 

Try to get kitchen surfaces clear, remove fridge magnets, if you have lots of photos or ornaments reduce the numbers ruthlessly, endure that beds are made and that visible bedding isn't obviously wrinkled. Having plain, light coloured bedding or throws can help make spaces look larger and lighter.

If you have pets, try to reduce their visible presence - so move dishes, litter trays  and pet beds out of shot when taking photos, and stash them out of sight in your car or garage when you have viewings . (Also, especially if you have a dog, get an honest, non-dog owning  friend to come round and ask them to tell you if the house smells at all 'doggy' to them, and fo some deep cleaning if they say yes) 

If you need to put thigs on top of cupboards or wardrobes, make it look like planned storage - use matching boxes or baskets .

If you have bedrooms which are not currently used as bedroom, consider staging them as bedrooms- this is particularly useful if you have a small room, putting a bed (or, at a pinch, a bed-sixed stack of boxes covered with a throw and some pillows) so people can see that a bed will actually fit.

I think the staged photos of bottles of wine etc always look a bit ridiculous, but things like having a vase of flowers, or a bowl of fresh fruit ,  on the table, can help make the place look more welcoming and homelike, you want people to be able to imagine living there, but for your stuff to be relatively neutral so they can imagine bringing in their own things or adding their own style. 

Also, look at listings and see what strikes you as good or bad, then apply that to your own house. (An acquaintance of mine recently posted their rightmove link on facebook - theirs is a nice house and well presented, but every single room has blinds and every blind is crooked in the pictures, and it's really noticeable and makes the house look slightly shabby. I think it's the kind of thing you would notice in a photo but perhaps less i real life.
Last time I sold a house I didn't realise until I saw the photos on the estate agents website that I'd left a tea-towel hanging on the oven door. It was perfectly clean it's convenient, but for photos it would have looked better without it.

Fianlly, fo make sure that there are photos of all the rooms.

Drawingaline

Floorplan. I refused to add any to my list without a floorplan. 

Photos, clean and clutter free. The things that stood out in the pictures of our house was a yellow frisbee left under the trampoline in the back garden, my daughter's bedding being rumpled, and a red flannel left folded on the side of the bath and fridge magnets 🤦 none a deal breaker, but annoyed that I hadn't seen them until I looked at the photos. 

Also pictures of all the rooms, including the main hallway. I insisted our ea included this as it showed the storage area of coats and shoes which I always wanted to see in the details. 

We didn't use anything to 'dress' the house. We did pop up our metal bistro table and chairs in the back garden, but mainly because they looked better up than leant against the fence under a groundsheet! Also it was July. 

Slinky

Look at the local agents and choose the one with the best photographer.

We had the drive jet washed and resanded before listing. I did a litter pick down our street and through the alley behind the house, not that there was much, but I didn't want to risk it.

kipsterno1

Make sure at least one of the rooms has a guitar in it. If you can get a drum kit in even better.

For the bathroom get one of those 'relax' cutouts and a 'love' one for the bedroom.






Well that seems to be what one of our local agents uses. Sadly its the same guitar 😂