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Why it’s so important to hire a home stager (part 2)

But now you’re going to sell your house so you have to develop an eagle eye for dirt!

If you read my February blog, I talked about why it’s so important to hire a home stager. As homeowners,
it’s extremely difficult for us to disassociate from our homes and look at it from a buyer’s perspective.
We need a trained set of eyes to bring awareness to what we just don’t notice anymore.

The first step in staging our homes is to declutter. I have a 4-Step Declutter process that I developed for myself years ago because I’m not as productive or happy in a space that is full of stuff. It affects me and
not in a good way. Once I became aware of that, I knew how to quickly resolve the problem and that was
to declutter.

Once we’ve taken care of the stuff, then it’s time to repair things that are broken and start cleaning! And I mean clean like pull out appliances and vacuum up all the cheerios under the stove, all the lint balls under the dryer, and all the dust from under (and on top of) the water softener.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Is this really necessary?” Well, here’s your alternative. From the moment potential buyers drive up to your home, they will start forming an impression of your house. Would you like them to be thinking this: “We’d have to patch the yard, too many bare spots . . . wow, those shrubs should have been pruned years ago . . . the windows are so dirty, don’t they take care of their house . . . wonder if the inside is as bad . . . this house looks like a waste of our time.” 

OR would you like them to be thinking this: “Wow, this lawn is immaculate . . . their landscaping is great
. . . they’ve really maintained the outside of their house . . . I bet the inside is just as polished . . . can’t wait to see it!”

Potential buyers will be looking to reinforce their first impression inside of your house. As they walk through,
a mental “to-do” list will start forming in their head. The more things that are on this list, the better the chances are that they will either walk away or offer a lot less.

Sometimes the extent of the repairs needed exceeds the return on investment. In that case, showing an extremely clean home will compensate somewhat for the home’s “weaknesses..”

After my parents retired from farming, they bought a beautiful lot with a quirky house on it. It had access to a lake and my dad loved to fish . . . every single day, all year round.

Before moving in, they remodeled the house and once living there, they maintained it really well for years. As they aged, naturally they were less able to do the physical work that house maintenance requires. They lived in that house and enjoyed it’s beautiful lot until they were nearly 90 years old. Health issues forced my sisters and me to move them into assisted living and then sell their home. You may already know how difficult that is.

This was the first time I had to really examine their house, and I was shocked at what the last decade had done. My parents were hard workers, and seeing their worn-down house was quite symbolic of how age had done the same thing to their once-vibrant bodies.

Because of their fixed income, we couldn’t make a lot of repairs, but what we did do was clean, clean, and then clean some more! I even vacuumed their garage floor on my hands and knees. I had to wear a wrist brace for several weeks afterward, but that garage was clean! And my sisters did twice as much inside.
The property just sparkled!

I know if we hadn’t banded together and cleaned like crazy, not even the beautiful lot could have rescued
that house.

Just think what a well-maintained home will sell for when it is also cleaned to the max! Your hard work will be rewarded with a quick sale and more money!

Let’s Talk!

Roberta Peters

Birch Hill Interiors

651.500.7650

info@birchhillinteriors.com

Twin Cities

 

     

Why it’s so important to hire a home stager (part 2)

Start Cleaning Now!

Isn’t it shocking when all of a sudden one day you notice how filthy the light switch is in your bathroom? Do you gasp out loud? And then shame yourself for not noticing it over the last year or however long it took to get that way? Don’t be hard on yourself because most of us are the exact same way! We’re busy with life.

But now you’re going to sell your house so you have to develop an eagle eye for dirt!

If you read my February blog, I talked about why it’s so important to hire a home stager. As homeowners,
it’s extremely difficult for us to disassociate from our homes and look at it from a buyer’s perspective.
We need a trained set of eyes to bring awareness to what we just don’t notice anymore.

The first step in staging our homes is to declutter. I have a 4-Step Declutter process that I developed for myself years ago because I’m not as productive or happy in a space that is full of stuff. It affects me and
not in a good way. Once I became aware of that, I knew how to quickly resolve the problem and that was
to declutter.

Once we’ve taken care of the stuff, then it’s time to repair things that are broken and start cleaning! And I mean clean like pull out appliances and vacuum up all the cheerios under the stove, all the lint balls under the dryer, and all the dust from under (and on top of) the water softener.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Is this really necessary?” Well, here’s your alternative. From the moment potential buyers drive up to your home, they will start forming an impression of your house. Would you like them to be thinking this: “We’d have to patch the yard, too many bare spots . . . wow, those shrubs should have been pruned years ago . . . the windows are so dirty, don’t they take care of their house . . . wonder if the inside is as bad . . . this house looks like a waste of our time.” 

OR would you like them to be thinking this: “Wow, this lawn is immaculate . . . their landscaping is great . . . they’ve really maintained the outside of their house . . . I bet the inside is just as polished . . . can’t wait to see it!”

Potential buyers will be looking to reinforce their first impression inside of your house. As they walk through,
a mental “to-do” list will start forming in their head. The more things that are on this list, the better the chances are that they will either walk away or offer a lot less.

Sometimes the extent of the repairs needed exceeds the return on investment. In that case, showing an extremely clean home will compensate somewhat for the home’s “weaknesses..”

After my parents retired from farming, they bought a beautiful lot with a quirky house on it. It had access to a lake and my dad loved to fish . . . every single day, all year round.

Before moving in, they remodeled the house and once living there, they maintained it really well for years. As they aged, naturally they were less able to do the physical work that house maintenance requires. They lived in that house and enjoyed it’s beautiful lot until they were nearly 90 years old. Health issues forced my sisters and me to move them into assisted living and then sell their home. You may already know how difficult that is.

This was the first time I had to really examine their house, and I was shocked at what the last decade had done. My parents were hard workers, and seeing their worn-down house was quite symbolic of how age had done the same thing to their once-vibrant bodies.

Because of their fixed income, we couldn’t make a lot of repairs, but what we did do was clean, clean, and then clean some more! I even vacuumed their garage floor on my hands and knees. I had to wear a wrist brace for several weeks afterward, but that garage was clean! And my sisters did twice as much inside.
The property just sparkled!

I know if we hadn’t banded together and cleaned like crazy, not even the beautiful lot could have rescued
that house.

Just think what a well-maintained home will sell for when it is also cleaned to the max! Your hard work will be rewarded with a quick sale and more money!

Let’s Talk!

Roberta Peters

Birch Hill Interiors

651.500.7650

info@birchhillinteriors.com

Twin Cities