Home Staging: You need to stand out loud and clear

Home sellers need to make their home stand out loud and clear in this tough market.  If you are in a neighborhood where all the houses look similar - what do you do?  All of your neighbors homes sell for about the same in this market. 

How do you make your home stand out from the crowd? How can you make your home the one they want to see and buy?  There are the 3 M's to selilng and staging your home:

1. Magnetism. Lots of buyers don't even get out of their car unless a home shows lots of promise.  So you need to create an exciting exterior that draws prospective buyers to wanting to see the inside of your home. Place an interesting focal point in your front yard, such as a water fountain, a beautiful wreath on the door, a large classy urn, or a beautiful tree. Enhance your walkway with enticing plants or light fixtures that clearly mark the path to the front door. Use color  to either paint your front door or its framework a happy warm color.

2. Mystery. Most home searchers only spend 2 to 5 minutes looking at a home. . Make the buyer take a longer look by using lighting tricks.  Have some lighting tricks within the home so it entices them to want to see in and see more.  Place a real or artifical tree in the front hallway. Uplight the tree with a canister light that casts captivating shadows on the walls and ceiling use the white small christmas lights.

3. Memory. Home shoppers look at many many houses in a row because there are so many in this market to look at.   Your want  the buyers to remember your home above all others.  A  buyers' dream: they want a lifestyle --not just a house. Make your buyers believe that if they choose your home, they will have a different life style, that they can curl up and read a great book in front of the fireplace, sit on that wicker chair on the front porch, or entertain in your gourmet kitchen.  Think creatively.

Turn heads and turn viewers into buyers.  Create a different lifestyle when staging your home in and out... stand above and beyond the crowd....

1.  File your Home Stead!
If you live in the home, you need to file the Homestead Exemption. The Homestead Exemption means it will be your primary residence and then property taxes are less expensive than when you are non-homestead. Olmsted county sends you a notice after you close, however, if you do not have this notice by December 5, please get down to the county court house BEFORE 12-12 so that you can save $.

2. License Plates and Titles
By law you must have local license plates. They must be purchased in the county you reside. You have 30 days from the point you move in to register your vehicles. If you are moving from out of state you will need to apply for titles on each vehicle. 

3. Driver's License
Don't forget stop in to the license bureau and do an address change here also!Even if you are only moving one block, by law, your license should have your current address.

4. Address Change
Whether you are moving here from out of state or just across town don't forget to change your address on the following important things:

Drivers License, insurance, license plates, cell phone, credit cards, banking information, magazine subscriptions, doctor office and dentist office, friends and family!

5. Forward mail from previous address:
The USPS has a form you need to complete online. It is very important for those little things you forget.  There may be a friend or family member you forgot to ell that you moved The postal service will forward your mail for up to one year. After the one year period they return the mail to sender.  Check out www.USPS.com

6. Insure your New Home:
Make arrangements to insure your new home. Insurance should be in place before you move in. Verify it is a replacement cost policy.   Also make sure if you have flood insurance (or if you need it) and water damage insurance from sewer backup.

7. Get A Home Warranty:
Home Warranties are, in my opinion, excellent peace of mind insurance. . You can cover things which could be costly to repair. The HVAC unit could cost hundreds of dollars to repair. Any major appliance system can be covered.  Ask me about them, they are cheap and I have one that gives you 13 months of coverage!

8. Transfer Utilities:
You must transfer or establish new utility services. Make sure you call garbage, electric/water and gas.  Do this several days before you move so the company has time to do a meter read.

9. Here are the important ones:
Electricity
Water and Sewer
Phone service
Internet Service
Cable / Satellite

10. Banking / Creditor Information
When it comes to banking I am a believer in using local banks. Online banking is a good thing but what if you need a personal touch. I would want someone local I could call on to make things happen. Make sure all your creditors and banks have your new address.

1. Consider the curb appeal.

At minimum, your lawn should be freshly mowed, leaves raked, or snow shoveled.  Bushes should be trimmed.  Consider a hanging a wreath or potted plant for the entrance. S weep or hose off the porch, deck and all walk ways and ensure garbage and recycling are tucked neatly away from the front of the house and scrub your front door, door handles, porch, outside railings and steps. This is cheaper than repainting and makes a big difference.  Your frot door is the first impression!  MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!

2. Get rid of clutter!

Pick one closet or drawer at a time. Look at every item with a very critical eye and ask yourself why you're keeping it or how to reorganize it so it looks neat.

Forget about hanging onto stuff for that big garage sale. Pick your favorite charity and donate it all. 

Clutter was removed from the desk top and file area.   It's also important to get those piles of "stuff" off the floor and into storage or recycling. Here a large painting provides a stunning focal point for the end wall and emphasizes the generous size of the room.

Eliminating clutter includes putting away personal items. Take stuff off of your fridge and edge of the bathtub.  SPACE is what you are trying to create!

Empty built in cabinets as much as possible so new owners can visualize their goodies sitting on them!

3. Turn excess inventory into cash.

If you have a collection of items for projects you never got around to, return them. This also applies to the two-year supply of light bulbs, canned goods or paper products sitting in your basement. Without a receipt you won't get cash, but you will have a store credit that you can use once you move. Less clutter and less stuff to pack, move and unpack again!

4. Watch where the eye goes.

There are speedy and low cost solutions to many of the little problems that together make a home seem shabbier than it needs to. Here's a great example of a bathroom transformed in a day.

Walk along each corridor and into every room and check where your eye is drawn (better yet, ask a critical friend or family member). If the eye is drawn to the chipped white paint on the door frame, take some "white out" and fill it in. If it's those old nail holes in the wall, see if you can hang a picture to cover them.

Glue any peeling wallpaper. If it's really horrible and you can't afford the time or money to fix it properly, hang pictures and strategically place baskets. You won't cover the problem entirely (which would be wrong anyway), but you will draw your audience away from the problem by giving their eyes something more visually pleasing to focus on.

5. Find a fix-it person.

Ensure cupboards open and shut and that no taps are dripping. Look in all rooms for things you never got around to fixing and decide which ones might be distracting to potential buyers. No, it's not OK for door handles to fall off, even if you have learned to ignore it!

6. Clean and clean again!

This can be one of the more stressful aspects of having your home on the market is keeping is clean all the time.  Hire some one to clean your carpetings and take 20-30 minutes each day to maintain straightening up the house before you leave for the day.  Make the beds, etc.

Appliances should be clean even if you're not including them with the house. 

Dust the top of the plumbing where it attaches to the wall.  Dust shelves and vacuum or "Swiffer" the floors. Remember clean windows let in more light and look newer. Hire a service if you have to— it's worth the investment.

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7. Let in some air.

Open some windows for at least 10 minutes every day to let in clean air! 

8. Let in some light.

It might be mood lighting to you, but if you're trying to sell your home, keep it bright!   Open the blinds somewhat, or drapes and consider a floor lamp to have more light in a room.   Very dimly lit rooms look small and not clean.

hears you.

9. Don't forget fresh flowers. You don't need to spend a fortune to have fresh flowers throughout your home but a small arrangement on the kitchen table, bedside table or bathroom counter looks great and smells good!   Use a potted flower, green plant or small inexpensive daisies or carnations from your local florest.

10. Carefully consider music.

Play soft background music can help create a mood of a calming environment and camouflage street or neighbor noise. But make sure the volume is very low.