Staging Your Boston Home to Sell!

Summer is more than halfway over, which means that if you haven’t put your house in the Boston Real Estate market yet, now is the time to do it! Potential buyers take advantage of house hunting during warm, long summer days, so you should take advantage too by wasting no time. Clean up your house, make any improvements that are needed, contact me, your Boston Real Estate agent, set up some open houses and let’s together get your Boston home sold!

To help you in the process, it’s important that you stage your home to sell. Staging means getting rid of personal knickknacks that only having meaning to you, while keeping each room tidy, uncluttered and neutrally decorated. It also means playing up your assets and downplaying your faults. By doing so, according to this HGTV FrontDoor Real Estate article, staging has been proven to increase sellers’ sale prices by seven percent!

How do you do it? Follow this room-to-room advice from the article, combined with some of my own tips from experience:

In the Bathroom: Paint goes a long way to brighten up a waterlogged bathroom. Repaint your tiled flooring by first coating it with a high-adhesion primer and then a ceramic epoxy covering. Consider replacing an old vanity with a pedestal sink, which makes your bathroom appear larger and adds appeal that most buyers love. Scour your shower door, or replace your shower curtain, and spray your bathroom walls with a mixture of bleach and water. Repaint the walls if necessary. Always clean the toilet!

In the Kitchen: Increase the appeal of old kitchen cabinets by staining the wood or painting over them. Shine the handles with brass polisher. Fake stainless steel appliances by removing your appliance’s front panels, cleaning them and then applying a stainless steel stick-on covering. Yes, these exist! Your appliances will look modern and stylish without the big bucks of replacing them. If you want to replace the countertops, ask the vendors to use remnants from previous projects, or choose laminate with a granite-looking design. Store away unnecessary items in order to keep the counters cleared. If a table is present in the kitchen, clear it off and only display a centerpiece. You can set the table for open houses to make it look homier.

In the Living Room: Fix up a hardwood floor by replacing damaged boards with new ones rather than replacing the whole room. Afterward, sand it over and stain the boards. If you want to add anything, built-in bookshelves or a built-in entertainment center will go over well with buyers. If you do add these or already display them in your living room, keep them simply decorated with neutral décor. Clean the windows and keep the blinds or curtains open to allow ample light to shine into this room and all your rooms.

In the Bedroom: When selling, you want to display a calming, uncluttered place to relax and unwind. Remove exercise equipment, office supplies, extra storage bins and anything not necessary to a bedroom. Pinpoint the bed as the focal point, with balance on each side, such as two small nightstands. Consider adding a headboard for extra elegance. Remember to clean out your closets, because buyers will be looking in them. Keep the décor neutral, and try to match your curtains with your bedspread. As in every room, take away picture frames of loved ones. The more the bedroom looks like a neutral hotel room, the better.

For more helpful tips, you can read the rest of the HGTV staging article, and you can contact me, your Boston Real Estate agent! I’m always open to offering you more tips on how to successfully sell your home in Boston. The Boston Real Estate market is waiting for your home, so don’t delay! Call me today and let’s get cracking on getting your house ready to sell.

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
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