Tips and Tricks to Help Your Home Sell Faster, from a Professional Fort Collins Home Stager

​Never underestimate the power of a well-staged home.

​First impressions last. When it comes to selling your home, the first impression is everything. With a majority of homebuyers looking through photos of the home before even deciding to visit the house, home staging has never been more powerful or important. 

One of the best ways to sell a listing quickly is by staging your home. The Home Suite Design & Realty team not only are Fort Collins home stagers, but we’re real estate agents as well. We know just what it takes to get a house ready for the market. 

​The numbers

​In addition to our own stories and experiences as a Fort Collins home staging company, the National Association of Realtors has published a comprehensive study to show the benefits of home staging when selling a home. 

Here are just a few of the stats to prove the importance of home staging: 

• 92% of realtors report that staging has a positive effect on the buyer’s impression of the home.
• 83% of buyers find it easier to visualize the home with staging.
• 81% of realtors report that staging has a positive impact on offers for the home.

​With such positive and rewarding results, why wouldn’t you want to incorporate home staging into selling your home? Of course, the practice of home staging can seem quite daunting, so we have laid out a few tips and tricks to help you get started. 

​Tips and tricks as you prepare your Fort Collins home staging

​Home staging is great for both buyers and sellers! It helps the home sell quicker, and it allows home buyers to imagine themselves living in the space. As real estate agents and Fort Collins home stagers, we know the value of investing in home staging. 

​Tip #1: Clean, Declutter, and Depersonalize

​The first step we recommend as home stagers is to clean, declutter, and depersonalize your home. This means getting into the nitty gritty of your home. 

Scrub the tile in the kitchen and the bathrooms, clean the hardwood floors, and replace the carpet if it’s necessary. Sweep up dust bunnies, repair holes and cracks in the walls, and paint over the scuffs on the baseboards. 

To show off the spaciousness of your home, remove excess and oversized furniture and rearrange it to maximize the space. In closets, organize your clothing and store out-of-season items to remove even more clutter. 

It’s also good to store any family photos or personal collections, and remove small appliances, toys, and pet items.

We also recommend painting the interior walls with neutral colors, like soft grays, warm shades of white, or muted pastels. Calming blues and greens are good colors to use for bedrooms and bathrooms. 

It’s always best to have a fresh, clean slate for possible buyers. This way the buyers can envision their own items in the home. 

Tip #2: Pay Attention to Kitchens & Bathrooms

​The kitchen and bathrooms are truly what make or break a home purchase. 

While cleaning your home, make sure to mop, wax, and polish your floors, clean the appliances and fixtures, and organize any cabinets or drawers within the room. 

To make the bathroom appear fresh and clean, replace old caulking around the sinks and bathtubs. It’s best to remove any stains from these areas as well. 

​Tip #3: Appeal to the Senses

​When hosting your open house, try to appeal to the senses of your future buyers. What makes a home FEEL like a home?

We like to bake some cookies or open the windows to let fresh air in. At the very least, open up the window’s curtains or blinds to let in natural light and show off views. If your home doesn’t have the best of views or natural light, install higher-wattage bulbs to brighten the rooms. We always recommend soft-white bulbs, as well as warm light, which works best to enhance colors and depth within the space.

​Bonus Tip: Show Off Your Home's Best Features

​Your home might have beautiful, original hardwood floors. Don’t cover those up with rugs! Let them shine. 

Open the windows! Really. It makes a HUGE difference!

Stage your front and back porch with furniture and potted plants. Make these spaces look cozy and get people imagining what they might use them for! 

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​Even with all the tips and tricks, still not sure where to start?

 As you prepare to list your home, Home Suite Design & Realty would love to work with you as your Fort Collins home stager. We’ll make sure the home is in great condition to get top dollar and sell quickly. 

We’ll start with an initial consultation to determine what the home needs, depending on the style, current decor, layout, and more. ​ If the home is occupied, we’ll work with you to declutter, rearrange furniture,

and  clean to ensure that the environment is inviting and showcases the home well.

​If you would like to partner up and bring Home Suite Design & Realty onto your team as your Fort Collins home stager, please reach out to us here. We look forward to working with you to maximize your home’s potential and help you achieve top-dollar when you sell!