4 Overlooked Areas That Make a Big Difference in Staging | Realtor Magazine
When you’re staging properties for resale, you likely target all the main areas: decluttering the home, adding some fresh flowers, and fluffing the pillows. But realtor.com® recently highlighted some other areas that are often overlooked when staging but can still make a big impact, including:
Tend to the mailbox.
Repaint the mailbox or make any repairs, particularly if it’s showing its age or leaning. “Replace the mailbox—literally the first thing people see,” Teris Pantazes, CEO and co-founder of SettleRite, a home improvement company in Baltimore, told realtor.com®.
Reglaze.
A reglaze of the tile or in the bathroom can give a modern update to a space. “The best tip I use to get top dollar for some of our houses is to reglaze an old bathroom that has a terrible color of tile—like pink or green,” Michael Pinter, a home flipper with LMPK Properties in Long Island, N.Y., told realtor.com®. “We reglaze the bathroom white for a few hundred dollars, and a dated bathroom will look 30 years younger.”
Restore rooms to their purpose.
Make sure the spaces in the home are being used for their original purpose. As such, the dining room that is currently being used for a kid’s playroom should be restaged. “Buyers want to see the space used in a traditional way—with a dining table in the dining room, a desk and chair in the office—to envision themselves living there,” realtor.com® notes.
Sell the love.
Don’t forget to sell the love and appreciation of a home. Russell Volk, a real estate pro with RE/MAX Elite in Bucks County, Pa., once had the home sellers write a one-page letter about the life in the house. “Their story of how they raised their family and what kind of experiences they had in the home was very personal and emotional,” says Volk. He framed the letter and placed it on the kitchen counter for potential buyers to read. “If sellers can connect with buyers on an emotional level, chances of buyers paying top dollar for the house drastically increase,” says Volk.