Our House Is For Sale! {And Five Tips for Staging Your Home to Sell}

It's finally happening! After a house hunt that felt like forever (although technically it was probably only a few months) and thinking we would never find the perfect house at the perfect price, we found our dream home! It's a new build, and actually by the builder we were working with before we talked with our bank and decided we couldn't really afford to build the house we wanted, so it all worked out in the end! We put an offer in last week, which included some pretty big asks of the seller, and couldn't believe it when he accepted without any changes! Our current house hit the market yesterday and I thought I would share some photos of it staged for real estate from the listing. It's not terribly different than usual but it is interesting the difference between real estate photography and interior photography.

Tips for Staging Your Home to Sell

Here are my best tips for staging your home to sell. This comes from both my experience touring homes recently and getting ours ready to sell.

1. Clean, Clean, Clean
I admit I am not the world's best house keeper, but when getting your home ready to sell it must be sparkling. We hired a professional crew to come in and clean everything before listing and it was money well spent. I have been into several homes while looking that just did not feel clean, and were even kind of grody, and it just turned us off so fast. Make sure your home is as clean as possible while having showings. This is tricky while living there (and with kids!) but it's totally worth the extra hassle to get the home sold.

2. Declutter
I know you hear this one a lot, but it really is so true. You don't realize how much "stuff" you live with day-to-day that doesn't make the house look its best. I like to think we don't leave out too much, but I still removed probably 3/4 of what was on our kitchen counters and even lots of my decorative items from other rooms just for the staging. Let the rooms breathe and people won't be distracted by all your stuff.

3. Showcase a Lifestyle
This is sort of an ambiguous one, but when you're selling your home you're really selling a lifestyle. Make your spaces feel as luxurious and relaxing as possible. You want people to imagine the great life they could have if they bought this house. It's not about how you live, it's how you want people to imagine living. Our realtor gave me the tip of adding potted orchids to the bathrooms and even that little step took things up a notch. Try thinking of presenting your home as if it were a luxury hotel and see what changes you would make to create that kind of feeling.

 
4. Make It Move-In-Ready
There wasn't a lot that needed to be done to our house, but there were several small projects we completed just to make the home look its best and so they wouldn't be a deterrent to buyers. Complete all those little projects that have been on the back burner, so buyers don't see "work" when they walk into your house.

5. Show How to Use the Space
Stage your home to show the best way to use its space. Even if you're using rooms differently, it's important to show buyers what they can be. Remember, it's not about how you live, it's how you want people to imagine living.

I'm really hoping our house will sell quickly and we can be in our new home in no time! If you're in the Wichita area and would like more details on our home, just shoot me a message and I'd be glad to share more with you. Thanks for sticking with me through this moving process! I have tons of plans and ideas for the new home to share, so watch for that super soon!

Want to know where something in our house is from? I've got you covered right here >>