Home Staging is a way to help you sell your Windsor home, and a home that is staged well will have a buyer fall in love with it, and evoke strong emotions. It needs to appeal to all 5 senses. Whether you choose to do it on your own or hire a professional, home staging is a tool that you want in your arsenal!

The first thing you need to do is assess each room from the 4 corners-look up and down and take note of the selling factors, condition of the walls, condition of the flooring and yes even the ceiling.

The no no’s in home staging are family photos and collectables on display-when someone is viewing your home they feel like a guest, changing the tone of the main purpose which is to make them feel as if it could be THEIR house. Take note of the positioning of art, is it scattered? Is it confusingly placed, with no rhyme or reason? What you need to do have it create a focal point-group pictures above a sofa, and use small pictures not large pictures which can overpower a room.

Another thing you can do is pre-pack your personal items, not only will help by decluttering, but it will also give you less to pack in the future! Keep in mind the paint colour as well, personal paint schemes (bright or vibrant or dark colours) can be too much for a buyer, and change it to neutral colours. If there is wallpaper, consider removing it and painting a neutral colour. Wallpaper is a very personal choice, and your Grecian grapes in the kitchen may turn a buyer off with visions of them spending hours removing it (even thou we all know that with a good steamer it can be done much quicker). Take a look at window treatments, if personal it can darken a room, as well as camouflage a main focal point in the room-your windows!!

What you want to do is “merchandize it” not re decorate it. Also mind your furniture placement, if you have too much furniture it can be hard to move around and make the room look smaller, or even obscure or hid fantastic features like the new windows you just installed! Also, take note of what is in the room-a treadmill in the living room is a definite no no-it is a living room not a gym, and you don’t want potential buyers getting turned off because then they are reminded that they didn’t go to the gym today or will visualize the room as a work out room and not a family friendly living room for everyone to enjoy.

Well, we hope you enjoyed this segment on home staging and stay tuned for next weeks installment! Please feel free to email or call us with any questions, suggestions or feedback. Kim Gazo & Tina LaBelle, Sales Representatives, Remo Valente Real Estate (1990) Limited Phone and Pager 519-966-7777 soldbytina@cogeco.ca or kim@gazo.ca